Another Day in Honduras

Time is going quickly here in Honduras and while there are so many seemingly hopeless situations here there is some awesome things taking place. The children here as Casa take for granted that Karen gets up at 5:30am each day to begin the day. This morning Dorian got up and left at 6am to take Rosie and Reina to town for Teleton. Lots of people put in long days with little or no pay to make these Casa kid's lives a little better.
Take Sunday for example, a man from around Teguc. came to gate here at Casa because his house was falling over the mountain in a mud slide. He came to Casa because he knew that people associated with Mark C. were here at Casa. This man has worked with Mark before but Mark is currently in US. so he showed up here after a several hour bus ride. The message was passed along and hopefully with donations, help will come. The people know that Mark C. helps people. No he does more than help people, he cares deeply about people and the people know that.
The people at the dump know that Marc T has began a ministry there and know that every Wednesday, there will be food.
And the children that i have seen grow and mature, it is so awesome to see those who could barely walk when they came to live here, now run and jump and attend kindergarten. And another who was quite a problem with throwing fits and biting and kicking, is now much calmer and no longer shows her anger through striking out with violence. Yes they misbehave still but not like they did when they first came. And the little one, Josue, Karen said that he was barely alive when the state took him. Today he sat on my lap and gave me kisses as I threatened to chew his toes. He runs everywhere and is possible getting spoiled. I am thankful that I have the awesome opportunity to glimpse these awesome examples of love. Please pray that God will continue to use Casa as an instrument of His love.

Labor Day

Different kinda day. There is one inspector in Honduras that inspects all 400 childrens' homes and today he came to Casa de Esperanza. They do not show up unannounced, he calls and tells you that you have to come and get him and take him to your childrens home. So Dorian went to Tegucigalpa to get him. I helped Karen a little by cleaning her office and going through their meds to make sure there were no expired meds, The sad part is that the ones that were expired we sent to the local clinic where they can use them. The inspector and his assistant were here for hours and he talked and he talked and he talked. Karen introduced me to him and she told him about my job with the elderly and he had lots of questions for me. I think he talked with Karen more than he inspected. They had some boxed of expired cheerios and the inspector asked if he could have them.
For lunch had rice and from scratch french fries. Only ate 3 fries as I figured it would be a carb overload.
Dorian has asked for his old room mate at Baxter to come and help him with his job as minister. Dorian feels that when he is in school, he does not have the time needed to minister as he should. So he offered his friend part of his salary ($300 monthly) to assist him. So the friend arrived and Dorian was not here, he was on the long drive taking the inspector back to city.
I hung up a few clothes on clothesline only to have Karen scold me for not hanging them correctly. I admit to being out of practice in hanging out clothes. I finished my book today that I had from library and tried to clean Karen and Dorian's apartment a little to help them out as they only had one cook/cleaner working today. I had plans for roasted turkey breast with mashed potatoes and rolls that I brought in my carry on. Well the stove temperture was set and I marked the time. It was supposed to take around 2 hours to cook. I even had the potatoes cut and sitting in pan of water ready to turn on. Karen came to apartment and told me the oven was not on! I did not turn on the propane to the stove so it had set in a cold oven for 1 1/2 hours. so plan B was called for.
Dorian had got a bag of frozen seafood at PriceMart, so decided that this was plan B. Decided to try alfredo sauce on it and cooked some noodles. Also added a can of corn for veggies. The seafood had octopus, squid, mussels, shrimp and snow crab. And the squid and octopus were not chopped fine but very evident with tentacles going everywhere. Well I couldn't eat the noodles but had some on a tostada. The octopus and squid tasted like fishy rubber and you could chew and chew and chew and eventually you just gave up and swallow it. To make it funnier, Dorian's friend ate with us and was very polite but declined seconds. He kept asking, " What is this?" Poor guy.
I got ahead of myself. While I was preparing the turkey breast, Karen was beginning to help the children with homework. There are two local ladies who also help with homework. I do not know how Karen does it. I would have shock collars on them all:) Fernando got a bunch of word wrong at school and he had to write each one correctly several times. Well he was writing several times but not correctly. Ana was working on multiplication tables and kept trying to look back for the answers. So at any one time there are probably 10-12 children trying to complete homework in the kitchen area.
Oh and I forgot about lunch. Doris came from school but never ended up at table to eat. so I went to check on her. She was sitting on commode and told me she had to "poo poo" so I went back to kitchen. A little later one of the girls told Karen that Doris needed more toilet paper. Karen went to check and sure enough, Doris was just beginning her "time of the month" but kept sitting there on the commode unsure what to do. Poor girl. She later was sitting on my lap and kept giggling, I soon knew what the giggling was about. Doris was expelling gas and giggling. But Doris is hard to get upset with.
I took little Josue outside which they were working on homework and Rosie came along. She picked dandelions and gave them to Josue to blow away. It was cute. Now they are saying that all schools are closed tomorrow and Karen is trying to figure out about an appointment tomorrow at hospital secuela.
It was another wonderful day in Honduras

