Happy 100th Day!!!

Monday was our 100th day of school. Our whole elementary celebrated the day doing all kinds of things with 100. We started off the afternoon with 35 minutes of free play. We were going to let them have 100 minutes of free play throughout the afternoon but we ran out of time. Next we went into the library and made crowns with 100 things drawn on them in sets of 10. Here are all of our kids in their crowns!

Next we gave each child a 100 chart and had them write their names over and over until they filled the chart. Then they colored each letter a different color and made a really cool looking pattern. This one is Katherine and I thought hers was the best.

After all of this the kids were getting a little bit crazy so we had some more minutes of free time. Once they had a chance to run around a while we came back in and broke them into 4 groups of 4. Three of the groups worked together to put a 100 piece puzzle together. The other group painted their hands and put their handprints on pieces of construction paper. Together the handprints made a 100 piece quilt.

The last activity of the day was enjoying cupcakes and homemade ice cream. We put the cupcakes in the shape of a 100.It was a very long but fun day. The kids had a great time!

Clowns and Paper Airplanes

So yesterday at school we had a brigade come out to the ranch for a visit. On this brigade was a lady that is a clown that teaches children about living for Jesus. Well we have this one kid who thinks she is the most amazing person ever. He is one of our 4th graders named Kevin. Today at school we were in art class and he decided to paint his face like the clown only he didn't have a mirror and was just smearing chalk on his face. Well I convinced him to let me take his picture so here he is.

Also I teach an industrial arts class to 2nd-4th grades. Now you may be wondering what that means. Basically I do any projects that little boys would think were totally awesome. If anyone has any suggestions just let me know. I have a lot more classes to teach and I am running out of ideas. Anyway well today I let them make paper airplanes and fly them outside. It was like a little boys best dream come true. They loved that we actually made them and got to fly them. They did a great job so we will probably be doing that more often. Here are some pictures of our airplane project. The first picture is of all the boys folding their airplanes. The second one is Favio and his mini plane. The third one is the boys flying their planes outside. The last one is David about to throw his plane. Enjoy!

New Semester

Well we are back in school. After being out for six weeks I am glad to be back. This semester I have three of my same boys and one new boy. My new child's name is Jose and his parents joined WGO as house parents. He is a very sweet little boy and seems to be adjusting well. One of my boys, Favio broke his right arm 3 days before school started back. He is right handed so he has been milking that for all it is worth. Today he was going to zip up is backpack with is mouth and got his lip caught in the zipper. You may be thinking ouch but after a few seconds he joined in laughing with us. I will have to say there is never a dull moment with that child.

As most of you may know, I have committed to another year of teaching with WGO. I am very excited to be spending another year teaching here. Also I will be going to Language School in the summer to work on my Spanish. I am super excited about that.

Here are some pictures. The first one is of Favio with his broken arm and the second is of Jose my newest student.

End of the Semester

I can't believe that the end of the semester is here. It seems like we just started school a few weeks ago. This week we have all kinds of fun things planned. On Monday we are having a Christmas Party for the whole elementary. We are going to have games, crafts and snacks for them in the morning. After lunch we are watching Christmas movies and having hot chocolate. It sound be a fun day. On Tuesday we have graduation practice and then just play time. Wednesday is graduation for two of our 12th graders. In Honduras their schedule runs differently than in the states so we have graduations two times a year-May and November. The graduation in May is for the kindergarten and missionary kids.

This past semester has been one of the best I have experienced. So many things have happened both good and bad. I feel like I have built strong relationships with the other single teachers and the kids. I am looking forward to what the next semester holds.

On a very exciting note we are going on VACATION. We are leaving the day after Thanksgiving for an island of the coast of Honduras. I am excited about getting away for a few days.

I will be home from December 18-31. I am excited to get to see everyone and spend Christmas with my family.

Thanks for your prayers and support! I could never be here without my supporters back home!

This is a picture of my boys and I. It is our Christmas picture. The first one is a more serious one and the second one is a more real representation of our class. Enjoy!

Ranch Kids

Here is a picture of all our kids at the ranch. We took it the other day before school. Enjoy!

