Motagua Champions

Our team, Motagua, won the Central American championship and now moves on to face teams from the U.S. and Mexico next year in the UNCAF interclub championships. Joe is probably the only one who reads this blog who will be interested in this news.
http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/champscup/viewArticle.asp?id=4055

Ricardo is here to visit

Ricardo arrived yesterday for a short visit until Sunday. Ricardo was the oldest boy living at the casa for many years and the first to move out on his own. He currently lives with family in Michigan where he is working and going to college. He is the biggest success story from the casa to date and Sister Eva always says they wish they could clone him because he was such a great kid growing up and terrific role model for the other kids. I don't think I even met him the first two years I visited here because he was always in school or working until late in the night. He lived at the casa for about 9 years from age 13 to 22 when he finished his high school education and trade school in auto mechanics. Since he is a U.S. citizen, he was able to go to the U.S. to live with relatives there while attending college. Everyone really misses him and they were so excited when he got here. Now he is a regular supporter of the casa and his younger sister who lives here, sending money and bringing things. He arrived yesterday with suitcases loaded with things for the casa and kids. There is a conference on HIV today through Saturday in town and he was invited by the sponsors to come and speak. It was difficult for him to get time off work and school, but he did it to come back for the short time. Ricardo is in the photo with Sandra, the nurse here, Maynor and Carlos, both who live in the older boys home with me.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanks for all the Thanksgiving messages I received. Thursday was actually no different than any other day here. I heard they celebrated Thanksgiving last year with a Turkey that was cooked in the new stove that was purchased with donations from my co-workers and parents, but for some reason they did not keep the tradition up this year. So it was bean soup for lunch and something other than turkey for dinner. We did have some pumpkin bread though. Someone donated a bunch of cut and peeled pumpkin to Amor y Vida, more than they could use so they were nice enough to send a large box full over here to Casa Corazón to share. It was not quite pumpkin pie, but similar.
Carlos Mauricio has almost completed his first week living in our casa with the older guys. He is very happy now and we are all very happy to have him with us. Following in his younger brother Isaac's footsteps, when we went to church he gave his money to the three other boys to put in the collection basket. Their grandmother has done a great job of raising these two boys as they both behave so well and so eagerly share their things with the other boys. I took Carlos out to buy him a few new cloths yesterday because he had very few when he arrived and has had to do laundry almost every other day. When we got home he wanted to give one of his three new pairs of underwear to Maynor so he would have some new ones too. It was a nice gesture on his part. We spent a nice morning in the city together to shop and talk alone about his Mother. He is still dealing with the sadness of losing her less than a month ago. His grandmother was too sad and greeving to talk to Isaac about his mother dying but she asked that we wait and let her tell him. So Carlos has had to keep it secret to himself ever since he arrived. He told me that although she left for the U.S. almost five years ago, she called them and sent photos to keep in touch so they were still close after the long separation.

Finally, Gustavo is Back

I am happy to finally be able to report that Gustavo has returned from the hospital. He just got out today after being in there three weeks, since Nov. 1st. He is in the photo with his grandfather, who regularly visits him here, and his older brother. He is as thin as ever, but seems very happy and is able to eat and take his medicine okay. He grew some hair in the 3 weeks he was gone and hopefully they won't chop it all off. Maybe his recovery will speed up now that he is home in a happy environment. Thank you for your prayers for him.

Another New One

Today we welcomed another new child to the casa. After a string of boys coming we finally got a new girl. Her name is Dulce [dool-say] which is the Spanish word for sweet. She appears to fit her name. She is three years old and the first blonde child living at the casa. I met her grandmother who is completely Honduran so maybe her father was anglo. The info I heard about her was that both parents are dead. Her Mother was only 22 and had 5 boys in addition to Dulce before she died.

General Updates

Masbely's grandmother died yesterday morning at age 86. She had been ill on and off for the past couple of months. They do not embalm bodies here so they had her wake last night and the funeral early this morning.

Gustavo is still in the hospital after 2 weeks and has not changed much this week. He is able to eat solid foods but still has a lot of pain doing so so it is a struggle for them to get him to eat. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Carlos Mauricio seems much happier here now. He was extremely sad on Sunday when his Grandmother did not show up to take him home as he convinced himself she would. He continued throwing up after eating most of the week, but I don't think he threw up yesterday or today so that may be a big bridge he has crossed. If so, he will move into our house soon. He now says that he wants to stay here rather than going home.

Josue has still been a disappointment to all as he has not found a job and really is not trying. There are jobs available but he is too picky about what he can and cannot do and the cannot list seems to be endless. He spends mosts of his days hanging out in the neighborhood and Masbely finally banned him from coming to the casa to hang out because he was begging money from the employees and setting a bad example for the kids by not working. He was told he is welcome to come back and visit any time once he starts working. Please pray for some motivation, responsibility and self discipline for him. He is a sad, tough situation for us.

