Josh, Sean, and I

Everyone in the swimming hole

Mama and her babies

Walking to the river

river-swimming, thunderstorms, and too much dessert

This day's events began after a pancake breakfast and Ellie's 1st nap of the day (around 10:30) when Josh, the McCanns, and I headed out to a swimming hole at the river nearby. Quickly ignoring the bottles on the bottom and the freezing water, I felt like I was swimming in the middle of a beautiful, tropical jungle. We spent the morning jumping off rocks, playing with floaties, and getting butt bites by mysterious river critters. Soon after our arrival, we were joined by a group of Honduran kids celebrating a birthday (apparently, breaking an egg over the birthday person's head is customary here). I had no reason to feel at all threatened by their presence until one of the boys decided to take my picture, without shame and without permission. No doubt the Spanish motherland passed down this kind of behavior to her colonies as this was all too familiar from last semester.

On the way home we stopped for lunch at Wendy's, leaving only after Lucy had succeeded in riding the play place slide a solid 10 times. Naps all around at the McCann residence were only enhanced by one of the loudest thunderstorms I've ever experienced (although, the tin roof might have something to do with it).

Tonight, Lindsey and I enjoyed a girls' movie night in, while Mike, Josh, and Sean took some of the Armenia boys out to dinner and a soccer game. As we lounged and enjoyed our big bowls of vanilla ice cream (complete with hard chocolate shell and reeses chips), I marveled at how quickly and effortlessly I've readapted to life abroad. Something about these extended travels cause me to drop all exercise and diet plans and become lazy and gluttonous instead. Once again, I'm thankful for the reality check and am learning a lot. I've gained new freedom by serving others instead of solely being preoccupied with trying to control everything in my own life. This passage from Philippians 2 is a great reminder:

"⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
⁶Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!"

All I know is that I'm going to have a very tough time readjusting to JMU again after my 8-month long vacation.

When 9:30 am rolled around and Lucy still wasn't up, we knew something was wrong. The poor girl was throwing up within her first waking moments. 3 towels, 2 doses of meds, and 5 outfits later, it was lunchtime. Lu finally settled down for a little Elmo entertainment, toast, and a long nap. Unbeknownst to the sleeping sickling, Ellie, Lindsey, and I headed off to a 1-year-old friend's birthday party at the beach (not bad considering she won't even remember it tomorrow!) A small group of family and friends gathered for swimming and carrot cake at a lovely resort next door to the one I'd visited last week with the team.

Even traffic here is fun, as Lindsey describes our drive as just a game of Mario Kart. We pulled back in to the McCann residence and were greeted by a sweet familiar voice that sounded as shrill and chipper as ever, "YOU'RE BACK!!!" We were back, and Lucy was back too :) Soon enough we were hanging out with Patito ("little duck") again at Kiki and Coocoo's house (new imaginary friends I had the honor of meeting today).

Tonight, Sean and Lindsey are out to dinner celebrating their fifth anniversary. Choosing a place in La Ceiba is easy when you eliminate fast food and rice-and-bean joints from the mix: very few options for fine dining remain. (Dad, this is not the city for you)!

This ends another wonderful day in the life of getting eaten alive by mosquitos, changing diapers, avoiding teacher strikes, being bossed around by a 2-year-old, and lugging a little fat human oven on my torso for hours on end. And I couldn't be happier.

Lucy and her "stroller"

(these baby dolls sleep A LOT!)

Ellie, always wanting whatever her big sister, Lucy, has.

(This depicts pool playtime #1 for the day...the 2nd time was sans clothes and bathing suits)

sweet Ellie Belly

Taking a "Chee-yos" break

Preparing to eat everything in her path

VIDA!

After a full morning of hanging out with Lolly and Toto (Lucy's top two imaginary friends), the McCann clan and I met up with some real friends for lunch: Pettengills, Josh, and the Clows (Kathy and John are potential MTW team members in Honduras). The nearly unanimous restaurant choice was one of the four local Pizza Huts in La Ceiba, where you can get a salad, personal size pizza, and drink for under $5. Back home for naps, we finished off the afternoon by helping Lindsey run errands and prep a delicious spaghetti dinner.

With the girls having been bathed and put to bed, Sean and I hailed a taxi down to the stadium where Josh, the Clows, and Mike joined us for the Vida/Olympia soccer game. Although Vida's no Real Madrid, I really enjoyed the game since I didn't get a chance to see one during my time in Spain. The stadium was filled with jumping men swinging T-shirts above their heads, whistling, cursing, throwing drinks, and in one case, a purple road flare emerged from the crowd, sending smoke and spectators in all directions. Sitting through almost an hour of a full-on thunderstorm only added to the excitement. Although Vida lost 2-1 in the second half, they'll have another chance at victory when they play Victoria (other La Ceiba team) on Saturday. Chiva!