February 19, 2013 A Paperwork Kind of Day

One of the things which I decided this year is that I am going to log more and more of my activities.  I am forgetting some great stories.  Every day is an adventure, so I am writing more and more of it down an blogging it.

This morning I woke up praying for my friend Mercedes and her family.

I remember going to sleep last night praying for her also.

Then I played secretary for my son for a legal document he needed first thing this morning.

Something about having the city go out and remeasure a property.

I sent my 84 year old dad a note a few days ago about a nasty guy that hacked his computer and sent me and several others an email.  It seems he has a computer virus in spite of his virus softwear.  I notified all of his friends where they would NOT open 2 infected emails which were sent out.  He is proactive, mad about it, but kinda clueless where computer stuff is concerned, so I needed to help him.  He seems OK now.

Then I stared working on my paperwork for the Non Government Organization status in Honduras.  What a pain in the posterior annex.  I hate paperwork!

And I think the thing which bothers me the most is that they never even look at it.

In the USA we fill it out on line, pay out $40 and are done with it.

Here it is this paper and that paper and you have to drop it off because there is no functioning 

Post Office and you have to make sure they sign that they receive it OR they say they don't and then you have the privilege of paying a late fee of $650 more or less.

I find myself praying for my friend Mercedes and her family, again.

Checking to see what money has been donated as of today... for the ministry.

I just set up this new donation page on Razoo and it has me so excited. 

I love getting surprise donations.

You can see it at http://www.razoo.com/story/Shechinah-Ministries

and we will not be mad at all if you accidentally or purposefully hit the donation button and donate.

I ate a bowl of cantaloupe for breakfast.  Then I logged into my http://www.myfitnesspal.com to log in my food for breakfast only to find that cantaloupe my be my new best friend at just 75 calories for 1 1/2 cups and only 5 carbs... This Fitness thing is another New Years resolution and I am doing well.  I am down 11 pounds in 4 weeks.  Can't tell it anywhere but in my face.  I wish I could tell it in a few other places... but I will not quit..

Prayed for my friend Mercedes and her family, again.

Then I called and talked to her mom, Dona Vickie, who instead of thinking of herself and all that she is going through began to thank me profusely for the lasagna, green salad and garlic bread which I fixed for their family yesterday.  I love Dona Vickie and Don Armando, they are like parents to me here in Honduras since mine are so far away.  She assured me that they have more than enough food at the house for tonight, but I began to think after I got off of the telephone that this might not be true.  She rattled off a list of things in the refrigerator but didn't mention any dessert.  So I made a Lemon Bundt cake for them.  It is on the counter waiting to be picked up and  delivered to their home.

Then I began working on my Blog Spot to post Dr. John's "blog" from a recent trip.  It is up and readable if you would like to see it.  http://teresasearcy.blogspot.com/ is the place to log on... but you already know that because you are already here and reading.  I posted it on Facebook for all of my friends to read and see.

Mom called and we talked for a while.  She and dad took the computer to the store to get rid of the virus, which I found yesterday.

Received two messages that people could not read the Dr. John Guest post... What did I do wrong?

Oh I didn't publish it.

Prayed again for my friend Mercedes and her family.

I called and am working with a criminal attorney for a kid who is in jail for killing his brother-in-law whom he hardly could have killed since he was recently released from the hospital and had a bag to catch urine hanging from his side and was walking with crutches and had finger implants done because he had severed all four fingers on his right hand in a motorcycle accident.  I am thinking, how can you pull a trigger holding a gun with 2 crutches and a urine bag hanging on your side with 4 severed fingers?  Tell me, does this even remotely make sense?  Oh well, this is Honduras and maybe by some miracle he did it, but why would a miracle happen to do something bad?  

Oh and did I mention he takes care of his old man father and gives money to 

his sister to pay for food for all of her kids?  

He has been in jail for 2 years now with no trial.  

Of course you guessed it they are poor.  

So I found an attorney who will supposedly help him and let him pay later.

I found myself praying for Mercedes and her family again.  

Took a look at my emails and found a note regarding paperwork for non-profits and decided to notify my friends with other Non Government Organizations to get their paperwork done.  More interruptions, but my time is not my own and it felt like the Lord wanted me to do that, so I did.

Also found that some translations were done for some of the people doing adoptions, so I forwarded them to them.  

Wrote a cover letter to the Honduran Consulate about a letter regarding the approval for an adoption for a couple who are adopting from Honduras.

