Honduras Recap

I love surprises. I love giving them more than getting them, although that is good too. It is even more exciting when you have no idea what a big deal it's going to turn out to be. My trip to Honduras earlier this month was one of those occasions.

I had the privilege of taking a little girl, Katherine, home to Honduras after her heart surgery. She’s 7 years old, and definitely one of the happiest kids I ever met. She had a grin plastered from ear to ear pretty much the whole way home. She was sooooo excited to see her daddy. On the way to Honduras we had to stop overnight in Miami. It had been decided that we would surprise them and get a hotel on the beach instead of by the airport. We knew we wouldn’t have a lot of time, but thought it would still be fun for them, and me :). All the way to Miami God took care of so many little things, even some we didn’t ask for. Free checked bags, seats together on the planes, pre-boarding on all the flights, a free upgrade in our rental car, an upgraded hotel room less than 2 blocks from the beach, discounts on meals, and the list goes on. When I told the interpreter that we were staying a night on the beach, she almost fell off of her chair right there in the airport. I cannot even begin to describe the look on her face. That was when I found out that none of them had ever seen the beach or the ocean. Katherine and her mom were equally excited. They live in the mountains of Honduras and it would be expensive to travel to the coast. I also found out that the interpreter, Karla, loves the show CSI Miami and was thrilled to get to see Miami in person, especially the beach :).

We arrived to our hotel late at night, so I proposed the plan of getting up to see sunrise on the beach. We got about 5 hours of sleep before getting up and heading out. Karla looked like a 5 year old on Christmas morning. It was so fun to get to experience this first with them, and God took this opportunity to remind me yet again that we are supposed to be like little children. Sometimes I just take myself and everyone else too seriously. God has helped me to grow so much in this area, but I still require frequent reminders that it is okay to be excited and maybe even fall off of a chair as a result of that excitement :). Check out the pics from the beach here.

After sunrise on the beach, we headed back to the airport for our last flight. Katherine changed into a skirt for her daddy and could not stop smiling. When they were reunited she couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. The rest of us were...well...definitely crying.

Since I was in Honduras already, I hopped on a bus to La Ceiba so I could visit Jeff and Julie Hines (the missionaries I lived with the summer of 2010) and a few other friends. Bonus! It was so good to see them even though it was short. I had really been missing them and especially wanted to see Gabi. When we were there with the team last summer I didn’t get to see her very much. She is doing so well and was really smiley for me all weekend :). It was a huge blessing to me to have some time with the family without any kind of agenda or specific work to do. It was nice to just be. These are the pics from my visit.

So that’s my Honduras recap. I know there’s some extra details, but that surprise story is worth it. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for these families to be apart during a major surgery praying your child comes home healed.

Everyone keeps asking me where I’m going next. Nothing on the horizon at the moment, but you never know when that will change :).