Day of the Child and Independence Day

Bean Picking Monet

 This month we have celebrated Day of the Child, September 10th  and Independence Day, September 15th.  The kids celebrated by making 12 pinatas for the local schools.  They received pinatas from the Judges and the Mayor of La Esperanza.  They have been so hyped on sugar we could do a medical paper on the effects of sugar during two back to back holidays.  The Mayor sent a cake to our girls along with bags of chips, candies and boxed juices.  It was an overwhelming sight for the girls.  We realized that they had already had way too much sugar so we told them we would go to the llano to play soccer and invite the local children to participate.  We had two pinatas and so we had one for the little ones and one for the older kids.

The children came out of the woodwork and it was a great time.  We played soccer at first.  The field was especially muddy and so we didn't get to play long because we were slipping and sliding like real professionals.  So we opted for the other sport they have here in Honduras which is Pinata. Pinata is not for the faint at heart.  We played the first game and no one got hurt.  I am kind of a Pinata Nazi and so I make the kids play by my rules.  Generally the rule here is when one piece of candy falls from the swinging orb, everyone dives in on top of the treat at the same time. However in doing this it does not take into account that the young child with the blindfold and the thick stick is still swinging away unaware

More Wildflowers 

Mountain Stream

Wild flowers on our way to Yasi

of the group of children scrambling on the ground to retrieve the fallen confection.  Normally, somebody gets clipped in the head.  When I explained the my rules to the newcomers they looked at me like I had surely lost my mind.  They still darted after the candy, but I would stop the process and repeat myself.  At the end when all the candy was on the ground, everybody could dive in on top of it.  I thought it was a secure plan to maintain fewer casualities.   My plan was working until I was coming to the rescue of a rule breaker and one of the older girls who was blindfolded and swinging with all her might with the half sized broomstick swung one more time.

She clipped me on meaty part of my thigh.  I stopped and thought to myself, "I am injured".  All the kids of the community sucked in their breaths at one time.  The girl with the professional baseball swing, realized something was amiss and she whipped off her blindfold.  The whole community, my interns, were looking at me to see my response.  Can I say it hurt like crazy? I told the girl I was okay, because she was looking very distraught.  I repeated the rules once again, and blindfolded the next candidate and hobbled further away from the swinging ball of destruction.  I thought we were through with injuries for the day, but one more girl stepped into the ring and she got clipped on the side of the head.
Thankfully all the candy was out of the pinata and we were through with Pinata until Christmas.

I left the farm a few days later to go to the United States.  Joe Reynolds is overseeing our Professionals and our girls while I am away.  I have had a great time being with my kids and grandkids.  I was in the car with one of my grandsons, and he proceeded to tell me this story with his country drawl in full swing.  "Well, Sarah and me went to the Mall".  I    quickly corrected him as I do all the time with the girls at the farm, and said "Sarah and I" He looked at me like I had lost my old persons mind, and said, "No, It was Sarah and Me. You weren't there."  I am loving being with my family.

I was able to attend my care group and they were finishing Francis Chan's book CRAZY LOVE.   I haven't read it but the whole group had been blessed by the book.  Chan said on the end of the video that he used to pray different blessings on his children,( i.e. for protection) but was now praying for his children to love God more than they loved anything else.  The group finished up by saying for us to look for opportunities to love God through ministry to others.

The next day, my mother and I were going to the 3 Dollar Book Store at the Outlet Mall.  As I turned into the drive, I noticed my dad in the ditch with his truck and his power trimmers cutting limbs that were obstructing the view of oncoming traffic.  I had fish to fry with my mom, so I didn't even stop to say, Hi to my Dad.  On our way out we noticed that a young man about 20 years old and his pick-up truck was parked along the side of the highway.  The young man was talking to my Dad.  We were in a hurry and  we were trying to decide who it was talking to my dad and my mom looked at me and said "I need to tell him where we are going". So she hopped out of the car to let him know and to check to make sure everything was okay.  After a few moments my dad waves me out of the car to come and talk.  I cut off the car with the air-conditioning working at full capacity and walked through the ditch with the tall snaky grass and sandy soil, in my nice sandals to see what my dad needed.  He wanted to introduce me to the young man from Hahaira Baptist Church, who had seen Dad out in the heat and went right up the road to a Jiffy store and brought him back a nice cold Gatorade drink.  He saw my 78 year old dad struggling in the heat and just decided to do a nice thing for him.  After talking with the young man, I found out that he had been to Honduras a few times on mission trips with his church.  He was such a blessing.

 Well, after I got over my own guilt of not thinking of that very loving deed first, it hit me that if we would all seek opportunities to minister everyday, what a great world we would live in.  I pray that I do like Francis Chan said and train myself to love God more than anything, and love my neighbor, my dad, my whoever, more than I do my plans to go to the bookstore, or whatever my plans happen to be.  I pray that I seek HIS plan for my day, and when I find a way to bless someone, that I will be quick about it.  Is it going to be inconvenient? Yes, probably, but He has done so many inconvenient things for me, I want to be open. I pray that we will all look for every opportunity to love God somehow through someone else.  Blessings, the  Seeking Honduran MOM