Huh?

So life has been a blur. Traveling Thursday, then Friday helping a tad with arrangements for Granpda,voting early, buying a few necesities (and trying to avoid culture shock overload at the store and driving while taking pictures in Frankfort Indiana like a tourist of some sort.)

Saturday was the FAME run early. It was good for me to get to see many familiar faces, plus be reminded why we were there (seven km for seven preventable diseases), plus a dry run for what I might expect with the full marathon on Saturday (especially if it is cold like it was then...40 degrees, overcast and windy.) After that, I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Rick and Kay, and then off to Cincinnati for Centre Point Christian Church's missions weekend, which was very encouraging for me...I hope it was so for them as well. Then I made my way back to Indianapolis to be a part of the youth group activities in Oaklandon, which was not only an opportunity to share with the youth, but also to learn a new game...infiltration, which I plan to figure out some how to use in Honduras for sure, very fun.

(My mark for my team...and my "bullet" for infiltration. I note that rolled socks fly better than the knotted ones.)



Monday meant a little sleep, a little helping with more preparation's for grandpa's worship service, heading down to FAME to drop a few things off (for MP to pick up) and to see how things have progressed there with the new construction...and despite them not being able to ship a container this year, all the goodies in their warehouse that we could certainly use that we might try to put on a MP container to get to Honduras. Then to Rick and Kay's for supper....and the famous pink salad!...and then back to Oaklandon to share with the mission's team.

Whew. Today I am catching up on email, blogging (duh), some other phone/house errands, and almost relaxing at a few points. I have to run too (one last preparation for Saturday)...which will be fun since the temperarture is currently 37 but feels like 31.

Interesting day

So I have been busy (thus no blog posts) getting ready for this trip to the US. It would seem that the rate of busyness and things being thrown in...someone is trying to trip me up or just frustrate me. Fortunately, God has been sending just the right sermons to listen to, and encouragement via talks, emails, chats, board meetings, etc.

Today I was trying to get the computer to work (computer is fine...power system here and backup battery not so much) trying to get files copied, things done, then got a call that I needed to meet urgently with Pastor Celeo and Jonathan and Oscar.

The Musso being AWOL (bad clutch...of course right before I leave...to be fixed in the coming week for no doubt a song) I drove the Ford...fortunately our meeting was across the street...because I, and everyone else, immediately noticed my flat tire. However, in true Honduran form, everyone helped get it changed, and after the meeting (about the clothing ministry and some other problems...huge rainfal here killing at least 10, probably more, many homeless, flooding, landslides, etc.) while Oscar and I had another much needed meeting, Celeo even went to get the tire fixed.

Afterwards....many trips to a few banks to get things in order for after I am gone, some lines, opportunities for frustration (and prayer, praise God for some of those hurry up and wait moments)

Valerie made a wonderful meal to encourage me (last meals before leaving...plaintain chips for lunch, and lightly breaded fish and freshly made plaintain "french fries" for supper) and we were off for one last activity as a family...quasi American Idol at Cecilia's school.

I get home, not ready to blog, but for more computer work, and I get an email that just gave me reason to sit and stop for a few moments (something I did the day before yesterday when my hurrydness or something caused me problems seeing...fixed by 1/2 hour closing my eyes, prayer, nap). My grandpa has been ill for a little while, and was getting worse this week. I knew I would not get to have any meals with him, but thought I would get to see him. I will, but the next time will be in Heaven.

I find myself peaceful...not wondering why he died one day before I got there, sad, but praiseful for the life God gave him, the ministry done through him, and that he is now back home.

So, that is my day. All in all, a good day...a day to praise God, just like every day. How was yours?

Oh, it is only two trips

So, Monday the group departed, Brad for Guatemala, and the other guys back to Indiana. I traded kids going to the airport (Monday a holiday here) and Cecilia got the treat of going to the bank and running errands with me...ooooh! There will be many more errands as I wind up the gears getting ready for the trip to the US.

Errands such as...my entire afternoon today (and yesterday.) First day meant going with our lawyer to try to get a fancy thing that no one has heard of...something like a bond or a financial deposit for use with the courts here. We finally got that figured out...and then were told to actually get the paperwork...come back in 24 hours. Of course. I went back today...and now I need the lawyer's signature. Great, that would have been good information to have the day before. So I trekked through the maddening rain soaked traffic to get her signature, and then back to the bank...and then back to her to give her the paper. Ah, what fun. And we will still have to wait a week or more to get the Ford, and perhaps another two months or more for the trial.

Otherwise, I am trying to get the powerpoint presentation done, which is taking hours to find the right pictures, etc. Plus I still need to have the budget for 2009, figuring out how much we could be short, etc. getting ready for another board meeting, handle all the accounting I can before I leave, pack as efficiently as I can with this new one suitcase rule, see my family, get the vehicles repaired (Musso serviced, Ford needs new headlights)...all that and much much more! I am tired just thinking about it. But God will give me what I need, and whether or not I think so...that is good enough for me.

Grupito

So we have been privledged to have with us a group of three since Thursday, here primarily for a youth conference to speak/teach/preach. It has been good to have a group here again! We went to Sampedrana on Friday to see the now freshly painted with doors and windows, Church building (pictures not yet available...at least until I can copy Brad's pictures that is) and Oscar was along to talk to Gender more in depth about design, implementation, and methods of starting to put up the wall on the soccer field.

