Sunday, March 31, 2013

March 27-31, 2013 Easter Week Relaxing With Some of My Adopted Children and Grandchildren Near the Beach


April Sky and Dylan with all the gifts which the gringo friends gave to their family.


A closeup shows some of the things which they were given.
The envelope holds money for their new beds, one for each of them.
  

 Mom and dad along with Dylan and April, everyone is proud of the blessings which God
is pouring out on them.
  

Since I love to cook, I made a special breakfast for the grandchildren even though I am on vacation!
Fried eggs inside of red pepper rings with kiwi ears and a tomato nose and bacon mouth with carrot tongue and carrot eyelashes... The kids loved it!
  

One of my adopted sons enjoying the outlook over the ranch, what the photo didn't show is the beautiful view of the Pacific from the mountains.  Nicaragua is beautiful!



Sunday, March 24, 2013

March 24, 2013 Fish, Fish and More Fish

In 1992 I saw a piece of property on a mountaintop and knew it was to be mine. I write the following (with the yellow background) about that property in a soon to be published book...

"When I first encountered what was to become my farm, I was out on a Sunday afternoon ride with my friends Tyanne Jurka and Catherine Garza McCardel.  We had taken an afternoon to go to Valle de Angeles and were wandering around the countryside, driving on dreadfully deeply rutted mud/clay roads recently washed out from the forceful Honduran spring rains.  After some quality “shop-til-you drop” time in Valle de Angeles, the handicraft packed tourist trap of Honduras, we decided to drive up the mountain and see what was on top.  I don’t think Tyanne, a former Pennsylvania girl, who continues to live in Honduras and at that time had already lived in Honduras for over ten years, ever had been to the top of the mountain.  We headed out, the oversized van creaking and the running boards scrapping as we crossed the washed out, pothole after pothole, road. At times we drove on the wrong side of the road as we searched for the smoothest places winding up the steep mountain towards the top. The van wildly moved from side to side, as we held on to the grab bars on the ceiling.  It was hard to believe that we were barely crawling, yet the van jerked so wildly.  Twenty minutes later we arrived at the top. We took a right onto a small, smoother, dirt lane and then we saw it. The view!"


"It was breathtaking! It was incredible!  It was pulchritudinous!  It was a totally clear afternoon and we could see for miles and miles.  The Valle de Cantaranas was below, the mountains in the distance, the cabbage fields and corn fields on the sides of the mountains closest to the left.  Each distinct crop looking like a different colored postage stamp, carefully pasted to the side of the pine tree covered mountain. A river snaked its way through the cane fields, fifteen miles below us in the valley.  Not that we were fifteen miles high in altitude, we were at five thousand two hundred feet, but the river was below us, in the valley and fifteen miles away from us.  I asked Tyanne to stop the car and we all stepped out into another world." 

  
"The air, the smell of the air, was so fresh and so crisp, so alive, so full of...  I savored the soft smell of pine trees as I took in deep breaths and suddenly the smell brought back old, very kind memories of my grandparent’s homestead farm in Buckner, Arkansas.  How long had it been since I had smelled pine trees?  Years, I think.  What a wonderful smell.  For a split second, I remembered grandpa Yancy.  I remembered the mornings that he would take me hunting when I was a small child.  Grandpa Wallace set traps and every morning he would go to check on the traps and see what was there.  I remembered the soft, slightly damp smell of pine needles, as our feet crossed over them, while we headed to check out the latest capture.  I remembered how when I was stung by a wasp one day as I was climbing over a split rail fence with him at my side.  I quickly remembered that he took already chewed tobacco out of his mouth and carefully placed the saliva filled glob of “chewin’ ta-back-er” on the sting.  I remembered the instant relief as the moist tobacco touched where I had been stung.  I remembered his love for me.  I remembered as he scooped me up in his arms and told me everything would be alright.  All of this I remembered in a split second.  The memory passed too quickly to define the exact length of time, but the recollection of that the precious thought lingers on in my mind, imprinted like it was yesterday."

"The temperature between Valle de Angeles, were we had been shopping below, and the temperature on top of this lovely mountaintop where I was standing, were worlds apart.  In the late afternoon breeze, I almost needed a sweater, but the temperature didn’t matter.  I was in another world oblivious to everything but the exquisite view surrounding me.  Suddenly I was startled, from somewhere behind me came a man that looked like a harmless older gentleman, but carrying a machete.  I was talking to Tyanne and Catherine when he snuck up on me from behind.  At that moment, I met for the first time one of my future neighbors, the man that I was to latter find out was actually a pedophile."  end of quote from book.

I fought for two years to purchase this property from a land owner who did not want to sell it but finally I wore him down.  I am tenacious when I know I am right and have a purpose.  This property has a purpose.  I have planted hundreds of fruit trees on the property and now the fish pond which I have dreamed about as a ministry to feed the poor is coming into fruition.  


The property currently has almond, lemon, lime, Japanese plum, peach, anona, avocado, pear, mango, Mandarin orange, guava and 6 varieties of banana trees.

Oscar my farm worker showing off some of the fruit producing trees.  


Mandarin oranges fresh and organic.


Hundreds of bananas on hundreds of banana trees fill the farm.

Slowly but surely since I purchased the farm in 1994 it has began to produce more and more.  The farm has had no chemicals used on it since 1994.  So it is an organic farm.  

