24 Things I am (was)Grateful for on My 24th Golden Birthday!

1.       My Family and Friends and those in between

2.       “Strict” Parents

3.       The strong presence Kelsey still has in my Family

4.       My College experience at St. Scholastica

5.       Farm of the Child; Finca del Nino

6.       Trujillo, Colon, Honduras, Central America

7.       All the People I have ever shared some type of living quarters with

8.       My Camp Girls!

9.       My Travel Buddy-MK

10.   Being part of people’s life: Randi’s wedding

11.   Avocados, Mangos, Baleadas, Liquados, Tostados

12.   Berries, all types, milk, red peppers, Ranch Dressing!!!

13.   Funny stories about our Kids

14.   The idiosyncrasies of Honduras that make us say, “That’s Hondu for you!”

15.   Swimming in the Ocean is like taking a bath ANY time of the year

16.   My Special Friends, and my Dorfa, who calls me her preferida (her preferred!)

17.   Teachers! After teaching a couple classes I love what they do and am glad it is not me every day!

18.   My fun experiences as a “nurse” including machetes, babies, and worms.

19.   Modern conveniences: fan, aloof, electric heater (for tea), cold drinks on a hot day.

20.   Cake mix , mixed with water for a snack

21.   Rainy day conversations and candle lit dinners with the whole community.

22.   Inside jokes, “Fatima died Amanda!”

23.   The opportunity to live and serve in another country with so many amazing people!

24.   That every day I can see hear and feel the greatness of God and his creation!

Days of June

1: Emily, the student nurse, arrived in La Ceiba. Luckily her bus was late because mine broke down on the side of the road somewhere between Trujillo and Tocoa.

2: Took Emily for an adventure in La Ceiba buying the kids medications at several different pharmacies.

5: Brigades started. SChool was canceled and 10 Finca vols headed to the Cristofer Columbus Hotel to start the week off.

6: I headed to the hospital to translate and meet some really cool people.

7: Today the OR and the front desk fought over me for their translator.

8: Spent my thrird day with Dr. Cashman, ENT, and think I have it down pretty well.

9: MK and I discovered the towering Strawberry smoothies at the hotel!

10: Assisted with a Perferated Tympanic Membrane repair (whole in the ear), first ever Dr. Cashman had done WITHOUT anethsia in a clinic room vs. The OR, pretty sweet!

12: Alisha and MK lead Family day activity and we did a mini Camino de Santiago, a very popular and well know walk-hick across Spain. I want to do the really one now, it i son my list!

13: Ismary, our director, had bread made a blessed for all the houses on the Finca. Today is the feast day of San Antonio, part of his misión was to bake bread and feed the poor.

14: Today a gorobo, or lizard fell from the ceiling in the clinic. Yes that is right. In fact it even climbed back up, so Emily and I took empty med bottles and threw them up at him to get him to leave!

17: Sheena and Emily and I ran errands all over Trujillo for hours fort he Quinceañera of the Finca. At one point Emily was in the back of truck sitting on a giant pot of cooked beans singin in the rain!

18: Quinceañera of the Finca

20: 18yo went into labor. Nils, Emily and I took them to the hospital. She ended up need to have her second C-section but we were unable to stay and see how it all turned out.

21: Hicked up to Buena Visita to visit the 5yo boy who had a hip reduction during the brigades and was now in a full body cast. He is doing GREAT given the conditions his family lives in! Dr. Chris and orthopedic nurse Katie, from a construction brigada at the Finca, join us and had a wonderful time too!

23: Emily and Nils and I were able to visit the baby and mom in the hospital who were going home the same day. She didn´t have a name for the 5lb-er yet but she was super cute!

25: Hung out with house 6 the oldest girls and gave them all a manicure.

27: First time I check my email in over 2 weeks 97 emails!

28: Did a home visit to check on mom and baby at home!

29: Went to La Ceiba to drop off Emily, Dalila, one of our adolecents, told me my scrubs were super ugly and she would not want to be seen with me!

30: To end the month off, Betsy, Amanda, Alisha and I all went to Cayos Cuchinos for a day of snorkling, SUPER fun!

Let Me Paint You a Picture:

Today, not your typical day:
I was met with an emergency this afternoon. An older woman and her young daughtre had been attacked but were refusing me to care for them. Their nieghbor, a sixty some year old, approached them on the road in their neighborhood and had wanted to take advantage of this womens 11 year old daughter. When the daughter refused he grabbed for he arm and fractured it. The mother tried to get her daughter away when the man attacked her as well and cut her pretty bad.

