Hello Again

Ok, so I know I am REALLY late for an update this time. All I can say is I am sorry. As you probably assumed, our summer went by so very fast with only a few days of not doing anything. It was a great summer, don't get me wrong, but we are so glad to be back at our home in Honduras. Neither one of us liked living out of suitcases for 2 months. The time with family and friends was fantastic, and our trip to RYM with the students from Honduras could not have gone smoother. We are already thinking of how we could do it next year...seeing that all 13 students want to go again, along with probably another 15-20 of the next class.

Now that we are back in Honduras, and school is now in its 4th week, I will tell you some of the changes we encountered upon returning. First of all, there are many new teachers here, but we are providentially still waiting on 2-3 more teachers. We have a new couple living next door to us who are around our age. Their names are Ben and Joy. We all get along really well, and I am so thankful Aaron has a good male friend!

Another change was that Aaron had to pick up another class: Sociology. For those of you who know Aaron well, this is PERFECT for him! Aaron teaching the study of people could not be better! He is actually getting to teach his beloved 11th grade class again, which he is excited about doing. This is a good change for Aaron, however, this means A LOT more work for him and fewer planning periods. He is doing great so far and I am so proud of how he has stepped up to the challenge!!

Another change this year was that my aid, Karla, did not return to Pinares this year. In God's perfect timing and will, she was offered a better job at a different school that she could not turn down. I have been so extremely sad about this change, not because my new aid is not wonderful, but because my best friend here in Honduras is not in my classroom anymore. Please be in prayer for her and her children.

Now I can update what has been going on this weekend!! My birthday was on Thursday, and I felt so special at school! First of all, one of my student's mom is a baker, and she sent me a rather large and delicious cake that morning. We enjoyed that as a class at snack time that morning...just to start loading them up with sugar! ;) Aaron brought me flowers and a coke that morning while I was teaching. At lunch time, 2 mothers came and surprised me with cupcakes and sandwiches...just to seal the deal with the amount of sugar my students were getting that day! It was a fun day at school, and my kids were really cute!!
That night, Aaron took me to my favorite Pizza place with our closest friends and Karla! The food was so delicious!!!! Aaron also picked up my favorite dessert here: Flan!! When I got home, Aaron gave me a card to explain my gift from him...Friday night we were to spend the night at Honduras Maya Hotel in the city, go out to dinner, have the yummy breakfast buffet the next morning, get massages, and spend some time at the pool!!!!! It was ALL so amazing. On Saturday, Aaron surprised me with getting my nails done with Karla and going out to dinner with her as well--just the 2 of us so we can have some time together. This was so fun, and I loved having the time with her!
Karla drove me home, seeing that Aaron had gone on up the mountain to watch football. When I got home, Aaron came and got our suitcase out of the car and I was so excited to see him. The three of us were going to have Flan together, or so I had planned. Little did I know that almost 20 11th graders were hiding in our living room with the lights off waiting to surprise me with a party!!! They literally scared me to the point of screaming!! Aaron had planned it all, and I had NO clue that anything else was going to happen! He got me really good! He had been planning this for almost 2 weeks with the kids, and he called Karla to take me some places so that he could set everything up! He was not planning on watching football at all! He left the hotel and went to pick up a pinata and a cake. The party was so much fun and they all loved seeing my face!

I must say, I have never celebrated my birthday for 3 days in a row, but Aaron really went above and beyond! He was so very thoughtful about every little detail! The only thing I wish could have been different was having our families here. We both miss that aspect of living there. It wasn't until last year that neither of us were able to see our family on our birthdays. It's part of living overseas, but I know it is harder on our moms than it is on us!

Summer has begun!

We have jumped straight into summer since we flew in from Honduras! The first week we were here we simply relaxed and tried to recover from our over night flight-which was fine, by the way. We took a day trip that week to Greenville, South Carolina to visit part of the Halbert extended family and to pick up a truck we borrowed to move Maggie's things to Nashville. I was excited to meet Aaron's aunt, uncle, and cousin on that side for the first time. We had a great visit with them all!

The next week, we headed to Chicago a few days early to spend time with Shannon Baugh and her family. We also went downtown on Wednesday with some friends from Honduras. Alex and Maggie's wedding was on Saturday morning, and it was a beautiful ceremony. We also took a little detour on the way home to visit the campus of Notre Dame. There are some pictures from our trip in Chicago above. The last one is a picture of all but one of the kindergarten teachers and aids that I work with. This picture was taken at graduation.

This week, we are preparing for RYM. The students from Honduras are coming in Sunday night and we leave for Florida on Monday. We are so looking forward to them coming and we are praying that they will have a safe and fun trip while here.