Now it is time to get the tilapia fish pond finished and up and running.


The land had to be moved around and some hills cropped off and a valley filled in order to make this happen.  The vision started years ago and now is almost complete.  All we need is $2,500 to finish the job. The dam is built but we need cement, rebar, gravel and sand to finish the dam and we need baby fish to stock the pond and food to feed them.  Soon we will be able to share the fish with local orphanages like we have shared the fruit with the poor.  If you would like to help finish this project, please hit the donate button below.  The pond will hold about 10,000 fish and will generate money and food for the ministry.  I will be a fisher of men and a fisher woman...

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

March 12, 2013 Broke My Toe

I was in a hurry to get some papers out of the car today to help some kids get saved from a life of crime.
So I rushed out to get the papers in front of the Children's Court and BROKE MY TOE.


But I kept right on working... After court I went to IHNFA and just kept working.


When I crawled into bed tonight it was throbbing. 


But I said and prayer and I am sure it will be fine tomorrow.

Monday, March 11, 2013

March 7-11, 2013 GYN Surgery Team to Juticalpa, Honduras


Breakfast at the hotel, getting ready for a day of hard work.
Dr. Priya Patel and Dr. Sonya Lee


One of the first patients waiting for the surgery rooms to clear out.


In the meanwhile the stork visited.


There was no electricity except from generators so this precluded any air conditioning.
Needless to say the room was hot as a sauna.


These two soldiers were assigned to keep us safe.
My job was to sneak out without them seeing and then come walking down the hall coming back.
After several times of slipping out of their sight they enlisted the help of the locals whenever I walked out the door the locals would tell them and they would come running.


Afternoon snack papaya, soy milk, water apples, bananas, etc.


One of the local doctors doing her public service stayed with us day and night.


All of this came out of one woman's uterus. 


But that is not all, this too!


Hot hard work that made many patients feel better afterwards.
Thank you Dr. Sonya Lee and Dr. Priya Patel and thank you Hospital Juticalpa!

Also a HUGE thank you to Congressman Luis Berrios (below) and his wife who took great care of us while we were there and who did all the front work to try to make everything go smoothly in a town with no electricity!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

March 5, 2013 A Farm 28.22 Acres Donated To The Ministry


The front of the property has young trees.







The neighbor's fences are falling down.



Our fences are made of treated wood.



Much of the property needs to be bush hogged.



The oldest house on the property.



The largest of 4 ponds on the property.  
It is dry but in rainy season we will close the valve and it will fill up.




Standing down in the pond. 
This pond will be used to grow Tilapia fish which will be used to feed the children 
both at our orphanage and at others.


Across the road, the white sheeting is at a tomato farm.
If they can raise tomatoes then we can too.



The 2nd pond with the 3rd pond behind it.



Lots of land for some cattle and some horses.



Water Apple trees all in a row leading up to the houses.



The hand dug well.
There is also a 375 foot deep machine drilled well.



The dining room.



The kitchen.
Remember this property has been abandoned for about 5 years,
so we have a lot of cleaning to do.



The pantry with some old things still intact.
And with a snake skin on the floor.

To donate to fill this pantry with new food, go to the link below.


The living room.



Some furniture comes with the house.
All mattresses had been stolen.



This was a school class room/ living room.



Bathroom #1
Definitely needs some elbow grease.



Bathroom #2 
Needs more elbow grease than the other bathroom.



Bedroom #3



Bathroom #3



Bedroom #4



Bedroom #5



Bedroom #4 as several windows, but all curtains have been stolen.
We will be looking for people to make curtains for all of the rooms.
If your gift is sewing, then think about donating your time to make curtains.



Bathroom #3



Bathroom #3



Closet and everything has been ransacked.



Bedroom #2
More curtains needed here.



The cow shed.



The cow shed behind and the wash house in front to the right.



Close up of the cow shed.



Someone was illegally cutting the trees.
This was a beautiful pine which shaded the house.




The newest house.
This is a view from the back of the house.
The roof is almost new.
Thank God because the roof on the other house will have to be changed.




The garage.
The van has been totally ransacked and torn to pieces.



Land which can be used for farming.



The old house.
The front is grown up with bushes covering the front.



The farm is replete with mango and other fruit trees.



We even have a stand of bamboo.



Fish hatchery ponds.



Someone was trying to steal tiles off of the roof.  
Who knows how many are missing.



There is a lot of yard work which must be done.



You can't even see the house for all the "decorative" bushes all grown up and wildly taking over.




This is the corn grinding shed.  
There was a machine to grind corn for tortillas, a mainstay in the Honduran diet.  
The machine is presumed stolen.



Fruit trees which all produce.



More fruit trees on the left.



The hill behind was recently illegally stripped of all mature pine trees by a thief.



Since we know who cut and sold the trees, we will be filing charges against them.
At this point we guesstimate somewhere around 2,000 trees were stolen.



Although all the wire inside and outside the houses was stolen.
By some miracle the transformer was not stolen.

We are going to need a lot of help to get this orphanage up and going.
I have a list of needs for all of the electrical which was stolen.
If God speaks to your heart to help with this project, please let us know.

To donate please go the the link below.


We recognize that the Lord gave us this property to help children.
We are very excited about the chance to do this.
We will need the help of others.
If you or your church are interested in helping, please let us know.
We will work with you to plan a work trip for your church.