I become Living Hope Adoption Agency's Representative in Honduras

Living Hope Adoption Agency  

One of the things Barbe and I had wanted to do when we came to Honduras was, in some way, help the many children who are either orphans or who have been abandoned by their parents. Although there are orphans here, the majority of children who are in "homes" or "orphanages" are more accurately and legally described as "abandoned". Usually they are abandoned in the hospital at birth or left with friends and family members who either can't or won't care for them, or some have even been found in dumpsters. When this happens, IHNFA, the equivalent of our Child Protective Services, steps in and takes over the responsibility for their care and placement in foster homes, children's homes or government facilities. 

Although at one time it did look like we would be working at a children's home, we never dreamed that one day we would not only be Honduran foster parents, but that I would also be representing Living Hope Adoption Agency here in Honduras.

Not the official document.

LHAA is a non profit, Hague certified, international adoptions agency based in Fort Washington, PA. Founded in 1994 by Dr. Samuel Fang, they have for many years facilitated adoptions from China to the U.S. and have had a presence here in Honduras for over 3 years. Just recently they have been privileged to begin facilitating adoptions from Uganda as well.

One of the most important things about LHAA is that they are Hague accredited. Honduras is a non Convention country but on July 14th, 2014 all U.S. adoption service providers working with families in non-Convention countries will need to be accredited just as if they were working in a Convention country. Basically, what this means is that anyone in the U.S. wanting to adopt internationally must work through a Hague accredited agency.

Honduras has statistically been a very difficult country to adopt from. According to information I acquired from one website, there were only 19 adoptions last year from Honduras to the United States and a sum total of 150 from 1999 - 2013. Because of the corruption or illegal child marketing that can accompany adoptions, it is probably a good thing that Honduras does not make adoptions easy. However, it doesn't make life any better for the 10,000 plus children who need a home of their own with parents who will love and care for them.

My role will be to open an office here in Siguatepeque, to work directly with IHNFA to encourage a smooth  and relatively speedy adoption process, host the adoptive parents when they make their visits to Honduras and in general, help in any way needed to make sure these children have the best possible chance at a new life.

Although I am fully aware that this will not be an easy task, I am both energized and hopeful that we will be able to make a difference for at least some of these beautiful children, despite the challenges that lie ahead. I am constantly reminded of the passage of scripture in James that says that "...religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress..." In all that Barbe and I attempt to do through LHAA, this is and will continue to be our only goal...to look after orphans in their time of distress, and I firmly believe that adoptions are one of the best ways to achieve this goal in a larger sense.



Mary Poppins

Me and Mary Poppins

I'm not quite sure what gets into me sometimes, but here she is...all the way from Cerro Azul. 

Some animals just reach out to me, kind of like Alfredo did, and I just have to bring them home. That's what this little gal did...along with the promise of fresh eggs each morning.

So, we bagged her up and brought her home. 

Chicken to go with Tyler Nevala

She's very good with kids.

As you can see, she fits right in.

She's a pretty good conversationalist.

Sweet talkin'

And Tiger is resigned to yet another interloper. Sigh!

Meeting Tiger.

And no, that is not what you're thinking it is on my shoulder....

The Lunar Eclipse as seen from Siguatepeque, Honduras 4/15/14

I went to bed early and set the alarm to wake up around 12:15 am on April 15th, 2014. I wanted to see the lunar eclipse that would make the first of the tetrad of lunar eclipses that will end on Sept. 28th, 2015.

As the eclipse began, I woke Barbe, Luis and Nolvia and we all gathered somewhat sleepily on the upper porch. Mark Ben and Thomas were spending the night with their youth group in El Socorro and were, I'm quite sure, still awake.

Taken at 1 am 4/15/14

Here’s the definition of a lunar tetrad: four successive total lunar eclipses, with no partial eclipses in between, each of which is separated from the other by six lunar months (six full moons).

