Winner of the Losers' Circle

Another early start this morning, Laura, Donnette, and Elizabeth (a few of this week's team members) came over to help Lindsey and I make casseroles for future teams. A trip to the grocery store, the cutting and browning of the chicken, cooking the rice, grating the cheese, sautéing the onions and celery, chopping the bread crumbs, and baking the five completed casseroles kept us busy until lunch. Meanwhile, Lucy spent the majority of the morning feeling threatened and annoyed by her playmate for the day, a sweet 4-yr-old boy named Jude. She had initiated the invite, however, as soon as he showed interest in playing with her mini bottle of febreeze she calls "bug spray," Jude was immediately and permanently on her bad side. Even as a male, Jude didn't have to use much intuition to sense Lucy's opinion of him. When his dad came to pick him up, he confessed that he did have fun, but that Lucy didn't want to play with him much. While, I confess, I found this both hilarious and heartbreaking to behold, Lucy seems to have a similar effect on most children. They are all naturally drawn to her (especially the kids of Armenia who constantly poke and prod her and squeal her name), but she is easily overwhelmed by the attention and can be pretty selective with whom she chooses to give her heart. No doubt Sean will cherish this quality when she begins dating ;)

Afterwards, Lindsey treated us to homemade guacamole, sandwiches, apples, coke zero, and ICE for lunch! I know these women were truly overjoyed with their day off from construction. Around 2:30, we piled in the big blue van (both girls on seatbelt-less laps as always...wow this is the 3rd world) and made our way to the ESL class in Armenia. Today, the kids had warmed up to me more and were willing to hold real conversations instead of just making me feel awkward by responding with a smile alone. According to Lindsey, I even have a few secret admirers within the group haha.

Leaving Armenia once again around 5, the group headed over to dinner at a local Honduran restaurant with a beach front view. Their specialty dishes were tacos cachrachitos (like bigger tacitos) and kebabs...neither of which left anyone disappointed. Honduras seems to have inherited their mother country's sense of time, which was made plain by the extremely slow service. It was a completely new and cultural experience for many of the team members and I was further reminded of how good it is for us (especially as Americans) to be forced to wait sometimes.

Lindsey and I left the restaurant early, taking a taxi home to get the girls bathed and in bed and to begin prepping dessert for Kids Night at the McCanns. All nine children in the group enjoyed a raucous night of brownies, ice-cream, and of course, some very intense Wii Mario Cart Tournament. After my rapid elimination from the winner's bracket, I took pride in earning the title as "winner of the loser's bracket." Maybe one day, with a little faith, hard work, and determination, I could become "loser of the winner's bracket." Just maybe.

Each day as I sweat my weight in water, watch my clothes get Cheetoh fingers and drooling mouths wiped on them, sport no make-up and frizzy hair, and allow 8-year-old Honduran kids to make fun of me, I'm semi-amazed at how much joy I could have found in such an environment. I've laughed to the point of an aching belly, been moved to the brink of tears, and fallen in love with a family and a country in a matter of days. After a semi-tumultuous process of getting to where I am now, this finally feels right. How could I have ever guessed that God would plan this for me all along?