Good morning.  It is 6:00 am  here in La Esperanza Honduras.  For some reason I constantly wake up early here.  It may be the sounds of the trucks outside or maybe the rooster….

Yesterday was a good day.  We went back to the church and painted class rooms and classroom doors.  We only had until noon so we did what we could but it was fun and they looked nice. 

In the afternoon after lunch, we drove up into a rehab center up in the mountains.  This is a rare thing for Honduras and functions almost like an AA or a Celebrate Recovery program.  It was amazing to see what was being done in this area.

After that we returned to Rosi’s house to try some traditional Honduras food,a drink made out of corn that we drink out of fruit shells.  She served us big bowls and at first it is pretty good.  It is made out of mashed boiled corn, cinnamon, sugar, and I think milk.  It is good, but quickly thickens and as it cools has a stronger corn taste that I could not finish.

The team was pretty hilarious drinking it, some loved some did not.  Dima (from Ukraine) couldn’t drink his at all but once Mark finished it for him he wanted his picture taken of him “finishing: it.

Dinner was pretty phenomenal and not at all what you would expect to eat in this area.  We ate at a pretty nice restaurant and the meat was so delicious.  This was our last evening in La Esperanza.

Today we will travel back towards Tegucigalpa and stay in the Mission House tonight and tomorrow.  Tomorrow we will travel to see past areas we have worked in which is the opposite direction of where we are now.

It has been a good trip so far. 

Good morning from La Esperanza Honduras.  It was a long travel day from the 2:30 am start to the 6:00 pm landing in our hotel.  As tired as I was, it was great to see Terry and Colleen again ( our guides and friends). 

I am currently in my hotel room trying to decide if my laptop is right at 5:55 am, or if my phone is right at 6:55 am.  My room is nice and I am surrounded by the sounds of Honduras…. dogs barking, fireworks going off, trucks moving.  Lets just say I am thankful for Ambien.  

Just in case it is almost 7 am I have to get a movie on it and get ready to go.  We are meeting downstairs at 8 for breakfast and then doing a little exploring.  At 3 pm we will go to the church we are working with and be there for a few hours.

I will catch up as I can and lan to be back later with the Monday What Are You Reading.

On the plane, I finally finished Monsters Of Men.  🙂

Brief entry…. no coffee (yet!) it is 3:00 am and no one (NO ONE) should have to get up at this hour.  First of all…. its really dark.  Second of all… did I sleep?  Really?

😛

Anyhoo…. we grab a shuttle to the airport in 30 minutes and I am typing on borrowed time.  I will check in when I can… but hang out anyway as the bloggers who will be gracing these pages over the week… are AWESOME!

Good morning.  This morning… I have been up since five.  Probably a little insane for the first day of my travels but that is what happened… I woke up when Al got up, he told me good-bye, and then there I was.

AWAKE.

😯

Then my friend text me at 5:30 and I responded which surprised her so she called and we talked until 7:40 am.  😛

So I sit here now with COFFEE CUP and ASUS (laptop) looking at my 1/4 packed suitcase on the couch.  My traveling towards Honduras starts today  and I have barely begun to pack.  No worries though, I have my list and it will probably take me about 15 minutes to get organized and packed.  I am only gone a week and need probably 4 changes of regular clothes and one nice outfit. 

My carry on however has in it the books I will be reading for the INSPY awards, Snookie (my Nook), my IPOD, and snacks.  Really… the carry on is more important.  😀

My plan is as follows:

 

3:00 pm today – meet up with the two guys I am riding to the Cities with – Jay and Eric. 

6:00 pm today – check into our hotel and meet up for dinner.

4:00 am Saturday – be at the airport and meet up with Al and Julie.

5:30 am – board the plane to Atlanta Georgia and meet up with the rest of our team flying from Florida:  Mark, Boris, and Dima.

10:00 am – fly from Georgia to Tegucigalpa Honduras

12:10 land and head to La Esperanza (about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive)

Stay is La Esperanza from Saturday to Wednesday afternoon helping in that area.

Wednesday afternoon – back to Tegucigalpa (main city of Honduras) stay overnight at the mission house

Thursday morning – head the opposite direction and stop and see where we have worked before:  AFE (the dump and the kids who live in it), Manuelito (street kids), circle around do a little shopping, have dinner then back to the mission house for our overnight.

Friday – pack, airport by 11:00 – fly at 1:00, back in Minneapolis around 10:10 pm, drive home.

 

So what is happening here at Book Journey while I am away?  Awesome things.  I will check in when I can in the mornings to tell you what is happening and add pics as I can.  My afternoon posts are going to some wonderful book blogger friends who will be here to talk books and maybe even movies with you – so please pop in and show them some love.  They are all awesome to do this!  And honestly, I have not even peaked at what their posts are yet so it will be fun to see what they are chatting about. 

Oh one more thing – Monday What Are You Reading will be here will go one as usual going up on Sunday evening…. (at least I am prepping it and scheduling it to go live then…. I BELIEVE it will work)  😛

 

Good morning! 

Here it is Thursday already.  I leave for the cities tomorrow afternoon to catch my plane Saturday morning for Tegucigalpa Honduras…. and while I felt prepared all week…

suddenly I feel behind.

I am looking around my home thinking I really should straighten that up, or I should make time to clean this or that…. and now my head is going you need to return library books, you need to go to the bank, you need to….

