Quick Update and Truth Prevails

The quick update is that Honduran food finally caught up with me. I'm not sure what I ate, but I woke up at five and discovered that whatever it was didn't agree with me. I took a couple of Pepto Bismol and chased them down with Two Tylenol PM at five in the morning.

That was a mistake...I slept till noon and was horrified.

I only logged three of five stories today, and now am at a Pot Luck dinner at Miss Peggy's with a bunch of really fun volunteers who let me hang out with them. Most of them are about half my age, plus a year or two...

Anyway, today Mario stopped by when I was finishing up my writing. It was a real joy to see him. I met him two years ago when I was down here and he was living at an orphanage with someone who had set up camp "doing the Lord's work." Mario and his seven siblings lived in this orphanage until it's driector was rightfully and thankfully asked to leave the Island. Despite having his passport confiscated, he was still able to leave.

But truth and justice prevail. Today Mario and six of his siblings are living back with their mom and a group led by former house parents erected a house for them beyond their wildest dreams. For now it is the shell, but an amazing amount of work was accomplished in nine days and supported through donations.

In June Mario is leaving for the States where he will pursue an education in Culinary Arts.

It gives me continued hope that what others mean for evil God will turn to good.

Truth always prevails, it just sometimes takes time.

If you are in a challenging spot right now, keep going. Truth will prevail. It always does.

Peace.

Mother Theresa and Roatan

Let there be no pride or vanity in the work. The work is God's work, the poor are God's poor. Put yourself completely under the influence of Jesus, so that he may think his thoughts in your mind, do his work through your hands, for you will be all-powerful with him to strengthen you. - Mother Teresa

Not too many people will argue against the work of Mother Theresa, whether they share her faith perspective or not.

I love the first sentence of her statement, taken off today's Sojourners Verse and Voice posting.
"Let there be no pride or vanity in the work." We are not in it for ourselves or our own recognition. We are in it to be conduits of love in the way the author of love intended for others to receive.

If I were to piggyback on to yesterday's thoughts, this is a good place to add them. If we seek to gratify ourselves, or gain recognition for ourselves in our work then we are totally missing the mark.

There was an orphanage on Roatan a while back that was simply bad news. Ill run, a self serving director and questionable care of some of the kids. Thankfully that individual is now gone, unfortunately he is in another part of the world operating the same scam.

But as soon as one leaves, another slides in. It makes me so sad. It would appear that there are people who in the name of Jesus fabricate or exaggerate needs and come swooping in with a rescue plan that makes them look like the good guy. In this case the good guys would be living in donor supported beach front property. A good use of donated funds? Is this what humility in service looks like? I doubt Mother Theresa would agree.

Just my two cents...

What Drives You Crazy?

I was thinking about this some today as a few things were getting on my nerves.

I will also clue you in on something. If something or someone is getting on my nerves, I am generally pretty vocal about it (remember, that type of thing cost me a book contract).

Today my pet peeve continues to be the inconsistency between stating one's faith and then living one's faith. There are many who tout the Christian life, or righteously refer to themselves as Christians, but have some inconsistencies in how they live. Of course now that I have even mentioned this I feel like it opens me up to criticisms of being judgemental.

That isn't my intent. I know I make mistakes, and plenty of them. But I think the issue of how we state our beliefs and how well we live them out is important.

The island attracts a lot of volunteer help, many of whom refer to themselves as Christians, so it is a good laboratory in which to make some observations.

I have already mentioned that Miss Peggy goes about her day in quiet, humble service. To me, that is living one's faith.

There are several volunteers down here in Roatan and it turns out one of them has a dad who is a prominent Christian author who writes all kinds of relationship rescue books and runs marriage retreats. But he is divorced, so that struck me as a bit odd.

There is a new organization coming to the island of Roatan that is seeking to set up a home for abandoned girls, except the majority of them live in slums on the mainland, and aren't here on the island.They are trying to raise a tremendous amount of money. But I guess a 2 million dollar building wouldn't be as nice in the foothills of the Honduran countryside as it will be looking out over the ocean. Just an observation.

Yes, I know my observations can come out sounding harsh, so I apologize for that, it is just perplexing to me.

There is a pastor on the island who is all about supporting family, but is charging his mother in law big bucks for rent.

Resting and Abiding in Roatan

I love Roatan for several reasons.