Worship Day

It is a beautiful morning in Honduras and I am alone in the apartment trying to wake up and get ready for worship. God is good, I say that a lot but that is such an understatement. My God is so magnificent it is truly beyond my comprehension. His unfailing love sets a standard that we as humans come up so short on. He loves me without reservation, no matter how many times I screw up. The fact that he sacrificed his son for me is incomprehensible. The fact that I sacrifice so little for Him is truly pitiful. But for today I will be thankful for this awesome, tremendous gift and be honored to be called His.

The rain returns

It rained off and on all night, sort of a comforting sound on the metal roof. Towards morning I did hear the "lizards" that Karen told me about. It still worries me that Dorian calls them scorpions but he insists that it is not scorpions like I think? Right before bed karen told me not to worry that they stay on ceiling, the only problem is they sometimes find droppings on bed in the room I am sleeping. Talk about focusing on keeping my mouth closed while sleeping:). So when i heard them, I just pulled sheet over my head and went back to sleep. The children were already at school when I go up. Just Josue, Marjorie and Nohemy were here. and the girls went to kindergarten at noon. School here is over at 12:30 for others, unsure how much they can learn is such a short time. Wish there were funds to send them all to private school. Karen and the three were "sorting" beans. Looking for worms in the beans actually. I can't see well enough that close up to tell the good from the bad but the children enjoyed it. Marjorie sat on my lap and let me love on her a lot today.
Josue lost one of his shoes and Karen was looking for it. She looked behind the tv and yelled mouse. Those of you who know Karen know that snakes, spiders, etc do not scare her but mice, she screams like a girl and runs! The mouse was dead so I got it and took it out and threw it in dumpster area. I came back and moved tv to clean up it's nest and yep, there were five babies under the tv. Reina and me were trying to sweep up the babies into a dustpan but a couple decided they could run and would run under the tv and we would move it again and off they would run. Well Dorian came to see what was going on and he took care of the babies in a somewhat violent matter. Then it was discovered that something had a small nest in bottom of tv and Dorian had to take off covering of tv and we cleaned it off.
I got to go with Dorian to pick up the children at school and then we had lunch. Rice, beans, and a shredded sort of barbequed meat. It was good and I cleaned my plate. I then came back to Karen & Dorian's apartment to check email and lay down on couch and fell asleep. We later ran into town to pick up a few items. I was desperate for caffeine and in search of tea. It was so foggy, it was hard to see the road and the dozens of people walking the roads. No regular tea bags were to be found where we went but found some other goodies. Returned home and Karen and Dorian went to church. Stacy, a lady who is staying here and helping at Casa, must have heard me moaning as she came to door and offered me some Liption tea bags. Life is good once again and I have a new best friend!
I think Karen is getting off tomorrow and we will go to market. We got some bananas today but cant wait for more fresh fruit. Karen gave me a piece of a fruit here today that might be guava? It was good. Always an experience here. Saw some of the OSU Marshall game, and although it is only 8pm here my body feels like it is 10p like at home. Can't wait for another day of adventure tomorrow.

It was the best of days, it was the worst of days.

