There is something quite incredible about holding a 2-week-old baby in your arms.  I got to do that this afternoon, as it was the first time I met my new nephew, the latest addition to my husband's brother's brood.

Interestingly, I prefaced that experience with a brief visit to my grandmother-in-law's, Vera Garrod.  The other Vera had contributed to my recent missions trip to Honduras, and I wanted to personally thank her, and share with her some of the photos from the trip.

I've been a full orphan since age 21, so my in-laws are pretty much the only family I have.  The in-law family is not one that is aquired by choice, entirely.  But all in all, I must say, a girl could do worse than I've happened upon with the Garrod-Ormerods.

Self control has never been my strong suit. 

I remember as a first year teacher, my principal shared a research article with me, "The Marshmallow Study",  about a group of kindergarten children who had been given one marshmallow and told that they could eat their first marshmallow right away, or, if they could wait five minutes while the researcher left the room and came back, they would get a second marshmallow.  (Apparently the kids who waited for the second marshmallow were found 20 years later to have more fulfilling, fruitful personal and professional lives.)  My principal circled the first part of the article in red pen and wrote in the margin, "Vera, you would have eaten the first marshmallow".  She's right!

This morning I walked into the staff room, where someone had just dumped a whole pile of chocolate covered acai/blueberry morsels into a bowl for general consumption.  I had about 37 of them.

Ahhh, is there any hope for me?!

I've always enjoyed using Van Gogh's Starry Night and Neil Waldman's picturebook by the same name as a springboard with students in Visual Art, but I have never tried it in Kindergarten before, until this morning!  Thankfully, another Kindergarten teacher loaned me her student teacher who very kindly helped out with newspaper, water, and paint prep.

Rather than reading them the picturebook first, I simply showed them the Art Image, and asked them to think about what time of day it was, how they knew, and what the name of this artwork might be.  We also considered how the artist had achieved all the colours in the sky, and I drew their attention to the swirling mix of line and colour in the piece.

Then we painted. I gave them only red, yellow and blue.  Any additional colours, they had to mix.  I was amazed at the rainbow of tints and shades many of them came up with, and how some of them really got the concept of experimenting with blending and circling. I was amused at how some of the children incorporated themselves into their artwork, even though the original Van Gogh did not include any people, hehe.

At the end, I read aloud the book to the students.  Several of them recognized the artwork on the final page of the story, and got very excited about it!  (And for those who didn't, at least it was a first exposure to this popular artist's work.)

Much as I miss the fresh, sweet, juicy grapefruits of Honduras with my oatmeal this morning, and much as I "endured" at best putting on the multiple layers of clothing and outerwear required for this morning's dogwalking expedition, and much as the snow on the ground is in stark contrast to the warm sun from whence I have just come, I must say, it was awfully nice to walk up to the early morning on Lake Ontario this morning. 

It seems Dorothy was right when she clicked her red, ruby heels together and remarked, "there's no place like home"!

There is something about being away that solidifies one’s sense of nationalism.  Boarding the plane from Miami to Toronto, I could sense somehow that I was amongst fellow Canadians.  And much as filling out yet another customs form irked me, it was somehow okay because of the little red maple leaf at the top.

Even now as we make our final descent, and the boys are beginning to stir from their deep sleep, disturbed by ear pain, I feel like I am almost home, and it feels good.

To be sure, spending five days in Honduras, and learning just a tiny bit more about the big world we live in, has been a blessing.  But equally fulfilling is arriving in familiar airspace, seeing snow on the ground below, noticing the many lights and arteries of the busy city I call home, looking for Lake Ontario, and touching down on runway 33L in YYZ, just around midnight.

No naps on the plane, but so far everyone is still alive.  US customs really is something else!!!  But we managed our way through three security checks (this time the chocolate I bought for Trevor was the offensive item that landed us in the "dangerous goods" line), and found a plug to recharge the computer while blogging.

Abundance
Unsure what to expect in Honduras, but knowing it would be about more than just me going to serve, I was delighted to discover a sense of abundance on this trip.

In a land where so many are so poor, the riches amazed me.  So many bananas at the roadside stands, so many incredible children at the childrens’ home we visited, so much ingenuity, so much unexpected friendship and fellowship (both in our hosts Esther and Dave, as well as via email from folks back home)…

On the plane from San Pedro Sula to Miami, I tried to buy some snacks for the boys (our hard boiled eggs were gone a long time ago, and we ate the carrots and cucs well before heading through customs this time, lol!)  Turns out they don’t take cash on planes!  And me without any cards on the trip…  Some lady overheard our plight, and bought the boys some cheese and crackers and raisons!!!  And then, one of the flight attendants took pity on us and snuck back with a can of chips.

Abundance.  It is all around us, even in the most unexpected situations and contexts.

Morning at school, then home for quick snack and last minute packing -- Esther back to school, Dave drove 2 hours to airport... Stopped to look at some caves -- ferns growing deep inside, they find the lamps, and enjoy the moisture... bought some bananas and a cocunut... saw too many kids piled into the back of a truck,... now running to board the plane from San Pedro Sula to Miami... hope to write a more reflective blog enroute while boys are sleeping, and upload in Miami tonight between flights.

One of Dave's projects is bringing safe, efficient stoves into a local community he is doing some work in.  For about $55 US, he can replace dangerous, smoky stoves in peoples' homes with smaller more efficient units that are smoke-free (unless the wood is wet!!), cool to the touch on the outside (safer for families with small children), and hot enough on top to boil water or bake tortillas!

For more information, or to dontate a stove, please contact Dave and Esther at [email protected]

Press play (triangle arrow at the top of the photo) to begin the captioned slide show.