The beauty which has still managed to escape the prostitution of major development, the ability to live simply, the sparkling of the aquamarine water, the gentle breeze blowing off the ocean and the lush greenness accentuated by butterflies and hummingbirds all serve to soothe my soul.

And special people like Miss Peggy, who is a living example of humility and service.

All of those things combine to make this the perfect writing spot for me. I am able to leave the challenges of my life behind for the moment and compartmentalize myself in my writing world to recraft a manuscript so that it can honor God and bring hope to tired and worn out moms (I know a thng or two about that...)

I am in a place of rest, restoration and abiding which I pray will be expressed in the recrafted stories.

The manuscript I am working on is, "What the Bible is All About for Moms" based on the work of Henrietta Mears. Let's just say my first version didn't honor or do justice to God or Miss Mears and while many of the stories worked, they read more like downers.

But now I am in that surrendered place spiritually and abiding and restful place physically to hopefully be a better scribe for God.

Being in the presence of servant hearted people who live it and the expression of grace and humility also provide the perfect backdrop, and that is who and what Miss Peggy is and does.

Eleven years ago when she arrived on the Island, word got out that she was a nurse, and people with needs, which were many, started showing up on her doorstep, and her kitchen morphed into an impromptu clinic.

Over the years it expanded and now provides state of the art health care to both the local community and those who visit the Island. Please visit them at: www.clinicaesperanza.com. At the moment, the Economic crisis has also trickled down and affected them; they have two months of operational costs in the bank and only two days ago received their first donation of the year.

May you also find rest in restoration and the peace of abiding with God.

My Honduran Office

I am back in my Honduran office. I have now successfully (I believe) compartmentalized my life and have donned my writing hat and sunglasses.



I arrived uneventfully yesterday and did get marginally organized. I had a fleeting panic attack when I couldn't find my revised MS introduction and had to email my editor to send it back to me. Pathetic.

I am in Roatan, my haven and heaven.

Before the bottome dropped out of the US economy we had invested in a beachview condo at the blue bahia resort here on Roatan. Check it out at www.bluebahiaresort.com. It is rented this week until Saturday, (one of two of 26 weeks it needs to rent to carry itself, so much of our savvy as business investors...) so in the meantime I am staying with the amazing Nurse Peggy who started a medical clinic here on the island in her kitchen eleven years ago. It is like Grand Central Station...but none of it involves me (except for my propensity to get drawn into conversations...) so I am chugging along. Saturday I will relocate to our little haven which will not have the amount of traffic through it.

So currently my office is an outdoor picnic table overlooking the aqua seas and it is warm. I have organized my manuscript and have four to five stories to recraft and revise each day. They were too edgy. I feel the sharpness as I am now re-reading and re-writing them, and again am in a much more dependent and surrendered place and hope I can communicate that softness of hope and being carried as I re write. Please pray for me to this end if you are a praying person, or even if you are not!

I am singularly focused. There really aren't interruptions and what makes it so necessary for me to so totally remove myself from my stateside life are the multiple commitments and roles I have there, which are slowly being whittled down.

It is the simplicity of life and its rhythms that are so appealing to me here, not to mention the beauty and weather. If I can't write here...well, never mind.

May you find peace and beuty in your day regardless of your physical location.

A Couple of Pictures...

Here are a couple of the photos I wanted to post while I was in Roatan, but couldn't.
This is the sunset view from the Blue Bahia. It was breathtaking and spectacular almost every night...It was an amazing way to end the day.
Well, here they are, Kent and Lisette, the energy and brains behind the Blue Bahia. It is a group of nine condos, plus their home and restaurant. They own three and the other six are owned by others and then make up the resort. It is small, friendly and fabulous. And they do a great job. We are fortunate enough to have one of the condos. Well, let me correct that, the bank has one of the condos, with our names on the papers. That is where I stayed with my mom. It is cozy (a euphemism for small) but big enough complete with a small kitchen area and wonderful deck with hammock.

This is the scene from Miss Peggy's hospital, where we went to sort through clothes and distribute them. We just sorted them out and put them out for people to go through and help themselves to.

My mom in her debut role as a missionary. She looks pretty excited, huh? She couldn't understand why all the people sitting and waiting didn't pitch in and help. But we got the job done!

