Pinewood Derby

This past weekend, Blake participated, once again, in the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. For those who are not familiar with what the pinewood derby is, I will tell you. Each cub scout builds a car out of a block of wood and then they all race them down a track to see which car is the fastest. The scout gets to design their car however they want.

Last year, Blake, of course had to design his like the General Lee. (Was there any other choice?) This year, he changed his mind about designing Sheriff Roscoe's police car and deciding on having his car look like a Nintendo Wii controller. After we were finished, it looked great, if I must say so myself and I must.

When it came time to run the race, the Wii car got a lot of attention from the other scouts, who thought it looked cool. Blake didn't have the fastest car in the cub scout pack, but did manage to win one of his heats. He was really excited.

The car has been retired to his "box of special things" as he puts it, but may still manage to make it out every now and then to roll across the floor. Who knows, eventually it may end up doubling as a dummy controller so that the twins don't throw the real ones across the room while trying to play the Wii.

Honduras

I know over the last few months, we have blogged rarely, at best, but I have found it hard to get motivated to write. I want to write all of this down about Honduras so I can share with you about my experience. I have had a hard time communicating my experience verbally, I don't know if I'll do any better by writing it, but bear with me. It will probably be a brain dump.


It is hard to describe my experience, I have tried to sum it up in one word and I can't think of one word that is awesome enough to describe what I heard, saw, felt, thought, etc. We got to Honduras on Saturday night and went straight to the boys who live at the shelter VBS program. Most of it was in Spanish, but it was so much fun to see the boys express what they had learned in VBS, they sang, quoted bible verses and had a whole lot of fun. That night I began to get to know the boys, they are so loveable, they all want attention and love, but are also very patient.



Sunday morning we got up and went to church, it was all in Spanish and it was great to hear all of the songs we sing in Church sung in Spanish, while we sang along in English, this was our first opportunity to meet the older boys who live on the Farm. The boys from 5 - 12 live in the Shelter in Tegucigapa and the boys over 12 live at the farm in a town called Monte Redondo. After church we went to lunch at the farm and then headed back to Tegucigapa to go to a soccer game between two national Honduran soccer teams. It was a chance of a lifetime for the boys and they had a great time. It was fun for me to see as well, I'm not so much into soccer, but to watch the boys was lots of fun.



We slept every night at the shelter where the little boys live, so we had lots more time with them and also had the 45 minute bus ride every morning to get to know them better. The language was a barrier some, but we had great translators who helped us communicate. Monday morning, we got up and headed to the farm, but on the way we got our first experience with the Food Ministry. We would stop the bus on the side of the road and bring food to families that Stan (the director) has visited before. Most of these people are squatters who live on the side of the road in what I will describe as shacks at best. They almost all have dirt floors, with whatever they can find to make walls and a roof. There is no running water, no bathrooms, just a one room shack where the entire family lives. Most of the familes consist of a mother with 5 or more kids living together, lots of times there are 3 or 4 generations living in one little house. As little as they had, they always invited us into their homes, we talked with them, we played with the kids and gave the kids candy. Usually the food we brought was rice, beans, canned milk, cereal, flour, corn meal, etc. They were all very kind people who were very grateful for a group of North Americans that come and bring them food, smiles and hugs. Here are a couple of pictures of some special families I met during the food ministry.












We did the food ministry Monday, Tuesday and Wendesday morning. Every afternoon, we went to the farm, ate lunch, and while the men worked building a fence, the women did arts and crafts and played with the boys. One afternoon we tie dyed t shirts, we did paper mache, made books, necklaces and yo yos. We also played lots and lots of games. We taught them Duck, Duck, Goose, which in Spanish is Bato, Bato, Gonzo. We played red light, green light and lots and lots of soccer.


That is also a great time to bond with the boys. On Monday, I saw a little boy named Moises walking with Stan (the director in Honduras). He was only 5 years old and the youngest boy in the shelter. I went up to them and asked if Moises would come sit in my lap, he agreed and the picture below is right when he sat down with me.

After that, I wanted to be with him all the time. We walked together and held hands, we could not really communicate verbally because of our language barrier, but we communicated anyway. He would sit with me on the bus, during meals, and we played together for a lot of the trip. On Tuesday, we got a coke bottle, cut the top off, and threw rocks in it for about an hour and a half. We had the best time.

On Wendesday, we played all afternoon together. I helped him climb almost every tree on the farm, he would climb and pick every berry or nut off of the tree and threw them to me to hold. He then would jump from as high as could, looking very pretend scared, and crying "Jaime, Jaime, Jaime" until he jumped into my arms. We played for hours.

That night on the way to church, he fell asleep in my arms on the bus, and we sat very close during the whole church service. He did not fall asleep on the way back from church, but he laid in my lap and we talked about the stars "estraillas" the whole way home.

