Memorial day?

I had completely forgotten about memorial day until arriving back from Church today and seeing some race on ABC. Ah, yes, it is almost June. Ironic I can watch the Indy 500 on two different channels here in Honduras, but when I lived an hour from the race I had to listen on the radio (that is...when I actually wanted to be involved.)

Speaking of memorials, now is as good of time as any to talk about what to do when I die. You might find this a bit morbid, but I figured having this written down somewhere (there is a phrase that is rapidly becoming antiquated, like "dialing" a phone) would be helpful to Valerie (assuming I die and she is still alive) and anyone else that might have to take care of my corpse.

Why the talk of dead bodies? Well, I have heard second hand of two deaths in this last month where wishes and ideas came into conflict because it was not clear what the dearly departed wanted, or as happens in some cases, what is done regardless of what the dead person wanted if not everyone is clear on what "that" is. After all, they are dead, right? What do we care what they may have said? Hmmm, I probably should have left that last part out. I suppose ultimatley I won't care what you do, I will be with God (more on this later...something I learned not too long ago about this issue)

So, when I die, feel free to take my body wherever it is, and bury it in the nearest, cheapest place, in the cheapest way possible (be that pine box, masonite, etc.). If I die while visiting the USA, cremate me and dump the ashes wherever appropriate (fertilizer? I have been told I am full of "it" before). No sense in spending any more money on an empty shell than absolutely necessary. Feel free to have a funeral, as long as someone shares the gospel of Christ (death is scary perhaps, but not nearly as truly frightening as death without Christ).

We have wills in the US (after other painful lessons that friends had to go through...providing lessons to us at considerably less cost), so no worries on the other legal issues.

Katie bar the gate

Well, the Church bus gate is almost done, as you can see from the accompanying picture. Our cut up container is almost completely used at this point. We still have yet to install the locks and the surrounding cement plates to finish that portion of the wall, as well as dig and fill in the area around the gate for easier entry and exit. People that usually use this part of the property to cut the corner on their walks are not exactly enthused with the upcoming change, but they do not have to deal with the thefts, broken windows, general vandelism, etc. One step closer to having the property properly cordened off, many steps left to go. Even when we get this portion done, we anticipate people will continue to be walking through the "undone" portions until we get them filled in.

In other extremely important news, I was at the grocery store with Valerie on a quick stop this week, and upon strolling through the produce section, immediately thought of brother Brad and his delicious guacemole recipe....and remembered what most people in the USA have to eat to have guacemole by seeing this lovely product called "Guacemole Express." (Insert your own bowel related joke here). It looked rather...pale green. That's right friends, you too could be eating something like guacemole for only $2.80 per bag, or make the real thing for cheaper than that here.

What a weekend...

Well, what a life God has given me! Never boring for sure, and great for depending on Him, which of course is the most important thing.


Friday I lost my wallet. How? Good question. I wish I could say I was mugged, or that I lost it as I fell down a hill or something...but no. I lost in somewhere between my car and our house. Lovely. Lovely for a variety of reasons (never fun having to buy a new wallet, or the money you lost, the cute note from your wife when she gave you the wallet, etc.), but most important of all is all the paperwork to get my residency card, driver's license, ever important PriceSmart card, credit cards, etc.


So I could not drive over the weekend. We went to a multi-family yard sale on Saturday (our family is now into I Love Lucy DVDs (second season) for only $4) and the kids love it. Not driving has its privledges however...you can just relax as a passenger! What a concept.


Monday came Oscar's visa appointment (and I used the trip to the embassy as an opportunity to renew my passport....almost ten years ago was my first trip to Honduras apparantly eh?) God was with us, and it looks like my having gone helped quite a bit. We were out of there before 1:00 (for the 10:30 appointment), with an affirmative....just have to wait to see actually how long the visa is for before buying airplane tickets.


Having finished at the embassy, we then ran like mad around the city trying to get the necessary paperwork done for me to get my residency card, and then driver's license. Score 1, but not 2.


