Sweet Home Chicago

I made it, I'm back safe and sound in the States. God blessed me with three safe flights, no delays, and no trouble with luggage. When I got off the plane and outside of Chicago I was immediately struck by the cold and was freezing. My lovely sister heather picked me up and I went with her and my niece and nephew to visit my grandma in the hospital. After that we visited my mom at work and then headed out to the burbs. I got to see my dad at home and then I fell asleep for a few hours because I only got a few hours of sleep in the airport at Atlanta last night. When I woke up my other sister was here and so were my nieces and nephew so we got to watch them for the evening and eat pizza. Later my brother stopped by after work and we all got to see each other. Overall it was a pretty sweet day and I got to see pretty much all of my family so it made me happy. I'm happy to be home and looking forward to good times with friends and family.

Never Let a Missionary Cut Your Hair

So this last week has been pretty sweet as I have been preparing to return to the States. I've had to teach Wesley three classes without the videos so I have done a lot of refreshing and reviewing of proofs, the Scarlet Letter, and the quantum numbers. The good news is that his videos have finally arrived and just in time. The boys will have school next week while I am gone and thier parents will fill in for me. Tuesday I went into the city with Val to play the bodyguard role and we ended up in the city for around 12 hours. It was a long day but I enjoyed seeing the kids of Casa de Luz one last time before Christmas. they are having a Christmas party the day I fly out and unfortunately I will not be able to be there. We also had a lot of errands to run in the city and Val had a board meeting at 7 pm so we got home around 10. Thursday I went to the ministry and played soccer with the young men of the community and it was fun. I didn't score any goals this week but I enjoyed running around and sweating with the Hondurans. This week I also received a haircut from Val. It started out as just an inch or so off. It was a little uneven so she cut some more. after round two I had some racing stripes on the side of my head and a mullet in training. She claimed I looked very latino and i kindly reminded her that I was a gringo. So I kept my mini-mullet for a day but after all my complaining I sat down for round 3. This time the haircut turned out decent and now I look more like a human being rather than the cromagnon hairy beast that I was. Val insists that I put gel in my hair becuase it looks better but I dont know if I will be able to do all that. Im sure it will be a big suprise to everyone in the States becuase it has been a while since my hair was this short but it will grow back soon enough. Well on Sunday I fly out of Honduras in the afternoon and will be traveling all day, arriving in atlanta at midnight. I will stay overnight in Atlanta and fly to Chicago Monday morning. My lovely sister Heather will be picking me up and we are going to visit my grandma Shirly Paoli in the hosital. Please be praying for my grandma and the rest of my family during this time as well as for me during the days of travel. I can't wait to be back in the States to see my family and friends. God Bless.

Good News!!!

So the home visit from the Honduran adoption agency went great and the Schuberts have been approved and will receive their new Honduran daughter in about a month. This has been a great answer to many people's prayers. I am excited to have a little one in the house and to help the Schuberts care for her. Other than this news, which we received on Tuesday, not too much has happened this week. Me and Ed dug some trenches in the back yard to extend some plumbing pipes that ran right into the back yard creating a nice swamp effect. We also cleaned up all the trees in the back and began leveling the yard so that we can mow it. We worked pretty hard on Monday and Tuesday and I was pooped and had a sore back but I felt like I was useful those two days so it made me happy. Wednesday Val and I went to the city to run errands. I have become Val's bodyguard for her weekly trips into the city, she needs someone with her especially at this time of year because people are more desperate around Christmas and more likely to rob someone. It was a long day but I enjoyed it. Me and Val got to talk on the drive there and back. We usually have some pretty good talks and yesterday we got to talking about how I talk to others and how strong my words can be at times. Of course I wasn't realizing it until she told me but I have been pretty impatient with Wes because he is very frustrating at times. She told me how he just shuts down when I get like that so I told her I would work on it and I also told her when she catches me doing it. I have paid more attention to it today and tried to not be destructive with my words towards him and everyone in the house today seemed to just be in a better mood, especially Wes. I'm glad that Val pointed it out to me so now I can work on it. I don't like the thought of people feeling bad and torn down from the things I say so I'm gonna keep working on it. Some bad news this week was the fact that Wes' next set of videos for school haven't come in the mail so I've had to teach 3 out of his 5 classes on top of all of the things I was doing before. It takes up a lot of time but it has also helped me to explain things more in depth to him and help him understand everything a little deeper. The classes I've had to teach him are geometry, english, and chemistry. I feel fine with math and science but I'm pretty sure Wes has more knowledge of english than I do so I'm hoping his videos come soon. I'm pretty excited to come home in a few weeks and see everyone. Christmas is going to be even sweeter this year since I missed Thanksgiving. Well I gotta get going. God Bless you all and your families during the holiday season. Good luck on finals everyone who is still in school. Adios.