Patty!!

Last Wednesday Ed, Val, Tammy and Sarah went into the city to see the girl that the adoption agency had picked out for them. The little girl is beautiful and they call her Patty from her middle name Patricia. Her mother abandoned her at birth at the hospital and she has been living with the same foster family since she was 4 days old. On Thursday Ed,Val, and Tammy went back into the city. They dropped Tammy off at the airport and ran errands. Val needed to get back in the afternoon to teach her Spanish class at 2 but traffic was bad and she was running late. This meant of course that AJ and I had to carry all her stuff up to the property without the truck and we had to teach part of the class until she got there. We expected her to be 15-30 minutes late but she ended up being one hour late. In my broken Spanish I reviewed some things they had already learned and it wasn't too bad becuase I knew many of the people from the church services on Saturday. It proves that you have to be flexible as a missionary and be ready to teach an English class on 15 minutes notice. After the class I stayed at the property to play soccer with the men and scored one goal. I ran home quick after wards showered then inhaled my dinner becuase I had to go back up to the property to help Val with her other English class. There was a much smaller turnout that we expected so I helped a little and played with a little boy who came with his mother. Friday was a normal school day in and a cleaning day becuase Val threw a party for a young missionary that was supposed to leave the country but isn't going to after all. Saturday many of the Schubert's friends from their former ministry came to celebrate even though the person who was going to leave was just changing ministries. It also turned into a celebration for the good news received from INFA earlier in the week. In the middle of the party I left to go to the property for the church service and help out with the kids class. The service went well and I met a couple of new North Americans that are here helping out at the ministry for a while. After the classes I was playing with the kids and eventually got tired so I sat down. Christopher (a 3 yr old) had a fever so I was holding him. His mom tried to give him some medicine while he was on my lap and he vomited brown grossness all over my arm and leg. I rinsed off a little bit and then headed home with my shorts stained brown on one side. When I got home the electricity was out so I couldn't shower. I wiped myself down with wet wipes and rejoined the party. When the power came back on I showered and then had one of the ladies at the party fix the uneven haircut that Val gave me months ago. This lady was a professional so I felt more comfortable when she had the scissors near my head. Sunday instead of watching the soccer games I participated in one. Apparently one of the teams got upset and left the league so Luis needed people to fill in. I played for part of the first half and part of the 2nd half then left becuase we had plans to visit Patty in the city. I got an assist and when I left we were winning 2 to 0. Apparently my team won so that was good/surprising news. We went into the city and had lunch with Patty and one of the daughters from the foster family. At first Patty was terrified because it was the first time she was seeing AJ, Wes, and I. Eventually she warmed up to everyone and she was adorable. Her laugh is great and her smile makes you melt. It was a great experience to see her and play with her for a few hours. After that we all went to church in the city and I was so pooped from a long day and being a little sick that I was falling asleep sitting up during the message. I felt a little bad about it but I really couldn't help it. We made it home and I crashed pretty quickly. On Monday Val and Ed went to the city again to have a meeting with their lawyer and the adoption agency while I stayed at home with the boys to do their schooling. They received the good news that a committee will vote next Tuesday on whether they will get Patty and they could have her as soon as Wednesday(her 3rd birthday is the next day). It looks like the adoption agency is pushing hard for her to be her before she turns 3. The rest of the day Monday I tried to relax to kick the virus that I picked up this last week. Yesterday I got the boys started with school and then Ed, Val, and I went to visit Jimmy Hughes, another North American missionary in town who has been her 13 or 14 years and has a big ministry. It was a good time of fellowship and he gave me and Ed a tour of his property while his wife, Val, and Kjell(another missionary in town) talked about the possibility of building a school. Jimmy asked Ed's advice on farming and showed him some land and there is a possibility in partnering with his ministry for both the school and the farming. After we got back I finished the boys school day and then relaxed again. I think it paid off because I feel much better today than I have the past couple of days. Today Ed and Val are in the city again picking up a small team and doing work at the day care in the city. Tomorrow the boys and I will take a day off of school to work with the team at the property in Zambrano and do some cement work. Please keep praying that the Schuberts get their Honduran daughter soon and that the committee will vote in their favor next Tuesday. Well I gotta go make some lunch. Adios, God Bless, and thank you for your support.