Tuesday morning Valerie and I went back to see our friend at the police station (from Church) to help get my license....a story worthy of Honduran paperwork before computers as I was escorted to a 20' container stationed outside the building with stacks and stacks and stacks of papers. "Do you know the exact date you came to get your license?" "Uh, maybe I can remember what year!" Then they handed me registries from years past and told me to start looking for my name. Eventually "we" decided I could just start from scratch as if I had not had a license....all legit for sure. Two hours later, I have a license.

Visa vi?

Oscar's visa appointment is Monday at 12:30 EST (10:30 our time)....pray if you would. I am sure we will need it.

Snot just another blogger rag

It occurs to me that I know some people read this crazy blog, but sometimes I think I am writing this purely for my own....you fill in the blank (if you are indeed out there).

I got an email today from a friend, a sister in Christ, and she used the phrase "Keeping her nose clean." Now, I have heard that before, but for some reason ("There is no such thing as coincidence," yes, I remember Grandma Colby, and thank you for sharing that over and over when I still did not get it) it struck me today.

So I had to look it up.

If you know me at all, this probably does not come as much of a shock. What I found was not much in terms of what is known of its origin, etc. I'll copy a typical result of my search:

"It is an American phrase of 1887. It is an allegorical reference to a child sustaining a proper hygiene in refined company, particularly children with running noses. A person is expected to be presentable and to have good behavior as a child under adult’s supervision."

Interesting, eh? I remember several people getting on me for wiping my nose with my sleeve when I was a wee lad (or lately with Soren's cold, not being one to stand on convention, watching him pull up his shirt to greet his nose), but I was immediately struck by a bigger picture.

How is my nose?

Is it clean? Or does my heavenly father have to come along all the time to clean it up for me? I know that in salvation, Christ lived a perfect life for me, and died for all my sins once and for all, but in santification (getting to be more like Christ as we live this life), I ask the question again:

How is my nose?

You know, I found ways to hide my nose swiping passion as a child...ok, you get caught on your sleeve, so use the underside of the sleeve (clever for a child, ableit perhaps grosser still), use your friends (or maybe enemies?) sleeve, invent a new hair gel (ok, I did not do some of those, but you get the idea). Your nose is clean...just don't look anywhere else!

Hiding our snot from God is not going to happen.

Perhaps it is because I have had a bit of nasal congestion (the past few days) that sparked all this, but if you have ever had a cold or your nose blocked up, and you try to sleep, then perhaps you know what it is like to be up and long for those days gone by of two good nostrils, air flowing in, and out, ah what perfect bliss that would be!? But that snot gets in the way. Ugh! I blow, I run, I eat spicy foods, but ultimately, it comes right back. Its everywhere with its snotty badness (I know snot is there for a reason, this metaphor only goes so far lest I change gears and talk about snot and its resemblance to God's discipline and the healthy effect snot has for our bodies....just stick with me on this one for now, ok?).

My spiritual nose is filthy. My spiritual life is like that night in bed with a cold....there is no relief in sight, just trying to hide the suffering, looking everywhere for a cure, something to take the snot (sin) away, blowing my nose hoping to expel the little gremlins, only to find that my efforts have been in vain (and I hope I don't pop one blowing so hard), the TP is empty. All that work...and nothing. The snot sits firmly ensconced inside me. What a wreck of a man am I.

Ah, but then comes my Savior. Much bigger than some febile herbal remidy, he pulls the weight of that sin right off my nose, and covers my filthy nose with his perfectly clean one (my life with His). I can breathe....I can live! I am free from snot to live for Christ! What freedom! What an incredible life and future that opens up for us!

Why? Why would He do that? Can you imagine taking all that? We talk of dieing for sin, but thinking of it in terms of something that we can see as physically so disgusting, sometimes that brings it closer to home what Jesus really did for us. Without Him in our lives, we are plugged up with this sin, and we die, and are separated from God (go to hell) because we brought this sin upon ourselves! We went for a dance in the dandolin field, frolicked with the chickens, drank from the borrowed water bottle even though someone said "eye hath ah naisty coold", ran in a dust storm, stuffed M&Ms up there, etc.

I deserved that. But now I can breathe spiritaully through Christ who saves me. And thus....

Grace defined: Not getting what you do deserve, and getting what you do not deserve.

