Dayana

Dayana is the quiet girl of the group. She doesn't giggle all the time like Claudy or love to chat like Escarleth. But she loves kisses me on the cheek and gives me a hug.

Dayana loves sitting on my lap and telling me about school or about a good grade she got. She doesn't brag but is searching for my approval. She plays hard to get when you first know her, but you will adore her once you get to know her loving nature.

You won't meet a better speller; she and Jose came in first and second in their class spelling bee. She loves to play Uno, Thumbs-up-7-up or really any game I'll play with her.

Dayana day dreams like no child I have ever seen. I often have to call her name to bring her back to reality and her homework. She snaps out of the dream, simple smiles and sluggishly returns to her homework.

I love her dearly, and I hope you'll want to make her Christmas special. Check out this entry on how to do so. We had our Christmas event last night, but we could still use any donation you can give us.

Thank you for caring about our special kids this holiday season. Blessings!

Sponsor Claudy for Christmas

Claudy at their Christmas play

If you have never met Claudy, I hope one day you're able to. She's a ham and a half. I love her and her sweet smiles and innocent giggles. She mothers the rest of the tutoring kids to death, and it's hilarious to watch. It's clear she loves deeply.

I took the kids to lunch the other day, and we all had a lot of fun. While the other kids were playing, Claudy quietly came up behind me and called my name.

"Michael..." Claudy said.

"Yes, sweetie?" I said, turning my head. Then I felt her arms wrap around my neck.

She kissed my cheek softly and said, "Thank you, Michael."

I LOVED that moment with her. She acts very mature sometimes for an eight year old, and I felt so proud of her unprompted appreciation.

I hope you will consider giving this beautifully sweet girl a special Christmas, both for her and her family. See this previous entry for details on how to sponsor and what you would helping with. Thanks for caring for our kids and their families this Christmas. And we wish you a holiday as blessed as ours!

Sponsor Jose for Christmas

Jose is one of our four kids in our tutoring program, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure. He's such an awesome kid. He loves soccer like pretty much all Honduran boys, and he'll even have the patience to play with me. I'm terrible; so, obviously he's a pretty sweet kid.

He'll act shy and pretends he doesn't have an opinion about anything, but that's a lie. He'll talk your leg off and make silly jokes if you push the right buttons.

When we picked up trash a few weeks ago, he and I had a little competition going. I told him I would win, and he proceeded to spend the rest of the time going for any piece of trash I walked toward. He would watch for where I went and run to pick it up before me. He's definitely ornery, but he's got a great, big heart. He wants to make me and his parents proud.

Please consider sponsoring Jose and his family for Christmas; we want to make give them a special night. They deserve it. See this previous entry for more details on how to make that happen. And blessings to you and your family this Christmas, and thank you for blessing our Shine! ministry.

Help our Christmas Shine

December with Shine includes all kinds of events to keep us busy. We'll have the usual activities, purchase a new car very soon, hopefully have the funds to find a few new kids to add to the program and celebrate Christmas with the wonderful kids in our program.

We want to do something special for our Shine kiddos for Christmas. We want to get each of the kids a gift, including the college students. We want to have a special lunch where we give them the gifts.

Most of all, we want to have a special event, where we include their families as well this year. If our goal for Shine is to create kids that grow up to change their world, we need as much involvement from their parents as possible.

So, we have a party planned for the kids and their parents. We're going to take the kids and their families to a nice dinner and enjoy some fun time together. Our two Shine college students, Michelle and Arnold, will be a part of the fun too, and so will our older student Mariela who is a Shine student but isn't a part of the tutoring program. Then we're all going to play putt-putt! I'm sure none of them have ever played mini-golf before; so, we thought it would be something different and fun for all the ages that will be there.

We're excited to spend some time with our kids and their families, away from school, our house and other responsibilities. Our kids are amazing, and their parents love them dearly. All our students have worked hard, and we're thrilled to give them all a special night.

We would love your help to make it happen. We need $100 for for each of the younger kids to sponsor them and their families for Christmas. Michelle and Arnold only need $20 each because they are already partially sponsored for Christmas, and Mariela is fully sponsored for Christmas. We are asking for a totally of $440 to give all of them, including five families and two college students, a special Christmas.

If you can help in any way, please let me know at michael@bchonduras.org. We will gladly except any donation you can make. Please make checks payable to Shine Honduras (as always donations are tax-deductible) and send them to:

Shine Honduras

3126 S. Boulevard #168 

Edmond, OK 73013

Thank you for your love and support of our program. We are so grateful for your belief in our beautiful kids. Many blessings to you and your family this holiday season! And merry Christmas!

Picking up trash around the neighborhood

The kids and I walked around our neighborhood picking up trash a few weeks ago. We have talked all month about service, and this was a concrete way to act on what we had talked about. They collected tons of trash with big smiles on their faces, and they competed to see who could pick up the most in the 30 we were outside. Jose kept stealing my trash. 

Needless to say, I lost the competition, but I gained even more appreciation for these wonderful kids and their beautiful souls. They have huge hearts for helping others. They were tired by the end but happy to see their piles of trash.

Sweet conversations

The kids and I have talked a lot about service this last month. I began videoing our afternoon a few weeks ago with the intention of asking the kiddos about what they did the previous weekend. I had encouraged them to draw a picture of them serving people and then act out that picture. 

As always the kids surprised me with their sweet comments I never expected. Escarleth's comments about God seem well beyond her years. Sometimes I have to collect myself in order not to follow their responses with "Umm...." and a gulp.

Here's the continuation of the previous video. They are always so surprisingly willing to serve others. I hope they grow up to want to serve others to create change for the better in this world.