Don't Yell "Fire" In A Crowded Theater

Updates...I know you all live for them. I live for writing them and uploading pictures so that you all may feel connected with us while we're here. I've been making more time to write them since I believe it is important (especially for the family that wonders what the heck we're up to down here). I really don't have a whole lot to say today, but at least a couple of interesting things have happened in the course of the past day and a half.

Yesterday (Saturday--and by "Saturday" I mean March 28th, 2009 since we aren't more than 1 hour difference from California), we woke up to feed and groom the horses before our morning horse lessons. Of course the horses looked spectacular after a nice comb through and brushing. On a side note, Wade said that they look the best they ever have through a dry season. I guess we must be doing something right then. John decided to get a little bonding time in with the colt since he'll be working with them more often as soon as we leave. We had 3rd grade girls on Saturday and they were certainly a handful to say the least. Some of the girls have been very good with the horses, but this was not one of those groups of girls. One girl decided to bring her soccer ball with her to keep herself entertained. The water trough in the pasture has come to look pretty nasty and it would seem that it was in need of a cleaning. I asked Wade if we could borrow his pressure washer in the morning to which he said that it would be available to use in the afternoon. I picked it up, got it ready to use, and after it ran for about 30 seconds, it decided to quit on me. Unfortunately after many attempts to restart it and checking all the fluid levels as well as the air filter, I gave up. I even had one of the junior staff members come out to look at it, but they couldn't figure it out either. I ended up using the shovel to try and scrape out the algae along the bottom. It looks a lot better now, but I'll have to give the pressure washer another try next weekend.


When Lauren and I were walking home from church this morning, we saw a lot of darker smoke in the sky in a spot that seemed closer to the orphanage than the usual trash burns. As we got a little closer to home, we could see tall flames burning the very dry field next to the horse pasture and corn crop on the edge of the property. We had a staff member radio it in to Wade while we continued on over to check it out. After a bit of research, we found out that there have been a lot of wild fires here lately. We just left California where wildfires were threatening Lauren's mom's house this past fall and now they are threatening the orphanage here! Honduras is in the middle of their dry season, so fires are very common since everyone burns their trash here. When we arrived at the property's edge, we could see that cows were grazing even with the fires burning about 200-yards behind them. We almost had free hamburgers for lunch!



As Lauren and I were on our way to lunch this afternoon and we approached the dam, we saw one of the illusive iguanas that we've seen diving into the pond over the past week. I had my camera with me since I had just been taking pictures of the fires, so it was the perfect opportunity to snap a pictures to share with all of you! Before I could get too close to him, he jumped into the water in a hurry to escape the clutches of danger. On our way back we saw one of our turtle friends sun bathing on the dam. Its hard to see him because he is so small, but he is right above the dark water spot on the damn. You can also see the orphanage cows grazing in the little valley behind him...what a happy family they have become.




While we were getting lunch at the tienda (store) near the entrance to the orphanage, Lauren was looking in the gift shop and found the coolest little bracelet. She showed an interest in it and I practically demanded that she buy it for herself since she liked it. I usually like accessories on Lauren and I like them more when they have a cool story behind them. For example, Lauren also has braclet that she bought in Africa when she went to Botswana in 2007 with Sandals. Now she has a braclet from Honduras when she went there with her awesome husband in 2009. Sounds like a new tradition has been born.



BREAKING NEWS:

While cleaning the dishes after dinner tonight, I found this guy in our shower! I don't know why they have gotten so brave, but they are walking on the walls and in the shower. I would hate to have Stinky crawl up my leg while I'm trying to shower. I still can't believe how loud they can be in the middle of the night, although they're nothing compared to the new found fly-like bug that has been introduced into our daily lives.