Those were just a couple more pictures I wanted to add.

Life and Times on the Island, Honduran Style

My mother is bored. I am relaxed.
Two different perspectives on the same experience. To be fair, it is my mom's first time on the island and it is my fifth. I have forgotten the what I suppose was very real culture shock the first time I spent a week in Honduras (on the mainland with the MAMA Project www.mamaproject.org) but I also came back a changed person, for the better. More appreciative and more relaxed. I think my mom is going to return home more horrified.

First of all things move very slowly. I am coming to like slow more and more and would like to sustain a slower pace when I get home. Ha you say...I know, I know...me slow? But yes. You heard it here first. I have actually stopped wearing a watch here. That probably won't happen at home, but for now it's quite nice.

Two of our four bags didn't arrive with us on Thursday. That isn't the first time that has happened here either. But it really didn't matter. The four suitcases we packed and checked all contained donations, so as long as the bags arrived before we left, it wouldn't be a big deal. My mom and I together packed everything we needed for ten days in one carry on bag. And I still have too much.

OK, back to the bags. They finally arrived on Sunday just before we were to leave place number one. I was kind of bummed, because I had wanted to go down into town and hand them out to local kids that morning, being the church instead of going to church, but they didn't arrive in time. We had one of the guys from the resort freelance as a driver for us Sunday morning and that was one of the things I was hoping to do.

But since the bags didn't come, I set them up in the office of the resort and let all the hotel employees help themselves to what was in there. But I made one crucial mistake. Things that were not allowed in our carry on bag (bug spray, sun screen and my mom's toiletry bag, that was the BIGGIE) were also in that suitcase.
So in addition to the distribution of clothing was the distribution of our personal liquids and gels and my mom's melatonin and Caltrate. We got some of it back, but not all of it. You guessed it, not my mom's melatonin and Caltrate. And guess what her favorite topic of conversation has been since Sunday? Her missing Melatonin and Caltrate. I'm not sure how many times I have explained that they weren't stolen but it was my mistake; I left them in the bag and invited everyone to help themselves. Considering I also had an entire suitcase of medicine along it wasn't that much of a stretch for me, but my mom is having a hard time adjusting.

Oh, and Continental ferried the bags from San Pedro Sula to Roatan and I think they sat at the Ferry Terminal longer than necessary because person A didn't tell person B to call. But hey, I wasn't here on a diving trip and it wasn't scuba gear. It can always be worse.

We went to the West End today the hub of activity this end of the island...but the road isn't paved, so that wasn't so great either. When I pointed out the huts that some lived in she thought I was kidding and I tried to explain that these people are POOR. I think she is starting to get it, I hope. We stopped at a little groceria and I offered to buy her a sleep aid, because she was complaining about not having her melatonin, but she said no, she would somehow make it. So I asked her one more time if she was sure, and if she was beyond 100% sure than she would not be allowed to talk about Melatonin again while we are here.

Other things that are different down here, that you don't know unless someone tells you (that didn't excite my mom too much) are:

• Don't drink the tap water. In fact, when in doubt, don't even rinse your teeth when brushing them with tap water.
• It is better not to flush your toilet paper down the toilet.
• It is best to take preventive medicine against Malaria when travelling here.
• The bugs are bad, so be warned put on the "OFF". Of course, this was a problem because it was in the bag that was four days late, and then vanished before we could use any of it.
• Cars don't need to be inspected down here and are driven with tape, string and anything else holding key items like door handles and windshields wipers in place. Oh, and just about every windshield is cracked.
• Corruption and bribes are pretty rampant here. When the Continental employee (A supervisor wearing nice clothes and several gold chains) found out I had clothes in the suitcases he had just delivered, he wouldn't leave until I gave him some for his family.
• Cocaine drops are made offshore in the ocean and sooner or later it washes ashore. If someone has a really nice house on the less developed end of the island it is because the bundle washed up and they found it and the traffickers paid the going price to get it back. Enough to build a great home. From shack to sharp overnight.
• It is expected that you haggle over prices on cab rides and certain souvenir shopping. Otherwise you are basically thought to be a totally stupid and gullible American.
• It is exceptionally hot here in August, but there is air conditioning.
• The air conditioning frequently goes out unexpectedly. But guess what! Yippeee, it hasn't happened yet while we have been here. Some places have generators; where we are now doesn't. It's bound to happen before we leave.