They came to the Finca to get a ride into Trujillo to go to the police, she needed to save the evidence of their injuries for the police be fore heading to the hospital. Once we had the papers we need from the police we had to go the Fiscalia, not sure what that translates to in English, to legally file the papers so they could go after the man. All the road though around the Fiscalia were blocked off with more police then I have ever seen in CA all put together! Tami and I dropped them off and drove to park. When we returned the woman and her daughters said they, the Fiscalia, were dealing with dead bodies so they would have to wait! Apparently they had been a fight where all the police were and now two dead bodies were placed in large plastic bags sitting in the back of a green pick up bed right outside the Fiscalia where Tami and I had just walked past and would walk past again to leave!

I did not eat dinner.

It is one thing to know these things exist and occur and happen, it does in the states too, but another to be so close to it and know those affected by it and to in a sense become part of their story. I am thanking God tonight for my safety and the safety of all my family!

VAYCAY!

Vacation to the states was wonderful! Traveled to Alexandria, MN for my beloved cousin Randi’s wedding! I was able to help decorate, put together flowers and be there for all the unfolding of this spectacular day. I met some pretty cool guys and gals there as well.  I was very happy I could be there to help her and make her day super special!

I spent some time with Jesse before he left for his 2 week training and drove him to Mankato to drop him off. My college roomie, Anna, visited all the way from Nashville, TN, and it was such a treat to see her!  I headed to Duluth, MN to visit some old roommates, some mentors, hang out in Campus Ministry, eat at Fitger’s Brewery, and walked down by Canal Park. Drove down to good old So. Dak. To visit my very dear friend Krista who was graduating from Augustana College. I finally met all of her friends she always talks about and also visited an old friend Nathaniel!

And the last weekend I got to see lots of family. My sister and nieces spent the night. The first slumber party I have ever had with my sister, yes the first ever! It was wonderful, things like that need to be done more often in life. The camp girls and I did our traditional dinner at Buca’s in the kitchen. It was so wonderful to see them all again, Jamers, Fitz, Shawny, and Colleeny!!

I am happy to be back though I have to say. In a lot of ways it feels right; it feels like a routine, like going back to school in the fall. This is my life, not just something I am doing for two years. This is where I belong, at least at this point in my life.

Thank you to all those who I saw over my vacations, all those who donated items or money or prayers! Especially: ISD 196 District Offices, Robin and Jody, and the Knights of Columbus in Rosemount!

Much Love from Honduras,

Deirdre

Pascua!

Holy Week!

I really have loved all religious holidays here. They are celebrated so differently, I feel, the way they should be or how it was intended to be celebrate. I mean I have experienced 23 some Easter celebrations but never have I felt as I did till this Easter Season. I have never felt so close to Jesus in his experience and his suffering and his love.

We started on Palm Sunday where we started at one church and processed to another joyfully dancing! Everyone had their palms waving in the air singing along to the band as we followed the Jesus statue as four man carried him on their shoulders and danced him in and out of the crowd. I really felt like I was welcoming home Jesus to Jerusalem!

Thursday we had mass and imitated the last supper as the priest washed the 12 disciples (8 kids, 2 vols, and 2 house parents) feet and then we processed with Jesus (consecrated) the jardin de paz or peace garden where the entire finca took turns waiting up with Jesus to pray before he was handed over. I had singed up for the last hour of the night. And as I was praying with a few other vols the oldest boys from house 5 came in and prayed with us for another hour, I later found out it was something they had all wanted to do and asked the house parents if they could! Wow!

Friday we went into Trujillo and did the 12 Stations of the Cross. And by that I mean we DID the 12 stations. It was like a play but everyone was involved, Jesus, the two thieves, the soldiers who beat him as we went with their whips dipped in red koolaid. But it was ever so real when Jesus was nailed to the cross, they did not actually nail him, he held on to the nails with his hands. That night it was very solemn in the Finca and in the Vol house.  We also did what is called the 7 Palabras, or the 7 last words-phrases Jesus says where we reflect on those last phrases Jesus says. After words one of the kids, Jose Daniel, was dressed as Jesus as he is taken down form the cross and prepared for burial.

Saturday night mass starts outside in the street as the blessing of the light is done with a bonfire! Then we enter the Easter Vigil Mass without any light. Then once everyone is in candles are lit in the front and light spreads through to the back in seconds and the church is light more so with the spirit of everyone waiting to welcome Jesus and sing Alleluia as Christ is risen.

