The people here at the casa are quite talented at making toys. The other day, Nancy, one of the caregivers, made two kites for the youngest kids to fly during the morning when the other kids are in school. Just some small branches from a palm tree and parts of a grocery bag for one and colored paper for the other. The kids loved it. It was the first day that I saw the new boy, Ever smile and he has been doing well ever since. He adjusted much faster than other kids in the past. Brian, who has only been walking a couple months, also had a great time running with the kite close behind.
These pictures were all taken in the ball field very close to our casa. We live just behind the yellow bus you can see in the first photo. Every afternoon, this field is filled with boys playing soccer, but in the mornings it is usually empty when the kids are in school.

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Ever, the new boy, flying . . . . . . . Nilda, one of the caregivers . . . . . . Nancy, another caregiver, with

one of the kites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . with Nicole, the newest girl. . . . . . . Brian flying a kite and Misael.


Photo on the left is Nilda with Nicole. Misael is closest to her and Brian closer to the camera.

Photo on the right shows the kite way up in the air above the church. The half built building is the church where we go Friday and Sunday nights. They ran out of money for the 2nd story so it has been in this condition since I arrived almost 2 years ago.

Happy Father's Day

Today is Father's day in Latin America. I received a bunch of cards that various kids made in school or at home. Mauricio put the sign on the wall in our kitchen. I took Juan into the city center this morning to relax at the café inside the hotel Sula by the central park, where our mission team ate most of the mornings they were here. There is a pool by the outdoor café and Juan wanted to get in after watching a boy playing in the pool. However, when I put him in his shorts and he got in the first step of the children's pool, he started to cry, so that was the extent of his swimming. He was very content to sit with his daddy and eat some french toast. Tonight, they are bringing in Chineese food to our house for a little celebration for me.

This diploma says: Recognition on Father's Day to Papá with love, for your abnigation and sacrifice, for giving me strength, security, love, for being a guide in my live and for giving me hope and faith. Thank you dear Father! Your son: Mauricio Cruz. Father's Day for Mike.

New Boy

We received a new boy in the casa yesterday afternoon. His name is Ever, which they tell me is not an unusual name, but not real common. He is 5 years old and very skinny as all the new kids usually are. His story is very familiar unfortunately. His mother died a week ago and his father could not take care of him because he has to work so the hospital asked Masbely to take him in, which she did. He is very sad as is also common for the first weeks of a new arrival. All the kids are very interested in new kids when they first arrive, but it is really the last thing the new kid wants is to be surrounded by a bunch of other kids staring at him. He is the 39th current member of the family living here, 18 boys and 21 girls.

Pizza Night

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In our house we got in a routine of making pizza every other Sat. night. They usually sell pre-made crusts at a grocery store so I just make up everything to put on them and let the boys put them together. This week they did not have the crusts but we had already put all the other ingredients in the shopping cart so I decided to go online and find instructions on how to make pizza crust. It took forever given I don't know how to cook with yeast, but it worked and the crust grew in size as it was supposed to and actually turned out pretty good. Not nearly as good as Mary Dyer's, but she would be proud of us. The photos are of the boys in my house, Milton, Mauricio, Maynor and Jaime with their friend Marcos who usually spends Saturday nights with us.

Not much else to report lately. The rainy season appears to have about ended as the hot temps have returned. I got to the point of not minding the rain and muddy roads because the temps were lower and it was comfortable sleeping. It also looks like we lost an hour on everyone back home. Honduras does not change clocks for daylight savings so I am now two hours behing Eastern time.

Latest Slideshow

A lot of these photos are already on the blog, but this is the video of them together with others.