Vamos a correr! (We are going to run!)

In Honduras the schools are out for the months of November, December and January.  During this time Iain and Liz, our Children's Center directors,  are always glad for any extra activities for the kids.  So,  since Sarah and I run 3 to 4 mornings a week,  I decided it would be fun to have a running club during the school holidays.  I invited any of the kids who wanted to run to sign up and then divided them into two groups.  The boys ran with us on Monday and Thursday mornings and the girls on Wednesday and Friday mornings.  Some of the kids really liked to run and some preferred more of a "nature walk"  but it was fun to get to spend this time with the kids.  

 Doing a few exercises to stretch our muscles before running.

At the beginning of the running club,  I told the kids that if they would run with us until time for school to start again,  we would have a party.  In November,  I was sharing about the running club with one of our visitors and told her that I would really love to be able to give each child a new pair of shoes at the party.  She said she believed that her small group would be willing to provide the shoes and that they did.  They sent the money and a couple of weeks ago I got to go shopping for the shoes.  

 The shoes are purchased now lets get ready for a fiesta!

School starts again next week so it was time for our party.  

 We had lots of food,

 a pinata,

 filled with lots of candy,

 and minion cupcakes for dessert.

Then I got to give all the kids their new shoes.  Here are just a few of them showing off their new shoes.

They loved the shoes and I loved being able to give them.  How blessed I am to get to share in the lives of these kids and I will miss our morning runs.  Hoping we can do it again. 

No better way to spend our eves!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.  Click the link below to see how much fun we had.  Thank you, New Hope Baptist, for helping make these nights special for us and a bunch of amazing kids!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MJgD4Qi9zA

El Camino Bilingual School

El Camino Bilingual School is the school that was started by Hospital Loma de Luz founders Jeff and Rosanne McKenney.  It is just another way they are trying to reach and help the people on the coast of Northern Honduras.  The school started with Kindergarten and added first grade this year,  with the plans of adding a new grade each year as these children move ahead in their education.  However,  the school is in need of teachers for the coming school year.  The Honduran school year runs from February to November. Watch the following video to hear more about the school and the need.  Please share it with anyone you know that might be interested.

Summerlink Honduras 2013

Another video by the talented Elizabeth Pirkle that captures some of what we have been up to this summer.

This is the second summer we have been priviledged to host a group of college students for 6 weeks through a program at our home church called Summerlink.  With the help of these students we are able to do things that we couldn't do on our own.  We are thankful that our church, Crosspoint Clemson,  has allowed us to be a part of this program and are blessed by the lives it is touching here in Honduras.  

One thing we began this year were English classes.  We are excited to see the impact this will have on the lives of those students involved.  Our hope is to have refresher courses throughout the year so the students won't forget the things they learned between now and next summer.  We already have teams schedules to come late December and late January,  but would also like to have a couple more come in early and late spring.  Teaching the classes wouldn't be hard and could be done by just about any type of team.  The material will be provided and all the teaching is done in English.  If you have a group that might be interested let us know.

December 2012

Here is a little picture of December captured by the talented Elizabeth Pirkle while she was here.  

Strawderman Week Recap

We had an amazing week with the Strawderman Family last week .   Here are a few highlights captured by the awesome  Elizabeth Pirkle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WeGrFq-zog&feature=g-all-u

Summer LINK Honduras - First Two Weeks

Here's a quick update of what we have been up to with our SummerLinkers.  We have been having a great time with these guys and keeping them busy.  We look forward to the next three weeks.  We will be adding the Strawderman family to our group later this week and can't wait for them to get here.  

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