Christmas Eve Day

what a beautiful girl!

 December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve day wasn't typical but if i could do it again exactly the same:  i would!
i think maybe this Christmas in Roatan has been the most significant and meaningful Christmas i have spent in years.   Those of you who know, know i love Christmas:  i do!  the only thing that would have made this Christmas more meaningful would have been to have kids here helping us serve the people here!  that would have been fantastic!

so what did Christmas eve day look like in Roatan?   well one of the ladies who sent us toys, shoes and clothes used to live in Roatan and she requested that we call Omar and George and let them pick out some shoes and toys for their family.   So my day started with the sound of Omar greeting me loudly beyond the fence.  I had his stuff in the car and we lugged it out.   He looked and looked and looked and looked and looked at all the stuff, and couldn't make up his mind!!   I was out there with him for over an hour.   Bob laughed when i finally arrived inside because we both know if he would have given the stuff to Omar it would have gone a lot quicker!!!  oh well .. he was happy!   And to Kristina he says, muchas gracias, mi amiga por todo!   Gloria a Dios!

omar with his presents from kris

we had one more major food drive to do today and that was up in the Colonia near our house.   we met at the Oasis Restaurant and loaded up the trucks with bags and bags and bags of food and oranges for the people!  i am soooo thankful that Larry and Susan let us borrow their truck while they are in Canada.   there is no way our car could have gone into the areas where we went this past week!

the volunteers who handed up food in the colonia

last year i went with Channel 4 TV up to a very poor area and i wanted to go again.  we took up 4 other people with us to help.  the truck could only go so far and then it was another 15 min. walk up to the top.   i went up and told the people to come down.  it was wonderful because many of the people recognized me from last year.  there was one old lady who walked all the way down with me and we talked the whole time. 

a beautiful christian mama

i know that i have asked for prayer regarding my spanish and i really thank God for the way He is helping me to understand and communicate in spanish!

near the top, nice road eh??!

bob handing out food, juice and oranges!

after the distribution we went home and get ready for carlos (our gardener and his family).  i had invited them to come over for cookies and to open up presents.

naomi, me and kendy with my present from carlos. i was so touched that he got me something!

bob being festive!!!

i am so grateful for the wrapping paper that carla sent because i was able to wrap up the gifts.   you may think that is normal but here people don't wrap alot of gifts so they were sooo excited!  one thing that the spanish do (which i love) is when someone is opening a gift they clap and chant until it is open.  it is fun!  try it sometime!

carlos, our gardener/3rd son!

after our little party, we got dressed and headed over to west bay to ron and patricia's for a christmas party. i felt like a kid on the way to her first christmas party as we drove over there.  it was such a beautiful way to end a very busy week!!!  it was fun to dress up!

not much under the tree but our hearts with full of good gifts!

we had a wonderful time!  patricia is a fantastic cook and we had alot of traditional honduran food.  we often thank God for this couple as they were the first people we met when we moved to roatan and they helped us acclimate and get to know the island.  what a blessing they have been to us over the years.   dear dear friends that we love so much!

patricia throws the best parties! 

during the course of the party i overheard patricia say 'la estrella de narnia'.  i walked over and said, did you just say the star of narnia??  she told me YES and introduced me to gery who was starring the the production of Narnia at Henry Morgan resort.  so at 9:00 we all walked over, along the beach  with stars hanging low in the sky to watch the play Narnia:  in spanish!!!   it was a wonderful Christmas treat!!!