This past week and weekend have been so eventful. It was our first full week of school in a while, and we were all exhausted by the end of it. On Monday, we had "Day of the Child" celebrations for our classes (well at least in elementary). This is a day in Honduras where the children are honored. One Pinares high school student put it this way: It is the celebration of the future of Honduras. I believe it is a good celebration, although many parents and children take it a bit too far.
Tuesday was my 23rd birthday. I don't think that I have been told "Happy Birthday" so many times on one of my birthdays. My children were so excited for me. They sang for me about 8 times that day as well! Aaron surprised me with flowers while I was teaching, and my aid and one of my students' parents surprised me with flan and ice cream. After school, Aaron and I made our way down to my favorite restaurant for a nice dinner. Little did I know, Aaron had planned a surprise get-together with all of our close friends, and they were there when we arrived! It was a fun night, and I had a lot of fun. The best part of the day, however, was when Aaron told me about my present from him. He and his parents have planned for me to go home for a week in October. Mrs. Halbert is coming here during her fall break to substitute for me. Most of you already know about my sister, Catherine. She was diagnosed with cancer in May and it has been very hard to be away from home during such a trying time for our family. Anyway, I am flying home October 20 (I think) and staying for a week! This is by far the greatest gift Aaron could have given me this year. As much as I am beginning to love Honduras, my heart often yearns to be back with my family in Mississippi.
Those of you who will see Renee and Andy Halbert soon, please give them a hug for me!! Mita is sacrificing her whole fall break for me, and Papi is flying with me both ways!! My family and I are so thankful!
The rest of the week went by quickly and ended with Independance Day on Friday. In Honduras, if a holiday falls on any day other than Monday, it is still observed by schools and some businesses on that following Monday. So, we did not have school today even though the actual holiday was Friday.
One of our fellow teacher's parents came to Honduras to visit this weekend. We spent a lot of time with them. The teacher and her roommate are two of our really good friends, so they wanted us to get to know her parents. They stayed at a very nice hotel across from one of the malls here, and we took advantage of the nice pool there this weekend! We did not feel like we were in downtown Tegucigalpa!

We hope that y'all have a wonderful week. Thank you for keeping up with us and for praying for us.


ps. I know that some of you would like to know ways to help us here. If any of you are interested, our elementary school is looking to update their video collection to all DVDs. Videotapes have problems with mold here and they are not always reliable now. If you are interested in sending children's videos to Academia Los Pinares, you may mail them to Andy Halbert 9913 Tierra Verde Drive Knoxville, TN 37922. He will get them to me in October. We are looking for all kinds of children's videos: Christian (like Veggie Tales), educational, or entertainment. They can be short or long. It will be for Pre-K through 6th grades. Thank you!!!