Then I worked on the scheduling with the Hospital in Juticalpa for a OB-GYN surgery team in March.  I had to write letters to the Medical College for the two doctors' reciprocal licenses.  Spoke with the Director of the hospital, etc. Still more to do in this regard but I am one my way to having everything ready for this team.  I still need a couple of nurses to sign on.  Are there any takers?

Received a message from another missionary about registering her gun.  How to do it etc.  Answered that to the best of my knowledge.

Prayed for my friend Mercedes and her family.

Then I go on to work on paperwork for the DEI which is the Honduras version of the IRS.  They want to know where all the wheelchairs went.  Well, I did give them all away, but the paperwork is a real hassle.  4 or 5 pieces of paperwork for each chair.  But I will get it done and since I am looking up the cities where we did the giveaways and on what date for the URSAC year end report it all goes hand in hand.  

By now it was lunch time and Doctor Lizzeth Amaya a dentist friend and a mutual friend of Dr. Mercedes stopped by.  Yum, Fried Breaded Eggplant and Italian Sauce....  She and I are both great friends of Mercedes and we are praying in agreement together for her healing.  

Logged on and made a note of my eating, this news was not so good as this morning's news...

I ate 150 calories and 19 carbs, 7 grams of fat and 3 grams of protein, no wonder I like Italian food.   

Today I ordered paperwork on a child who was adopted and is now in her mid 20s and wants to find her birth mother.   You can find her story on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JenySalgadoGodoy

Forwarding translated paperwork for my friends at Aaron's Mission Out Reach, AMOR, which means love, the Dakin family in Talanga.  They are doing the same paperwork which I am doing but theirs is already done and my friend Peggy Perdomo translated it for them.

Called and checked on the ministry's new farm to see if the land had been mowed. It has, at least around the houses and to the front road.  This is the new farm place donated for a children's home.  It has 2 houses, several out houses, 2 garages and 3 tilapia ponds.  Water has been moved from one pond to another, lots of tadpoles, lots of turtles and no fish.  It is looking cleaner!  Praise God, it needed to look cleaner.

I GOT MAIL from a new volunteer for SMART Medical teams. Sent him a quick note and think he will probably join us on some teams in the future.

Now I find myself sending out Thank You notes to donors.  I am doing it on the computer.  I know, I know, how tacky, but I am sending cute little cards.

I am hungry again... that is the problem with staying home and doing paperwork.  

How about some homemade nachos, but just a small plate of them... 

Logged in to make a note and to my chagrin I find that a small plate of nachos has OMG I am going to have to fast tomorrow!!!!!!  A small plate of nachos has 440 calories, 38 carbs, 32 grams of fat and 18 grams of protein.... I am now over my fat grams for the day... Bummer!  No ice cream tonight!  It is all my dad's fault!  He taught me to love sour cream!  I love it with baked potatoes, french fries, nachos, tacos, in fact I put sour cream in my cakes... Opps, my secret is out!   That is my secret ingredient. 

The Lemon Bundt Cake which was made today had sour cream in it...

It is now 6:00, I have been up for 12 hours, I am still in my jammies, I have not taken a bath, in fact I am still in bed and except for eating lunch with my dentist friend I have not seen anyone who is not family.  Yes, we ate lunch here at the house and I was in my jammies and stinky, like I said, "she is a good friend."  

While waiting for things to download and upload today, I have been looking at Pinterest off and on all day between jobs or maybe I should say simultaneously with my work.  I have discovered that I have been away from the USA for too long.   

I found some nifty things and even coveted one or two of them. 

This little darling is called a Ham Dogger, it makes hamburger meat into a hot dog shape...
WOW, I love it!

http://www.solutions.com/jump.jsp?itemID=15796&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C3%2C643&iProductID=15796 

And then there is this great piece from a place called Straight Lines!

http://www.straightlinedesigns.com

And then there was the Nice Underwear doormat... it made me smile... on a not so happy day...

http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/nice-underwear-mat

But one of the things which I loved the most is a screen for the garden.

To me this is beautiful... I am drooling and then I found some more pretty garden things like this

Like this made from wine bottle bottoms and iron...

and this made from glass and thin steel around it...

And this...

And this one which is a little different but still beautiful...

My day is winding down, I am finally going to get up and do the other million things 

which I need to do around the house.

A lot of paperwork got done, but there is much more to do... I think tomorrow will be another day of paperwork and then perhaps I can get out for a few hours in the afternoon.  

Have I said that I hate paperwork?  I do, it seems it is a necessary evil.  

I wish it wasn't.

Thank you Lord for a productive day!

