fotos. :)

hey y'all... i just wanted to give you a little update on life here in san pedro sula. since my last two post were so long and so much to read i wanted to give you an update in pictures. so here we go... 

friday morning we tried our hand at making nicole's banana pancakes. sarah and i smashed 15 bananas in a pot. they turned out okay. not as good as nicole's but still very tasty!

last saturday we spent our morning hiking to the coca cola sign in san pedro sula. here is our picture after a very long and hot walk up the mountain. when we got to the top we had a picnic of pb&j's. the girls had never had them before so that was fun. 

when we got to the bottom we found a snake!! i picked it up to see how long it was. eleyna was not excited about it. 

while at nueva esperanza last week i got to see some of the boys that were there last year. we haven't gotten to talk much because we are helping mainly in the baby room but every time i can steal a chance to talk with them i do. we talk about what they remember about last summer and they ask me all kinds of questions. it is bittersweet seeing them. i wish so badly that they were in forever families but i love seeing their faces and getting to love on them. 

rachel spent the majority, if not all, of her time last friday combing lice out of a sweet little girl's hair. when we got in the car we did an emotion picture. (we do these a lot. someone says an emotion/word/scenario and we snap a picture) sarah said "lice!!!" our reactions: i am obviously very excited at the possibility of having my friends back from last summer. rachel is super mad! and sarah decided to pretend she was a louse. 

this is tania and carlos. tania is at casitas and carlos, her son, is at nueva esperanza. carlos was taken away from tania a few weeks ago. i showed her pictures of carlitos this week and tears began to stream down her face. i cannot imagine being in her situation. pray for her!

this is isabel and her daughter. i love isabel. every time we go to casitas she finds me and gives me a hug. friday i got to paint her nails and just sit with her for a while. as i painted her nails i prayed for her. she is so young. she and her daughter are both so beautiful. 

this is glenda and her daughter cindy paola. my heart has been breaking for glenda. this week i got to talk to glenda a lot as i was teaching her to make different patterns in her bracelets (who knew i'd be teaching them to make bracelets?). glenda is fifteen years old. her daughter, cindy paola is one and a half. do the math. she is fifteen. subtract about a year and then subtract nine months from that. so young. glenda has been in casitas for five months now. her mother makes and sells drugs so she was brought to casitas. she told me all about her life. her mother has had thirteen children but only six are still alive. she has been doing drugs since she was in single digit ages. the father of her child was murdered about eight months ago. as we sat together on thursday she was telling me how bad she wanted to escape. i try my best to convince the girls that this is the safest place for them at the moment.. but how do you convince them. i don't live there. i don't have to watch my clothes as they dry to make sure no one steals them. i don't have to worry about anyone stealing my stuff. i get to shower everyday. i have water whenever i am thirsty. i am reminded of what a safe misery casitas is. 

we have been serving the children at the school in las brisas this week. they have been so much fun to be around. they are so funny! they love love LOVE their picture taken. jonathan (on the right) is one of my favorites! every day i get a HUGE hug and kiss on the cheek from this little one. he's wonderful. 

on monday of this week we took sidewalk chalk to play with. it was a hit! and... so messy. the kids would draw a big circle on the ground, use as much of the chalk as they possibly could, rub their hands in it and then put it all over each other. i was taking a picture and two boys attacked right as i clicked the picture. 

mario (on the right) thinks that he is a macho man! they are some of the funniest kids i have ever been around. 

on friday we did a water war! we did a water balloon toss (sarah and i won of course). and then we did capture the frisbee... oh my goodness. they went crazy! it got extremely intense.  

today we went to pulhapanzak falls for the day. it was beautiful!! on sunny days, there is always a rainbow. it is amazing to see such a beautiful display of God's creation. 

here is the waterfall at pulhapanzak. today we went under the waterfall into a cave. talk about adrenaline rush! it has been raining here so the water was flowing so hard today. it was wonderful. 

after we went in the waterfall and ate lunch we decided to zip line. it was amazing!!!! 

just one of the zip lines. this was so much fun!!! if you ever visit san pedro sula or honduras in general come here!!! everyone is wonderful. 

here's a video of our day made by our translator and driver luis! he did a great job! the waterfall you see is the one we went behind. SO AMAZING.

the last week has been so wonderful. today i started a book by mark dever called "the gospel and personal evangelism." i only made it through the first chapter on the car ride to pulhapanzak and it is already amazing. i cannot wait to see what the Lord shows me through this book. thank you for all your prayers and please keep them coming. the upcoming week we will be at casitas and nueva esperanza. pray for our time with the babies. pray that we would be as helpful as we can for the tias. pray that we would be a picture of Christ for the. pray that we would take every opportunity to share the gospel with the girls at casitas. pray that we would love them and love them well. most of all pray that God would be glorified. 

love you. adios... mary elizabeth (maria)