christmas basketball...

Had a great time in Childress America over Christmas!  Took a few pictures, but these first two had to be my favorite.  Not necessarily because they are the best pictures, but because they were fun to take and the story behind them.  Stratton and Sawyer always seem to have great ideas, but they don't always pan out.  Well, during this visit they had plans for a much-hyped tennis match against me and grand plans for a family basketball game.  The tennis match was Monday afternoon.  I came out on top as far as score goes but I was way too sore/stiff to play in the basketball game scheduled for that night, so I took pictures and videos.  When all of the plans came together for the game Stratton, Sawyer and Tyler all three decided to "dress the part".  They all put on jerseys, but Stratton and Sawyer carried it a step farther.  Stratton combed his hair straight back, which looked more like a 'fro and added NBA ankle socks and very short shorts.  Sawyer parted his hair, combed it over, greased it down (the schoolboy look) and added tube socks.  Unfortunately, I only got individual pictures of Stratton.  Next year (this is now the start of a family tradition) I will get individuals of all team members.  I also posted the team pictures (winners first, losers second).  Sadi and Maci kept score in the stands with me.  All of the pictures were taken with my Leica M8 in a dimly lit gym using a 1250 ISO and no flash.

not just your ordinary coffee shop...

Here is my version of an interior photo of the original Starbucks across from Pikes Market.  Stayed the night in Seattle on my last trip out to Bellingham, WA.  As always, I had to visit the downtown area to eat and have coffee.  This picture was taken with my Leica M8.  The thing that I love about rangefinders is that you can take a handheld picture, with no flash, with a shutter speed down to 1/24th of a second and get a decent picture.  Converted it to black and white, with a slight yellow filter, in Silver Efex Pro.  With all that said, my best Starbucks picture is still the original one.  You can see the post here.

christmas card pictures...

Here are the two pictures that we used for our very-limited and last-minute Christmas cards this year.  Couldn't get everyone onboard with taking a family picture.  Hope to take one soon.  Those are harder when you are the one taking the picture...

final honduras image...

Still have many more Honduras images, but I think I am done posting them for now on my blog (after this one of course).  I may actually get a facebook account so I will have a place to put them all.  If you know me, then you would understand how monumental it is for me to get a facebook account.

I have been saving this one image for last.  It was taken on the day that we built the first house in Tegucigalpa.  Kids seem to congregate around the build site to see what's going on.  I think that this girl lived in one of the adjacent houses.  Haley had all of the kids in a corner playing games, painting fingernails and eating candy. Couldn't help but notice this girl.  What a sweet innocent look she has!  She couldn't get the wrapper off the candy so I helped her with it.  Afterwards, I snapped a couple of pictures and I would say that this is my favorite image from the trip... 

the jesus banquet in honduras...

I have not done as well as I would have liked in getting all of my Honduras pictures put on my blog.  I will blame alot of this on the good food that I ate while I was in Honduras.  My stomach was very upset that I only had American food to eat when I got back.  That, plus one of the worst colds that I have had in many years.  It has been a hard week, but I continually think that all of this is nothing compared to what many of the Hondurans endure every day.

My posts are not in any order.  I still have at least one more Honduras blog post to go.  Tonight's post is from our first full day in Honduras.  The day was spent near the dump at Tegucigalpa.  I won't go too much into the story around it.  I will let the pictures speak (along with a few words) for this day.

we got there very early...

security was provided...

we picked up alot of trash to clean up the area...

dennis, and many others, came to play soccer...

some had to rest...

others discussed what else could be done...

trey found a bobcat fan...

this was a way to get a better view of the banquet...

here are the water bags...

here is the food (minus the corn tortillas)...

we lined up to serve the people of honduras...

while we waited, we took pictures and showed them...

there was no shortage of food or smiles...

who said that you need to know the language to communicate...

my favorite picture of the day...

Words cannot express the impact that a day like this can have on an individual.  Trey hit it on the head when he said that "Honduras is something that you have to experience first hand to understand".  I can honestly tell you that a trip like this totally changes your perspective.  Now that I am back, I count my blessings more and I absolutely look forward to doing this again and again and again...

at the market...

See Trey's blog for the story (and some color) on our trip to the market.  After we left the market and got on the bus, the first thing that I did was text Sherri, Maci and Sadi to tell them that we had just bought 1000 oranges for right at $40 and we were headed to go give them away.  What an experience to buy the oranges from people that did not speak English!  Nobody in the "orange group" knew Spanish so we struggled through it.  We wanted to spread the wealth so we tried buying from multiple people, but that didn't work out so well.  We bought 500 oranges from the first guy and took them to the bus.  The second guy that we bought from was not getting what we were trying to say, so we stopped at 50 oranges and went back to our original seller for the remaining 450 oranges.  We also used a boy with a cart to take the oranges to the bus.  Quaid let him ride on top of the oranges on the way to the bus!  

