A Few First Steps

More great new! I don’t have lice. I thought I did, but one of the older girls promptly went investigating into my hair and turns out I don’t. I just have itchy dirty hair. Hurray! Things are going well here. We are still fighting off some sort of a head/chest cold but Guy ended up being the only one who got stomach sick two days ago. We celebrated Christmas- and listened to fireworks go off that whole night long. It was impossible to sleep Christmas eve- constant BOOM noises from town, which was at least different from the occasional gunfire going on. It sounded like EVERYONE was celebrating with fireworks though!

It was so fun to see the Little Girls on the 26th, they were overflowing with special presents from their sponsors (every girls is sponsored) and it was obvious how special they felt. I was touched to witness the quality of goods that were received by the children. Brand new clothes, high quality toys, scooters, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, new books, etc. Many people sent photos of when they had been here to visit, as well as handwritten letters. These Little Girls were BEAMING! The house mom Elizabeth worked so hard to make Christmas special. She bought new outfits and had them all shipped here so the girls all matched on Christmas day. They woke up early and prepared a special breakfast on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Day they got peanut butter and jelly as a treat for lunch and then had a traditional Honduran dinner. She made individual stockings for each one of the girls (Little and Big) and filled them with small gifts.

[Side note on the house mom(s): The Little Girl house is run by two women. Carelia, who is a Honduran woman who grew up here and then went to school to become a nurse. She is now married and has five children of her own. She is a constant presence at orphanage Emmanuel and many of the Older Girls know, love and trust her as the role model in their lives. Elizabeth is the other house mom. She is American, about my age and has lived here for about three years now. She is bi-lingual and also runs the sponsorship program and works in the office. Every staff member here is also ‘double booked’ working as a house parent, or on the farm, in the school, or in the office. ]

We had a Christmas tree too! Granted, it is only the bottom two tiers of a three tiered Christmas tree- but it is beautiful. Well, it’s actually kind of ugly, but Joe hauled it down from some building’s attic and carried it all the way here and there are lights on in and my kids love it and there we go! It’s great.

I opened the packages from my parents and my sister (which I made them mail back in November!) best presents?- My mom sent a brand new towel, and my sister sent me an amazing DRESS!!! Win!! The kids got some board games, an American football, card games, and some legos! We also opened peanut butter, granola bars, peanut butter crackers, brownie mix, jelly and goldfish. Oh and Honeynut Cheerios. Needless to say we are all very happy campers.

In other news, Husband Joe wants me to tell you that we did not have an albino salamander like I previously stated. He wants to clarify that it is a normal gecko. Whatever.

Also, I walked into the bathroom at midnight the other night and saw TWO of them. Horrifying. Gecko or Salamander or albino or just pale, still weird and creepy! But not as gross as the cockroach in the Little Girl House. I’ll post that picture too : )

Much love to you and yours,

Kate