Home invasion???

This morning while I was eating my cereal and watching the news I was interrupted by blood-curdling screams coming from one of the boys bedrooms. It was Pedro and he was terrified because...as he was folding and putting away his clean laundry he shook out a pair of shorts out fell a large scorpion!!!

Not being the fastest person in the house I arrived on the scene after Will and Joyce and found Pedro still screaming, Will and Joyce holding everybody back, and scorpion trying to escape under the clothes basket. Just the look of a scorpion and the remembrances of what happened to the people in "Indiana Jones" movies when they were bitten are enough to elicit caution; not to mention fear!

In the end all is well....Pedro was not bitten, the scorpion is dead, and I got to finish my cereal! Now off to school to all my other "insects"! Just kidding...I love'em!

More medical news...

Friday Mauricio had the stitches removed from the operation on his gums and now is scheduled to have 4 teeth pulled (2 at a time) beginning tomorrow in preparation for braces in two weeks. Saturday Rosa, Cesar, and Pedro had the last of their cavities filled. Today Fabiola had spacers placed in her mouth in anticipation of having braces installed on Thursday.

We're still giving Pedro and Angel medicine via the atomizer/vaporizer and Pedro got up this morning with slight diarrhea. The rest of us just try to stay out of the way!

Will's Honduras Update 9/12/2011

Hola mi familia!

The past week was a week full of miscellaneous things here is a short list:

1. I finally started the process of applying for my residency. I had to obtain a few things and pay for a few things as well. One of the biggest hassles of obtaining what I needed was purchasing a "Certificate of Health" from a bank (weird huh? You have to purchase a form for a complete physical at a bank.) and then I had to hunt down a doctor to have him fill it out, stamp it, then sign it. Joyce knew a doctor in the Emergency Room that spoke English so we decided to pay him a visit. It took three hours but eventually he was able to fill it out. He took me into a room and asked me a few questions then told me to wait and he would return with the form completed. Half an hour later he returned with the form completed and a full health report and it was free. Pretty nifty huh? I had a physical and blood test without having to go through it! That saved alot of time and ALOT of money. Hopefully within a couple weeks I can go to immigrations and simply pay $20 a month to renew my visa instead of having to fly to the states every 3 months! :)

2. A month or so ago, Shari and Terry (the two missionaries that Alba lives with and that have a feeding kitchen for the poor of the city) asked me if I could deliver some donated cakes to an orphanage because they would be in the States during that time and I agreed to do so. Friday that is what Alba and I did. We stopped by the bakery, picked up the cakes, then delivered them to "La Casita" which is a all-female "orphanage". The orphanage ran by IHNFA and the orphanage is literally a prison like Alzira was for the children. When I was there a few memories came back from the first time I met the children. The lack of proper nutrition, proper utilities, the lifestyle, the hoplessness, etc. What made it even more difficult was the fact that it was an "all-female" orphanage. I could imagine what would happen to the girls in this "orphanage" when there was nobody around. When I was there, I learned there was a 13 year old girl that was already 7 months pregnant! That was hard. This country has such a dire need for children to be adopted but the country is too stubborn and prideful to do anything about it. That is why very few adoptions in this country is successful.

After La Casita, Alba and I then went to the orphanage that she worked at for four years to drop some clothes off. I visited this orphanage back in March with her, Shari, and Terry and I can tell that this one is a nice one. It is a privately ran orphanage owned by Alba's church "La Cosecha". The facilities here a much, much better than what Al Zira was or what La Casita is. When you walk in it has the entire story of Jonah painted on the inside of the facility. For me, it was cool to see Alba with the kids that she is close with. They all call her "Tia Alba". I watched as they all came to her one at a time giving her a hug when they returned from school. The smile on her face and the affection she showed them was great.

3. Sunday after church, Alba wanted to take the kids to the park so Bob and Joyce could have some quiet time and that is exactly what we did. Every time she spends a day with the kids I can see her growing closer and closer with them. It was good to watch her yesterday. Unfortunately, Mauricio and Fabiola couldn't go because Mauricio had stitches in his mouth and Fabiola had alot of homework to do and she was going to help Bob grade some homework.

4. For Bob's second week of teaching he is a big hit with all of the children but he can not stand to grad papers. It is pretty cool to see kids walk up to him out of nowhere saying "Hey Mr. Bob!". It shows that he hasn't instilled fear in their hearts yet. :) Truth is, Bob is a big goofball so kid's are naturally drawn to him and that is one of the reasons why I think they like him so much.

5. We continue to have many problems with Antonio and his conduct both at home and in school. Please pray for him. Angel has been battling a nasty cough since Friday. Rosa has made honor roll after just a few weeks of being bumped up a grade level. I sincerely believe that if she is pushed she can perform very well in school. Pedro and Cesar are loving their new school and you can kind've already see a change in them both for the better.

ALSO: We are looking for a Christian married couple or woman that would be willing to come down from the 1st of November to the 15th to help me with the children so Bob and Joyce could return to the United States to conduct some business. If you are interested email me, or Bob at bcoder@tds.net for more details. You can also call us on skype via your cell or home phone (is a TN number) at: 423-546-4323. You will only have to raise funds for airfare. Everything else will be covered.

Thanks for reading and your prayers!

More medical news...

Mauricio just had peridontal surgery. He's getting ready to get braces for his teeth, but first he had to have some surgery done on his gums and the muscle that holds the upper lip to the gums. The muscle was growing between the front two teeth pushing them apart and creating a gap in his front teeth.