Stuck in the Mud

Saturday started out like any other day. Three other singles and myself were going to visit a family that used to work at the ranch. We left at around 9:00 not really knowing what was in store for us. We live at the top of a mountain and the only road is a very poor dirt road. Well we are right in the middle of rainy season so the dirt becomes mud. We knew that it would be a challenge getting down but we decided to go anyway. The way down was good with no problems because we were going down. We made it off the mountain road and onto the good paved road. We met the family at the bottom of the hill where they live. Their road seemed to be in worse shape than our road if that is even possible. We had lunch and then went to visit the ministry they work at. The building was very nice by Honduran standards and there were lots of kids. They do Saturday discipleship classes for the children in the community. I really enjoyed being around the children that live in a community. It was a nice day with lots of rain. All the rain made us a little nervous because we knew what we had to go back through. We left their house around 6:00 which is about the time it starts getting very dark here. There are three different roads that we have to go on once we turn off the main paved road. One is paved but the potholes are so big that it makes it impossible to drive normally. Then we go on a gravel road. When I first came this road was horrible. Well about 3 weeks after I got here they fixed the road and it was much better. We referred to it as the “highway”. However with all the rain we have been getting the road is back in almost the same shape it was before they fixed it. Also on the that road there is a river that we must cross and when we have too much rain it gets too high for us to cross. Fortunately for us it was not too high so we made it through that with no problem. We make it to our road that leads to the ranch. Now this road is climbing up a mountain and it is just dirt. This was the road we were most worried about. We start making our way up and there is a bus in front of us. In Honduras, they use school buses as public transportation. That is what was in front of us. They go slow in flat smooth roads so you can just imagine how slow they go on our road when it is not muddy. There were two large spots of mud that we didn’t think we could make much less the bus. The bus gets to the first spot and stops. We go around the bus and make it almost through and get stuck. So we decide to put it in reverse and try again. Well the bus was still in our way so we could not back up to far. We tried for a second time and get almost out and get stuck again. This time the bus has moved so we can go back farther and get a faster start. This was our plan and if that didn’t work then we were going to push. On the third try we were successful! We made it through the mud and didn’t have to push. We now think that we can make it to the ranch with no problem because we thought that was the worst of the mud. We are driving along no problems until we come up on another patch of mud that was not near as bad as the other one. Well we didn’t have enough speed and we get stuck again. So what do we do we back up and try again. This time did not work either. We were afraid to really keep trying to much because the engine was not sounding so good and lets face it the Trooper is not really able to handle things like that. Jason and I get out to push the trooper out of the mud. It works great for a little while and then we just start digging deeper ruts. At this point several Honduran men walked up to help is push. They tell us to back the trooper all the way back down before the mud and get speed and we should make it with no problem. They also tell us that we need weight in the back. Well I was just about to hop in when two of the men jump in front of me. So I am helping with the pushing again. Abby is driving the trooper and she takes off going fast and doesn’t need us to push anymore. The trooper makes it through the mud this time and I now have to walk in the pitch black dark through this muddy spot. I am slipping and sliding and my legs are completely covered in mud. Right about this time another truck comes flying up the hill and I see it and hear Jason scream truck coming. I try to find the ditch without breaking anything on my body. I get back to the trooper and we did make it to the ranch in one piece. It was a very interesting night to say this least. After this experience we had none of the houses were allowed to go to church on Sunday. We had a ranch wide service on Sunday instead. We are only supposed to get more rain which could affect if our Honduran teachers can get here from the city. It will be a very interesting week around here.

Chicken Pox

For the last four weeks at the ranch our kids have had the chicken pox. It started with our pre-k kids, then it spread to the Kindergarten and 1st grade. This week it has made its way to the upper grades. Both of my third graders have it along with the 2 fourth graders and 1 sixth grader. We thought that they already had them but I guess we were wrong. I asked Favio the other day if he had ever had chicken pox. He told me he had not but that he had squares. I was not sure what that was until he drew me a picture on the board of a little boy with squares all over his body. I guess that squares is not the same as chicken pox.

Please pray for our kids that have the chicken pox and the Honduran teachers who have not had them that they will not get them. Thank the Lord that I have already had them :)