I woke up really excited to be on my way to visit Karen and Dorian. Beautiful day, wonderful flights and Dorian was there at airport to meet me. He told me that Karen still had no idea I was coming. that was a really good day
Dorian and a minister from Ojojona and his wife were on their way to the the tegucigalpa dump where hundreds work digging through garbage for plastic bottles and other things to recycle. Some actually live at the dump. Oh and you see men, buzzards and cattle all fighting for scraps of food that have been thrown away and are rotting. To get to the dump was a lengthy process. The road that is usually taken is washed out due to all the rains. On the road up mountain to dump, there were numerous places where hillsides have slipped into the road. The trash seemed to be everywhere as the rain had washed all down to the bottom and it lie in ditches where some were setting it on fire to get rid of it. There were people everwhere working, trying to shore up the foundations of their home, their hillsides, etc. and mud everywhere.
We eventually reached the dump and the smell seemed much worse than ever before. There was two to three inches of mud that smelled like poop everywhere. Dorian had me take off my watch and leave camera so it would not be taken from me. As soon as we pulled in the crowds started coming to the vehicles. I was privileged to be allowed to place tortillas on top of bowl of rice and beans and insert a plastic spoon and hand to those gathered there. Dorian was also passing out water. they kept coming, mostly men but lots of boys and women also wanting some food. There seemed to be so much more trash there, and oh the stench. Dorian had brought me his boots to wear to keep me somewhat clean. The food was all gone and I found myself really sad that just this morning I was in a society where we throw away everything and at noon, I was amongst seemingly "throw a way people" I simply cannot fathom what it would take for me to rummage through rotting garbage, trash and dead animals to find plastic bottles that I could turn in for a few pennies. And if it was a good day, maybe find some lunch amongst the debris? There was a lady with a baby there and another one who is very pregnant. There are little boys that should be in school and having hugs and kisses from loving parents that instead jockey for position amongst the men. We left and made our way slowly back down the mountain. It was the worst of days..........
Then Dorian and I finally made it to Santa Ana and he took me over to the clinic and walked in the back way and hid in their apartment. He then went back out and entered the other way and called karen (who was with the children) to tell her he needed something from their apartment asap. Well I was standing in their bedroom when she came through the dcor and I scared the poor girl half to death. It was priceless as I hung onto her and hugged and hugged. It was the best of days.............
OH and Karen said if i hear anything during the night it is just these little lizard like things crawling around eating mosquitos and such. Welcome to Honduras!

I made it through the day!

Yep, I made it. No candy either. This is hard but I will overcome. Did pretty well with eating today and not really hungry. that isn't to say that I am not craving candy, chips or even a bag of marshmallows. I can almost taste the sweetness as I think about them. Oh well that won't help so I will quit naming what I can't quit thinking about.
I was able to exercise today by spending 40 minutes on my "gazelle".
tonights meeting of SEALS at church was exciting. Can't wait to dive in a little more.
I am so blessed that God is beside me in my journey.............I can do this, I can do this, I can do this..............

How many times can you start over?

I almost hate putting this in writing but I need to so that I can't back out of this. I need to start over with so many things, but at the forefront is my weight and health. So here is the plan. I am going to Honduras in November sometime and I am committing myself to losing some weight before I visit Karen and Dorian. So I have September and October, two months to buff myself up.
I know I can do nothing without God and with Him I can do anything so I am also starting over with my commitment to a reading plan of His word instead of what seems interesting at the moment.
So here goes:
I intend to each healthier
exercise more
spend more time in prayer daily
read consistently with a purpose, God's word

I will struggle and I need all of you to support me, pray for me, and hold me accountable. Even when I try telling you I didn't really mean it or I have had a hard day and want excused.
So how do I expect to get there?
well as for eating healthier, I will not eat any snacks out of the machine at work (ouch that is going to be difficult) I will not eat any potato chips and no candy. Oh I can already hear the gum drops calling me.
Those who doubt me, I don't blame you, but get this: I start a tai chi class this week. I don't know what it is but it is a start and it is free so I am taking a step of faith. So I am inviting any of you who want to follow me on this journey of insanity, Ok, even more insane. So when November rolls around and I land in Honduras, I will be so transformed, that the children will no longer pat my belly and call out "gordo".
For today, it has begun and I will win this battle one day at a time.....