Rob sent me a photo if Isaac taken at the beach on July 7th and the other photo is of him a couple weeks ago. Quite a big change in his face. I remember him throwing up shortly after eating the ice cream at the beach that day. Hopefully his brother Carlos will make the same progress as him.

Another Birthday

Happy Birthday Juan Fernando.

Another birthday in the casa. Juan Fernando celebrated his 2nd birthday yesterday. He has become a very happy little boy and now enjoys playing with all the kids. He is a favorite for all of them too. This week he stopped calling me ma-ma which he had been doing for a couple weeks and now says daddy so at 2 he is already bilingual with 2 of the 3 words he can say being English, (ma-ma, down and daddy).

Happy Birthday Alba!

This is Alba dressed up for her special night and party. The 15th birthday is a huge deal for girls in Honduras and they had a grand formal party with lots of guests and a nice meal. The older kids did a waltz dance that they practiced for 2 weeks. After that Alba danced alone with each of the important people in her life, which was a lot of people. That was followed by a slide show with photos of Alba from the time she arrived at the casa at age 3 to the present. Then she gave a little thank you speech which was followed by a dinner. After the dinner there was several hours of dancing and lots of fun.





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The little kids all went to my house to hang out while they were decorating the main casa and to eat dinner. The older ones who were in the dance routine went to the party while the younger kids stayed at my house and went to sleep there until the party was over around 10:30. (Unfortunately for Milton, one of them peed in his bed.) Our place is not kid friendly so we certainly had our hands full for many hours with all the little ones running crazy in the place. It was like a field trip for them to a new place so they had fun even though they did not get to go to the party.

Carlos Arrived

Carlos Mauricio, the brother of Isaac, came to live with us on Tuesday this week. It has been difficult for him and he wants to go back to live at home. He is 12 and coming from living with his grandmother who was not strict with him concerning food or medicine. When he did not want to take him meds he didn't take them. When he only wanted to eat chips and drink Coke for dinner, she let him. The rules here are much different. The kids take their medicine at 6 am and 6 pm and they are forced to eat their veggies and other healthy food. Like Isaac when he arrived, he throws up after most of his meals and has to eat again which he does not like. It took Isaac at least 2 weeks to get passed this so he may have a ways to go before his stomach adjusts. Also he is coming at a very difficult time for him. They just found out this weekend that his mother died in the U.S. last Thursday. She left the boys with her mom 3 years ago and went to the US and apparently did not have medications for her HIV and she died. Carlos took the news very hard so this combined with his change in home and new rules has made him a very sad boy this week. He stayed in our home the first two nights but since he was having a difficult time eating and adjusting, he was moved to the children's home to the room where Isaac sleeps. Hopefully he will come around soon with the regular attention and medications.

The info is that Gustavo is doing better, although he is still in the Hospital. I heard that he has been able to eat food again without throwing up and that his fever has gone. He has a condition in his mouth and throat though that they say sometimes is common. It is a white looking fungus type condition that is in his mouth and goes all the way down his throat to his stomach. This make his eating painful. The hospital had some difficulty getting the right medicine that the doctor ordered so his treatment was delayed. Hopefully he will continue to improve and can return to the casa soon.

Alba celebrated her 15th birthday yesterday, a really big deal for Honduras girls and they have a big celebration tonight for her. I think it is like a debutant ball. The kids all get really dressed up and they had fancy invitations to all her friends. The kids have been practicing their ballroom dance routine all week. Hopefully I will get some photos, but my camera does not focus well at night so we will see.

Pray for Gustavo

Gustavo has not been doing very well lately. He initially improved somewhat after arriving here a few months ago and he gained some strength and a little weight. He is able to walk on his own, very slowly and carefully, but he never got to the point of playing with toys and other kids. He generally would just sit. He got sick a few weeks ago when a cold/feaver was going around the casa and all the kids got it. When he got sick, he began to throw up after every meal and after taking his medicine and this has continued for about 3 weeks now. He had a few good days on and off where he could keep his food down but then start throwing up again. Today the doctors put him in the hospital to put a feeding tube down his nose to force feed him. They are all very concerned for him because he is extremely weak and frail so he needs all the prayers he can get.

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The newest arrival, Juan Fernando, is doing a lot better now after 3 or 4 weeks here. He finally has started smiling more and likes to play with the other kids whereas initially he cried when anyone tried to play with him. I spent a lot of time with him because he was so sad and did not play with anyone and it initially caused problems because he would always cry if I put him down or left the room. That has passed for the most part but he is smart and knows to cry around me more than any of the others because I am weak and will try to get him to stop rather than ignore him. Putting him to bed is the worst because he cries terribly every night. It is the only time he cries "ma-ma" also. He probably was used to sleeping in her bed so sleeping alone in a bed is no fun for him. When he arrived his mother told me he was 2 1/2 but the papers for him say his 2nd birthday is coming up on Nov. 12th. Judging by his teeth, walking somewhat uneasily, and not yet but just about to say his first words, I am thinking the papers are right and he is about to turn 2. The really sad thing is that in the month since his mother brought him here she has never come to see him.

