Hey, Mama.

I think this is my third time attempting to start a blog post for this trip. It's weird because although my life in Honduras is different in almost every way than in the States, once I get here it feels like I pick up right where I left off. The boys have grown taller and their voices deeper, but I'm still greeted with lots of hugs and laughter when they first see me at the airport, and it's like the long year of being apart has vanished.

But one thing for sure is different this trip--my mom is here with me!!! :) I've been visiting the boys for years, but always traveling alone. And I've always wanted my family to meet my "other family", not just via skype, and see a huge part of my life they've only heard stories about. So for this time here, I'm going to try to see & blog about things that are weird or interesting as if it were my first trip here, like it is for my mom.

First of all--we finally made it here!!! After traveling separately for most of the trip due to bad weather in both Redmond and San Francisco, I made it to Houston on time but my mom had to catch the next flight into San Pedro Sula the next day. So, we started traveling Wednesday night, planned on arriving Thursday afternoon, then delayed to Friday morning. Thankfully the airline allowed me to change my ticket to Friday morning too without any hassle or fees, so we stayed the night in Houston and flew out the next morning. Just as we were excited to finally be arriving in Honduras Friday, Lisa (our friend who started the non-profit Bethesda Home for Boys), warned us that the airport in La Ceiba was currently closed due to a severe rain storm and that we will need to spend the night in San Pedro or try to get a bus to La Ceiba and stay there for the night--either way not arriving to where we are staying until Saturday. Praying for the rain to stop, we flew out of Houston not sure what was going to happen until we arrived. Once we landed, we heard there had not been rain for a few hours and the airport opened back up (yes--it is THAT small that the La Ceiba airport was temporarily closed because of a bad rain storm). We flew into Ceiba without problems, but arrived pretty nauseous and thankful the plane could physically make the trip...I told my mom the plane was really small, but neglected to tell her that it had 14 seats and that you can see into the cockpit...where the pilots used equipment that looked about 20 years outdated and something on the floorboard labeled "emergencia" had broken off.

On our way to La Ceiba

To paint a picture of where Lisa & the boys live, Balfate in out in the jungle about a 2 hour drive from La Ceiba (nearest small city with an airport), and the first part of the drive is mostly paved but then the rest of it is a dirt road with potholes that are big enough to curl up & take a nap in. Needless to say, it's more of a video game of dodging potholes and the feeling is like riding the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland...except you're also dodging cows, dogs, small children, and other cars. I also may not have warned my mom enough about what the drive to Balfate was like...hahahaa.

Right now it's rainy season!! It's a refreshing relief from the very hot and muggy summer months, but this year the rain is especially severe. Rainy season starts in October and goes through February, and some days the rain literally never stops. Rain boots are a MUST this time of year, and putting laundry out to dry takes several days. Although the crazy tropical storms usually mean dangerous jungle mudslides, rivers overflowing past the bridges, etc the thunder & lightning is absolutely breathtaking and you feel the storm shake everything around you & inside you--like you're also part of the jungle.

Exploring the backyard

Unfortunately, rainy season is also the same time of year the boys have off from school. November, December and January they're on vacation & it's not the best weather for playing outside in all day. We definitely are outside a lot still, but on especially stormy days we do stuff around the house & play lots and lots of card games. With all of us being a little stir crazy, we tend to get just as competitive with card games as they do soccer games after a while.

Will post more when I have better wifi, but please leave any questions you have for me in the comments!! As always, your prayers and support are very very needed & appreciated. And I'll end this post with one of my favorite photos of the trip so far.

Me & Cristian, the youngest