Happy Birthday Gustabo!


As many of you know we have a very special family here that we have kind of adopted. (more about them later) Oneida is the mother of two children, Gustabo (6) and Katrin(2). This past Tuesday- January 24- was Gustabo's 6th birthday and we wanted to do something special with him.

We decided to rent the playground at KFC. This is an awesome playground. Three stories high with a soccer field on the top floor. It is all indoors and air conditioned. For $35.00 you have use of the playground for three hours, invitations, stickers, the area is decorated with balloons and you have two employees to help you. I think that is a pretty good deal. Oneida was so surprised and thankful that she began to cry. Gustabo had never had a birthday party before. Gustabo is a sweet and shy little boy and he was just about to burst with excitement.

Oneida invited a group of boys and girls from the mountain. She also invited her brother- in- law and his family. (They live out past Santa Anna, and had to come up the day before so that they would be on time. They have to ride buses and it takes hours to get to here.) Randy went to pick everyone up at Mololoa. His Land Rover holds about 9-11 people depending on size and shape. Well when he arrived at KFC there were children hanging out of the windows. There were 17 children and 7 adults in his truck. It looked like one of those clown cars at the circus where the clowns just keep on coming and coming. Even for Honduras the truck was packed, you know you have a lot of people in your car when the Honduran people point and laugh.

As all of the children filed into KFC you would think that we were at Disney World, they looked around in wide eyed wonder. Most of these children have never been inside a restaurant much less having the whole playground to themselves. They were all dressed in their very best with their hair slicked back and faces scrubbed clean. Gustabo was really shy at being the center of attention for a while but warmed up pretty quick. The helpers served drinks to everyone and the children were surprised that they could have as many refills as they wanted. With all of the soda that they drank it was a good thing that they had a whole playground to run and play on.
The older boys all went to the top floor to play soccer. Randy managed to squeeze up the curvy slide to the top floor to play with the boys. Katrina loves playing soccer up there and even with her hurt ankle (accident involving a beanbag, area rug and a puppy) she managed to hobble around as the goalie. They have a TV monitor where the adults can watch the "children" play.
The younger children spent most of their time climbing up and sliding down, hollering and chasing each other around and around the play area. The littlest of the bunch threw balloons in the air and slid down the little slide over and over again until you got dizzy watching them.

After about an hour they brought out the food and you can bet we didn't have to call the children twice. There was no whinnying about not wanting to eat now, they all made a beeline for the tables. With fried chicken, mashed potatoes and biscuits to eat the noise level dropped from a loud roar to almost a silence. There was plenty of food, everyone ate until they were full and even had a little bit to take home. And then back to the games. I think I would be ill if I ran and jumped after consuming vast amount of food and drink.

Pinata time. We were able to buy a very large spiderman and fill it with candy. The birthday boy went first and he gave a few good whacks before passing on the stick. The children all took turns hitting the pinata, smallest to largest. Spiderman was a tough guy but finally began to give in to the inevitable and spilled his guts. The attendant was really great to spread the candy around and all the children and a few adults filled their bags with lots of treats.
Chocolate cake. Happy Birthday in English was on the top. Why in English I don't know. We sang happy birthday to Gustabo, again in English, and I don't know why. Gustabo was standing behind the cake looking like a deer caught in headlights. Everyone was staring at him and he didn't have a clue what to do. I was down front and made the blowing motion to him. He's a smart guy and picked up on what to do and with one large blow the candles were out. The cake was good and everyone cleaned their plates. Gustabo was too shy to open his gifts in front of anyone.

The party was coming to an end. Kids put on their shoes and gathered their chicken and candy to take home. We had help taking the kids home (Thanks Jen and Katie) and some people took the bus home. I think that the best part of having the party at KFC is that they do all of the clean up. We drove up to Mololoa and all of the children tumbled out of the truck. We helped Gustabo home and Onedia thanked us through tears for the best day Gustabo had ever had. Not just the best birthday, but the best day.

What a wonderful life we have, we get to go out and spend the day playing and loving children.