May 3, 2011 Mom and Dad and Aunt Yvonne Come To Honduras To Visit

My mom Mary Andrews.  She is my inspiration, she taught me to give to others and help the poor.

My dad, my other inspiration, he taught me that I could do anything I set out to do.  He also taught me that, sometimes I must be willing to suffer consequences that might come with my decisions and actions, especially if I was "breaking ground".  Like when I was the first girl to take mechanical drawing in high school and had to fight my way into the class.

"Aunt" Yvonne... Another inspiration in my life... She helped me pack my things to move to Honduras.  She worked for days on end with no pay.  Packing may not sound like a big deal, but the fact is I had to inventory every single little thing for my permission to bring my things in duty free.  

Mom and dad after 58 years of marriage and still going strong and still very in love!

They have set a wonderful example for every one around them. And imagine at this age they are going to a 3rd world country to participate in mission work.

Dad teaching Jose how to eat watermelon...

Jose teaching dad how to eat soup...

Jose teaching dad how to relax in a hammock.

Dad practicing what Jose taught him.

All in all they had a great trip! They came for 2 weeks and stayed for 3 weeks.

The airport was closed due to smoke for a week, so we all enjoyed that extra time together.

April 28, 2011 To The Prison To Visit And Giveaway A Wheelchair

This is one of those posts where I can't show any people photos... because, I just can't

But today I went to the prison with mom and dad and Yvonne Hopkins.

We gave away a wheelchair and 200 cupcakes which we made this morning.

Please continue to pray for my special guys at the prison!

We prayed for several young men who had been injured in shootouts with the local police.

One had tears in his eyes... as mom prayed...

April 12, 2011 Wheelchair Giveaway In INHFA

I received a telephone call from INHFA and they asked for a wheelchair for this lady...

So, my mom and dad and Yvonne Hopkins who are visiting went with me and gave away the wheelchair... She was really happy!

I Love The Heros Who Help Me Be Able To Do What I Do!!! Thank You All!

Today I want to thank some of the people who make my job easier... These are in no certain order, they are all important!

This is my precious grand son, Michael Gonzalez... Mikey you light up my life!!!

My mom and dad... they keep me focused, keep my life on track and send me care packages....  I love you both!

Anne is the cook at the hotel where I take most of my teams... Thank you Anne for keeping the food clean and my people from getting sick...I love you!

This is Vilo Martinez.... yes, he is political... but he has a heart to help the poor... Vilo helps me move the wheelchairs around and deliver them to those in need...  Thank you Vilo, I love you!

Joshua helps me with all kinds of things and is especially effective in the ministry!  He is a born evangelist and I love you Joshua!

This is Pedro Barquero, a partner in prayer... When I need prayer support, I just pick up the telephone and I have an instant prayer warrior...  I know he looks strange here, but he is flying...

Jamileth Villeda, my friend, my prayer partner and my confidant... I love you girlfriend!!!

This is Will, he is a anesthetist,  at Hospital Del Sur in Choluteca... I am so thankful for he and all the rest of the anesthesia team at the hospital... They help me tirelessly with all my medical teams...  Thanks Will and all the others... I love you all!

This is my friend Erlinda and two of her children... She doggy sits when I am busy and can't let the dog out to potty, she helps me cook for my "kids" at the prison, she helps me out all the time sorting donated clothes that come in, bagging beans and donated cornmeal ...  Thanks Erlinda...  I love you!!!

This is my "boy kid"....  Jose Benavides.... I am thankful for him, he drives me around, keeps me on my toes with his constant pranks and jokes, prays for me, runs errands for me, does legal work for the ministry and for me... and drives me crazy!!!!  I love you Jose...

This is Mike Quinn, CRNA retired!  But not retired from helping the poor... Thank you Mike and all the other CRNAs who help with my medical teams...  I love you and all of those who donate their time and energy to help me help others!

Jim Mackey, he's my man... I will never forget the first trip Jim came on to Honduras, Juticalpa to be exact .... He was hooked immediately and I knew he would be a keeper...  Thank you Jim and all the other nurses who help me in the surgeries...  I love you all!!!!  You make my mission possible!

This is my grand daughter Christina, she gives me a reason to live... I love you baby girl!

Aunt Yvonne my special friend and cheerleader!  I love you!

My friend Renan, he has a passion to help the disabled!  We work together giving away a lot of wheelchairs...

Thanks Renan for all your help!

Genny Lainez an inspiration and a precious friend...  I love you Genny!

These are just a few of my special friends...  There are so many more... to many to name...  If you are not featured, don't dismay... I plan on living until I am 120 years old so there is plenty of time to feature you... Don't laugh grandma lived to be 106 and my life has been much easier than hers!