These are random pictures from the short time at the market that day.  I could have spent all afternoon there taking pictures.  I know this seems strange, but I converted all of them to an antique plate in Silver Efex Pro.  I know it doesn't show the colors of the fruits, but again I love to focus on the faces and expressions.  One regret from the trip is that I didn't know Spanish.  More than anything I would love to know their stories...

nuevo oriental...

We bought several $$$ worth of fruits and vegetables at a Tegucigalpa market (see posting on this maybe tomorrow) and took them to hand out at the place called Nuevo Oriental.  Very eye-opening to see how much could be bought with the money and how sought after these fruits and vegetables would be.  A picturesque place, if you can get past the fact that the people actually live in the tiny tin or wood houses.

When we pulled up in our big yellow bus, it attracted quite a bit of attention (it seemed to be like this everywhere).  We immediately started unloading the fruits and vegetables and the lines started forming (recognize my friend?).

The area was definitely crowded, but I started looking around for pictures.  It was amazing to see all of the happiness that was rampant in this place.  Everywhere I looked kids were smiling.  Two girls were coloring on a page that was given to them (notice I said page, not book).  They were coloring with the page on their legs on the side of a hill.  When I spoke to them, they could do nothing but smile.  I love the fact that they let me take a picture of this precious moment.  I saw one of the girls later and she asked me to take her picture again.  Absolutely beautiful!

I looked down the hill and saw a man standing outside the local church.  Couldn't resist this moment.  I walked down the hill and asked him if I could take a picture.  Like everyone, he said yes...  I converted this one to black and white.

One thing that you saw everywhere was dogs.  I bent down to take a picture of this dog and was approached by a boy.  He pointed to the dog and said "mi perro".  He then pointed to the camera, so I took their picture.  He had the appearance that he had got ready for this picture.  He didn't have a hair out of place.  What a moment!

Lastly, here are some pictures of random people that evening.  I was totally surprised at how many of the people had established a bond with one from our group and they wanted a picture taken.  I felt humbled to be there to take the picture.  Not all of the pictures are the best in the world, but there is a sincerity in the people's faces.

the bride...

I shared this story with the group on Friday night, but I would have to say that I had a hard time getting it all out.  Trey asked us to tell him of people that we saw Jesus "in" during the week.  As others were telling their stories, I was trying to go through all of my pictures in my head to see if any of them reminded me of Jesus.  The one that popped into my head was this.  I asked one of the men if I could take his picture ("una foto por favor").  He looked a little taken back, but he shook his head yes.  After he looked at the picture, he pointed to the lady next to him and asked me to take her picture.  I took her picture and showed it to her and then to him.  His first response was "bonito" (beautiful), then he looked at her (she smiled) and he said "muy bonito" (very beautiful).  I assume that they were husband and wife, but I can't for sure tell you that.  I just know that his response to her reminded me of Christ's relationship with the church.  We aren't alway pretty.  We have our days when we look sorta dirty.  But when we gaze upon each other, when we look each other in the eye, He looks at His church and says "muy bonito".  I want to be part of that church...

dennis...

If I had to think of just one thing about Honduras that will bring me back, I can honestly tell you that it is Dennis.  


During the first day at the Jesus banquet we started playing soccer after we got the trash picked up and the tables set up.  I can remember seeing the kids coming down the hill from the dump to join in.  Dennis came down and was trying to join in, but some of the other kids were more aggressive.  That is when I realized that Sawyer was made for mission work.  Sawyer immediately hooked up with Dennis and got him more involved.  Sawyer and Dennis bonded almost all day.  At one point Sawyer gave Dennis some money and had him go buy some ice cream.  Dennis thought he was buying it for Sawyer.  You should have seen the look in his eyes when Sawyer gave it to him. Unfortunately, Dennis' dad came along and sent Dennis to go get something and he took his ice cream and ate it.  


I can tell you that Sawyer and I have had more than one conversation about Dennis since we got back.  I pray for him often and I know that Sawyer does the same.  I don't even come close to understanding how God could take someone so precious and have them endure what Dennis is going through every day.  But I hope and pray that God has a plan for Dennis.  I love the fact that I am now able to associate a real face with this place...  Are you at a point where you are ready to do the same?