On Thursday, we left the kids at the orphange to do their chores, they hand wash their own clothes, hang them to dry, wash their own dishes and each have nightly chores to keep the orphange looking nice. The adults headed to Denali, a town about 2 hours away. Lots of the boys who live in the shelter and at the farm are from Denali and we were going there to see if we could get any more boys off of the streets and into the shelter. It was a beautiful day and as we sat in the park and sang songs in Spanish, several street kids came and we were able to talk to them. There were sisters and brothers and uncles of some of the boys in the shelter. We showed them pictures from our camera and they could see and hear they were doing well. We did not bring any boys back with us, but there are several Stan will go back and talk to at a different time and try to get them to come back with him.

On Friday, I had to say goodbye to all of the boys and come home. I was so ready to come home to my family, but I felt as if I was leaving some family behind as well. It was very hard to leave all the boys, but especially Moises. We had become the very best of friends, and my heart aches right now thinking of him. His mother gave him to the orphange to protect him and his brothers from an abusive father, so I know she was doing the very best she could from him. But, my heart breaks that he does not have a mother to put him to bed at night, to clean his hands and face after he eats, take care of all of his bumps and bruises. His story is so much better then the majority of the boys, they have seen and experienced much worse than him. But, the shelter is a wonderful place and they people who run it provide so much love and security for these boys that would never have it. Still, my heart aches that he will never have a normal home, with a mom and a dad and brothers and sisters. I did not know how I could love someone so much, after just knowing them a week, but I now know. I can't wait to see him again, and hopefully next year I will get to back and visit.

Here is a picture at all of the boys at the shelter.

There are so many more things I want to say, but I don't know how to put them in words. It was a wonderful, fantastic, emotional week for me. I saw God work in so many ways through everyone who went on the trip and everyone we met while we were there. Things are very clear in Honduras, I seem to muddy things up here in the United States. Every meal time another child says the prayer and they are such sweet sincere prayers. They always pray for each other, for the kids on the street, their moms, the leadership at the shelter and the people who are there to help them. They always share their food. These kids have fought their whole lives for every scrap of bread and yet if one of them is still hungry after their food is gone, they always share. They fight, like all boys, but for most of the time, they take very good care of each other.

Every morning and every night we would have devotion and share time and Stan always would get out his guitar and we would sing. The below link is some of the kids from the shelter singing with Stan. This is just one of the several songs that are on GodTube where you can see them sing. Click on the below link or search on FCM (Forgotten Children Ministries) on Godtube.com

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=dff883ba2d52715c97bb

I have watched these many times since I have been home. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I probably will post again with more pictures and stories.

Snow Day!?!?!?

Yes, we live in Alabama and yes, we got some snow. It was just a little dusting, but it did coat the ground enough to have some fun. This was the first time that Hallie had seen snow in her life.

The night that it was supposed to start, I didn't sleep at all and was probably more excited than the kids. At about 4:00 on Saturday morning, I woke up and never really got back to sleep because I was waiting on little feet to come running in my room screaming, "Daddy, Daddy, there is snow on the ground". I probably could have looked out the window on my own, but I wanted to have the excitement of the kids telling me about it. About 6:30 that morning, I heard them coming down the stairs. They came into my room and announced, "Daddy, can we have some breakfast?" I thought, forget about breakfast, I need to know if there is snow on the ground. Well it turns out that there was no snow, but it did start later that morning.

As soon as we seen it, we bundled up like a bunch of eskimos and went running out to play in the yard because snow was falling from the sky. We caught some flakes on our tongue and found a little patch of ice to play with and then went back inside. Later, once the snow had accumulated a little, we went out for some real snow fun. We threw snowballs, Blake made a snow angel, we ate some snow, and we built a snowman. He was only about a foot tall, but it was still a snowman. After about an hour of playtime, we scooped some snow in a bowl and took it inside to do one of my favorite things to do when it snows and that was make snow ice cream. It probably wasn't like mother used to make, but it still hit the spot.

The snow was gone about half an hour after we went inside, but we did get to enjoy it for a while. Maybe sometime in the next five years, we will get some more.

Things they say

Hi everyone, it's Chad. We are all doing well despite our lack of posting stories. I thought I would take a moment, since I had the time, and share some of the goofy things that my kids say and ask.

The kids got the 2nd Disney Scene It game for Christmas. While I was at home with Blake one day, we were playing. To begin the game we selected the characters that would be our pawns to move around the board. He chose Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars and I chose Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Blake asked, "Dad, are you using her because you think she is hot?" I said no and that it was because I was Nemo the last time and I wanted to be someone different.

A week or so later, Jaime had made some cookies. It was late and Blake was on his way up to bed. He asked if he could have a cookie and Jaime said no. He then asked, "Why? Is it because they are poisoned?" As I laughed, Jaime told Blake that she has never ever put poison in her cookies.