There's probably more but that's enough for now :)

I love it here. To me, it is paradise.

My Hondsuran Office...and View!

Amazing. Beautiful. Sacred.

This was my "office" for the first three days of the trip. And yes, I do know how blessed I am. I am so fortunate to be able to have this kind of writing retreat. The beauty and lack of interruption allow me to think!

I have had amazingly productive writing time. I can accomplish more here in a week to ten days than I can at home in months. When I get back I will post a photo of my "office" at home. It is so full of books and papers that I can hardly think, let alone communicate those thoughts.

The beauty of being here is the simplicity of life, and the fact that I am not responsible for much. No laundry, no cooking, no cleaning, no interruptions. I have my computer plugged in on the veranda and can gaze at the incredible view for inspiration and encouragement. There is no phone, and I am disciplined with the wireless...admittedly easier at the first location because it wasn't free; it is free at our next stop.

So, I parked myself on the veranda, lemonade in hand (fresh squeezed, none of this minute maid stuff...oh, I am so, so spoiled!) and computer at my finger tips. My desire and goal is to have a rough draft complete by the time I leave next Sunday.

Flying, Honduran Style

Hey, check it out (or check it out Dawg as Randy from American Idol would say). This is the puddle jumper we took from San Pedro Sula to Roatan. I wasn't shocked because I have done it before, but I thought my mom might need Valium to make it. She doesn't particularly like prop planes, especially small ones.

Lorainne are you reading this? (a friend who goes to great lengths to avoid anything that isn't jet service). Maria (our wonderful mutual friend) make sure she sees this, ok? And the good news is there is jet service directly to Roatan from the States, but for now only on Saturdays, and I wanted to stay more than a week. but less than two. So when you all come down to visit you can take a jet.

So back to my mom and prop planes. Not only did she have to get on, but they put her in the first row, the emergency row. I don't think she understood a word of the Spanglish the flight attendant spoke, informing her that she was in the emergency exit row (row one with complete view of cock pit when the door wasn't shut) and would be required to open the door in case of emergency. She nodded her head yes, and I though heaven help us, she can't get the lid off her penicillen bottle (tooth surgery the day before we left, just a precaution...but probably good for anything else that could possibly ail her while we are here) how on earth or in the sky will she get the door open on the airplane?

But we didn't need her to. What a relief.

So you see how they load the luggage, (speaking of which sometimes your bag can make it on in San Pedro Sula, but on the way to Roatan can get knocked off in La Ceiba, a stop on the way if there is more important or other baggage that is heavier or who knows what that also needs to get to Roatan). I know. This happened to me in February.

The ride was short, loud and ueventful. Not even a peanut to be had, but no worries, my dad even thought of that. He bought us a huge bottle of our very own.

Always an adventure!

Kathy's Travel Adventures...

So here I sit in yet another remote wireless location...the airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, waiting to board the flight for Roatan. And I found wireless.

These photos were taken at the crack of dawn today. Many of you have met my mom, but here is my dad. They are both 80. Don't they look great?! And what a help and trooper my dad was getting to LaGuardia.

We finally landed in NYC around 11:30 last night. Matt drove so I didn't have to fork over $225 to park the car in a questionably safe, and very remote location at the airport. We detoured by Cranford, NJ to pick up Carolyn, who navigated back out of the city with him, which was great, but by the time we bought Metro cards, chatted a bit, unwound, etc. is was 1:30 am and the alarm was set for 2:30. Yeah!

At my dad's swing vote and with his help we took public transportation at 3 am out to the airport. I think every TSA agent who screened us rode the same bus to work...and it was fine, and gave us a great chance to chat. And it was much cheaper than a taxi, and actually more spacious. See, my mom doesn't have the market cornered on frugality.

