It was pouring rain this morning, and so Owen was hoping it would rain so much that school would be cancelled (during the rainy season, people cannot cross the rivers due to the strong currents, and so school is often cancelled).  I joked with him that the only way he was missing school today was if it snowed.

And then, a funny thing happened.  The rain died down, but something was falling lightly through the sky, all around our back yard.  Will ran out on the porch, to marvel at the softly descending fluffy material.  But wait, it wasn’t white, is was black.  And it wasn’t 30 degrees out, it was about 75 degrees, with 130% humidity.  And it wasn’t just falling, it was going up as well.   And sideways, and forward and backward.  And it had wings.  Ah crap, another bug story…

Termites.  swarms and swarms of termites.  This is a thing they sometimes do after a big rain.  They send out their winged scouts to explore all corners of the jungle for potential new colonies.  Would I be exaggerating if I said there were millions of them?  I don’t think so.  What if I said Quadrabazillions?  Ok, yeah, then I might be exaggerating…

As I drove the kids down the red-dirt road to school, the termite phenomenon continued.  Eliza Mckenzie (Juliet’s teacher) told me that the Honduran children at school were running around with their hands covering their ears.  They informed her that the insects were intent to land on them and crawl in their ears.  I’m picturing something like Star Trek–Wrath of Khan… (BTW, if you have the time –2:32 seconds, this Star Trek link is really worth a look.  Especially if you are a current or former Trekkie, truly brilliant scene.  I think I had nightmares for years after watching that.  I never noticed before, but Will Farrell had a cameo as one of Khan’s henchmen, standing behind the African American dude.  cool…)

So, part of living down here in Honduras is learning how to live and interact, in a very intimate manner, with bugs.  Lots and lots of friggin’ bugs.  God sure is creative…

Addendum:  Last night I awoke to something on my bald head.  My first thought was that I had a Reduviid bug biting me and pooping in his wound (remember?), so I smashed it and flicked it off.  I hopped up, and slammed the lights on, ripping Heidi from her slumber.  “What are you doing!!?”  My sleep filled eyes saw a little blob on the sheets near my pillow.    Closer inspection revealed that it was not a Reduviid at all, but in fact was a small scorpion.  The silver lining of this story is that it somehow didn’t sting me.  Our Friend, Miss Meredith Alexander (yes, wife to THE Dr. Alexander.  The very one…) has a similar story here that didn’t end so lucky, as she woke to searing pain on her face…

 

Update on Kleylin:   She is the 12 year old little girl with Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (a deadly mosquito-borne virus in this area).  We are cautiously optimistic this morning as she has been extubated (tube taken out of her lungs) and is off of the ventilator.   This is a precarious spot, and so we are sending up some strong prayers for her.

Despite all the yucky things down here, for some reason God has been giving us peace and contentment as we live life in Honduras and serve the people.  As we have posted before, we will be staying her for another year, and are trying to raise financial and prayer support to continue our service in this ministry.  If you want to get involved and help this ministry, please consider clicking right Here.  or Here.  or Here.  (they are all the same link, actually)  We are still looking for some people who are called to commit to a monthly donation of $50-100.  

 

Here is a recap of all my favorite bugs:

 

And now, for my new favorite.  Drumroll please…

 

 

Later!…