Sunday was mass in the morning followed by an Easter egg hunt White House style. Unfortunately I missed most of that. There was the mother of one of our children who was severely sick so I took her to the Hospital until her son came. That is a whole another story about families and cultural norms in Honduras!

Overall I really enjoyed Pascua here on the Finca and am excited to be here next year!

Abril 2011

April started out not only as Fool´s day but also our 6 month anniversary! A Volunteers 6 months signifies many great things such as: you can now take vacation in the states, you can buy a cell phone, etc. I spent the day getting my residency card; so now I can purchase land, receive major discounts on almost all big purchases, along with the privileges of living in beautiful Honduras. Seriously who ever thought I would be living in another country long enough to need legal residency, let alone Honduras? Not me that is for sure!

This month was filled with things from the past. One community night we all picked out our favorite childhood story from the library and read it aloud to someone, in Spanish, which really put a different twist on things. I chose Para Siempre Querré or I will love you for Always in English. It was really a beautiful activity actually. It made most of us think about growing up and our parents and made me then reflect on the kids here and how many of them don{t even have one person who can share memories of their childhood or say, I remember when you did this… nor can they see how much they have grown. They have no consistence and no one they can say has loved them all through their life and share their triumphs and struggles, no one to say “I will love you forever and always!”

I had a visit from the former nurse, Beth, and Dr. Johnson and a med student who were all in Honduras for a brigade several hours away. The came for a clinic day and focused on our chronic patients with asthma, diabetes, and HTN. I learned a lot from Dr. Johnson and really enjoyed having Beth visit. While she was here we ended up getting a kid who had cut his leg with a machete just under his knee that I was able to do stitches on! If only every patient was as wonderful as he was.

Some challenging moments this month:              I learned some more parenting skills aka teenage girls can be real beast sometimes and not care at all! Mom, sorry for when I acted the same! Struggled a lot with my faith and what my purpose is here at the Farm.

Some triumphant moments this month:             Eat orange chocolate sitting on Mary Kate’s bed to celebrate her accomplishing some very important self goals. We had an awesome holy hour led by Sheena using a centering prayer around a frijole or bean, which is very appropriate for us here at the Farm. Our second retreat since the Finca was very productive and we grew closer as a community as we reflected one our thoughts of the Farm before coming and now since arriving what has changed good and bad.

Before I left all the kids asked me to bring back either food or the older boys all asked for a car, yeah right guys! Maybe I will bring back a Hot Wheel{s car!

¡Feliz dia de San Patricio!

Happy Belated St. Patrick’s Day! I hope you all had a great time celebrating, here we wore green and put food coloring in the bread and that was about it for celebration. Though this coming weekend Betsy, another volunteer and myself are supposed to be Irish dancing for the party and Tbay, the resort down the beach. We will see if that actually happens.

The family has come and gone already, it is hard to believe. I really enjoyed having them here though it got to be tricky when the dentist arrived: I was working and on vacation at the same time….how did that work out?!? They work super hard the whole week, the clinic looked brand new and I don’t think the taller, maintenance, has had that much attention in I don’t know how long! And Jesse managed to learn how to wind surf and helped me in study hour with House 6 girls.

The Dentist and his wife worked very hard also, and came from Alexandria MN, small world, and his wife possibly taught Catechism with my aunt! This was their sixth year coming so they have a great system. We were able to get through all the Finca kids as well as some of the neighbors. I was able  to sit in on almost all the cleaning and some of the hard cases and saw some teeth removed and some drilling being done which was actually really cool!

This past week I covered house 5 boys (ages 12-16) for a two hour stint. It is amazing to me how day to day they can be real brats sometimes but one on one super nice, we could actually carry a conversation! House 6 is always good for a chat around the fagon before dinner while cooking. House 4 loves the beach, but then again who doesn’t? House three, the youngest boys, and I still only talk about their granos and other injuries they have acquired. I was substitute teacher for agriculture and house 2 girls were the well behaved ones telling their other classmates to be quiet and behave for profa Deirdre. House 1 is learning about numbers and addition through drawing pictures, so for study hour we have become really good at drawing birds in a tree!

I have 5 weeks until my first vacation home, but who’s really counting? I am super excited to see everyone and be home for some family affairs like Randi’s wedding, Dad’s birthday, Mother’s day, and more!

Thank you to those who were able to attend the Knights of Colombus Turkey Bingo! Thank you to all who are supporting me here financially and or spiritually, it is grately appreciated! Much Love…Deirdre