Friday night began the conference/seminar, with Saturday taking all day out North of town to what was supposed to be a park...and ended up at a very nice recreational area at a military base with a great view of the valley below. Seminar, lunch, then basketball, soccer and swimming, made for some good times to relax during a cool, overcast day.

Today Shawn from the group will be preaching at Church, then we quickly eat lunch and head out to visit San Juancito and Cantaranas (they want to show us property there available for purchase for the Church body there...please pray about that) and hopefully get back to Teguc before nightfall.

It is a short group as well, they leave tomorrow, and then I get back to trying to tie up all the loose ends here before heading to the US in...gulp...eleven days!

Doof!

Well, the roof has been inspected, and there is a problem.

A mix up in communication during the pouring process and firming up the massively heavy joist/beam has resulted in a dip over the waiting room, Oscar guesstimates at around 4 inches (heavy, that cement is.)

Oh no, what a horror, right? Well, yes and no. The bad news is, it will require a column in the middle of the waiting room.

The good news...after we looked at the situation, we needed somewhere to hang another TV anyway. Plus, even with this added weight, and not getting the sealing process done yet, no leaks in the rest of the clinic, and only hanging drops in this problem area.

We can put the column in, which will then allow us to fill in the dip to get things back level up top (four inches is not much...but enough to collect probably four barrels of rain water when it rains.)

A little more expense, but all in all, nothing that can not be fixed. Plus, as we talked today we saved ourselves some theoretical money in the construction process by devising a way to not need a false ceiling, so we have that going for us, which is good.

So I am a little behind, but with many good, great reasons.

Here is a picture from afar of the guys working on the clinic roof. I hope to get a picture of it where we are on top of it sometime this week...I dared not get any closer on that particular day because there were so many people, and they were all working. It went quickly with all the resources there and ready, and by the end about 25 or 30 guys working on it. What comes next? Well, we economized (the water truck can not make it up the hill....so we took water from our new septic tank to mix the concrete....oh, and the septic tank is for the new clinic, and has not been sealed letting rain water collect in there, hopefully that answers your next question.)

Due to a very generous, dedicated, and directed donation for Valerie and I to take some time after all the groups to get away by ourselves (we did that two days in May in Comayagua you might recall...but otherwise this is a new thing for us since...oh, like ten years ago), we were gone this weekend leaving the kids in the very capable hands of Julia our intern (and as well to Rex and Christine for a night, and Oscar and Julia took them for another) while we took advantage of Friday being a holiday, leaving Thursday morning. We had plans...no reservations or the like, but we knew where we were going that night, how we were getting there (mostly) etc. I will spare you what we thought we knew.

What happened was that as we passed Tela...we basically decided to stop and go back to town. We stayed at Telamar, a very nice resort formerly being property/buildings used by the company that owned Chiquita Banana, that otherwise we would probably not have considered. It is not all inclusive...but exclusive, as you have to wear a wristband which then allows you to hit one of the pools, walk the grounds or beach, and a bunch more...like the nine hole golf course "conveniently located five minutes from the hotel." I somewhat dispute the first part on that, but there we were, in a course under renovation, but pretty none the less (note the inexpensive, extra fancy cup marker...a broom handle.)

Taking advantage of the motto "relax" we took our time the next day to enjoy the pool, etc. and then headed over to La Ceiba, and then up to Pico Bonito National Park (the largest national park in Honduras, or so I am told) to Omega Tours Lodge, where we were definitely tucked in and among nature in some very nice but rustic settings. Note...Mom, you would not want to stay there ;-) We had a nice dinner, a fan, and our laptop to watch some DVDs. The next morning...time for white water rafting (fulfilling an almost life long dream of Valerie's in what is purported to be among the best in Central America), well, that and some lessons on swimming in the river, some climbing, some jumping into the river and then the rafting, which was all very cool. We definitely know where we would go if such an opportunity presents itself again.

After lunch at the lodge with our truly international gathering (Kiwis, Brits, French Canadians, Plain Canadians, and us the token Hondurans (well, along with the kitchen/cleaning staff of course) we headed back to Tela to find that it was seafood festival weekend. We relaxed some more, enjoyed some interesting, good, and sometimes artistic seafood, watched some performances, enjoyed the second story pool overlooking the ocean, and then went to bed....only to be awoken a little while later from fireworks...being set off in the parking lot directly adjacent to...our window. Pretty, but alarming for the first few seconds.

Today we took the ever-so-leisurely drive back, stopping for lunch in Siguatepeque (try pronouncing that name...it is fun, really it is!) and then back to beautiful Tegucigalpa, relaxed, entertained, educated, and very grateful to God, and all of those used and directed to help make this weekend possible.

Time to get away

So here we are, thanks to an extremely generous and explicitly directed donation, Valerie and I are alone, on the North Coast of Honduras enjoying some down time to just relax, re-connect, and revive conversation as it were.

Last night we stayed in Tela, at a resort that offered free golfing (it will require picture posting when I get back to my computer) and this afternoon we are off to La Ceiba...with the desire being to fulfill an almost life time wish of Valerie's to do white water rafting.

We head back to Teguc on Sunday. Say a prayer for our time, our safety (traveling roads and rivers) and for renewed energy as we keep running our race.