My pastors are not on here, neither of my girls, nor Sonia, my best friend, my mentor, my little brother ... many are not here so don't be worried that I don't love you or care about you...

I love you all!  Happy Valentines Day!

The Un-Perfect Family And Christmas Events

Many people look forward to the holidays and family time WITHOUT much enthusiasm.

Why?  The answer is an age old answer, because of family problems.

Sometimes it is brothers and sisters who do not get along as in the first family of the earth.  Cain’s indifference after killing his brother was obvious…

"Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?'" Genesis 4:9 

Sometimes it is problems between mothers and fathers, divorce or fighting.  Sometimes it is children pitted against parents as we see clearly prophesied about in Micah 7:6

For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

Other times it is a single rebellious child or rebellious adult who seems to love to make life miserable for everyone around them.  Isn’t there one of “those” people in every family?  A negative aunt or uncle who only speaks about problems, problems and more problems? A drug or alcohol addict who loves to use a family event as a reason to get smashed? Or a family member with a “wild child” who walks on the dining room table, pinches the babies and kicks the dog? Or an incessant talker?  Sometimes one insecure, divorced parent has pitted the children against the other parent in a power struggle and the family cannot enjoy holiday time due to that power struggle.

If you and I are honest, sometimes family gatherings seem more like a curse than a blessing.  In fact, if we are honest, we all know people who cannot have family events because of one or several of the above stated problems.  I know of a family where the father does not participate in family gatherings due to sins long ago committed and never forgiven by the ex-wife and the now adult children who still refuse to see him.  I know of several families where one of the adult siblings does not participate with the family.  All of us know families with these types of problems.

The bottom line is that God in His infinite wisdom formed us in our mother’s womb.  

Isaiah 44:2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee…

Isaiah 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things…

Isaiah 49:5 And now, saith the LORD that  formed  me from the womb to be his servant…my God shall be my strength.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; …

He knew who our crazy brothers and sisters would be, he knew our godly or ungodly parents, he knew our grandparents, our aunts, our uncles, etc. and He chose your family for you… But why did He choose “that” particular relative for me? I challenge you to forget about “me” for a minute and think about that “strange” relative or relatives…

Have we ever thought how hard holidays are for the rejected person? Or persons?  Haven’t we all thought, “They deserve it!” But have we ever thought of doing the Christian thing and including those people in events, even though we may think they do not deserve to be included?

Sometimes I hear people say, “I hate the holidays.”  To me the holidays are one of the happiest times of the year.  I love being able to share about Jesus to complete strangers, invite exchange students or the poor to dinner, with an open door of opportunity because it is His birthday celebration.  I love the smells of cinnamon and cloves, the big Christmas Eve dinner with family, the firecrackers (a Honduran custom), parties with friends, good memories, cookie exchanges, baking, Christmas Day at family and friend’s homes and all the festivity. 

The holidays can bring out the best in us and others or if we're not careful they can also bring out the worst in us. As a Christian, I have learned that I must look at everything in the light of the scripture.  

1 John 2:10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.

Is it possible that we can cause people to stumble because of our attitude about family members at Christmas?  My mother-in-law was very Catholic and resented the fact that I had led her son to the Lord “through the back door”.  To her, it seemed to be better that he was doing bad things then for him to go to a “Christian” church.  When my first child was born, she was sure that my children were going to hell because they had not been baptized in the Catholic Church.  Not only did she tell my husband and I this, but she told the children when they were only 4 and 6 years old…  I was mad, yet I loved her…  My husband was always “too fat” or my meals had “too many calories” or I “spent too much on decorations” or “the girls didn’t have warm enough clothes on” or a “nice bottle of wine or some beer would make the dinner better”.  It was always something… WRONG… but…

She was a good woman, she had a good heart, she had her ideas which were sometimes misguided and if something didn’t jive with her ideas of how things should be, you heard about it and so did everyone else.  This made it hard for me at times, in fact, I used to get terrible headaches the week before Thanksgiving and Christmas just thinking of having the family over, but I did it anyway.  The cursing, using God’s name in vain, the backbiting, the noise of it all made me “tense”, but family is family…

You see, love is a choice and I made my choice.  I chose my husband and in choosing him, I chose my in-laws. When she had cancer surgery, it was me who went to Colorado to be with her, not any of her four children.  I sat with her during those days in the hospital.  Her own children, including my husband, had major problems with her at times, but my choice was made.  I had chosen to love my husband and I by default had chosen to love her. She and all of my husband’s brothers and his sister and their families were also invited to Christmas and Thanksgiving, no matter what. 

