Honduras Weather To This...

I dang near froze to death the first few days home.
But it is beautiful here too.
Just very, very cold.

Monkeys And More Monkeys...

Cute and oh so mischievous! They would try to steal our drinks right out of our hands!

Some of the pics are foggy from the camera trying to adjust from a cool room to humid heat outside.

Clinica Esperanza, Roatan, Honduras

Front Entrance. A guard is on duty 24/7.

The waiting room. Chairs were donated from a cruise ship:

Pharmacy:

Main clinic exam room:

Sterilization room for whole clinic:

OB exam room:

Pediatric exam room:

Dental cart and equipment, circa 1970's. The handpieces are air driven and are hooked up to two scuba tanks:

The dental clinic:

Matt and I were overwhelmingly humbled by and grateful for the opportunity to visit Clinica Esperanza. It is one of the largest providers of health care in the Bay Islands off the mainland. The clinic has a small support staff and one doctor and dentist. It is not enough for the needs in the area, however, and so the clinic relies on volunteers to provide many of the services. The clinic was built by volunteers and is run solely through the donations of others. Matt and I would like to go back sometime in the next year and work there for a couple of weeks. We would bring the boys with us, too.

On Another Note-9.14.09

The boys had a fantabulous time at a birthday party for one of their friends-and ours-it's a family we hang with.

Xander getting his "Bionicle" face

9.14.09

Smokey the Bear wasn't around today.

Around 3:15pm

A forest fire had started less than 1/4 mile from our house. I first noticed it after picking Kalvin up from school and we were heading home. By the time I got up our road, I had seen 5 emergency vehicles pass me. When we were about a city block's distance away, we were stopped by a police barricade. They were kind enough to let us through.

4:50 pm

An hour later, things were definitely not looking any better. I lost count on how many police cars, fire trucks, DNRC trucks and water tankers drove by. We also had 4 helicopters and a slurry plane constantly flying back and forth until dark. All told, about 150 acres burned. 28 homes were evacuated. No structures were burned. No one got hurt. And it took two full days to put it out.

We hear it was caused by arson.

9.14.09

Lot #14

No. It's not an announcement. We just really like this 2+ acre lot and have been eyeing it for about two years. We decided to go for a Sunday drive and visit it.

Gilbert House 9.04.09

It was a day of...

...for the boys at the Gilbert House in Salem, Oregon this weekend. We left our house around 5pm Thursday night and arrived at Grandpa and Grandma J's house at 5am. We left on Sunday to head back home again.Matt and I have decided we are getting too old to do such kamikaze trips. A plane trip with the boys is actually starting to sound more enjoyable...But I digress...

The bubble room was by far the hit.

Then again, so was spending the day wearing out Grandpa!