How's my nose? Still snotty after all these years, but made perfect by Christ. loved by God, and cleaned routinely by the Holy Spirit.

Can I get an AMEN?!

Mother's day

Mother's day proved to be eventful, more so than we had in mind at any rate.

First I had to take Jake to the airport for his trip back to the USA. It was not the scheduled departure date, so getting that all figured out took some time, so I got to Church a bit late. Well that and I stopped at the local mercantile (Mrs. Oleson not there) to buy Valerie a present....imported vanilla wafers don't you know (imported is true, and sounds better than generic "Hi-Top" wafers made in Miami)

After Church, there was a mother's day luncheon, so I took the kids home for a delicious lunch of smashed fruit and nut sandwiches. The children were joyous in their celebration of my culinary skills...or in the fact that daddy gives them more food than mommy (Daddy discovered that if he cuts Cecilia's sandwiches into large pieces, she believe she then has double the sandwiches. I of course agreed with her).

We had a relaxing afternoon, and then I got a call from our friend Silvia who was stranded in Sabana Grande due to all the buses being full (why? Mother's day and the big Super Bowl of Honduran "futbol"...she called almost at half time). So I had to skip out on supper to pick her and her two kids up...or so I thought. The line coming into town as I was leaving to get them was at least three miles long. I got there, and instead of three people, there were approximately 893. Ok, maybe more like 13-15 (hard to count...dark and so many people), but sufficit to say more than I was anticipating. Luckily I did not take the Musso, but rather had the Defender, so there was more room. Of course, being in Honduras, at no time was there any mention that there might not be enough room. The Defender became quite top heavy (uh, some people standing of sorts), but we made it back safe and sound.

And with Survivor taped for watching on Monday, all is well. At least...we think it taped.

Oh those pesky vehicles

Granted, I am a vehicle afficionado of sorts. But lately our vehicles have been making life more interesting (interesting being a nice diplomatic term.

Take for example Tuesday. Valerie and Cecilia were to head up to the clinic, and since Valerie is not a fan of the Ford for driving purposes (have you noticed the vehicle is a tad on the large side?), so she was to take the Musso.

But due to some vibrations in the front of the car, we took it to our mechanic for a "quick fix." I left in the Ford assured that Valerie would be on her way in 30 minutes. Three hours later they came through the door. The quick fix became a three day ordeal because the tiny insignificant (other than being dangerous when broke) part was not available anywhere.

See picture at left for what one does while waiting three hours at the shop when you do not care a wit about cars (reading 10 year old magazines, taking ten or twenty pictures, talking to the staff, relaxing, twiddling of thumbs, etc.)

Of course, the Defender was not available due to it being in the shop as well. We got it back last night at 8:00, so Valerie did have a way to get to the clinic while I stayed home to do administrative work. It needed quite a bit of work from the steering, the back door (rusting and not shutting properly), new exhaust, leaky AC unit....ugh, but all is fixed and ready for more daily abuse and group use....all at $1,350. So now we have two working vehicles again. The thought of getting the Musso back this week is overwhelming....it has been months since we have had all three working all at the same time. To be fair, most of the respective waits are due to getting the needed parts for the vehicles. Something about where we drive, what we do, what we take. Go figure.

Yesterday proved to be a challenging day as I used our new spray painter to fix some old paint work, and start on the new gates...fun but very dirty and tiring work. Note to self....no more oil based paint! Luckily only the gates use the oil based, and the rest of the work will be with water based. Using thinner to clean yourself off with a slight sunburn is not fun stuff, and since I had to use it to clean the sprayer as well, it had plenty of time to burn my so dainty skin.

As well Jorge and his gang of welding chicken wire friends are beginning work on putting the roof on the soccer field (no more lost balls!). How that will all be done is quite the Honduran engineering feat.

After I was tired from painting, looking at them on a ladder 30 feet or more up in the air with chicken wire, trying to run the wire to hold it up...

...or the Church guys working on helping us prepare the area where the bus comes in for the new gate we had built, pouring cement and hiking it up twenty feet in the air for pouring the column, I felt a little better about my job that day.

Oh, it looks like I better go...the Ford is just about due for an oil change. That should only take a few weeks.