A Year Finished

Wow, time has flown since we got back into Honduras. I am so sorry that I have not updated lately. I came back and was forced into full swing! Now, we are packing up things and getting ready to head back to the States on Wednesday. We will be flying with Spirit Airlines, and we will depart from San Pedro Sula at 1 am. This is the other part of our round-trip ticket that we purchased for January. We saved a lot of money, but we will most likely not be flying with Spirit anymore. They did not send our luggage with us last time and we waited for 5 days until we got it back. You may have noticed the time we are departing on Wednesday. This is another downer for Spirit:"late night flights." Maybe I am completely different from most women, but I do not cope well with flying at hours such as those. Especially when the flights were 2-3 hours behind for no reason and our luggage did not show up. I am already praying for patience while I am awake and sleep while I am on the plane.

We will be in Knoxville for the first week and then off to Chicago where Alex, Aaron's brother, is getting married. We will be staying with Shannon Baugh for a couple of nights while we are there, and we are so excited to see where they live! Soon after we return from Chicago, we will head to Atlanta where we will pick up 13 students who attend the school here in Honduras. We will be taking them to RYM- Florida that week. Please be praying for safety for all of us, as well as for all of our hearts as we go study God's Word and fellowship with many other believers. After RYM, we will take the kids (9th and 10th graders) to Knoxville to visit the church, a few colleges, go to Gatlinburg, and meet a few families from the church. We will also take them to Six Flags in Atlanta the day before they fly out. They will be here a total of 10 days. I think Aaron and I are more excited about them coming than they are. It is a great group of kids coming!

Yet another blog!

Rachel told me that I needed to post on our blog that I now have my own blog. The point of my blog is to show people some of the pictures I have been taking recently. I hope that yall will be willing to take a look. Also, please give me feedback on them. If you think they look fake or horrible please let me know. The link is www.aaronhalbert.blogspot.com

Hope yall enjoy them.

Aaron

A Welcome That Humbled My Heart

I would never have expected such a warm and excited welcome back from the school yesterday. I arrived here just in time to visit my classroom before the end of the day. My moms gathered together food from my favorite restaurant here, dessert, fruit, and flowers!!I have not had to cook for 2 nights because there was so much food!! Also, my kids almost knocked me down when they saw me, and they have all had questions that are so innocent and sweet: "Did your sister really die?" "Is Catherine in heaven now?" They all truly cared, and wanted to hear it from MY mouth.

Last night brought tears and sadness that have not come since Catherine died. I believe my whole family is experiencing the same thing I am: REALITY. Being back here where I have my normal responsibilities of a wife, teacher, and home-keeper, reminded me that it really happened. My sister is really not going to be in MS when I get back. Yesterday was the first time to leave the country knowing that I will not be coming back for an emergency for my sister. In three more weeks, I will be going back to the States, and knowing for the first time that I will not arrive to see Catherine in Tchula or Jackson. I can only explain the feeling this way- it hurts. My heart hurts even as I write this, because I desperately want to "wake up from this nightmare."

God's will is perfect, and I believe that with all my heart. However, with our fallible human minds and hearts, we naturally think about the things that we will miss out on or they will miss out on because they are not here. It is hard to not think about those things. It is so difficult to deal with the pain, but thankfully we are not alone as believers. Our ONLY comfort and joy is Jesus Christ, and without Him we have no hope. I am constantly reminded of the joy that my family and I can have as believers knowing where Catherine is and knowing the God who took her as our Savior. I cannot imagine what the pain would be like if we did not have Him as our Refuge. Praise be to God!

The Following Days

I never realized how hard it is on families after they lose a loved one and the services are over. I had heard that it was hard once everyone leaves and goes on with their lives. There is nothing wrong with people moving on, because life must go on. However, these two days after the services have been so sad for all of us. We have things to do in the house that we did not have time for before, but we don't WANT to do them now. The more we do to clean up around here, the more realistic it is that Catherine is not here with us anymore. Catherine was such a great sister and friend to me, that I find myself thinking of things I need to tell her. There are things that I just want to talk to her about...for no real reason. I think about the fun times we had together and how many times we laughed and were silly together. That does not compare to the happiness she is experiencing now in heaven. Now, we are not only awaiting the day we will see our Savior, but we are also looking forward to spending eternity with all believers, especially our family members.

And Can It Be

I wil not write much, but today is a special and hard day because Catherine has gone to be with her Savior. The three of us girls (Mama, Emily, and me) were singing hymns to calm Catherine. We were singing the 4th verse of "And Can It Be" when we noticed that she changed. The words that we finished only moments before she passed were "The chains fell off, I rose, went forth and followed Thee...". Isn't it wonderful that the Lord came and took her home when we were singing praises to HIM!!! She had a peaceful passing, for which we are so thankful.
The next few days will be harder than we can imagine right now, so please pray for us all. Also, praise our Lord Jesus Christ for His grace and mercy because Catherine is in His presence!