 

 

 

 

Photos by Barbe





An Early Morning Hike: I survive a boulder attack

This past week our good friend David O'Donnell visited us from Maine. When he left Maine the morning of his flight it was 15 deg. F and when he stepped off the plane in San Pedro Sula it was upper 90s and humid. Talk about culture shock! Even Siguatepeque, normally 10 degrees cooler than SPS and without the humidity, was experiencing a heat wave.

On Wednesday, the day before David returned to the US, we went hiking with Kike Vega, owner of Ascenso, (I'm going to do a full blog article on these guys soon).


Left to right. Kike, David and Thomas

Fortunately, that night a cold front had moved in across Honduras and the temperature had dropped 20 deg. from the previous day and when we got up at 4 am it was almost cold. After a breakfast of pancakes provided by Barbe, we jumped in the back of Kike's old Toyota 4 by 4 pickup and headed up into the mountains just as the sun was rising.

The hike Kike arranged for us was actually a descent down into a canyon. At first the trail descended steeply and was a bit tricky trying to keep my footing on the loose shale and sand. Pretty quickly though, the trail began a long gradual descent following the face of the canyon. At the bottom of the canyon runs a beautiful mountain stream. We turned and began following the trail alongside the stream as it headed deeper into the canyon.

From my small camera on telephoto (the rock is on the far left)

At one point, David and Kike were looking up the side of the slope and saw a cave with a very large boulder in it. Out of curiosity as to how it got inside the cave, everyone except me decided to climb the steep slope to check it out. I sat on a boulder and watched them climbing higher and higher until they were almost out of sight. Working up an appetite just watching them climb, I dug into the backpack for the apple Kike had brought each of us.

Then the most interesting thing happened. David, from far, far up the mountain and off to my right decided to roll a boulder down the hill towards me. (not the one in the cave) He laughingly hollers down to me that he's coming for me and I shout back bravely, "Come and get me" rising from my rock seat and taking a stand beside it. Now at first, this may seem a rather dangerous thing to do, but to put it in perspective David was a good 400 ft above me and off to my right. The slope itself was dotted with clumps of trees, dug in rocks and had a slight level spot before reaching the creek below, all of which should have been enough to stop any rolling rock, as well as the fact that it would also need to change it's direct downhill course drastically to the right in order to reach me.

This is what happened instead.

From far up the hill I see David tip the 200 lb boulder off it's perch. I calmly watch the boulder begin it's bumping descent as it gathers speed, lurching and leaping off of rocks and trees. It's oblong shape and the roughness of the slope gives it no particular direction and at one point it almost comes to a stop. It was then that I lose sight of it, but I can still hear it coming, crashing and bouncing through the undergrowth. Above me is an embankment rising about 15 ft above the sandy creek bed where I am standing. Suddenly I am becoming nervous. I can hear it coming, it's direction constantly changing and I still can't see it. I begin to move left and then right, trying to anticipate exactly where it will suddenly launch itself over the bank at me. And here it comes, sailing into view! I dodge right and the boulder flies over the bank, lands on the ground and rolls to a stop EXACTLY  in the spot where moments before I had so bravely hollered back "come and get me". Not in a million years!

And here's the proof!

 

Before

After!



 

Because I knew we were going to be near water, I decided to pack light and only bring enough drinking water to get us started. Bringing with me the new Sawyer "mini", I decided to use this opportunity as a promotional photo opp for Inversiones Wolfe Honduras, authorized distributor and retailer of Sawyer Products in Honduras. I had with me on the hike two of my most handsome "Sawyer filter male models" and we quickly set the scene for the photo shoot.

 

Ben, filling the provided squeeze pack.

Squeezing the stream water through the mini and into my bottle

 

One of the things I love about Sawyer filters is that they are so lightweight and portable. Knowing that any water filtered through the Sawyer filter is 99.99999 % pure gives me full confidence to drink from any water source.

 

We ended up the morning with a little 4 wheeling to reach another spot with a great overlook.

 

David, standing overlooking the valley below 

 

A group photo, left to right. Ben, David, Kike (kneeling) Luis, Thomas, myself, Adria 

 

It was a great morning. I survived a boulder attack, drank purified water from a mountain stream, loved being out in God's creation and entirely enjoyed every minute of the time David spent us.