Storms

Haley needed to go to the United States to renew her visa. Like a great Adminstrative Assistant, she told me that I needed to get away for a while just to get rested spiritually and physically. We have been incredibly busy, and though I thought of a zillion things I could be doing, but since I needed to carry her to the San Pedro Sula Airport anyway, I said "Sure" We planned to go to the beach which is just an hour away from the airport.

I had time to plan so I got my stuff packed, brought some board games for us to play called Clayton and Morgan, another missionary couple to come and stay with the kids, and then I was kind of getting excited about it. The day before we were to go we get a report that there is a hurricane coming. It never developed into a hurricane, Matthew was just a tropical storm, but it was coming to shore at ....you guessed it, Tela the beachtown we were going to. Tela has some very nice hotels that are 5 star, but they are very pricey, then they have some hotels that are not that expensive at all and there food is so much better, and they have some that you wouldn't want to leave your pet that someone gave to you and you didn't ask for. We chose the mid range plan.

We heard that there was a possiblity of a hurricane, but we decided we would pray that it would dissipate.. Haley thought it had the possibility of being a huge adventure because she had never been in a hurricane before. I had been in a hurricane and given that our hotel was 20 yards away from the beach I thought maybe we needed to review our options. It has been raining almost day and night for over a month and our thinking was a little scued that how you could tell we needed a break. When you think that you can have a peaceful time in a hurricane then it is time for a rest.

I knew I had to take Haley to get to her plane, so I thought in lieu of the beach, we will go to Lake Yajoa. When we got there, the roads were already showing signs of flooding. By the time we got to the main portion of the Lake so much of the water was to the road! So we took off for San Pedro because I realized at that point, we just needed to get somewhere and hunker down until this thing blew over. Trying to keep a positive mode, I thought even though we don't like San Pedro Sula because it so incredibly hot, we could go to our favorite restaurant. We decided to go there before the storm really got started and then we planned to checked into our room. We got to the restaurant and they were closed. By that time I was not resting in my spirit.

We got to the hotel, which is nice and we always bring teams there, but it is not for a holiday. It is kind of like a stopping place for the night so you can get somewhere else that you want to be. We went to check in and the lady at the desk told us how many limperas it would be. Haley said "we will pay for three nights" and the lady at the desk quoted a price. I was brain dead at this point and she told me it would be per night and just to pay for the first night. I thought I have never in my life heard a desk clerk say it is better to just pay for one night when people were offering to pay for 3 nights. I was thinking about how my weekend was not going the way I planned while I handed the money over to the clerk who had her hair pinned a little too tight. Haley did some rapid calculations on her cell phone and then showed it the clerk. She was wrong by about 40 USD. The clerk said "No that is the number I quoted" while she was looking at Haley's cell phone calculator. Actually she said two different prices and neither was the one we were quoted on the phone when we made the reservation. So I have learned to be quiet and said that I was sorry that I heard her wrong. We went outside and we both were comparing what was said and we didn't hear incorrectly. Now the clouds were getting heavier.

I got to my room and was feeling very sorry for myself. Haley was being all sun-shiney and saying that regardless I would be forced to get some much needed rest. I am thinking there will be a problem with the electricity during the storm. She said I could read all the books I brought and we could eat at the hotel and play boards games. I am thinking I didn't pray hard enough about this trip. Since she wanted to pay for the room she made the rules to restrict any activity that resembled work, i.e. emails, blogging, phone calls etc. we were just going to have fun anyway.

As I lay there reflecting on what a wreck my great weekend get away was becoming, I poured myself a cup of water and remembered I had a Crystal Light packet that someone from one of the teams had left and it had been in my purse for awhile. I mixed it up and had just drank it down when that song we had been listening to on the way down came back to my remembrance. The the beginning of the verse is "Life gave me lemonade and I can't imagine why....thanks for the lemonade" Then I thought, I was in a dry place, my kids were safe at the farm with Clayton, Morgan and Ben, so why was I in a frump? Lemonade is good.

We started listening to the weather reports, when the TV came on it had a national announcement about the storm. They were warning everyone that the storm would bring more rain and that the country was in a state of emergency. People were sending us text messages to get to higher ground. It started to rain and rained all night. The prediction was for 10 to 12 inches of rain. I knew what the bridges looked like when I came over them, so I knew with that much rain the bridges would be out by Monday. We heard that they were considering closing the airport Monday-Wednesday. Well, I knew I was not to leave Haley in a national weather crisis , even though she offered to do be there alone so I could get home to the girls before the bridges went out. Instead we called and texted people to pray..

We both woke early because the power kept going off and their generator keep shutting down. So while we were up, Haley made some phone calls and got her flight changed to that day. The storm hit early that morning, but just ran along the coast line and left. It wasn't as bad as they had anticipated. Because of the change of direction of the storm, the plane could get out and I went home to the hills. It had stopped raining that morning. It didn't start raining until I got to Yamaranguila. It has rained pretty much solidly since then. I imagine we have gotten our ten inches. It is supposed to be like this until Tuesday. If it keeps raining they will close the schools for shelters for the people who are homeless. I pray that they don't close the airport, but it was nice that Haley got safely out. God was in control of everything....again

I am thankful for those who prayed for us and for Honduras. I am thankful that I don't always have to have my way and everything still turns out nicely. I am thankful for storms, because it helps you realize how off the mark you can be and how to get back centered on Him. Also after a storm things are always so much clearer. Please continue to pray for Honduras. Blessings, The Soggy, no longer Foggy, Lemonade Drinking, Honduran MOM

PS the road in the picture is the entrance to our farm, and I will post other pictures of the trip of landslides, new waterfalls, and flooded areas, I made while driving home. Haley was right, it was an adventure.