happy birthday lily ruth.

sweet lily ruth is six years old today. i cannot imagine this precious little treasure not being a part of my life. my pastor and his wife adopted lily from china. from the day lily ruth yuan-yuan weathers was created, there is no doubt in my mind she was created to be a weathers. 

i love how adoption paints such a beautiful picture of the gospel. i am thankful God has been so sweet to give me just a glimpse at His heart for orphans. He has made my heart one that is passionate for the orphan's cause. i long for them to all have forever families. i long for them, who have been abandoned, abused, neglected and unwanted, to be swept up into a whirlwind of love, acceptance, affection, closeness, warmth and welcome. i want them to know Jesus.

J.I. Packer says in his book Knowing God - "our understanding of christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption.. if you want to judge how well a person understands christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. if this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand christianity very well at all."

so.. as i am remembering lily ruth on her birthday and as i am remembering all of my little treasures in honduras, i am rejoicing in my sonship. He has adopted me into His kingdom. i am a daughter of the Most High King and heaven is my home. this truth drives me to worship. thank you Father for your faithfulness. 

the rents...

this weekend my family and i got the amazing privilege of seeing the gospel displayed through our sweet friends Andrew and Heather's wedding. the whole thing was absolutely beautiful. throughout the wedding, God was glorified and the gospel was on display for all of the guest to witness. experiencing their wedding and being at home with my family made me think about my parents. this summer my parents celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. sarah, caitlin and i were not able to celebrate with them because we were in honduras. so... i wanted to share just how beautiful a picture of the gospel my parents are for my siblings and me. 

my parents are wonderful. after twenty-five years of marriage they are more in love now than ever. my dad is such a studier of the word. he treasures it. he studies it so well. he is one of the most amazing pictures of biblical headship for me. he leads my mom and he leads her well. he treats her with such love and such respect. my dad is awesome. he is one of the funniest men you will ever meet. his jokes are corny sometimes but he really is hilarious. he has taught me so much. he is the one who taught me how to study the word and make my faith my own. he taught me everything i know about football. he also taught me how to lose and that winning was the reason you played. if you didn't play to win.. why keep score? he never let me win at anything. :) he is an amazing father... my mother is one of the most humble women i have ever met. she is beautiful inside and out. she is a beautiful picture of submission for me. she serves my dad and she serves him so well. she loves the Lord with her whole heart. my mother is funny because she thinks my dad is so funny. she laughs at all of his jokes, not out of pity, but because she genuinely thinks that they are funny. my mother is the opposite of my father in that she is not competitive at all. unfortunately all of her children took after their father and are extremely competitive. she is quick to let us know when our competitiveness is turning to sin during family game nights... i am convinced that what makes my parents love for each other so amazing is their love for our God. i know that my father loves the Lord above all else, even my mom and his family. and i know the same to be true for my mother. it is because of this love for God that they are able to love each other, my siblings and me and others. they set such a constant example for me and i am so thankful. happy anniversary mom and dad. 

"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body." -ephesians 5: 22-30

thoughts...

well... it is august 22nd. i have been back in america for a little over two weeks. i am excited to be here. i am excited to see what God has in store for me this semester. i am eager for school and ruf and football to pick up. i am excited to be here but... i think of honduras often. how can i not? it is the place that feels most like home to me. i miss it. though i miss it more than one might be able to imagine, i am thankful i am here in auburn alabama for now. here is where God has me and i am excited to use what i learned this summer here. and i am excited to try my best to bring my Father glory in all i say and do.


i cannot thank you enough for all of your prayers over the course of my summer in honduras. thank you thank you thank you for loving me and being such a picture of the body for me. 


i am sure i will blog about things i learned over the course of the year but for now i just want to share a lot of pictures with you. i feel like pictures are a good way to experience things. 

 this is maria eleyna. last june when i was in sps she was still in casitas. she is now at the transitional home Buckner has in sps. it was so sweet to be able to look at maria eleyna's life last summer and then be with her his summer. to see God's faithfulness and provision in her life has been truly a gift. 

 this is katherine (or kathy). katherine has been in the transitional home for over a year now. she is doing great. katherine is shy until she is comfortable with you and then she will talk until you tell her to stop. she is learning and growing so much.  

 sarah and i attempted to take a super college/artsy picture. it was probably a fail with the m$m's in the corner. 

