It's cloudy again and my laundry has already been on the line for 2 days. Perhaps I should just give up and throw it in the dryer, surely it won't add THAT much to the power bill. I am grateful that a dryer is even an option, as most folks here just have to live with this fickle weather.

We've spent 2 days this week without power. Last Saturday night we heard a large BOOM just as it was getting dark. I knew that wasn't a good sign. "It's the transformer, it will be out a while, find the flashlights," I told the kids, and I wondered how in the world I was going to cook 2 chickens for the anniversary celebration at church tomorrow. Ended up we boiled them over an open fire in our barbeque pit outside and they tasted pretty good I guess because someone asked if they could have the gravey to take home (this is a country where nothing is wasted).

Our second power outage started as I was coming home from my PreK pickup at noon. Some guys in a red truck kind of slowed down as I was going into my gate and I hurried to get inside (still just a little uncertain with crime being more frequent these days). They began ringing the bell and asking for a Laura somebody, then talking in Spanish that was too fast and far above my vocabulary limits. After a few attempts to explain that Laura didn't live here, I watched them stand up in the pickup bed and CUT MY POWER LINE. "Now what do I do?" I thought. I walked back to school and told Harold, then called the Superintendent. Ends up it was a mixup with the bill and the maintenance guys from school repaired the line. Had power for about an hour so I made some calls quick, then it went off again-and stayed off. So we roasted hotdogs in the fireplace for dinner and made hot cocoa in our enameled pot. And since it's dark here by 6pm it was an early -to- bed night after one episode of "The Flying Nun" on Harold's computer.

Our attitudes effect how the kids view these challenges. I can either complain, or look at it as an adventure. And perspective is definately called for. This morning as we hopefully flicked the lightswitch at 5am I said, "Power's on...and we ate last night....and we have a new President here...and there wasn't an earthquake that caused chaos.....and my kids are all safe" Yep, it's all about perspective. I can choose to give thanks, or I can complain and start that downward spiral into self-pity.

As a PS, please pray for the Matute family (family of 3rd grade student) They lost their 3-year-old yesterday in a house fire. He had hidden and Mom couldn't find him in time.

The fog is rolling across the mountain this morning and I feel it deep. How is it that looking and seeing the mountain behind me shrouded in clouds makes me feel cloudy as well? Suddenly my head aches from lack of sleep and the tasks in front of me seem larger than my ability to conquer them. I wish for sunshine. Why is it more difficult to give thanks for rainy days? It takes a decided effort to choose to give thanks when I don't FEEL thankful. Lord help me choose to praise you even when my emotions won't cooperate.

A morning with the President

Ok, so I am new to this whole world of technology and perhaps I am just a bit inconsistent with this blog thing. Hopefully I will become more accustomed and keep you all up to date with life here.
Last week our school had a visit from a VIP. While digging into my normal morning routine of cleaning and laundry I started hearing cheering from the school. The power had gone out, but I had already washed 3 loads of laundry (continual thing here) and thought I would hang them up and get my trash ready before I picked up Jubilee from PreK. I figured that soccer game I had heard discussed recently got moved to our campus and the kids were really enjoying it. What I didn't know (and boy if I had I'd have been there!) was that President Micheletti had decided to visit our campus. The third grade had been to the Presidential Palace the day before and missed getting their picture with him, so he actually made it a point to see these kids-and while he was at it, why not the school?
Honduras actually has 3 Presidents (in a way) currently. There is President Micheletti who is legally running that office, then there's incumbent President Pepe Lobo, who will step into office on January 27th, then there's former President Manuel Zelaya who is still in residence at the Brazilian Embassy, but seems to have quit insisting on a return to power. Not often that happens. Here's a picture of the Senior class with the President and Harold, who is crowd control for the event-he didn't get the memo about wearing a suit jacket and never actually got an official photo as he was too busy policing kids. Sure was fun though.

So Beautiful Princess

Why did God make 2-year-olds? Because sometimes you just need that little word of adoring encouragement. This morning as I was getting dressed Tikvah looked at me and said, "Mommy, you are a so beautiful princess."
There are times I am incredibly aware of the fact that I am getting older....most of the teachers here are just a little bit older than my oldest child, before long I will have 3 boys in the states in college, and my own college sweatshirt is (pink tinged smile, yes I STILL have it) almost 25 years old....
We are beginning to enter a new stage and I am still clinging to the old one. I don't feel as if I have much sage wisdom, and I am still investing a lot of time in my own little ones, yet now I am the one offering encouragement to the new Mom,"keep it up, it gets easier..." Perhaps that's why God spread our family out over 17 years. I can still relate at many levels. While it would be nice to put the diaper bag away for good, I will miss the loving 2 year old who sees her Mom like no one else.