Sometimes just living takes up all your time...

OK, it's only been about a week since I updated my blog but MAN a lot has happened this last week. On Saturday night it was decided we would leave for Tegucigalpa on Sunday morning instead of VERY early Monday morning. Since early mornings are my mortal enemies, I was all for this idea. We had some minor troubles on the way there...About 10 mins away from home the Hosiers realized that all the important paperwork they needed to bring was still at the house. We'll call this delay #1. We were making good time, the weather was fantastic, the birds were chirping...then BANG!!!! thud thud thud. I screamed and covered my head with my hands for like a second. THEN, I realized it was just one of our tires EXPLODING! OK, it only had a small hole in it....but it was SO loud!! Luckily, Paul has a spare tire with him at all times and he got the tire changed and we were on our way again soon. Praise God that Paul was prepared and capable of changing the tire! We'll call this delay # 2. We got going again and I said those fateful words...."Um...sorry.... but... I really have to go to the bathroom..." You guessed it - delay # 3. So we got to Tegus a couple hours later than we planned, but everything worked out fine. We ended up going out to lunch with some friends of the Hosier's who have an ADORABLE baby girl and we got invited to an evening church service. While in Tegus I stayed with some other friends down the street from where the Hosier's were staying. one of them had just gotten a puppy a few days before. SO CUTE.
Thus begins the saga of our fours days at Tegus. Let me start with saying this: almost everything possible went wrong but God is working it out for good! OK, Monday morning while Paul and Sheila were figuring out all the paper work they needed to bring to immigration, I was doing school with the kids. Emma started getting a migraine and she got violently ill. I will spare you the gory details but I cleaned up a bit of puke and spent the better part of the day with a very sick girl. We went to immigration that afternoon (with the still sick Emma) and made NO progress. We found out we were all going to have to start from scratch on our residency process. The Hosier's file had been lost and I did not have the proper paper work. The next day we did school again and felt the strain of being cooped up together all day. Again, we got nothing done at immigration, but we did go out to the mall that evening and I got a bit of Christmas shopping done and ate some good Honduran food. Wednesday, we awoke bright and early to come back home and get ready for Thanksgiving and would you believe that the car wouldn't start? Well, it was pretty unbelievable to me also. We couldn't even get it to start with jumping it so we ended up having to buy a brand new battery and get it installed. We got home much later than anticipated.

So much foooood!

Happy Thanksgiving card!!

Lots of work went into these potatoes!

Thursday was Thanksgiving! I am so thankful to God that I have good friends and family to spend this holiday with while I am so far away from mine.

We had another family over for lunch that day and spend the morning cooking and the afternoon eating, having fun and good conversation with friends. That evening we went to our pastor's house and it was another time of good conversation with good friends. There were SO many people there and lots more food. Our pastors are extremely hospitable and they genuinely enjoy having people over.

I made that hat :D 

The new mom getting read to open gifts!

I was not feeling my best over the weekend, but I did go to a baby shower for a newly adopted baby in our church. I made a little hat for her and there was much laughter and holding of a very adorable baby :D

This is baby Grace!

 I made more chai and generally enjoyed my Sunday morning. I did spend a while writing out the words to La Primera Navidad (The First Noel).  We are using it in the kid's Christmas program at my church and we couldn't find the lyrics online (it was a different version than the one we DID find online). So I listened to it over and over until I had all the words down. Tough work - but now I have the song memorized!! La Primera Navidad el cielo lleno de angeles cantando....Yeah I'll stop now :D Igelsia was pretty good too. Our pastor spoke on the desperately important truth that Jesus is not JUST the son of God. He is fully God. It made me think a lot about Camp Pattersonville because Director Dan teaches that truth every week to our campers. We'll be spending the entire coming year looking at what Jesus said and did throughout his life so we can better understand what Jesus would have us, as Christians, do here on the earth. I also translated the entire service for the woman who does the sign language translation for the people who are deaf that attend our church. It was again really good practice. I think I got like 95% of it and I enjoy doing it, but it makes me mentally exhausted!!

Emma dancing with the cat...

Moving on to Monday! In the afternoon we got a fire going in the hearth - boy it was chilly! I know, you think I'm crazy, but our house has NO insulation and air flows freely into our home...so if it's 60 outside it's 60 inside and I KNOW most of you keep your house closer to 65 or 70 in the winter... so we were honestly a bit chilled! It was even colder today - I'm talking scarf and coat while indoors! Okay back to the Monday festivities.