  the girls at the transitional home LOVE the jo bros so... after bible study, we popped some pop corn and watched camp rock 2 together. 

 this is obensio and billma. billma likes to be held. she doesn't play with toys or other children very often. she just likes to be with someone holding her or in her bed. obensio is one of the special needs children at nueva esperanza. he has the sweetest spirit. he loves to play. he will play with any toy you give him and he shares with anyone and everyone.

  this is estefani. estefani is twelve years old and came to casitas in mid july. she was taken away from her mother, again... when estefani was younger she was in nueva esperanza (the government orphanage i worked at) for over three years. she is so young and so beautiful. we were talking one day about her situation. the way she talked about it, she wasn't shocked that she was taken away. it breaks my heart that she is in this situation.

  margarita. oh... sweet girl. margarita has been in casitas well over a year and will most likely stay in casitas. she is severely special needs. she has to have someone dress her and she will not go to the bathroom or eat unless someone takes her or gives her something. her brain doesn't send out cues for basic necessities. and yet... she is still full of joy. she and i laughed a lot over the course of my month in san pedro sula.  

  this is karla. she too, much like the others in this blog, has been in casitas for over a year. when i met karla last summer, she barely spoke ten words to me all month. she was bitter, she was angry, she was shy, she was intimidated. this year karla seemed in much better spirits. of course she cries and longs to get out of the misery she is in but she i really believe she is beginning to find joy in our God. she is one of the most precious young women i have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. she is selfless and she loves to learn.  

  this is emerson... he and this mother claudia were in tegucigalpa at casitas kennedy. they were transferred to casitas in sps on june 30th. the facility at casitas kennedy is much nicer than those in san pedro sula. it is still heart breaking, any orphanage is but for claudia and emerson it was a big change. in tegucigalpa, claudia got to live in the toddler room with only two other young mothers her age and their children along with the toddlers. the three mothers helped the tia with whatever she needed help with and took care of their children. it really was a good situation for the young mothers. at casitas in sps claudia is with 80+ other girls her age and has nothing of her own. towards the end of our time in sps the administration was threatening to take emerson away from claudia because she was trying to run away. please please pray for them. 

  well... as you already know sarah, rachel and i got piojos (aka lice). this is what we look like when we do a daily check. 

  i got sung to, given a sombrero, bottle and huge piece of tres leches cake for my birthday at the restaurant we went to for my birthday. it was wonderful. 

 dennis, jansy, luis, sarah, lisa callie and rachel sang happy birthday to me at exactly 10:57. they made my 21st birthday awesome!! they definitely spoiled me the entire day! baleadas for breakfast, birthday song at the exact time i was born, pica for lunch, posters, an amazing day of work and an awesome dinner.

sarah's mom sent us birthday gifts with the team from dallas. sarah got a really cute shirt to wear for her birthday and i got a tote bag from market in peru. thank you ms. kathy!! 

we blew up over 100 balloons for sarah's birthday and filled up our kitchen and living room. it was awesome!

 we girls at the church. this is where we worshiped on sundays. at church we celebrate birthdays every weeks. sarah and i got to go to the front of the church, they prayed for us and we got put 21 lempiras in the offering basket. 

 this is pastor victor and his family. pastor victor is the pastor of our church and also the principle of the school where buckner is developing their ctc in san pedro sula. the ctc should be up and running soon. 

 this is our AMAZING team from park cities baptist church in dallas, texas. they were with us for our final week and we could not have asked for a better team. i got to see erin again (redhead in the bottom right. she lead a team in tegucigalpa earlier in the summer) and get to know so many other wonderful people. they made our last week of work so joyful and so meaningful. i am so thankful God allowed to serve his treasures together.

  this is emerson again... one of the girls kissed him so hard it bruised his little cheek. emerson is definitely loved by the other girls at casitas. 

  this is maria... she is one of my girls from last summer. we bond over having the same name. she gets to help out around the center a lot more than she did last summer. maria is really close with another of the girls from last summer, glenda. they really help each other out. they are so funny and such a mess. 

  this is yerlin yaneth... she will hopefully be going home soon. she and sarah shared a birthday. yaneth is in casitas because she brought herself there. she had been being disrespectful to her mother and so she decided to see what life would be like without her mother to learn a lesson. she was originally not supposed to be in casitas for very long but because of paper work it has taken longer for her to be able to leave. the way she talks about all she has learned is phenomenal. 

