Time flying by

The good news is that Roberto Josué has finally returned from the hospital this week after spending more than a month there. I did not get a photo of him yet, but he looks great and as chubby as ever. He really does not look like he has been laying in a hospital bed for the past 5 weeks.
The bad news is that the new baby, Josalin, replaced Josué in the hospital. They think she has Pneumonia. So Miriam is still going to the hospital every day, now just to spend the day with Josalin.


Lauren and Mark came back to visit from Ohio. Lauren lived here at Casa Corazón for about a year as a volunteer for Mercy Volunteer Corps and the two of them spent their honneymoon here this past year. They are working hard on developing the sponsorship program for the casa to match up all the kids with Padrinos and Madrinas (godfathers and godmothers) and were filming video to put together about the casa.

Thanks to my Christmas present of a new much smaller camera, I am now able to get some photos at Amor y Vida to post of the kids I regularly visit there. I have been over there a couple of times this week with Mauricio, Maynor and Jonathan.

Left: One of the newer boys at Amor y Vida is Eduin (far left), then Jonathan from my casa, then Arturo, my favorite boy at Amor y Vida and then Maynor from my casa. Right: Eduin and Jeffri at A y V.

Left: While we were there they got some new bicycles donated which they started putting together. Right: Tito, the director of Amor y Vida.

Sindy, Milton and Lauren during our Monday night in home Bible study. The boys call it our home church service.

I am taking Mauricio and Maynor to Tegucigalpa to visit NPH for the weekend. School starts on Tuesday so this will be a nice little vacation for them. They are very excited about riding the bus and going to the big ranch out in the woods to visit little Maynor who used to live here.

We've grown Again

Child number 38 has come to live in the casa. The new arrival is Josalin, a five month old girl. Her mother was sick and went in the hospital where she died a couple of days ago. The hospital asked us to take her in so she arrived yesterday and is now the youngest child here. She is in the photo with Mama Laura standing in the street front of our casa.

Casa Corazón still provides the medicines to Carlos Roberto (16) and Josué (19) who used to live here but no longer do, so they are really helping out 40 kids at this point.

Getting back into the swing of things

My first week back has been pretty busy but I am getting used to everything all over again. Milton has been doing well in our house after returning from a month and a half of staying in a house that was under construction for the Sisters of Mercy where he was working and guarding the house. He has been keeping the boys in line and making them work (probably making them do his work) but the house is clean.
I took the four boys from my house to a soccer game on Tuesday night at the stadium which is only about a mile and a half away. The local team, Marathon, won the Honduran championship in December and this was the first game of their defense of that title in the new season. They are so fanatical about soccer here they have two seasons and championships per year with only the one month break between the two. The boys thought the @16 oz. bags of water that we bought for 5 lempira (25 cents) were outrageously priced since they normally cost 2 lempira (10 cents) at the store, so they have stadium inflation of prices here too. It was a really great time and they talked about it all day Wednesday. The game ended in a 2-2 tie but they thought it was great anyway.
Roberto Josué had his operation to remove a cyst from his lungs and currently has a tube inserted in this side going to his lungs to drain liquid, but they say he looks much better and seems to be improving.
My brother sent me a photo of the snow at his house in Middleburg today which the kids and adults thought was fascinating to see, given it was 91 degrees today.

First Day

Upon my return yesterday, I was met at the airport by Masbely with Maynor and Carlos Maricio, the two 13 year olds in my house. Some things have happened and changed while I was gone.

Roberto Josué, the 20 month old, became very ill and he has been in the hospital since December 21st, the day after I left. He has some problem with his lungs and is going to have an operation soon. He must be pretty sick and needs lots of prayers. They have someone from the casa with him 24/7 in the hospital, so Miriam, the lady who works in our little house has been the full time night person. Milton, 15 year old, has taken over Miriam's duties of cooking and cleaning the casa. It obviously is not as clean as when I left due to Miriam's absence!


Gustavo has made an incredible recovery. In just 3 weeks he has grown little round cheeks and now has a ton of energy. He is walking all over the casa by himself whereas in Dec. it took him great effort just to stand on his feet holding onto a chair. He needed to be carried everywhere. Today we walked through the neighborhood, which is over a 1/2 mile walk and he was walking along with everyone. In Dec. he always went with us in a stroller. Masbely had warned us in Dec. that he was very close to death so this miraculous turnaround is wonderful. We have all been praying for him and I carried him to our church for intercessory prayer a couple weeks before I left when they thought his days were few so we are all so happy to see him in his current good health. We pray that his recovery continues.
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My return to the casa was great and I was greeted by a little mob of children piling on me. I was a little worried before returning that Juan Fernando would be upset with me for leaving him for 3 weeks. Being only 2, he did not understand that I would be back in 3 weeks and was used to having constant attention from me every day. My worries were for not because I was greeted by him running up to me yelling "Daddy" which was wonderful. Many of the other kids call me Papa and he is the only one that says Daddy so I knew he remembered. He grabbed onto me and did not let go much the rest of the day. By evening I was back to changing diapers again. He still cried a little when I put him to bed, but much less than he was back in Dec.
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The boys in my home told me the people from our church have been asking about me when they see them in the street and asking why the boys have not been in church. They are too young to go out alone at night without me. Last night the boys asked if we can go to church tonight (Friday) so I was glad that they did not lose that desire during my absence.

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Kate is here from Washington DC visiting since Dec. 31st. She leaves on Monday to return to University of Maryland where she is in school.

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After 3 weeks of being constantly on the go and visiting I need a rest here, but it looks like it will be a little while before the kids let me have any free time. It is a good feeling though that they want to spend all the day with me. Thats all for now....

I'm back

Just a quick note to say I made it back to San Pedro Sula after a great 3 week visit to Virginia. I will write more later today hopefully when I get a chance after catching up here and hopefully my computer will work faster than now. It is scanning this and downloading that after 3 weeks of no use so it is very slow.