Final Trimester at AFE

It is crazy to think that we have been living in Honduras for over a year now, and our time is almost finished.  We are just starting our preparations for the final trimester of the year here at AFE.  Ryan will begin teaching physics to our 10th grade, and I am going to start teaching social studies to 7th, 8th, & 9th grade.  YIKES!  Our teaching schedules are changing and so are the relationships with our students. 

After having spent a good chunk of time with them, they are really beginning to confide in us some of their insecurities, worries, and fears.  One of the biggest obstacles that I see in my students is that sometimes they lose focus of the big picture and can only see the here and now.  Life is tough for these students, but AFE gives them an avenue to be the best that they can be and achieve goals they never thought possible.

During these last few months I will do my best to encourage all of my students especially the ones that I have grown close to in the past year.  Please continue to keep all of AFE's students in your prayers, that they would feel encouraged to study hard and finish school, not just this year but in the years to come, too.

Congratulations Nick and Abby!

Ryan received an email a few months ago from one of his best friends growing up saying that he had met the woman of his dreams and they were getting married the end of July!  Of course Ryan and I both wanted to go to Alaska to celebrate with Nick and Abby, but we hadn't budgeted for any additional trips to the States, so Ryan attended for the both of us.  However, I DID get to view the wedding since they streamed it live via the internet...it was beautiful and I am so glad that I got to see a glimpse of it if not in person :) Congratulations to you both!

For the 4 days Ryan was gone, I had the privilege to join my parents and a team of 35 in El Progresso ~4 1/2 hours north of Tegucigalpa.  They were there for the week long medical/dental brigade and I got to help out during the last day!  It was an incredible two days I spent with them and the team...cooking for everyone who visited the clinic, helping my dad with some translations when he met with patients, dancing the night away, and spending one day at the beach with everyone in Tela!
 

FYI: I didn't take any of these photos - thanks to those of you who allowed me to "steal" them off facebook! XOXO

Vacation to Alaska & Idaho

Ryan and I had the privilege to spend one week in each Alaska and Idaho to visit family and to re-energize before we finish our last trimester here at AFE in Honduras.  It was two weeks filled with a mountain race, golfing, a huge yard sale, and of course lots of time with our wonderful families.

We helped Ryan's dad, Brad, who is a potato farmer in Alaska, move an irrigation line at his fields.  I drove a tractor for my first time!

 Pam needed to paint her office, so we spent an afternoon doing that, too!  Afterwards, she treated us to a delicious lunch at Rusty's in Palmer. 

The 85th annual Mt. Marathon Race was a hit for the summer!  Ryan and I didn't have the opportunity to do any sort of mountain training because of the dangers of where we live in Honduras, so we relied solely on Insanity workouts with Sean T. via the TV in our apartment.  And I will tell you what, we rocked it!  We will continue Insanity workouts for our training for next years' race, too!

Pam let us sell a few of her things to raise some money for Honduras - it was a huge success!  We also had a couple family dinners while we were in Alaska, too, and had a great time just relaxing and enjoying the fresh air of Alaska!

After the week in Alaska, we flew to Idaho and went directly to Sandpoint, Idaho where we were surprised the next morning with a huge family breakfast!  There were about 20 people in total, but I was so surprise that I forgot to take any photos!  So I got a couple from my mom's camera :)

We left that afternoon to go to Colburn Lake on the backside of Schweitzer.  It was a very special hike because it is the last hike our dog, Charlie, will ever take.  Her joints are so bad now, that my mom bought a garden cart to pull her in.  We all took turns hauling a very special member of our family :)

We spent a good portion of the week golfing - Erika twice and Ryan three times.  Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of Ryan golfing!  My mom had a member-guest tournament for her 9ers league, Sockhop themed!

We had a family dinner one night at Erika's parents' house where we got to see everyone we didn't see at Schweitzer. 

Erika's mom took us to Silverwood one day and we had an absolute blast!  We spent a lot of time on the lazy river and of course all the rollercoasters!!

The last night, we went golfing at the country club for Friday Night Fights and had a country hoedown dinner to celebrate the end of a great week in Idaho :)

Garden Update