  this is morelia. she is another one of my girls from last summer. morelia was born with a cleft lip and palate so she speaks with a speech impediment. she has severe self esteem. self mutilation is a huge struggle for morelia. the Lord hasn't given morelia a trusting heart yet. oh how i pray for her. pray that she will seek the Lord. pray that he will reveal himself to her. pray that she will realize that he is the only person who will never leave her or forsake her. 

 this is maria...(there were a lot of marias at casitas) maria is special needs. from talking to her and interacting with her my guess would be autism. she is very sweet and very smart. i told her the first day i was there that i would make her a bracelet. she did not forget. she hounded me until i had made the pattern and color bracelet she wanted.  

 this little one is guata. she's a mess. she and her twin nathon are nothing alike. nathon is so sweet. he plays but is more quiet and reserved. guata is ninety to nothing all the time. as soon as you walk in the door she is running to you. guata started walking a little too early. this is common for the babies growing up in an orphanage. they start pulling up and walking before their little bones are ready. as a result guata is very very bowlegged. her cute little walk is much more like a waddle. 

 this precious baby is two months old and less than seven pounds. i fed her almost every time we worked in the baby room. feeding her was a battle. she does not have a very good sucking reflex and all the nipples on the bottles are too large for her little mouth. a feeding lasted so long. as i held her i would pray for her. pray for her to grow and strengthen. pray that one day she would come to know Christ as her Father. pray for the Lord's provision in her life. 

 this is elder... he is one of my favorites. he is such a cool kid. i loved getting to play fútbol with him and make a bracelet with him. he doesn't smile all that often but when he does it lights up the room!! 

 this is the precious wilgus family. their whole family came on the mission trip to honduras. the team was originally set to go to guatemala but the trip was changed due to political unrest. they were so flexible, and ended up with us in san pedro sula. getting to know this family over the course of the week was such a privilege. 

 on their last day the team went to tela (the beaches) and sam came back with braids. i love this picture because it captures my initial reaction to sam's new do. 

this is sandra. sandra has been at casitas well over two years. she is a mess. i pray for her often. it is so easy for her to become discouraged. she has been in this center well over two years maybe even three (she's lost count) and as of now there is no hope of her leaving until she ages out. despite her situation sandra is joyful. she loves so well. she is so loyal an she lets everyone know that she is your friend and she loves you. sandra is a mess. she may be one of the funniest girls i know. not all of our humor translates but we make do and i think she is hilarious. 

once again... thank you. thank you for loving me a praying for me. the Lord was so faithful to teach me so much while in honduras this summer and i know that he will continue to teach me so much throughout the course of the year. i am so humbled that my God would choose to use me in such way. that he would choose to use me as a tool to advance his kingdom and share his good news. 

"In every condition, in sickness, in health,

In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,

At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea, 

The Lord, the Almighty, they strength e'er shall be."

yo entiendo...

i wanted to give you another little update... i am coming to the end of my time here in honduras. i leave for the states a week from saturday. i am more than excited to see my precious family and my precious friends. i am also excited for the upcoming school year. but i have to be honest. i am not ready to leave this country. i love it here. i love the heat. i love the colors. i love the crazy drivers. i love the food. i love the children. i love the people. i feel at home here. i miss so many people, places and things already.


so... the title of the blog. "yo entiendo" this means "i understand" in spanish. it is something i say a lot. my spanish has gotten worlds better than where it was. it is still AWFUL but it is improving. the amount of spanish i can understand has increased more than the amount i can actually say. we only have two translators. they are great but can't do it all. especially when the four of us all go our separate ways. organized things have not worked at casitas this month. some of the girls are in sewing classes, some are in classes (1st grade level classes) and some just want to sleep, so we just sit and visit with the girls. we paint fingernails and make bracelets and sometimes we just talk. i have enjoyed being able to sit with the girls and just talk to them. today i was sitting with katerine. she has been at casitas 17 months and has a little girl. as we sat together i asked her questions. she would talk slowly and after every answer she would ask me... "maria, entiendes?" and i would either say "sí" and respond or i would say "sí, pero no sé cómo responder." which pretty much means "yes but i don't know how to answer you." i am learning patience. i get frustrated with myself when i cannot respond to their statements or questions. i cannot wait to continue to work on my spanish. i love these people and i love the language. i want so badly to be able to communicate fully in words the love of Christ and the hope of the gospel without having to speak through someone else. (our translators are wonderful!) i just long to be able to do it on my own.