I Need To Be A Better Servant

Jesus measures greatness by service, not status by Rick Warren

Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Mark 10:43 (MSG) "Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve, not how many people serve you. " The world defines greatness in terms of power, possessions, prestige, and position. If you can demand service from others, you've arrived. In our self-serving culture with its me-first mentality, acting like a servant is not a popular concept. Jesus, however, measured greatness in terms of service, not status. God determines your greatness by how many people you serve, not how many people serve you. This is so contrary to the world's idea of greatness that we have a hard time understanding it, much less practicing it. The disciples argued about who deserved the most prominent position, and 2,000 years later, Christian leaders still jockey for position and prominence in churches, denominations, and parachurch ministries. Thousands of books have been written on leadership, but few on servanthood. Everyone wants to lead; no one wants to be a servant. We would rather be generals than privates. Even Christians want to be "servant-leaders," not just plain servants. But to be like Jesus is to be a servant. That's what he called himself. While knowing your shape is important for serving God, having the heart of a servant is even more important. Remember, God shaped you for service, not for self-centeredness. Without a servant's heart, you will be tempted to misuse your shape for personal gain. You will also be tempted to use it as an excuse to exempt yourself from meeting some needs. God often tests our hearts by asking us to serve in ways we're not shaped. If you see a man fall into a ditch, God expects you to help him out, not say, "I don't have the gift of mercy or service." While you may not be gifted a particular task, you may be called to do it if no one who is gifted at it is around. Your primary ministry should be in the area of your shape, but your secondary service is wherever you're needed at the moment. Your shape reveals your ministry, but your servant's heart will reveal your maturity. No special talent or gift is required to stay after a meeting to pick up trash or stack chairs. Anyone can be a servant. All it requires is character. It is possible to serve in church for a lifetime without ever being a servant. You must have a servant's heart. How can you know if you have the heart of a servant? Jesus said, "You can tell what they are by what they do" (Matthew 7:16 CEV).

National Lampoon has nothing on me!

I have laughed endlessly at National Lampoon Vacation movies. Well let me tell you that it is only funny to because it is about someone else. Well I am living one myself right now. Being an adventuresome person, Sharon and I decided we would take Brennen home to North Dakota instead of her and him flying. Lisa and Brian decided to join us for this trip. Well I worked all day Tuesday getting off at 4 and hoping to by pulling out for the start of the adventure by 5 . Work was wild and crazy and very fast paced. I came home to find out that Sharon's jeep would not start as she tried to leave her work to come home. She had to have her brother come rescue her and bring her home. The Jeep was left to fend for itself. Well all it takes is something like a change of plans to start the dominoes to fall. Luckily we were not planning on taking the Jeep so we could deal with that. Sorta of a stress inducing start but it could be overcome. I literally backed out the door of house while keeping Griswald from nipping us as he was angry that he was not going with us.
We were off to Columbus and picked up Lisa and Brian. Actually got their luggage in the trunk and it closed! Brennen was wanting to watch his dvds. With great anticipation he opened his transformers dvd to fine Annie and not Transformers disc in case. He then opened another one and it was High School Musical. He looked downcast and told us that sometimes his mama gets the discs confused and puts them in the wrong cases. He simply exclaimed "Nuts!" and watched High School Musical.
We were cruising right along leaving Columbus when we screeched to a halt and then crept along and made maybe 5 miles in 45 minutes. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to make it out of Ohio. Lisa saved the day for Brennen by bringing some of her dvds. Brennen evidently has not seen Lion King. Well we nicknamed him Karen because he spent the entire time asking questions and Lisa very patiently answered every question. It was non stop questions. We made it through the night by changing seats and drivers every few hours. During my shift, we stopped for bathroom break and I had a little difficulty finding how to get to parking place I wanted and before we were done, I think I circled a fast food restaurant three times and the employees were looking out ready to call cops. We drove all night and survived. Lisa took over driving this morning and as a few sprinkles hit the windshield. Well as Lisa turned on the wipers, the driver's side wiper blade flew over the roof of car. We were all sort of dumbstruck for a while. Hopefully the cars following us survived the flying blades. Well guess what? I had an extra driver's side wiper blade and we stopped to have Brian put it on. As we pulled to a stop in front of a closed business, Sharon mentioned that we had stopped there before. But we had never even been in Wisconsin before. This is just kind how it went. We thought we had it made once we made it to Minneapolis but I think we entered a time warp. No matter how far we drove it seemed we remained two hours from out next stop. In fact our last two hours of travel felt like it took us 12 hours. We were so excited to finally reach Grand Forks but the drama was not over. As we got there, my cell phone was dying and beeping. We were trying to talk with Amanda to try to find our way to her house. Sharon was talking to Amanda and I was driving . Lets just say our nerves were on edge and we were all cranky. Lets just say it is a good thing I do not have a concealed carry permit. But we finally made it and all was well. I think we brought the Lampoon spirit to Grand Forks. Amanda put up a canopy for the children to play under and within 15 minutes, the wind blew and broke three of the legs. I love vacations, I am no so sleepy, cranky and slap happy that I am afraid of what the evening will bring.

