2 little monkeys jumping on the bed...

My mom left yesterday morning at 4:30am to La Ceiba to start her long day of travel. After 22 hours of traveling, she made it safely back to Oregon! Thank you to everyone who prayed for her to get there safely. Her last night here mom and Melvin made 2 cakes for everyone to enjoy & then we went to bed early since we had an early morning the next day. Ps. YES we found a gluten free cake mix at a grocery store in La Ceiba last week!!!! So amazing.

Mom's last night!

Mom and Melvin making cakes

As you may notice, in the group picture we have two little ones here now too! Britani and Cindy are two little girls that live in a squatter community/garbage dump near La Ceiba. Lisa has been helping nurse Britani back to health since she was 2, and when she first met her she looked like a malnourished 9 month old. She was incredibly skinny, blonde hair falling out (yellow from malnutrition), and hadn't learned to talk or walk yet. Through the past year of taking her in whenever she was sick and helping her recover from various parasites, sicknesses, wounds, etc she's now 3 years old and a little chatter box who runs around to keep up with her older sister who is 5.

Cindy & Britani

These girls' mother is in her teens and has 3 girls all under the age of five. She is working in another part of the country for 2 weeks and could only take her youngest girl with her, along with her 6 year old sister she's raising because their mother abandoned her. This means Britani and sister Cindy were essentially left to take care of themselves. Technically their uncle was "taking care" of them, but that means he's off doing whatever for most of the day and the girls wander around one of the most dangerous parts of the city unsupervised. They are left alone, hungry, and very easy targets for several tragic things including: getting lost, kidnapped, sexually assaulted, or sold into sex slavery. I wish I was exaggerating with how dangerous it is for children to be left unattended. Unfortunately, this is very common for parents to have several young children and for them to essentially raise themselves. Many of these kids in extreme poverty situations survive & grow up...but their childhood is stunted and often full of various traumas, and the mindset of "survival" is perpetuated into the cycle of just living to make it to tomorrow. The mindset of surviving until tomorrow is dangerous and damaging because it often leads to doing whatever it takes for your own survival, and then thinking of your children's wellbeing. Although the stories are heartbreaking and the statistics overwhelming, Lisa and the boys (and myself included!) love to take care of these girls when we can. Even though it is quite an undertaking to have two small little girls in a house full of teenage boys, God uses them to bring a new type of joy and giggles into the home, while He uses us to provide them with a clean home & access to medical care while enjoying a safe, nurturing home even if just for a little while. These two cuties will be here for two weeks (and so will I!) and we would love your prayers for God to use us to the full capacity to enrich their lives while we have them under our roof.

I realized I didn't post much about all the various sports and games we played while my mom was here! During our afternoons at the beach we found coconuts, branches of trees, etc and the boys cut them with machetes to be used as baseball bats & balls. We also taught the boys kickball in the backyard, which of course, included a lot of mud and sliding everywhere.

Mom & Melvin playing baseball

We have been so blessed & spoiled with a few hot sunny days the past few days, which is very unusual during rainy season, and we have been making the most of them! We've been to the beach or river as much as possible in the afternoon after everyone's chores & work on the property is done. A few days ago we went to a river over in Lis Lis about 15 minutes away from the house. The river was much deeper than it has been in the past due to heavy rain fall this season, and the current very fast in some parts. The boys are used to swimming across the river to hike along the other side to the hot springs, but I completely forgot to warn my mom about having to cross the deep river!

Me and the boys crossing the river

Everyone did pretty good walking / swimming across the river & mom and I managed to not drop our phones in the water as we carried everything over our heads. But, if you read my mom's facebook post from that day, you know that our littlest boy gave us quite a scare. Cristian was crossing at the shallowest part of the river and was carrying two very full bags or oranges with him. He lost his footing and the current swept him away and he was struggling to keep his head above water, not letting go of the heavy bags of oranges either. Thankfully, I was not too far away and was able to toss my backpack off and jump in after him, grab him and the two bags he wasn't letting go of and swim all of us to shore. Even for me it would've been difficult swimming across the current by myself without trying to save him. A few seconds later and both him & I would've been in trouble. A little shook up from Cristian nearly drowning, we recovered and crossed the river at a different spot. When we found calmer water my mom gave Cristian a 30 minutes swim lesson. He is one of the fastest learners I have ever seen! Here's my mom's post from facebook: "Yesterday I witnessed my daughter save a life. My little bear cub decided to cross a swift and deep area in the river to play downstream where the older boys were. He was carrying 2 bags of oranges and various things. He lost his footing and the current started to sweep him away. Marie ran to the shore and jumped in and was able to struggle against the current and the bags he was refusing to let go of and save him. So, I decided to talk him into a swimming lesson in a calm area of the river by promising to show him how to swim like a frog. He has been my fastest learner so far. Within 30 minutes he learned to float, crawlstroke and modified breaststroke. He was very proud. So was I. Marie had a safety talk with them when we came home. I felt very emotional and very proud of Marie." 

We are thankful everyone was able to have fun at the river and enjoy it safely after the initial scare. It was also a great opportunity to remind the boys how dangerous the rivers and ocean can be, especially since many local people have died drowning here, both children and adults alike. Shout out to my mom for being an awesome swim instructor!

Mom and Cristian

Day at the river

Today two of the boys graduate the 6th grade! Graduating 6th grade here is the same level of importance as kids graduating high school in the States. Another blog post to come later this week about graduation!