Other highlights of the day:

• I got excited that they might have needed volunteers. to give up their seats. That always makes me get really excited. The prospect of a free trip makes me certifiably giddy.
• We flew Continental and they fed us more than peanuts, not once, but twice. I hope it is not am prophetic statement about what the week ahead of eating will be like!
• There were two passengers who made one of the flight attendants really, really unhappy boarding. One tried to shove an absolutely not of carry on size luggage into the overhead and got really snide and nasty with the flight attendant when she suggested that perhaps it should be gate checked. The other unhappy traveller was a couple who were taking up three passenger's worth of space with a garment bag containing a wedding gown.
• On one of my too many trips back from the lavatory, because I drank a venti Starbucks in Houston, I noticed that the passenger who was ready to cause a riot over his oversized duffle was reading CS Lewis. Hmmm...
• Only two of our four checked bags arrived in San Pedro Sula. For us, it doesn't matter, they all contain donations. They will come tomorrow or the next day. We packed everything down to the toothpaste in our one carry on between the two of us (my mom travelled with me).
• As I sit here, ready to pack it up, I am sharing the electrical outlet with a priest at the next table who is enjoying some really wild YouTube postings. A rather racy rendition of The Locomotion just wafted my way. I glanced over and the singer/dancers were half clad. Another Hmmm...
• We only have one cumbersome bag to claim in Roatan, because a pastor from the San Pedro Sula Mennonite church came to accept one of the packed to fifty pound bags for his ministries. I was hoping it would be three, but the other two I wanted to give him are still stuck in Houston...
• One of the flight attendants gave me all the leftover breakfast bananas, yogurts and muffins to give away after we got off the plane. I gave them to one of the housekeeping ladies at the airport. It was the result of a simple conversation. I will get back to this in the next couple of days...

More later. Perhaps a Sunset. And reflections on Brian McLaren's latest book, EVERYTHING MUST CHANGE.

Time to board for Paradise.

Best Laid Plans Run Amuck...

Well, here I am sitting at Dunkin' Donuts again. Our Internet connection at home must have been struck by lightening, but there was no time to deal with it before leaving on the next road trip. My best laid plans were to figure out how the write ahead function worked, so I could write a week worth of posts and have blogger automatically post them for me. Under the best of circumstances this would have challenged my techno abilities to the max, but given the lack of Internet at home it totally put me over the top.

We are leaving for the lake in VA today, where we do not have Internet. I am hoping that I can show up with my computer at a local business and hook in at least a couple of times during the week, as there are several things on my mind...

In the meantime, we made it home from Florida uneventfully and jumped right back into home life without skipping a beat. It looked like hurricane Dolly had made landfall in the middle of my family room, but what the heck, we're leaving again, so I don't have to look at it! But it was a bit of a problem only having one day to pull things together.

Some of the highlights of my day were:

• Spending a little bit of time with Matt and his girlfriend Carolyn. Included are a decent and crazed photo. They have their dog Finn with them, which added more chaos to a household that in Howie's opinion already has too many animals.
• See the photo of the back of my car? Well, all those bags contain clothes that I will somehow squeeze into the two apiece free luggage allowance I can take to Honduras with me (leaving on August 7th, no doubt another Category 5 storm will land in my family room sometime between now and then...). A very generous gift was made from an area thrift store to take clothes down for the children of Honduras, for which I am very grateful. Faith without works is dead, so I try to find ways to keep it alive and well, especially for those who need it most.
• My mother, bless her, took Nicole and her friend to a local swimming pool and sat with them all day and still doesn't like getting ice cream for hot kids. I remember too vividly when I was growing up and used to swim at a small lake that when the Good Humor truck would jingle in to the parking lot I would beg to get an ice cream bar and inevitably the answer was no. Well, the answer was no to ice cream at the concession stand yesterday too, until Nicole called me on the cell phone I gave my mom to carry and I promised to pay her back (OK, now you know where my penny pinching tendencies come from...)
• Had a conversation with a Little League mom about how a Danville LL team FINALLY beat a Pottsville team. More on that later, because apparently the coaches couldn't stop talking about the team that lost to Pottsville several years ago that I also remember pretty vividly as Matt played on that team.
• Am still in negotiation with my mother over whether or not our fifteen year old dog will come to the lake with us. She keeps threatening to stay home if we don't bring Tino, even though we have an overfull car. My mom, us, the girls and a friend for each girl. In addition to the seven of us, Matt and Carolyn are coming (with their dog), Howie's sister and two of her grandchildren, and a friend from college and her daughter.

So we're off for a week and then I have three days till I leave for Roatan to write!

Oh, and other good news: I have another book proposal in circulation that is being seriously considered by two publishers. Oh my!

So check back, I intend to find a connection somehow, somewhere...