Mothers Day

I am blessed to have my mother still living and she is a sweetie that always makes me smile. She is a young 84. Happy Mother's Day to an awesome Mom.
This is a very special Mother's Day to me as I got to start the day with all three of my precious children. Lisa is becoming such an awesome lady. She just quietly does what needs done without complaining or moaning. I love the person she has become. Karen keeps me on my toes, surprising me and it is always special to spend time with her as these times are way too infrequent. She tromped me in scrabble and she even makes up words! And my baby graduated college and gave me roses and gluten free brownie mixes. Brian is very sensitive and kind and I am glad that he lets this show unashamedly. I am so, so proud of my children. God has truly blessed me with giving me children that make me a better Mom. And Miss Amanda Sue feels like she is part mine as I have watched her grow up and mature into an awesome Mom herself. I was blessed to be present when she first became a Mom herself and she has three awesome children that I could not love more. Karen has 17 precious children she is Mom to, every day and they all share their love wit me when I visit them. Cindy Lou and Antonio can not be erased from my heart. Then there is my grand puppy, Samson. He has the decency to act crazy whenever he sees me and I think he considers me his Grandma. So on this Mother's Day I am blessed extremely and feel very grateful for all that God has showered on me. Life is good, God is awesome!

What am I willing to sell?

Luke 12 is a difficult verse to follow. Jesus tells me to be generous, sell what I have and give to those who are without. At what point to I decide to sell what I have? I am waiting to accumulate more and more before I decide to give something to someone else. I can't say that I don't see anyone in need around me. The hurting are everywhere I go. I am blessed and while I give God the praise and thanksgiving for what I have. I keep what I have. I sometimes argue or discuss the finer points of The Bible with those around me to make sure that they get things "right'. But Luke 12 is pretty plain on what I should be doing. Not too much of a doubt as to what Jesus wants me to do, but do I?
When was the last time I showed sacrificial giving to my children? So I study stewardship I hope I get to the point that I can obey all of Jesus' teaching. So for now I am thinking and praying. Yes I have promised to give more in the offering plate, but where is the increase in my love for God's Kingdom? I am wandering when will I be willing to say, "here, take this and be blessed"?

February 16th

Twenty eight years ago I gave birth to my middle child, Karen. Her name came from a story book that I had as a four year old. I always wanted a girl named Karen. I wanted Karen Kay but that got vetoed. I remember so clearly that labor and delivery of Karen. After a very fast labor for my first child, my doctor had cautioned me to come to hospital sooner rather than later. I remember my water breaking while I was sleeping and after calling the dr., was urged to come straight to hospital. no pains yet. I remember that my mom was there and she was in the labor room some of the time. I was sitting up in bed talking to her when my doctor came in and told me I had to lie down to have labor? The labor progressed to a point and then stopped and would not start again. At lunch time, my doctor came and told me that he would induce labor. Sounded good to me. Well inducing labor is quite an experience. I was asking for a nurse to catch the baby and they kept telling me to NOT to push. I finally told them that I was going to push and someone better catch the baby. The doctor got there just in time and Karen Diane Vaughan was born. She was long and skinny and beautiful. My mom and Dad were at hospital and got to see Karen as soon as she was born. She soon filled out and was almost a chubby baby. Her hair, light brown at birth soon changed to blond.
My Karen has always had a mind of her own. At times I thought she was very stubborn and at times my difficult child. She fell in love with her heavenly Father and used these personality traits to a positive result. Karen is such a contradiction at times.
She would be scared about being home alone but then left for a third world country to live. Karen never liked to drive and hated traffic and then she learned to drive a standard in Teguc (crazy driving capital of the world).
Karen has grown into a beautiful woman and she found the love of her life in Dorian. They really bring out the best in each other. While I miss spending birthdays with her, i know she is where she is supposed to be, doing what God created her to do.
Happy Birthday Karen Diane, your momma is proud of you.

