September Happenings

We haven't posted since the beginning of May...I think that might be a record!

We have been back in Honduras for 7 weeks, and the time has flown by!  My allergies hit the day we got back, and then I later got a cold, so I have spent a lot of time recovering, as well as we've all had to adjust back into a new routine. 

Kyle
Kyle is nearly done with his Master's Degree!  He only has 2 classes plus an internship (which is also his job) left, and then he will graduate in December.  It has been an easier semester so far, but I think we will all be very relieved to have him done.  He has gone back to work full time, and is again in charge of all sports and other events.  He usually stays at work a couple extra hours each day working on his classes so that most nights he doesn't have to study at home.  Tomorrow he will take a bus to San Pedro Sula for an Athletic Director's meeting, and then this coming Wednesday-Saturday he will return for the annual track & field meet.  He has had to take on a job this year with the local association of athletic directors, which will involve working on some Saturdays.

His youth group is doing well.  Kyle has started reading the book Clean with the boys and the girls are doing a different book study.  They are also hoping to have some fund raisers in the upcoming months in order to pay for their yearly service project and retreat.

Melodee
I have been working on making some changes/additions to the Honduran Fellowship website, to make it look a little more professional.  We're also working on creating a place where we can have password protected files that only our members will have access to.  We also have a number of events during the months of October & November that we are hosting or co-hosting: singles mini-retreat, Living in Your Strengths workshops, General Assembly, etc...  Outside of my work for the HFMM, I still attend my Tuesday morning ladies Bible Study (working our way through Judah & Israel's kings, currently just before the exile) and we are hosting our Thursday evening Bible Study at our house (it is better to be able to have Juliana in bed on time).  I have also been meeting with the 2 other stay-at-home moms at school once a week...one has a new baby and is homeschooling her two older boys, and the other is new to Honduras and has 4 kids, 2 not yet in school.  We get together to sit and encourage each other for an hour an a half each Wednesday morning while the kids get to play.

Juliana
Juliana has started Pre-Kinder!  She goes from 7:30-2:30, 5 days a week and it has been a VERY rough start.  Many days she wakes up a cries and has temper tantrums until she leaves for school (after sleeping almost 11 hours every night).  Yesterday it was so bad that we put her back to bed until 9 am and then took her to school.  Starting school for the first time is hard for anyone, but she is the only English speaker in her class.  All Pre-K classes are in both English & Spanish, except Bible with is only in Spanish.  She adores both her teacher and the assistant, and has made a few friends, but can't really communicate with any of the other kids and comes home completely exhausted.  I was able to talk to her teacher when I dropped her off yesterday, and hopefully we'll be able to work with the school counselor to help her adjust better. 

Levi
Levi is loving all of the attention he gets as the only child home on school days!  He can be a pretty crazy boy some days.  Our nanny has been trying to teach him some words in Spanish.  So far, he really hasn't had the desire to say any words other than Mama, Dada, and Nana...but he does express his desires very well nonetheless using sign language, pointing, and boy noises.  This week however, he started saying a few words...ba (for both ball and bus), da (dog) and I think there's been a few other words that I can't remember.  Then today, he started saying some of the words that Iris has been trying to teach him awa (agua), torrrrrta (tortilla), and zapato (although I never actually heard that one).