i am getting to put into practice what God taught me through the volunteers at the ctc in tegucigalpa here in san pedro sula. i learned so much about service from them. how our service is obedience. and that obedience is driven by the grace that we have been given. saving faith prompts obedience. i am learning that in order to call it service, we must do it selflessly and to the glory of God alone! service is not always comfortable. that is okay. we're not called to be comfortable. 


i am learning a lot about rest. i am reminded of my sweet friend anne barron so often when i ponder on this word. over last semester she taught me a lot about rest. i am trying to remember all i learned from her... so often i spend my time thinking of my precious children in tegucigalpa, painting their faces over and over again in my head. and i think of the community of el eden and how i long to be back there. i think of the living conditions of the families we visited. i look in to the eyes of the broken girls at casitas. i watch little girls feed their own children. i spend time with the most beautiful, energetic, hilarious young boys. i feed two month old babies who weigh less than seven pounds. i cuddle with children who have lice jumping around in their hair... as i think i grow restless. i grow frustrated with their situation. i know that God is sovereign. i know that. i just need his help believing it. it is times like these that i am so thankful for his grace. times when my heart is so heavy. times when i turn to fleshly thinking... i am so thankful for his mercy. i am so thankful for his forgiveness. so thankful that he.. before the foundation of the world chose to call me his own based on his own will, not based on anything i would do or accomplish. free, unmerited grace. wow. how sweet it is to know that i am being loved and kept by my heavenly father. so... by his grace i am learning what Augustine said to be true... "our hearts are restless until we find our rest in thee."


last week i read in hosea all week. when i got to chapter fourteen i listened to a sermon my pastor gave over a year ago. (he's an amazing teacher...go read his blog). reading this book and listening to carlton's sermon made me so thankful for God's redeeming love. it also made me think about things. God's redeeming love is amazing!! and that redeeming love is the same in tegucigalpa as it is in san pedro sula... and the same in san pedro sula as it is in the united states and everywhere. our God is constant! he NEVER changes. people's circumstances are different, yes. but God's love is the same. i am so thankful of this reminder in my life. 


okay... so now that i've given you a little update i have some pictures for you. :) 

we have lice! whoo hoo... if you know about my time here last summer you know that i got lice on the second day and kept it the whole time. well... this year i made it to almost 9 weeks. that's progress. at this very moment i am sitting at our kitchen table with lice treatment in my hair waiting my turn to rinse. we took this picture right after we found out we had it. we are all excited to welcome our new friends for a time. 

this week we have gotten to spend time with the little boys at nueva esperanza. they are so much fun. there are so many of them still there from last year. i made the mistake of getting the string out in front of ALL of them and so now sarah, rachel, lisa callie and i have about 50+ bracelets to make by friday. YES! 

 on sunday i asked dennis to take us to a "hole in the wall" restaurant. hole in the walls are my favorite and they always have the most amazing food. so... monday night dennis trumped every expectation i had of a honduran hole in the wall restaurant. he took us to a muffler shop. yes. a muffler shop. during the day these guys fix your mufflers and at night they fix your meat. 

 my plate... fried plantain chips topped with steak and a special sauce. corn tortilla, cheese, sausage and beans on the side. 

 they give you a plastic fork to assure that there is no way to eat this meal like a lady. 

tire shop. 

 something from home... SNO BIZ. we went to sno biz today and it was soooo good. it reminded me of auburn and made me excited to get a snow cone on a hot day. 

 in two days sarah, will, caitlin and i will be 21. i am so thankful for the all three of them. i cannot imagine being quadruplets with anyone else. (our first birthday)

 family vacation. 

my english teaching partner. i cannot imagine teaching english to 25 hondurans with anyone but you. miss you and caitlin!!! love you. 

thank you again soo much for all of your prayers and support. i appreciate it more than you know. i am so thankful for the body of Christ. 

"I will heal their apostasy; I WILL LOVE THEM FREELY, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon." -Hosea 14:4-7

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)