Ownership

The church where I worship is in a period of transition. This will hopefully be a new start for us all. Why do we need a new start? It isnt that we have an awful fellowship or that our leaders are ineffective. But we have became complacent. Content with where we are and what we are to our community.
Our sermon for this morning kinda smacked me in the face. We were told that we were damaged. At first I found myself thinking, "yeah, those other people need to straighten up". But I am responsible for my part and I do take ownership. I had several people ask what I was taking ownership for and this is my answer.

Sometimes, instead of praying for those among us might find Jesus during our time of worship, I wished the minister would hurry up so I could get on with my day. Unreal that I thought the day was MINE.

When an announcement was made that volunteers were needed, I thought they meant someone who was not busy like myself.

I would rate sermons like an American Idol judge, not someone hungry for God's word.

I would take communion and share Jesus body but not act like His body when I left the parking lot and someone pulled out in front of me.

I have sang songs and not heard the words.

And one of the worst things was be happy when there was no problems finding MY seat, instead of being happy that I would have to sit elbow to elbow with someone.

When the offering plate was passed I gave out what I had left, not what I had.

Today I went forward, owning my part of the decline at my assembly. I only hope that I can use His word and His promises

What I took from this morning's sermon,
The strength of my prayers is determined by how well I know God's promises.
For today and hopefully looking forward, I will Him my best

Confused

I am confused about how so many people complain that as a Christian country we should be allowed to have prayer in school and we fight to the end on whether the Then commandments are hanging in our courthouses. I think Jesus told us that we would be judged by how we feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the sick. I don't think that what matters is whether the ten commandments are posted or even if we have christian nativity scenes in our public parks

It seems to me that the fight over the health care reform is over how much money we will spend on those who do not have insurance. The senators and representatives have very good health care plans plus they will have a great pension when they leave office. The elected senators and representatives who have voted against the health care reform are voting to put more money into the coffers of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. They may have been given money from the lobbyists from those companies. I think I was informed that the insurance companies have been spending $2.1 million a day to defeat the reform.

When are we going to take care of our neighbor? What about the people who turn 19 on their next birthday? What about the people who have lost their jobs and soon will lose their insurance? Do you know anyone who has insurance that has low premiums, low deductible and pays 100%?

So many people have vocalized the fear that our nation is becoming a socialist country. Do people not realize that Medicare, Social Security, the Veterans program and Medicaid are government programs? Truly, I am more fearful of the huge corporations, the banks, and investors on Wall Street than being a socialist.

We are in a financial mess right now because of the oil companies, lending institutions; the insurance, pharmaceutical companies and Wall Street have had a heyday without regulation. We are paying a large debt because of two wars. Some of the above groups have made a lot of money from the wars. Not only have the CEO's made sure they received huge salaries but they have benefited from a huge tax break for the last several years.

Then on Thursday, Jan. 21, our Supreme Court made it legal for corporations to give as much money as they want to people who are running for office. this scares be much much more than too much government.

The American Dream is that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The right to life means more than being born. It means the right to sufficient food, clothing, shelter, health care, and education, and employment.

I for one want health care reform that will ensure a choice of affordable health care plans regardless of pre-existing conditions ... close gaps in prescription coverage for those on Medicare ... and enhance the quality of health care. We need reform for our older Americans and those who do not have coverage.

When I understand why those who want to fight for our Christian rights show their fruits by being Christ like then I won't be confused.