My Roommate

This is a photo of my roommate at the casa. I call him Tony in honor of Tony Nicely, the CEO of GEICO. I have gone from working for the gecko to living with him. He has been living in my bathroom since before I arrived and likes to sleep in between the sliding doors on the shower during the day. I put up with his poops on the walls because he is eating the mosquitoes that are trying to eat me.

Back to NPH

I went back to NPH to visit for the weekend and had another nice visit. They put me to work on Saturday chopping the 3' tall grass with a machete. It was a lot of work, but fun working along with all the boys. After working, the boys and girls all got to play soccer in the afternoon. Sunday they had their family lunch in the large covered play area. They do this once a month so all the kids who are related but live in different casas due to age differences can eat together as families. This was followed by the obligatory piñata which goes with every celebration here in Honduras. The last photo is of the twins, José and Tomas, who I finally am able to tell apart. It is easier when they are side by side but more difficult when one comes up to you alone in the morning as asks "What is my name?"

They tell me that most of the kids get visits from family members, older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. but in the 3 years Maynor has been there I have been his only visitor so they really like me going there. Thank you to all my supporters who are helping me to stay here and be able to go and visit him and all the other kids. I am just the front line part of the big team involved in this trip and helping all these kids.

Isaac the little angel

An update on Isaac and a cute story about him. Isaac arrived at the casa 2 weeks after I got here in June. He was very thin, malnourished, never smiled nor talked, was very weak and walked very slowly. He threw up after every meal for several weeks until the medicine began to take effect and his body became used to having nourishment he had not received in the past. After his grandmother and brother visited the first time he really changed for the positive and began to talk and play with the other kids. Once he could keep his food down he began eating like a horse and gained weight. He also gained strength and started playing soccer and other physical activities with the kids. Now he is about the happiest child in the casa, always smiling and he has such a wonderful personality. I do not think he has ever been disciplined because he always obeys the rules and never hits the other kids, which is a daily problem with all of them. The other kids call him the blow fish because he has big round cheeks now where you used to be able to see his jaw bones. He learned to ride the bicycle very rapidly and this photo was taken the day after he rode it without the training wheels for the first time.
Isaac went to church with me two weeks ago as a reward for always being so good and he really enjoyed it so I took him again this weekend. His grandmother had come for a visit last weekend and gave him 10 Lempiras (about 50 cents) to buy little bags of chips that cost 2 Lempiras at the various stores in our neighborhood. When he bought the chips he would usually share them with the other kids. While getting dressed for church on Saturday night, he took out 1 Lempira and gave it to me to hold for him and he said this is for the offering at the church. When they came by with the bag for the collection he was so happy to put his 1 Lempira into it and I was so proud to see this wonderful little boy doing this. It immediately reminded me of the parable of the poor widow, Mark 12:41-44: Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on." That is just what I was so fortunate to witness Isaac do on Saturday. Little acts like this really help keep me motivated to keep working with the kids.

October 8th

This was a special day at Amor y Vida. They celebrated the 18th birthday of Darwin, the oldest of the kids living there (top photo). In addition, everyone also remembers this day for another reason. Today was the 4th anniversary of the death of Jorge Gomez. Darwin said that every year on his birthday they always say it is also the day Jorge died so it is a bitter-sweet day for him. It was sad for me to hear this also, because many know, Jorge was my first Godson at Amor y Vida and I was here when he died. The photo of him was taken in the hospital when I visited him the day before he died. It does not seem like four years ago, but time flies by. Jorge would have been 16 now and everyone remembers him as the most mild mannered, nicest boy. The really nice thing about today also is that it has been four years and no children at Amor y Vida have died since then. I think Darwin managed to enjoy the day despite the sad reminder forever associated with his birthday.

New Boys

I am a little slow with some of the photos, but here are two of the new boys to the two different casas here in San Pedro Sula.



The first boy is Miguel Angel who is 12 and now lives at Amor y Vida. They call him Miguel-Angel because there already is a Miguel and also an Angel so to avoid confusion the use both names for him. He was very healthy when he arrived and is a very good soccer player. He arrived at Amor y Vida a month ago, but I don't take my camera there much so this is the first photo I have of him. He has adjusted faster than any of the other new arrivals I have seen over the years and really likes living there.









The next boy is new to Casa Corazón and arrived this week. His name is Juan Fernando and he is 2 1/2. His Mother came with him and dropped him off. She has several other kids and no husband to help her out so she needs to go and work during the day. She had been leaving him in various places and finally decided to permanently bring him to a place where he will be cared for. He did not cry and was not very upset when she left, an indication that he is pretty used to being left by her, but he does seem sad, does not smile or interact with the other kids yet. In addition to HIV, he also has TB so he has multiple problems he is being treated for in addition to the emotional problem he must have from being abandoned.