Color accent setting on my camera

One of the children suggested we put up the tree and we all instantly agreed this was a great idea. They have a good sized artificial tree and an abundant supply of ornaments. Emma and I also risked life and finger to string popcorn to decorate the tree. We also hung our stockings over the fireplace- Sheila bought me one :D - I'm so thankful! There was one moment of sheer hilarity when Paul and I nearly knocked down the tree trying to attach it more securely to the base. Today we worked diligently at our schooling, I got some laundry done and we did some craft projects. I went out for really good baleadas for dinner with a friend. YUM!! No hay nada mejor en todo el mundo.

The tree is looking good!

So in conclusion to the residency things....The Hosier's have a friend who is working on getting it for me and I might not even have to go back to Tegus. Please pray that this will work!! Please also be praying for my abilities to teach these kids Spanish. It is the thing I think I'm having the most trouble with. I love and miss you all. Thanks again for reading. I know this is a long one. At least I added pictures this time!!

Happiness...

'My hope is in You, Lord, all the day long. I won't be shaken by drought or storm. A peace that passes understanding is my song. My hope is in You, Lord."  My Hope is in You, by Aaron Shust. See link for song :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RRZgr7wNDs

This is a little bit of a P.S.: I wrote this a week ago...so minor updates: School went very smoothly this week and each child had some major accomplishment. Quentin can now do multiplication! Morgan got a very good grade on a Language test and Emma ACED a math test. They're doing so well!! I thoroughly enjoyed Bible study Wednesday night.  I taught some friends to make Chai Thursday evening. Good fun! I played Frisbee with a whole bunch of friends and got baleadas for dinner AGAIN on Friday night. Very good week. Did I mention I have yet to pay for these amazing Dona Norberta's Baleadas....people are super nice to me and I love them for it.

Do all to the glory of God...

Are you ready for my shortest post ever? I've been having trouble sleeping this week and I'm exhausted but obviously not sleeping yet... Also I'm not adding any pictures to this post - but they're all on my Facebook page!

OK - Here goes! David was here this last week. We all went to San Pedro to pick him up (about a 2 hours drive). We also got some shopping done while there. I bought everything I needed to make my own Chai concentrate. More on that later! Since I was still doing school with the kids while David was here, we couldn't take off for a few days and just hit the beach - which would have been lovely ,but I think we still had a good time :D. Over the weekend we went to a nearby barrio - Balibrea- and helped a missions team hand out stoves (I mentioned this in my last post). We had a good time walking through the barrios and made some new friends. Sunday was church, of course, and I had fun introducing David to all my friends there. I translated the service for him which was challenging, but really good practice! We took Tuesday off  to go hiking and bird watching at a nearby national park. On Wednesday afternoon we went downtown and spent some time wandering around and shopping with some of my friends. I love just spending time in cities around people. We went out for baleadas (delicious honduran food) and then went to Bible study. It was pretty low key, but I enjoyed just getting a chance to share what my life is like down here with David.

I did some ambitious crafty things in the last week and a half. I made some vases out of light bulbs. I thought it would fail miserably, but it worked fantastically! I also made my own Chai concentrate, which is black tea boiled with lots of spices. The reviews were good :D- everyone loved it. I definitely plan on making more in the near future :D.

Yesterday, I got to play Ultimate Frisbee. This made me deliriously happy. I love playing and I hadn't played since August. As we were walking down the dusty street after the game, I took a deep breath and with a huge smile said "This is just how life should be!" AND we went out to dinner afterwards - baleadas again :D. The group I played with (mostly N.American teachers and our pastor's family) is thinking of trying to get a game together each week. That would be AWESOME. The weather down here is absolutely perfect for it. I'm sorry to those of you in the USA who got snow this week...

Today was a make-up school day so we did school all morning, then I got a wonderful call. "Christine, we're headed to the pupusa party -did you want a ride?" YES OF COURSE I DID!! Pupusas are made by making dough out of corn flour, filling it with Honduran cheese, flattening it out and cooking it. They are SO yummy. I love Honduran food in general.

Lastly, in the last couple weeks Emma and I started playing Family Feud on Facebook. While I am embarrassed to admit this....it's been a good bonding experience :D Also we made up some hilarious jokes this week that I cannot possibly explain. You'd have to live here :P. AND today the kids and I read/translated part of a Spanish comic book about Hercules....good times!

I've been feeling a little restless and homesick this week, but otherwise things are going really well! Thanks for reading. Love you all!!

