Daddy Daughter Dance
One of the highlights of the month of April was hosting the first annual, Daddy Daughter Dance at Good Shepherd Christian Academy. We spent endless hours decorating for the event, but it was worth every minute when we were able to see the girls in their beautiful dresses with such big smiles. Though a popular happening in the states, a Daddy Daughter Dance is practically unheard of in Honduras, and though some would shake their heads in disdain at the thought of a dance, our school staff thought this would be a great time for our girls. Giving them the chance to dress up like a princess for the evening was such a treasure and also driving home the intent of letting them know that they are all daughters of the King. It was a very fun and encouraging night for all! Some of you may be wondering how we pulled this off with our girls at the home with the lack of male representation on our campus. Well, we were lucky enough to plan our dance on the same week as a visiting team that had a large number of males. The girls from the home were able to select either an older sibling or a team member to escort them to the dance while community girls either brought their dads, uncles, brothers, or any other influential male role model. It took a while for everyone to get out on the dance floor, but everyone eventually dropped their pride and came around for the benefit of the girls! Wes may have helped with initiating that process. Overall, the evening was a huge success and an event that will hopefully continue throughout the years. Our girls made many memories that will last a lifetime.
GSCA Happenings
We have remained extremely busy throughout the month of April at the school. We have continued our theme of “Around the World” and the children are learning so much! For many of them, they may never have the opportunity to travel outside of their country, however, watching them learn about different places all over the globe has allowed us teachers the privilege to see their reactions to so many beautiful places.
In music class, the students have not only made great strides in learning new information in music theory and composers from different places, they have also been able to explore many new instruments and songs from around the world. One of everyone’s favorite songs is “Senor Don Gato”, an old Mexican folk song. Many of you may remember this song from your elementary music class days! We are so thankful that they can be afforded the privilege to experiment with different instruments that have been donated to our classroom and we can’t wait for them to show off some of their skills at the end of year celebration, coming up at the end of May!
Art class has also proven to be very eye opening for our children as we have explored many different art forms and artists from around the globe. Many of our children have such a love and appreciation for art and it is inspiring to watch them accomplish so many projects! Again, we can’t wait for their art work to be on display for all to see at the end of year celebration. We are also looking forward to the results of our school-wide Art Contest. We have made such a big push this year to open their eyes to many different art forms. They will always hear us say, “ANYTHING can be art”! So our only limits to the art contest have been to stay within the limits of our school theme, “Around the World”. We have been hearing their big plans for different projects and we are so excited to see what they can come up with as they use their imaginations.
Library and Bible classes have also been a great success as we’ve continued throughout the school year. Between language arts class and library time, we are really seeing some of our children develop a love for reading; including one of our own, Marleigh. As a mother, I can’t tell you how much this means to me. We have been very fortunate to receive the Gospel Project as our Bible curriculum and it is amazing. Not only will our children make it completely through the Bible over the course of the next few years, but this curriculum is always pointing back to Christ and applying every Bible story to their daily lives. The education our children are receiving is great and we are thankful to play a small part.
BIG News and BIG changes
As many of you may know, we moved to Honduras in June 2016 with a commitment to GSCA for at least one year, though we knew all along that we hoped to serve longer. Not really knowing how our family of five would adjust at the time, we figured that was a safe estimate. When we returned in February from furlough, we knew, based on our previous experience and much prayer, that our plan would be to return for at least one more school year. However, we have met a few challenges over the past few months; one being our car. It has not been the most reliable source of transportation and we have also spent some mega bucks in repairs. Another challenge has been our housing. Because of repairs being made to our current house and some flooding issues, we had begun our search for a new place to rent closer to the school. Best case scenario, we were looking to rent a place on campus of the Home, which would allow us to walk to work each day and have way less wear and tear on our vehicle. We began to really pray about the situation, but had no idea how God planned on answering. As always, He amazes us every time with His answers. A few weeks ago, the directors of the home decided to resign their position as they planned to return to the states. Given our former work with a children’s home in the states, we were asked to step in as the Interim Directors of the children’s home. Can I just say that this came as a SHOCK to us! We had every intention of continuing our loved work at the school. However, through much prayer, yet again, we felt the Lord leading us in this direction. So, that’s our BIG NEWS! We are excitedly nervous, as we know this job is much bigger than what we can do in our own strength! Every day we will continue to be calling on Him for his strength, wisdom and direction that we are to follow.
Given this news, we are now only planning a trip home for one week this Summer, since it was already in the plans, then we will need to return to the home to learn the bulk of our new responsibilities. Our new furlough time will be in the Fall and we can’t wait to see everyone and share our happenings at that time. Please pray for our family during this transition. We are obligated to finish up the school year, yet we are officially taking on this new role on the 9th of May. There is so much for us to learn and we need the presence of God in our day to day lives more than ever.
As to how God has already answered prayers…we will be moving into a home on the campus of the children’s home and there is a vehicle, owned by the home, provided for our use. That was definitely not the way we anticipated the prayer being answered, but there you have it! We look forward to sharing more about the home as we learn our daily responsibilities and get to know more of the children and staff.
Kid’s Corner
Our kids are still doing great here in Honduras though they miss many people back in the states. Just last week we were able to give them a little taste of home by visiting the newly opened Chuckie Cheese store in the city! We all had a great time together! Here’s a litte insight from them on our family night.
Marleigh says, “Chuckie Cheese was awesome. I loved it”.
Nate says, “I can’t believe we have a Chuckie Cheese in Honduras. Me and my friends shared our tickets and I won a slinky”.
Bella says, “Going to Chuckie Cheese with my family and friends was really fun. I hope I can go back soon. My friend and I saved all of our tickets for our next visit”.
I know a family night to Chuckie Chesse may sound very superficial to most, but it was such a special treat for us and our kids. After the news of the big transition, it was a family night that was much needed. The kids are overall very excited about moving on campus. However, they are very sad that their Summer trip home has been shortened, but they are very understanding and look forward to their visit home in the Fall.
In the month of April we were also able to celebrate Nate’s 8th birthday. Having a birthdate only one day apart from another missionary kid, we combined birthday parties and had a pool party with all the other missionary kids close by. Nate had a great birthday, but looks forward to spending all his birthday money in the states. He wants to visit the aquarium!
A Note of Thanks
As always, we want to thank those who have partnered with us in ministry! We are so fortunate to serve the Lord in this capacity and couldn’t do it without your help! If you are not financially supporting our mission, but interested in partnering with us, please contact us or visit the following site for your opportunity to give.
https://community.bmdmi.org/giving/ourmissionaries
(Be sure to select our names in the drop down box.)