One week down!

Well, I made it! One week ago, I was trying to sleep before heading to the airport at 3:30 a.m. and now I have somehow survived to write another post. I don't plan on counting down the weeks that I am here, yet this week has been nothing like I expected!

I literally met Allison in the airport, then we drove for an hour out to the house that is the Eternal Family Project. It actually is just a large house and a large yard. They are renting this right now, looking for another place. 

The front of the house The front gate

As my sister Jenny put it in one of her sweet cards (I open one each week), the other times I have been in Honduras have always been a sprint, and now this is more like a 1/2 marathon (or something--I have yet to run one of those!). This week has been a bit faster paced than I anticipated. Allison, the mother of the girls here (for it is much more like a family than an orphanage or institution), left last Wednesday to go to the states for one week with one of the girls, Ruby, who needs to get fitted for a prosthetic leg. There is a foundation in Houston that pays for the doctors and the leg itself. 

So, less than 36 hours after arriving, I was left on my own. Thankfully, not completely. There is a woman who comes 8-5 Monday through Friday to cook and clean, and one of the older girls had vacation from school last week so she was around. Another girl, Sarahi, is studying at a university in San Pedro Sula, an hour away, but rides the bus after class almost everyday to come help out. She is the real person in charge. When she gets here, all the girls straighten up and even the littlest obeys very well. The girls behave fairly well, and know for the most part, what they should and should not do. I only wish I could speak better Spanish so I could know what to say when there is a problem. Perhaps by the end of my time here.

There are 8 girls that I am babysitting, for lack of a better term. Denia and Paola are 10, Yolani (Jo-lan-ee) is 9, Sarai (Sa-ra-ee) is 8, Aracely and Michelle are 7, Jenci (Jen-see) is 5, and Asly is 4. All but Asly, the youngest, are in bilingual school so they can understand and speak English to some extent and that is also the reason why they have vacation now, the same as schools in the states. Also in the house are Gaby, 13, who is a paraplegic, Mariela, 16, and Belquiz (Bel-keys) 17. Gaby and Mariela have summer camp during the day so they are not around until the middle of the afternoon. Belquiz is in a different school so her schedule is different. She has a daughter, Addyson, who is 16 months, who stays at the house while her mom goes to school. It has been an interesting week getting to know everything and everyone, more of which I will explain when I can think clearer. For now, I am thinking of things that I am very thankful for:

• Air-conditioning at night--I know it is about 10 degrees cooler here than in Kansas, but the humidity is incredible. I can sweat sitting still in about 1 minute. We are literally 3 blocks from the ocean, though we cannot see it. To go along with the AC,
• Bug spray--the mosquitos are terrible and seemingly very attracted to sweating gringas (white Americans)
• The upbringing I have had, though I wonder why I was so blessed
• The Spanish that I did know before coming, and how quickly I am learning more
• Knowing how to "drive stick" as I am the only who can drive to ballet lessons, the grocery store, and church (the diesel van in the picture is my sweet ride)
• Variety of food--We have some form of beans almost every meal, and often rice, but we have also had spaghetti, grilled cheese sandwiches, homemade donuts and, for those of you who know what baleadas are, I have had them for 5 meals! Que suerte! (I have not had any pop or pinguinos yet, but that is probably better for me anyway.)
• Access to internet
• God's peace and protection--I have not worried about my safety much at all, mostly due to God's peace and having other things to think about. For the most part, we are inside the gate unless we drive somewhere, and Puerto Cortes is much smaller and different than Tegucigalpa. Though the watchdog (he can be vicious if he does not know you), the locks, the gate, the razor wire are all there for safety and precaution, it is God who protects (perhaps through these things). It has been during this time on my own that I have realized I can really trust no other but God to protect me, yet who better to trust?

In the words of David, "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,  for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory;  my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;  God is a refuge for us. " Psalm 62:5-8

Hopefully after Wednesday, I can post much more and a lot of pictures too with more consistency! Also, I want to share some of the stories of the girls and things I will write about for my school journal project.