A Busy Thursday

Even with all the shopping we did in Valle, we still needed more! So, first thing this morning we left Casa LAMB and headed to Arte Giancarlo in Tegucigalpa and were at their doorstep when they opened. This is one of our primary places to get pewter and Lenca pottery items for our fundraiser that will likely happen in early February…probably the 11th. Well, we hit the jackpot, they even had a 30% off sale! After maxing out my credit card, we headed back to Casa LAMB with our treasures before we reloaded and headed to Casa Hogar for another day of work and play.

We installed some great new LED lights in the kitchen building that really improved the lighting in some key areas, then stopped for lunch. As we finished lunch and headed back to start work again, we encountered Elias, one of the children that we help support at the children’s home and presented him with an Atlanta United Soccer shirt that we brought for him. Elias is moderately intellectually disabled, so has trouble understanding certain concepts. People who support children here are known as their padrino and madrina (godfather and godmother). Elias has for some time recognized me as his padrino, but had trouble understanding who Carol was. Well, today he finally got it after Jose Santos and Menguin (a supervisor) explained it to him. He immediately gave Carol a huge hug…it was an amazing moment!

After putting in several hours of continued painting in the kitchen, we stopped for the day and went to play with the children. At one point Amy was swarmed by kids wanting to paint and I became the chalk guy as all the little girls started using chalk to draw on every available sidewalk in Casa Hogar. I was impressed by the ones attending the Joy Academy because they would come up and ask very nicely for their chalk color in English. As we finally packed up the team bag and headed for the van to take us back to Casa LAMB, two of the smaller boys grabbed hold of the bag to help Amy and I. Tomorrow we should completely finish all the work inside and outside of the kitchen building and then say our farewells. It’s been a wonderful experience for us all.

Peace,

Jay