Summer's over already?

So here is the last post on our summer trip to San Antonio. We had a good summer, my house was LOUD and crazy much of the time. I enjoyed it but admittedly with school in session I have a bit of a break ;)

Our lame attempt at a family photo

Feeding Danny Boy....they just LOVE him and he's such a gentle horse.

We went to the Witte museum....Blake found a rainbow in the tree house
Truitt climbing the rock wall
In front of the Witte
Lots of pool time. Truitt in the background of this photo cracks me up!

Treasure Cove

We started a new preschool this year, it's closer to home and easier on the pocket book. The best thing about the change is that it's at our church - yay! Truitt decorated his own bag this year, he enjoyed that and seemed to enjoy his first day (the change didn't bother him one bit!).

LID

We were officially logged in on 7/20/2011. They took 7 weeks to tell us it had been done....ho hum. So, now more waiting :)

Summer - part 2

We took a trip to visit the grandparents in Kerrville/Bandera. We went to Sea World with Nana and left Blake with Oma and Grandad. Blake's a runner (meaning he runs away from me whenever possible) and I felt like enjoying my time there :) maybe next year!

Snow cones at Nana's

Truitt rode the Shamu ride with Nana. Truitt also rode Journey to Atlantis with Kurt and I, it's a water ride and it totally surprised me he wanted to ride it. Brave boy!

Feeding the Lorikeets, we love doing this each time we visit.

Feeding the dolphins. This time both boys got to touch the dolphins as they fed them.

Sharks...something the boys are pretty facsinated with right now.

Water

As I sit here Truitt comes out of his room for the 3rd time to get water. Then little bit follows (they share a room)..I'm aggravated. I get the water bottles out of the fridge, get a straw and help Blake. I watch as ice cold, crystal clear water goes through the straw into his little body. The thought pops into my head, there are so many moms who can't give their kids a sip water...not one sip and their children are dying because of it.

Aggravation....gone.

Admittedly water isn't something I think about often...we have so much of it we swim in it, water our grass with it and if it's hot it goes down the sink. I am sure many of you are aware of the famine in Africa right now...you CAN help. Here is a link and at the bottom there are some organizations that are helping provide relief for the many people in need there. One that I am familiar with and trust is World Vision...can't say enough good things about this organization!

http://one.org/blog/2011/08/03/horn-of-africa-crisis-what-you-can-do-to-help/

Summer

We did do a few other things besdies Honduras this summer :) Lots of swimming, playing otuside (and inside with the heat), lake house time and a trip to Kerrville/Pipe Creek. The boys and I went to Splashway with one of my besties - we had fun and so did the kids :) My camera died during the trip but I was able to snap a few.

Jordan and Lynette

Me and my boys!

Truitt LOVES the lazy river

The boys rode each slide, no fear, it was great!

First Day - 2nd Grade

Somehow I managed to delete my first day photos (I didn't take many to begin with!). I had 3 left and my favorite one - gone. I'm a little disappointed about that but oh well, this one will do. Braden said his first day was "good"....which is what I had expected/hoped to hear :)

She'll be here....one day.

Today Truitt asked me "Mom, when is our sister going to be here?". I said "I don't know but I can't wait to see who God has for our family". I found this today and I'm SOOOO getting one....the symbol is Chinese for love and I LOVE this necklace, just seems appropriate :) First things first - we need a girl name!

The People

Here are some of the sweet people we met...

This is Allison and Tamy...they were two of our 6 translators. So very sweet, they are in 11th grade and volunteered their free time to be with us!
This is Maria, mom of 7 kids. Last year Hope Coffee was able to add a kitchen to her very small, two bedroom house. She was such a happy woman, always smiling when I saw her.

This was one of the 2 classrooms at the school on the mountain. It housed 87 kids, grades 1-6 in 2 bulidings with 2 teachers!! Children here are only required to go to school to 6th grade. If they can afford a uniform, supplies and can get to the one public school in town they can continue in school. That said, many of the children go to school until 6th grade and that's it. Some stay home and watch their siblings so their moms/dads can work. Others work hard themselves to support their family. This is one of the many things that has been on my mind. Poverty is cyclical and it can't be broken without hope and a knowledge that there is something beyond this poverty, which is what they've known their whole lives.

This is Oscar, having lunch just outside the school. One day as I was chatting with his cousins and sister he snuck out of school to follow us to the Pulperia (snack shop)...his mom saw him and he reluctantly returned to school. We passed him a snack through the fence :)

During the school break (10-10:45) we gave everyone tatoos. It was fun, they were all animal tatoos. The kids would pick an animal and then tell us how to say it in Espanol, it was fun!

Beautiful huh? Kids are gathering around during the break...not sure what Andrea is handing out!

We had VBS each day from 2-4. It was nothing fancy like you see here in Katy - just worship, stories, songs and games and the kids LOVED it. It was refreshing to do things simply, things don't have to be big to do BIG things, know what I mean?

This was our travel team. Mark, Michelle, Micah, Ariana and Malachi are just tot he left of us. They live there on the seminary grounds (so pretty!) and run Hope Coffee, minister with and to the local Honduran people. They're doing an awesome job and we're so pleased to be a part of it all!

The Work....

This is one of the houses that we worked on. They put a new floor and a new roof on this woman's house. As they took off the old roof they were covered in black soot....which caked the inside of the roof because she cooks inside (the smoke doesn't always go outside).

This was the old roof, just beyond the roof you can see some stuff under the tree - that is

all

she

owns.

This is a 2 rooms house, many were just a single room. You can see in the corner where she cooks with a small hole for the smoke to escape. Also her floor is completed and has had a smooth coat applied so it isn't rough on her feet.

This is Mauda's house. Single mom of 3 girls under 5...one room home. She told us she would move her kitchen outside because it is too much smoke for her new baby (3 months). They will take the old tin roof and make her a cover over her new cooking area so she is able to cook outside when it's raining.

This is Mario helping to put in the new floor in another home. Once it has dried the smooth coat will be put on. For this whole process the house has to be empty for about 1-2 days.