GAH.

I think I am having a little pre trip anxiety.  I think I have hit that wall where suddenly my “have to’s” such as work today, feels like it is interfering with my time to plan the trip.  This of course is not true… it will take me about 30 minutes to pack… I do have a few things to pick up at Wal-Mart but can certainly do that tonight or tomorrow with plenty of time to spare.  🙂 

Anyways… none of this is really interesting in the least and other than reporting that I am still (STILL) reading Monsters Of Men… nothing happening here on the book front. 

Have an awesome day!

Good morning.  😀

I have a little confession… occasionally I write the morning post the night before.  It’s true.  I usually have a pretty good idea about whats on my mind and can write the post, draft it… and tweak it in the morning to any additions. 

Let me say that thank goodness I do as there are times that if not for my writing the night before… there would be no morning post as I just do not have time. 

Lets take yesterday mornings post for instance.  I knew what I wanted to say and wrote it and drafted it on Monday night.  And thankfully… I did because I work at 8 am.  On Tuesday morning I woke up at …

8:05 am.

Yup.  Seriously… by the time I opened my eyes and looked at the clock, I was already late.  😯 

I don’t know what happened.  I went to bed on Monday night around 11:00 pm.  Al and I had done nothing but watch sitcoms and eat the trick or treat candy…. I was not even overly tired.  Yet there I was, having no choice but to call the office and explain what I had done as there was no way I was going to make it in before 8:30 am… as it was, I arrived at 8:40.  Sugar crash perhaps?  😳

That never happens!  I don’t set an alarm as I always wake up by 6:30 or 7 am.  Well… I can tell you, I set an alarm last night just to be safe. 

In other random craziness I leave for Honduras on Saturday morning.  Friday afternoon I will head to the cities and stay overnight to catch the 5:30 am flight (you can believe that I will have an alarm that night!)  I will be gone until the following Friday November 11th.  I am taking Asus (laptop) with me as in most areas we will have internet (I think) so I will be able to occasionally check in and do a morning post.  I have lovely fellow book bloggers who will be covering some fun topics here throughout the week so I hope you will stop in and pay them some love! 

I know I have hardly even spoke of this mainly because life has been crazy and it has snuck up on me too.  🙂

Stop back a little later today, my review is going up for Snow Flower and The Secret Fan movie… along with a pretty awesome giveaway!

Good morning.  I have been up since 5:30 when sleep… left me.

It has now been two and a half days and I swear I am going through the stages of grief. 

1.  Denial – I keep making deals in my mind that I want him back…. after all there is no way what just happened…. happened.

2.  Anger – I have blamed me for not choosing to keep him with us longer…. I blame the vet (poor Steve….. he really is a fantastic guy) for assisting us in making the decision, I blame my husband for not feeling the level of pain that I do.

3.  Bargaining – I have decided that if I wake up in the morning and Elmo is back I will not question that… (knowing full well as I type this that is just crazy….) I do want to take it back.  I do.

4.  Depression – no doubt about it.  I am quiet.  I am having trouble eating and my heart is mourning. 

5.  Acceptance…. I feel is around the corner.  I know we did the right thing.  Deep down, I do know this.  However, acceptance does not seem to make it hurt any less.

I apologize for being such a downer these days… believe me – this is not where I want to be either.  Somehow though, putting it out here… helps.  All I can say now it that this too… will (MUST) pass… and please bear with me as I process my way through.

I am going to the cabin late this afternoon with my cousin’s wife Rhonda, and three other girls I have become friends with through the MS bike rides.  This trip was planned out weeks ago and while I struggle with going… I think it will be a good thing to just take a couple of days to breathe in and out like a normal person.  🙂

My reading has suffered this week… I have not been able to concentrate on words on pages and as much as I long to pick up one of the many books waiting patiently for me… my concentration is not there.  Thank goodness audio has filled some of that emptiness in my car and throughout my time at home. 

ASUS, (laptop) will not be making this trip with me… if I get organized today, I am hoping to set a couple of reviews up for the next couple days.  Other than that, please know I will be back in full force and I am excited to actuality have time to visit those of you with blogs and see what is happening in your worlds.  🙂

Good morning.

As you probably can imagine from yesterdays post that I am beyond heartbroken over the loss of our pet (friend, companion) Elmo.  I get that this is going to be a slow process, I knew someday I would be writing the post that I did, but I did not anticipate this level of pain.

Yesterday was a busy day which was probably a good thing.  I am going to Honduras on November 5 – November 11 and two of the guys on the team are from the Ukraine.  Dima is 28 and a Pastor in the Ukraine and he is here for the first time in the United States staying with our Pastor through Thanksgiving who met him many years ago when he was in Ukraine on a mission trip.  Dima speaks little english.  Boris is 25 and Dima’s interpreter. Yesterday I took both of them in to get their shots for the Honduras trip.  It was kind of fun (and a great distraction from life) to go and assist them with the paperwork.  They say our hospital is nothing like the hospitals in Ukraine.

They are both extremely nice and I am excited to see them on this Honduras trip with us. 

Today I work (also good) and tonight I have dinner with friends for a long overdue baby shower get together.  (also good).

I have reviews to post and books to read and while life is difficult right now to say the least, I know that I need to move ahead.  Thank you all who sent kind words… while its hard for me to talk about, I really do appreciate every comment and it means the world to me to have all your kind support.