A Thanks from the Tias

 The caretakers (Tias) for Allen’s hogar, Divino Niño, wanted to show their appreciation of all the love and support he has given to them and to the children of Divino Niño over the past year by taking us out to eat. At first, Allen was not sure I was invited but later he was informed by the Tias that he had to bring me “or else” with the throat slashing motion if he did not. I love that they not just wanted to include me but insisted on it. Allen has developed a great rapport with his Tias who keep telling him to extend for one more year. At this point I think they are just joking although I am sure they would love it to be true as would many others on the ranch.


On Wednesday morning they took us to a restaurant called Los Trupillos about a half hour drive North of the ranch. Although we went for breakfast, the menu was more like dinner options such as chicken or fish platters with side dishes.

The restaurant has a huge garden area with lots of covered seating pavilions among trees and flowers. Apparently, it is pretty busy at night as there are a lot of lights that give it a fun party atmosphere in the dark. We were the only customers that morning and the weather cooperated with no rain and a refreshing breeze for a very fun, peaceful and relaxing meal among friends.

Allen was surprised by a gift of a T-shirt that was printed with a photo of everyone in his hogar on the front and their names on the back.


I think my favorite part of the outing was watching the grown ups be kids again swinging on the tire swings.

This week was another week filled with extra activities, most of which came as a surprise to us, which is not unusual:

·       Another Padrinos birthday outing for children under 12 with birthdays in May, June, and July. This was a surprisingly small group of about a dozen children who got to spend the day at a pool with snacks, lunch, piñata, and cake. Although it is now the rainy season and is raining a lot, the weather was perfect that day (Thursday) and “yours truly” even got a sunburn.

·       Special service in the church praying for vocations (Thursday night).

·       A procession and special meal to celebrate Divino Niño Day (celebrated a day early on Friday Night).

·       Surprise Birthday party for the director of NPH Honduras (Sunday afternoon).

We have only two more weeks here and the time is going very quickly! We keep getting asked how we feel about that, and the answer is happy and sad. We are looking forward to going home and catching up with family and friends, but sad as we will miss the kids and the ranch community. A couple of things that occurred this week are helping me to feel less sad:

1) There are new volunteers assigned to both of our hogars so we know that the children that we have spent the most time with will continue to get extra love and support after we leave.

2) I made flight arrangements for a return visit in November, and we will be bringing family as our youngest son Alex will be joining us!



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