1 Corinthians 10:31 "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"

Autumn Comes Unnoticed

Hello my people! Can I just say thanks for reading my blog. Sometimes when I’m writing, I’m thinking “Do people really want to read this?” Thankfully I always get emails from my Mom, Laurie, Emma, Pop-Pop, Uncle Bob, Aunt Jo and my Dad saying that they read my blog and are praying for me. Thank you Lord for a family that loves me and faithfully prays for me :D. Also I have numerous friends who I manage to talk to each week (or everyday –  Sheri…) and they assure me that they like to read my blog and see my pics…stay tuned for new kitty pictures :D

I will take over your blog with
 my cuteness...In my sleep!

OK I know it’s been two weeks since I’ve written. We were busy with various crafts last Sunday so I did not have time to sit down and write it. I have found myself with some free time whilst the others are watching TV so I made myself sit down and get my thoughts on…paper.

Ok what is new? Well we’ve had a few women’s bible studies and I am loving them. The book we’re doing is great and it really makes you take an honest look at your life. Always a good thing. I appreciate that most of the women are a bit older than me and have lots of great insights.

Original Christine, Emma, Morgan
 and Quentin Creations!

I’ve been helping with the children’s program in our church and things seem to be going well. They’re going to do a play for Christmas. Actually a musical I think. I’ll be helping with that. Making the costumes in fact. There are some middle school girls who still come down for children’s church and they take what we’re learning seriously and seem to enjoy it.  Celebramos el aniversario de nuestra iglesia este Domingo. We celebrated our church’s one year anniversary this Sunday. Arroz con pollo and cupcakes! YUM. 

The kids and I made about 70 cupcakes and decorated them. It’s so humid here that the icing kind of slid all over the place…We discussed more about the purpose of the church and things that we could personally change about the church. It was a really good time.

Feel my wrath!!

I’ve been learning a lot about myself while I’m down here. I think this happens to most people when they’re in new situations. Or maybe I’ve just been more introspective with less people to talk to and bounce my ideas off of. In the past, I have always surrounded myself with lots of noise and lots of people so in some ways, I don’t know who I am. I’m learning about my limits, my abilities, how to deal with struggles, how to be more joyful. The hardest lesson I’m learning is humility. Now if I went into detail here, I’d be undoing all my lessons learned. One thought though. Do you know how hard it is to go from having your own car for 6 years to depending on other people for rides?  Enough said I’m sure.  Trust me that I still have a lot to learn when it comes to being humble.

Oh no...I fell asleep mid-jump again!

I promise to be good...
(He's crossing his toes!)

I got to Skype with David, Ashley, Sheri, Dad and Laurie this last weekend. (And Ashley again today!) I loved it! Just seeing their faces was fantastic. Right now I am eagerly anticipating the arrival of David (my oldest brother). I wish my whole family could come down, but I haven’t seen him since January and that is too long. Just a few days now! We will take lots of pictures and I’m sure the next blog post will be all about our adventures. We Rankin siblings are the adventurous types – especially when we’re together :D.

OH – I never did mention what the crafts were that we did on Sunday. We made paper mache pumpkins. Not to celebrate Halloween – just to get the house looking more like fall. I admit that I forget it is November with frequency. No leaves changing, no cold temperatures, no snow. I have plans for a Thanksgiving craft too. We’ll call it the kid’s art component…A.K.A…. making cornucopias.

  We also dyed some string and made friendship bracelets AND I tried out this really cool way of painting your nails. You float several colors of nail polish on the surface of water, swirl it into cool patterns and then dip your nails in it. Check out the picture. Worked way better than I thought it would!

Two last things. I was introduced to www.Pinterest.com this week. I’m a little addicted. If you’ve never checked out the site, it’s basically people posting pictures of everything from home décor ideas, to ideas for a classroom, to favorite movies and books, to easy DIY projects. Anything you can think of –you’ll find awesome ideas for on this website! Finally, this week some time I should be able to go with a visiting team from Canada to give out these low smoke stoves. They take less wood (cheaper), burn hotter (better cooking), are cool to the touch on the outside (safe for kids!), relatively light (in case you want to cook outside), and almost smokeless (much better for your health!). It’s one of the ministries of a couple that attend my church. Typically the families would have to pay what they can for the stove, but this team that came down raised money especially so they could buy and give away stoves. There is an educational session that the families who are receiving a stove will attend. Should be a great experience! Pictures and more details in my next post if I do indeed get to join them this week!

Just waiting until you're not looking then
 I'll jump on the table and steal your food!

 I love you all and thank you so much for reading my blog. Miss you all a lot too! <3

“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”

- 2 Corinthians 12:9