Honduras, round one

This is the school, Instituto El Ray, it is right below Earl and Sharon's house.



















Here we are playing soccer with the Hondurans, they won, ofcourse!
















Here are a bunch of the students at the Instituto El Ray, they were celebrating their 8th anniversary as a school.








Here is a bunch of us walking through the
village of Rio Viejo, that is where we stayed.















This is Earl and Sharon's house, it is right up against the jungle, and yes I saw lots of tarantulas and other creepy crawlies!





Here are the boys in the river, we all went
swimming in the Rio Viejo, yep, even Jafeth.
We let our baby swim in a river in Honduras.




















Here are some kids walking through the village of Rio Viejo.






Isn't this a beautiful picture, that is Justice
walking through the village of Rio Viejo.





















Here is a home in the village.







This is the plane we flew from San Pedro Sula
to La Ceiba in. Zach kept saying that it looked
like something out of an Indiana Jones movie!!

Here is our authentic Honduran cuisine that we had a little restaurant called Cobel's in La Ceiba.








Here are my guys all swimming in the Rio
Viejo.

The Caribbean, it was so beautiful! And really warm too ( I dipped my feet in!)

Here is our family in the airport in Houston, this is on the way down to Honduras. It was about 5am, right before sunrise.


Well, we made it back alive! Praise the Lord. It was totally amazing down there. I lost my camera in La Ceiba and the Lord totally returned it to me, it was an honest to goodness miracle! The Dr. who works in the compound next to Earl and Sharon's went down to La Ceiba and retrieved it for me! So anywho I just got it back and that is why I haven't posted until now, I didn't have my pics.


Well, the school, Instituto El Ray, is amazing, it was so great to see Earl and Sharon and be part of their hospitality. Zach spoke in the school about his job and taught basketball to the Hondurans. He is also helped with the building of the ministry house. I taught dance and art in the school and held a soccer camp one afternoon as well.


We were blessed to be part of the ministry down there, it was so incredibly beautiful. We saw all types of scary tarantulas, scorpions, stick bugs, geckos, fireflies, fireants, huge moths....the list goes on and on, so ofcourse my boys were in heaven!!


We hope to go back again, it was really amazing and completely changed our perspective on life. We are so deeply incredibly blessed to live in our country. It was amazing to see the strength of the people who live in Honduras. The most amazing part was seeing Earl and Sharon and Bob and Joyce serving and living in Honduras as full time missionaries. We deeply admire and respect them.


Well that being said, when we got home we went out to red robin to eat (yum!) Zach craved burgers the whole time we were gone! I was so happy to drive my suburban and sleep in my bed again:-)


I hope each of you has an opportunity to do a short term mission someday, there are so many stories to tell, it would take up 40 blog posts. So if you see me around ask me about our 26 hour flight home, Justice killing a huge giant tarantula, no water for 26 hours, Jafeth being attacked by hords of fireants, our 4 hour hike to the Mayan ruins, the entire missing camera story, the tarantula crawling out of our luggage(!!!) etc...etc....

Our GL Breanna

I just had to post this pic of Breanna and me, she is so awesome and I have not gotten to spend much time with her lately, I really miss her! She was gone for like a week before we left for Honduras, then we hung out for a few days in Honduras (the GL's came too) now she got home last night and left today for spring break back to Minnesota. Then I am leaving for Cali and won't see her until Easter!! Sigh...

See you on the flip side...

Hey everyone, have a great Valentine's Day! We leave this Saturday and we will back in 12 days. Talk to everyone when we get back in the States... We are so excited to go to Honduras (especially the boys) I am a little (just a tad:-) nervous about the tarantulas, scorpions and snakes.... especially since the boys plan on capturing all the aforementioned creatures... Lord Bless Us!!!

ALMOST HERE...