Then came the theft, one of my husband’s family members reneged on a contract and left my husband high and dry, in effect stole tens of thousands of dollars… his mother threatened to leave him out of her will, like her mother had left her out of her will and my husband angrily vowed to, “never see his family again”…  everyone sided with the family member who broke their promise and sided against my husband who was left “holding the bag”…  It was a hard time for my husband…  He told me, “I have made up my mind, do not bug me about it.” So I didn’t.  As a result, of his decision and my silence, my girls went for many years without seeing their paternal grandmother or their aunts, uncles and cousins.  I made a mistake, instead of pushing him to reconcile with them and to continue to see his family and fellowship with his family, I kept silent…  

I said all of that to say this, what I am speaking, I am speaking from experience.  Some of our (yours and mine) family members are very loveable, but others are not.  With this in mind, we must sometimes make conscious decisions to love our family members.  We should all chose to love our families this holiday season and all year long. In fact we are called by God to do exactly that…

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.

As we abide in God's love, we are given the supernatural power to love our alcoholic brother-in-laws, our prideful sisters, our weird aunts, our hateful uncles, our lazy, “couch potato” father-in-laws, even our obnoxious mother-in-laws and our punk rock nieces. When we love fervently, our reward comes from the Lord.  If we are not “fervently loving”, then we are not doing our part.  They may be wrong but we are too!

I remember part of an old recipe which I found many years ago in a Anne Landers newspaper column.  I do not have the news column but it went something like this,

A Recipe for Love

1 cup of faith
2 cups of forgiveness
1 clove of loyalty
1 sprig of trust
1 pinch of honesty
1 dash of herbs and spices for strength
2 teaspoon of kindness

1 teaspoon of joy
2 cups of friendship
1 cup of respect

Love helps us overlook conflict. Love helps us to cover a multitude of sins. When something is covered up, we don't see it clearly. So may one of our New Year’s resolutions be that this year’s Valentines, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Vacation, birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers be our best ever as we choose to love our families with the same love that God has for us!

My mother-in-law has since gone to be with the Lord, my husband has since reconciled with his family.  My children now enjoy having a relationship with the paternal side of their family like they always had with the maternal side as they grew up.

This Christmas, in Honduras, I was unable to be with my family, my mom and dad, my brother, my girls and their collective six children but I thought of them, thanked God for them and know that I am blessed to have them as all as my family.

Happy New Year to mom and dad, my brother Jim, Jessica Searcy Maldonado and Sarah Searcy Gonzalez, my two precious daughters and all of my grandchildren, David, Michael, Daniel, Christina, Selah and Caleb!  I miss you all!  I promise, I will see you this year!

September 10, 2010 Children's Day With The Kids From The Garbage Dump

Last week I baked and froze 300+ cupcakes for todays event.

These are the precious children who were waiting when we arrived.

Aren't they cute?

There are always a few clowns in the crowd...

Look at these pink sandles and pink shirt...

And then there are the shy ones...

A friend took off work and went with me to help give out the cupcakes and pour the coke... I know neither of those are good for you, but it was Children's Day and they might not like Broccoli!

Not sure what the pucker face was about...

Some of the kids played with their friends on the floor...

I had to take a photo with the clowns...

Fixing hundreds of drinks...

Vilo Martinez, the good lookin' guy in the striped shirt invited me to participate in the event... He bought and brought hundreds of plates of food for the kids.  I was blessed to help give it out to them...

These kids are all children who scavenge in the Tegicigalpa City Dump...

A local pastor has set up a private school just for them with computers and everything...  It is a wonderful facility and that is where we held the event...

Getting ready to eat chicken and rice...

I am so thankful that I had a nice home to live in growing up and I am so thankful that my girls (Jessica Searcy Maldonado and Sarah Searcy Gonzalez) had a nice home to live in when they were growing up.  

Have you ever wondered why you were born where you were? and why your parents are your parents?  I think God placed me where He did because He knew I had compassion for those less fortunate than I am...  

I am thankful for those who help me with the ministry where I am able to help others.... I am thinking today of Jack DeLoss Taylor Trust and the Michael Martin family who have helped me tremendously this year.

Thanks also to my mom Mary Lucille Wallace Andrews from Buckner Arkansas who taught me how to cook.  Because of her I am able to be a blessing to others by making them tasty food...  And thanks to my dad who keeps everything going for me on the home front where I can be here in Honduras doing what I love to do...HELPING OTHERS!