Things I do not Want to Forget.

Things I am grateful for and things I simply do not want to forget.

• For the smiling face and welcomed hug of our friend and the father of some our students. All of the teachers almost always exclusive buy our fruit and vegetables from this family. They carefully select the best they have and just yesterday when we needed Cilantro, they did not have any so the father sent one of his workers to the grocery store with money to see if they had any and he was going to buy it for us. I like seeing them, makes me feel like I have a place in town, where people know me, recognize me. 
• Fancy. I am grateful for the word Fancy. Yes this is a British term but it implies wanting something you do not already have. It took me a while to learn the proper use of this word (please note the other English term I so casually included just now). Now you see I thought you could say "OOOO I really fancy this piece of candy I am eating" WRONG. You can only Fancy when talking about something you do not already have. Like I would ""Fancy Starbucks this morning" (true statement, I would so fancy a latte)
• My roommates. They deal with me at my worst and make me laugh out loud. I could not be more grateful to be doing life with them here in Honduras. Although we all speak English sometimes I wonder if we know the same language at all. Alison, I am learning from South Africa has all of these adorable nicknames for her nieces and nephews. But more so than nicknames in South Africa they have their own language in addition to English and if you are in the room when she is talking to her family on Skype all of these sweet little words and names start coming out. I love it.
• El Dorao Coffee. (coffee sold and made in our town) Side hilarious story. I was trying to tell my third graders how much I loved the "El Diablo coffee" The class looking at me in utter shock started yelling, "No NO MISS, NO MISS". I was so confused. I was so confident this was the name of the coffee that is made in our town. What I quickly learned is "Diablo" in Spanish is the word "devil". I do not recommend telling your class that you "Love the devil" at school. Spanglish disaster!
• Grateful for Distance. Distance makes the heart grow fonder... maybe its true or perhaps it is not... But either way I am certain that distance makes reunions so much more fun. Lets be honest seeing old friends and family after a long time apart is pretty incredible. I am happy to announce Stephanie Riley and her boyfriend are en route right now from Guatemala City to Pena Blanca! So happy to have them visit for the weekend.

Our homes... We are Central American neighbors.

Yay for being neighbors again! See you in an hour or so.

Also counting down because these three girls are some of the most important to me (Left to Right, Stephanie (arriving in a few hours, Christie Lee, BA and Me) and our annual tradition continues, after my absence last year. 11th annual Gingerbread Christmas Eve Eve Day. Love you all.

• My Art Teacher in Elementary School. I had an art teacher that told stories of Vincent Van Gogh and he has ever since been my favorite artist. Today in Art I told my kids the story of how he cut off his ear and gave it to a girl he liked. (They all giggled, rumor has it the story did not happen this way but remember my kids are in 2nd grade so sometimes simple stories are the best stories). I had them recreate Starry Starry Night for class. So cool to see them recreating one of my favorite paintings of all time.

Andres looking at the picture.. See his swirly sky on his desk.

Construction Paper: Construction paper goes a long way in a 3rd world country and you would be surprised by all that you can do with it. I had been meaning to include some of the decorations that we put up in honor of Fayes Birthday at the house and I forgot. See below! At any moment construction paper is scattered about in our house, on the walls, on the floor....

3D card made my Alison, Flowers by Molly.