So Much More Than a Roof

First, let me apologize for not writing while we were in Honduras. I didn't have my laptop, thinking that I could update my blog via my iPhone, but that didn't work. So here I am updating after the fact. Second, I know that my words will not even come close to doing this trip and experience justice. I really don't even know where to begin. The team you see pictured above is the hardest working team we've ever had and they are some of the greatest people I've been blessed to work with. As with any work of this nature, the purpose of our trip was not to put a roof a house but it was to love children by helping to provide them with shelter that would no longer leak. This roof was in such bad shape that water would pour through in litterally every room. That is a serious problem in a country like Honduras where it rains 10 months out of 12. And as always, we were blessed by the our brothers and sisters and the children far more than we could ever have blessed them. This was the house we were roofing.

As you can see, it is a fairly large home (approx. 6,500 sq ft). They have four houses on property and each house is home to 14 children, 2 house parents and a domestic. It was a huge undertaking! We had to tear off the old roof first, lay down plywood, then roll insulation and finally drill down the metal roofing. I was sceptical going into the project and even more sceptical after day one of work. Bottomline, I lacked faith. Our team rose to the challenge and completed this roof in five days of work and finished on the last day in an hour and a half.

The pictures of the faces to the left are why they worked so hard. You fall in love with these faces, and many more, very quickly. This first little girl's name is Daisey and she arrived at PLN this year. Our daughter Taryn was there when she arrived and said that is was a very sad day for her as she cried for hours watching her grandfather drive away. The second picture is her holding her "baby" on water day. Water day is code for huge water balloon and water fight. It's a day they all look forward to. She was a very bright light during the week. All smiles!

The second child pictured is Jose Armando. If you've been reading my blog, which by the numbers I see not many do :(, you may remember and recognize Jose Armando from previous posts. He and his sister Ande, who is pitured next with Enya, are doing great! They were new to PLN 10 months before we arrived last year. Theye are so happy and full of energy and life. It is truly amazing what love does for a child and for that matter, for all of us.

The amount of good being done at PLN for these children and the life changes are truly miraculous. As I've stated before, the difference at PLN is these children are not being given a lifetime supply of fish, but rather are being taught how to fish. The human soul wants to use and grow the talents that God has given each of us to use and that is exactly what is happening at PLN. They are all 10 talent children and they will present to God 10 more talents with the help and encouragement of their House parents and all those who are a part of this great work. This week was truly not about a roof.

Each evening we would close out our night with a time of reflection on our days activities and a time of praise to the Almighty sovereign God we serve. On Tuesday evening our sons, Tyler and Trevor, immediately after our time together, decided to proclaim their commitment to Jesus as their Lord and were baptized. It was the highlight of the week for us, as you might imagine, and capped off an amazing day.

We finished the roof on Wednesday morning at 10 am! Four days and 2 hours later, house #4 has a new roof. The best news came Thursday morning as we were driving to Tegucigalpa...it had rained Wednesday night and there were NO LEAKS!!

It is always hard to leave this place and these beautiful people, but this year seemed doubly hard. I'm not sure if it was because this was our 4th year here and our relationships are that much deeper, or if it's because we were leaving our daughter behind and were wishing we could stay with her. I think it was a combination of the two. This week always seems to go quickly and this year was no different.

We drove to Tegucigalpa on Thursday morning and ate at the Gringo favorite restaurant, The Patio, for dinner. A nice surprise was seeing my nieces, Brenna and Kendra there with their team who had served at Baxter Institute all week long there in the city. It was an amazing week and we are so thankful to all who helped us make this trip again this year. God is doing great things in Catacamas, Honduras at PLN. Our brothers and sisters serving the children there as house parents are wonderful servants and disciples of Jesus. Please consider partnering with us in the work at PLN. You can follow news and progress here at my site and at their site http://www.porlosninos.org/ .

Open our eyes Lord...

Our departure is almost here. We will be headed to the Little Rock airport in the morning at 5 am (Thank you Floyd for driving us!) change planes in Houston and land in Tegucigalpa at 12 noon. It's always a new experience no matter how many times I go. This will really be new though, because my daughter Taryn, who has been living there all year, will be at the airport to meet us! I can't wait to see her! I thank God daily for her amazing heart and the growth that He is causing in her through this experience. I am working on my Spanish because we wouldn't be surprised to see her live there full-time after finishing college. And if she does, that would be great with us.

Constant change...isn't that they way life is though. We are on a journey and it's never a destination. I continue to pray for God to open our eyes each and every day to the messages and challenges of growth he places before me/us. It is always more vivid and obvious when in Honduras. Less distractions, much more simple and pure. Each decision we make is either adding to the kingdom or taking away from it. My prayer is that we will add to it with every breath we take and glorify our amazing God with each step we make. Keep our team in your prayers and continue to pray for the wonderful people at PLN in Catacamas. More later...