Hondo take 2

Beautiful Campemento... this little country town has our hearts.  This is the view from the top of the hill above the city.  The pine trees remind me of East TX, but much more hilly.  

  

Below are a few pics of the daycare - our home away from home for the week.  Ten cots in an unairconditioned room - not the Hilton - but this place has something better... 50 precious kids who we grow to love more each summer.  Our sponsored little girl, Abish Sussanna, warmed up to us completely this year.  We got lots of playtime (Mae swinging with her below), hugs, a few kisses, & huge smiles when she saw us each day. 

Mae & Sussanna

long days meant someone always fell asleep before lights out

So, so fun to travel with the Bundy's & Moores this year - these kids played so well together all week!

One of our daycare projects this year - painting a huge under the sea mural on the wall by the kitchen.  The kids got to add their handprints which we turned into fish, sea turtles, jellyfish, sharks, etc. 

My least favorite Honduran work day - weeding at the farm!  I love that the farm provides produce & fish for the daycare kids... I don't love gardening in the heat of the day!  We swore that by the time you got to the end of a row the weeds had already grown back on the other end.  Hard, hard work for the family who lives there doing this every day.

 More pics of the kids with their new shoes & new headbands made by sweet Monica at our preschool...

 One of our very favorite things to do each year is to walk Sussanna home after her daycare day & visit with her family.  We always bring little goodies for her, her mom Maria, brother Orion, & teenage sister.  The things that got the biggest smiles this year - hello Kitty socks, her own toothbrush & toothpaste, & GUM!  The gum got more attention than the Barbie!  After opening gifts we get to chat with her mom about their life over the past year & the most pressing needs they have.  Her mom's first request... gas for their cookstove (she hadn't been able to heat food/cook for months).   We also asked if she had food to cook & she showed us her empty fridge.   My girls have brought up many, many times since that day that the only food in the house was onions.  The sum total of food in the house for this family of four - 4 or 5 onions.  Humbling.  We had so much fun taking the family on a walk into town for propane for the stove & a shopping spree.  After Maria realized that Tom said yes to everything she asked to put in the cart, I think she had a blast too!  Sweet Sussanna had only one real request... bar soap.  Not candy, not soda, not toys.  Soap.  We also saw her eyeing Cocoa Krispies & OJ, so she of course got those too!  If I could bring this whole family home with me in my suitcase I would.

 Sussanna's house - two rooms that Maria is able to use attached to a relative's home.  Orion crawls through the window to let them inside (they have no key).

 Sussanna wasn't too sure at first about riding on Tom's shoulders - she doesn't have a father in her life so this was probably her first shoulder ride!