An Unfinished House

Tati turned 14 last Thursday. as if the beach weren't enough we went out and got him the old cake. the same chocolate one he picked out last year. love this kid - i love the direction his life is heading. especially his walk with God. 

it's jamie moon. he's a friend of mine from frazer mennonite church. he visited me last year. he showed up again 2 weeks ago. let me digress for a minute from these one line snippets to say how much I truly appreciate his visits. There's no one quite like Jamie Moon and his probing questions and genuine curiosity force me to reflect and observe in ways that I don't have to when i'm alone here. right so jamie showed up. turns out i don't have many photos of him or our adventures. were there adventures? jamie do me a solid and write a blog post for me analyzing your time here...you're good at that. and include some really hot fotos. ok, the one adventure that we did have, that includes some sort of photo documentation, was a trip to the beach. the eby's... blast! i've never properly introduced the eby's list of things to write about... anyways, the eby's wanted to take a day-trip to the beach and were kind enough to invite us along. tati was...

you never know what you may see in the wee hours here in los laureles. like a kinder-aged prayer meeting or maybe an arms deal gone wrong

I've known Pepe from the beginning. I've learned that he is a hard person, serious, easily offended and quick-tempered. He's also an incredible forward on the soccer team, fiercely loyal, has a keen sense of justice and is a true leader amongst his age group. Pepe comes from a rowdy, crude bunch - pray that he takes a different course.

When I first began visiting Los Laureles nearly 3 years ago, Adonai or Pato as he's called here, was the 3rd kid that I befriended. He's been by far my most loyal companion and biggest headache, I think both for the same reason. He needs love and attention. He seeks it in any way he can and from anyone willing to show it to him because he gets nothing from the people that raise him. Pray for Pato, he's a sweet child with a generous heart and a lot of anger.

remember that gushing waterfall that we death-march people to as a form of treatment ? yes, of course you do, it's what keeps you from visiting me. well, normally it looks like this:   recently though we've experienced a heat wave of disgusting proportions. yes, disgusting is a good adjective to describe this inferno. i feel disgustung when i rise from bed drenched in sweat, i feel disgusting as the sun penetrates my mind and teases my nerves all day long and i lie awake at night cursing my disgusting inability to sleep in a sauna. do yourself a favor and don't visit honduras anytime in the next month. oh yeah, so that waterfall looks like this now: wait that's not right. and who sits on top of victoria falls with a 4-year old? is this for real? oh, the waterfall...here it is for real: just look at nature's power there! the power to evaporate a waterfall. we woke up this morning and it just seemed hotter than ever...just really stinkin' hot. i didn't hav...

Ok honestly, have you just ever seen anything more adorable in your entire life? I mean, not only does she curl up with Blas each morning but she knows to use the pillow for lumbar support and everything! She may as well just pull a sheet up over top and hang a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the hutch there. This dog is just too much. Ok, now on to those silly ducks. What tricks will they come up with next? Perching themselves on a 20 foot wall with sharp implements of death waiting for them below? Oh, these guys just know how to be cute in a risky, devil-may-care kind of way. It's almost like they're saying "What does this make you nervous? Because if so we've accomplished our goal." Man, these ducks are really one of a kind. Probably the only water-phobic, wall-perching ducks in the entire world. And they're de-lish! Ok, to round this all out we have a rat. He lives in a recycled fan cage on the floor of our non-functioning shower. Blas, remember Blas,...

at least the views do. we're getting evening thunderstorms almost nightly here. it's nice, it cools things off considerably after drearily sweltering days and it gives you good reason to simply sit on the front porch, drink coffee and reflect. and this is what we're treated to before the rains come each night. sometimes i have to force the boys to look up and take stock of what God's given us. they think i'm insane. i think they're nuts for not appreciating the scenery so i guess we're even. on a different note entirely, my refrigerator freezes things like a champ. after just an hour in the "fridge" part, the water in the pitcher starts to freeze. the other morning I pulled out a perfect upside-down ice mold of the water pitcher out from within the water. i was moved to take a picture.