On the brink of the edge of new beginnings...

I've done it. I left all that is familiar to me and ventured out into the wide world alone, and yet not alone. I couldn't have made this transition without everyone else. I celebrated Christmas with my family on the night of the 16th, and it was lovely, though I was still packing in between festivities. I said farewell to everyone on Thursday morning, and Dad and Mom accompanied me to the airport. Lee, Brice, Aubrey, Katherine, Marcy, Tim, and Naomi came to see me off as well. That was awesome of you all, thanks!
I sat next to a very amiable chap on the flight to Denver, and we talked about a wide variety of topics: Italian roots, food, music, baseball, judo, tattoos, underwater welding, the navy, etc. I was alone for the next leg of my flight, and spent the early morning hours curled up in a chair next to Starbucks in the Houston airport only to discover there was a hotel en route to my leaving terminal. Oh well. More beans and rice, I guess. I sat in between a pilot and a stewardess on the last flight, and had pleasant conversation with both.
Iain, (a Scottsman who works at the children's center here next to the hospital), picked me, the Younts, and three hondureños up at the San Pedro Sula airport. We drove the many hours back, which was nice, as I got to see a bit more of the country than last trip. We dropped Brian off in La Ceiba, (my original flight destination, and the 3rd largest city in Honduras), and then the Younts, me, and then Iain only had two left.
I met my "el hotel" housemates, Louis, Julia, and Estelle. They had made dinner, mystery meat included, and they gave me a wonderful introduction to life down here.
Before I even had opportunity to thoroughly explore my living quarters, we left the next morning for Ceiba to do some grocery shopping and fill in for a lady who does a weekly visit to the kids living on the dump in the city. She is currently in the States for cancer treatment, (which has been successful thus far), and so we went in her stead.
We missed the 7 AM bus, so Iain lent us his vehicle, but it wouldn't start when we got to Ceiba after groceries, so Howard, (employed through the hospital, but lives in Ceiba), came and replaced the battery. We walked to the dump and Delmi, a young Honduran woman who decided to be a Christ follower three years ago as a result of friendship of the hospital staff, sang songs with the kids and then we had them color small squares of paper with the nativity scene on them. Estelle and Julia, (sisters, by the way), handed out pieces of bread with peanut butter, since the pastor of the little church built at the top of the dump was gone, and the normal food for the kids was also absent. They loved it, though I saw one little boy making the most hilarious face ever, twisting his lips this way and that in an attempt to handle the strange new texture of the peanut butter! I loved it!
We made it back to Loma de luz just in time for the missionaries' Christmas program. Several people sang duets, and choruses, and the kids and a few adults acted out a drama in small sketches. It was a nice program. Afterwards, some of us got together to watch a movie, and they chose "Nacho Libre". I was not thrilled, but I have to admit it was a bit more funny the 2nd time, for some reason.
Sunday morning, I went to church with the gringos, and we were doing a fairly rigorous study in Colossians. The McKenneys had a few of us over for lunch after that, and we spent most of the rest of the afternoon taping Christmas lights around the welded nativity figures that Jeff has been creating, one or two at a time, for a year or so. I helped set them up, and then returned home.
Yesterday, Louis, Estelle, and Julia left for the holiday, so Joelle and I were left on our lonesome. :-) So we got to know one another a bit, took a walk down to visit the children's center and talk with the McKenzies, (the Scottish family who runs the children's center). Joelle is house sitting for the Wards, so she invited me over there to make beans and rice and watch a chick flick.
Today, the internet was working again, (it's rather quick, when it's working!), so I've mostly cleaned house, organized life a bit, and worked on catching up on my communications. It's very tranquil here, and currently 73 degrees Fahrenheit. So much for a White Christmas!