Well, our family is preparing for a short term mission trip to Honduras and it is only a few weeks away! Many of you received our Christmas card and letter about it and hopefully you have been praying for us as we prepare:-) Our GL, Breanna, has been teaching the boys (and us) a little bit of spanish in preparation, and we have been really pressing into God for His heart and direction. We are getting excited to help with a soccer camp while we are there, working on finishing a building for the school down there (Instituto El Ray), helping teach dance and just spending time with the people and sharing Jesus with them. More than anything we are excited that our boys will be a part of this and we absolutely wouldn't have it any other way. We will be leaving in a few weeks, keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

GET IN SHAPE GIRL!

Hey all you ladies out there, I know you will be feeling this... my friend Kelley Terwillegar has recently started her own business and I promised her an email to some of my lady friends as well as a blog post on the matter!! She is a personal trainer who will come to your home, she offers classes during the day with babysitting options to be discussed. She teaches dance, yoga, pilates and group exercise as well. She would love to have some new clients, so give her a holler if you are feeling the need to "get in shape girl!" I have known her for a little over a year, we both work with the dance team at THS, she is a coach and I am a choreographer (she specializes in dance and technique while you know this crazy kid does hip hop) She is absolutely amazing! She is also offering several classes through the TLC (Tahoma Learning Center) for peops of all ages.

Email her at: THE.DANCE.SPOT@hotmail.com
Check out her website: www.myspace.com/THEDANCESPOT

"Parents choose to homeschool for many reasons. They've dared hope that their children won't follow the suicidal paths of our culture in thought, deed, or outlook. Led by the Spirit of God, some parents have recognized the traps in our culture and gone one step further; they've realized that, the world go where it may, we are not bound to go with it... "Escapism!" cry the critics. They're right. Homeschoolers are escapists. Like Joseph fleeing from Potiphar's wife, we do what we can to escape from sin and destruction. We are running from warped views of sexuality...we are running from skyrocketing divorce rates...we are running from rebellion, lies and "me too" materialism. We are running from a pop culture that values conformity and discourages thought. God help us - I wish more could escape. Homeschooling for many of us, is not just a choice. It is a calling. "You can't shelter your children forever," the concerned tell us. "They have to learn about evil sooner or later." And again, they're right. One day they will face it in their own hearts, and only God will be great enough to save them. But they will learn about evil by their parents' NOT their peers', side. They will face it with their feet on a solid foundation. God has called thousands of families to remove their children from the permeation of modern culture; the humanistic teachings of schools, the folly of following peers, and the immoral pressures of youth culture..."

written by: Rachel Starr Thomson www.LittleDozen.com excerpt from Above This Valley

Happy New Year!!!

Jubilee Joy and Jafeth Roy, aren't they cute?
Cami, Micah, Justice and Hope, what good friends!
Emma, Monika, Kim and Gabriel, in our pjs on New Years eve
The Sullards, and Sloan in the corner
Uncle Corey with Cami and Justice on Christmas Day

Christmas Eve opening gifts
Cami striking quite the pose...
Kim and Kevin by the "Santa Head" notorious around here...
Cami and Justice in the Christmas Play at Church, they were orphans

Mercy, Justice, Cami and Raami on Christmas Eve

Surprise!!! Kevin, Anne, Cole, Caroline
Rory and Sloan on Christmas Eve, buds! Grandma and Sloan on Christmas Day, they are so cute!
Cami and Justice on Christmas Day at Grandma's house

Happy New Year Everyone, and Merry Christmas too since I haven't done a blog post since November (yikes). I could say I have been really busy... or whatever, but the honest truth is I just kept putting it off since I hadn't downloaded pics from my camera to my computer, yadayadayada. So anywho, I hope you all had as blessed of a Christmas season as we did. In mid-December Cami and Justice were in the play at our church and Cami sang a solo (the First Noel) it was so precious! Zach took me to the Michael W. Smith concert which was amazing! Then Kevin and Anne and their kids surprised us on Christmas day by driving up from Cali! We spent Christmas eve with our dear friends the Nelsons and Christmas day with family and the Owens. We drove to Spokane for New Years to see our good friends the MacDonalds and even got to stop in and see the Sullards as well!