The doctor cut the muscle out and put in 5 STITCHES!!! He was a real trooper and didn't even flinch much. Next he has to get 4 teeth pulled to make room in his mouth for his teeth to align properly....and I thought his mouth was big enough to fit anything in there!

Anyhow, he's on his way toward braces...Fabiola escaped having to have any teeth pulled; seems her mouth is large enough. Go figure!!!

School, Rain, Lawyers, and more...

After one week the 'school teaching' is going pretty well. Actually, I'm enjoying the kids...okay most of them. There are a few I've threatened to send home in a condition where their parents wouldn't recognize them, but for the most part they've been great.

Every night for the last two weeks we've been getting "mini-hurricanes". Anywhere between 8 - 12 p.m. a storm blows over the mountain with high winds, lightning, and intense rain. Our house has little floods with just about every storm. The windows in this house seem to be "un-caulkable"! San Pedro Sula is bordered on the West by high, steep mountains and when the rain comes it races down the mountainside creating 'white water' throughout the streets of the city and depositing a lot of mud and rocks in the streets. The street in front of our house floods about every night.

We continue our fight w/lawyers...we have our third lawyer now and she just returned from Teguicagalpa where she found that our last lawyer never filed anything properly on our behalf. Normally you would think you could just get your money back; but it doesn't work that way here...here you bite the bullet and continue to look for a lawyer who will actually do what you're asking.

The battle for resolution in the case of Antonio continues. As his conduct continues to deteriorate we get more and more promises and less action. Holding someone's feet to fire is not easily accomplished here.

Angel is mostly over his circumcision...although he told me yesterday that a ball him "there" and it hurt! I'll bet it did. Nearly all of our medical problems are behind us now, so we're looking forward to smaller med bills this month.

Pedro & Cesar and both adapting well at Good Seed...both of their teachers say they are trying hard, they are making friends, and they are both bright. It's a huge opportunity for them so we pray they don't get discouraged and will fight through their learning curve. Rosa just keeps amazing us as she went straight to the honor roll after skipping the second half of second grade and jumping into the middle of third grade.

Thanks for all your prayers and all your support...you are making a difference!

Bob, Joyce, Will, & Kids

School Days...

Well, here we go...off to school. Lots of smiles: some with eager anticipation for a new school, some anxious to get back to old friends, and some.........well, one........going back after nearly 50 years away! Oh my, what have I done now? I'll be teaching 4th, 5th, 6th, & 7th grade math for the month of September.

Will's Honduras Update 9/1/11

Hola mi familia en Jesus Cristo!

It has been a while since the last update and for that I apologize! Perdoname.

Since the last update it has been pretty busy around here whether it be from battling virus' or preparing the kids for a new school year! We now have Pedro and Cesar attending Good Seed which we believe will be GREAT for their development in every way! We especially believe that it will be very beneficial for Cesar!

As far as drilling is concerned we may not be able to drill until October. The reason being that for this month Bob has to teach math at Good Seed for the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th grades.

Thats right....***BOB IS TEACHING IN A SCHOOL WITH A BUNCH OF KIDS***. Pretty cool huh?

He was asked to step in because the new math teacher that was hired is coming in from the States and he will not be able to make it into the country until the end of the month. So, Bob teaches from 7 to 10 in the morning. Bob is pretty sharp with math and is pretty good at teaching it so he'll do a good job. When I try to imagine him teaching though all I can think about is the film from the 90's "Kindergarten Cop" ("Who said you could eat my cookie!", "It's not a tumor!", "Who's your daddy? and what does he do?") :)

Aside from those things...there were quite a few surprises along the way as well. We learned more about what Cesar has locked in his head from his past experiences in Alzira, Bob had to have a colonoscopy, Joyce had an ER visit due to dehydration and food poisoning (may I add that it was at the same time Bob was having his colonoscopy?), Angel had to have a circumcision performed, we have had three consecutive nights of HEAVY RAIN, had a small tremor, and I had a few personal surprises as well with my family back in the states. It has definitely been a surprising and interesting two weeks.

Here is what else has happened:

1. Fabiola turned 14 on the 15th of August.

2. On the 20th of August Bob, Joyce, and Fabiola went to a wedding of a young couple from the English speaking church we attend here in the city. They spent the night over at Tela where the wedding was held which left almost a whole weekend for me to be with the kids. Alba also returned from her 2 week vacation in her hometown of La Paz so she helped me with the children. It was a wonderful weekend, tiring, but wonderful. Alba and I took the kids out for the day and I believe it was also a great opportunity for her and the kids to start somewhere in terms of building a relationship. Apparently she clicked with Pedro because now the little guy is calling her! Looks like I have some competition!

3. For a long time I have had the desire to preach God's Word and He has finally blessed me with the opportunity (major fist pumpage ensues)! Bob and I went to Bill and Margy Hoff's (The pastor and wife of the church) house yesterday to pick up some letters and Margy had asked me if I have ever preached and I informed her that I hadn't but was waiting for God to bless me with the opportunity. She asked me if I wanted to on the second Sunday of October and I was surprised! I didn't know what to say because I was so nervous. Bob almost had to say "yes" for me! When I finally said "yes" I accidentally said "yes sir" instead of "yes ma'am". Great start huh?

4. Mauricio and Fabiola took their bike to a poor family down the street to give to one of the older girls in the family. Turns out that was God answering the little girl! The little girl had been asking the mother for a bike and a couple weeks later God gives her a pretty nice bike! Pretty cool how God provides huh?

Thank you all for your prayers VERY MUCH! You guys have no idea how much they mean to me!

Dios te bendiga!