A few nights later, Jaime and I were watching T.V. in the living room. We heard a loud "Bang!" from upstairs. It sounded like someone was beating a metal shelf with an aluminum baseball bat. I went running upstairs and just as I got to the top, I looked towards Hallie's room just in time to see Daniel's feet jump up on Hallie's bed. As I entered the room, looking around for anything that was out of place or broken, I noticed that all four kids were sitting on the bed. I asked what the noise was. Blake said, "I don't know" and Andrew repeated him. Then Hallie said, "It was nothing" and Daniel repeated her. I asked if they heard the loud noises and Hallie asked, "Did it sound like a clatter?" (She had recently read the Night Before Christmas.) I said that it sounded like a very big clatter. Blake then said, "I don't know. Maybe it was a tornado." I said that it was not a tornado, it was 4 kids who were doing something that they should not have been and if it happens again, all of them will be in trouble. They said that they would let me know if they hear anything. With no evidence, I left the room and let them keep playing.

Who knows what they will say next?

Bennett the Elf

Although Christmas is over for this year, I need to share one more story from this Christmas season that I have not taken the time to do. The story is that of Bennett the Elf.

From the start of December, Blake and Hallie had been telling us that they needed to set out some crackers, pretzels, candy canes, and a letter so that Santa Claus would send an elf to live at our house during the month of December. After a week or so of not knowing what they were talking about, we finally were able to get the official scoop. Apparently, a kid can write a letter to Santa asking him to send an elf to live at their house in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Once the elf arrives from the north pole, he comes to life every night while everyone is sleeping and does little things. Sometimes, he may do nice things for the kids or he may do mischievous things. You just never know. The kids then wake up in the morning and search for what the elf has done.

We decided to let the kids write a letter to Santa and our elf, named Bennett, arrived. Here are a few things that he has done. The first night out, he replaced all of the stockings with everyone's socks. After that, he made cookies for the kids, decorated the tree with underwear, led the kids on a scavenger hunt, gave the kids a gift, built things with toy blocks, and decorated the tree to look like Yoda, from Star Wars. (Blake loved that one.)

All in all, the kids had a lot of fun with Bennett and are hoping he will show up next year. We told them that we will have to see if Santa can spare him again during his busiest time of the year. Hallie's response was, "Of course Santa will let him because he is not a real elf. Bennett is a toy elf that comes to life at night. There is a difference."

Christmas with the Echols

Well, Christmas is over and Santa got a work-out bringing gifts into our house and filling stockings for 9 people. It is a good thing that we have two chimneys into our house. Both Jaime's parents and my mother spent Christmas night with us.

We were expecting to be up at the crack of dawn, since 4:00 a.m. is usually the kids Christmas Day wake-up time, however at 6:30 we started to hear some people moving upstairs. Shortly after, little feet came running down the stairs to check out their loot. We held Blake and Hallie up to wait on everyone else. Once everyone was ready, we turned the tornado loose and they went running into the living and they all began pointing out what they had gotten in unisom. Blake had a Nintendo Wii, some Legos, a Haunted Mansion "Clue" game, and a few other little things. Hallie had a teddy bear dressed like a princess, a giant doll, a Disney Scene It game, and some other things. Andrew and Daniel ended up with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins Rocket, both complete with all of the figures, a Tigger game, and stuffed animals of Pooh and Tigger. They were all pretty excited, but couldn't wait until it was time to open the presents under the tree.

After breakfast and the rest of family arriving, it was time to begin the present opening. Wrapping paper flew in every direction. The kids unwrapped all of their gifts and then began to try and open the packaging so they could get down to playing with their new toys. Eventually, everything was opened, every game was played, and every box was carried to the garage, but the playing is still continuing today. This reminds me that I need to end this and go play the Nintendo Wii. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year.

Looking out for one another

Being twins, Andrew and Daniel spend a lot of time together. They are in the same school class, the sleep in the same room, and usually, at home, if you are looking for one, the other is close by. A couple weeks ago, we had put up our Christmas tree. The next day, me, Andrew and Daniel were home by ourselves, so we decided to wrap some presents for Jaime, Blake, and Hallie. When we were done we put them under the tree and I started to do some other things around the house. About 30 minutes later, I hear the sound of paper ripping. I run in the family room, and see Daniel sitting under the tree with all three presents unwrapped. Needless to say, he was in trouble. I spanked his bottom, on the spot, and right in front of Andrew, who was watching the whole thing, and told them, "Do not touch the presents". Daniel cried and Andrew was really un-nerved about the whole thing. I think that is when they made a pact. I'll explain.

The next week, I had them alone at home again. I had sat them at the table to eat lunch. I gave them their pizza and told them to stay in their chair and eat their food. As with the previous week, I got up to do some things around the house. I finished upstairs and began to walk down the stairs. Daniel heard the sound of me walking and said, "Andrew! Daddy's coming!!" After that, I heard little footsteps go running across the floor and the chair being slid across the kitchen floor. As I turned to go down the last few stairs, where I can see the table, I see Andrew climbing into his chair. I ask, "What are you doing?". He looks up at me with a nervous smile and says, "Eating pizza.?.?." I replied, "That is what you should be doing". I never did find out what he was doing and it may not have been anything, but it was not what he was told to do, so he was trying to hide it. I knew the day was coming when they would start to try and do things without me knowing, but I didn't figure that it would be 2 years old. When I was a kid, I knew that I needed a lookout if I was doing something that I shouldn't, so I guess they figured it out too.