Nicaragua Conference Pictures

As promised, here are some pictures from the workshop. Thank you again for your prayers. The workshops were very well received. The director of a Christian school association here in Nicaragua attended the workshops along with several facilitators from his schools. He oversees more than 100 Christian schools here. The facilitators will take these ideas back to their schools. He asked if I could try to find a way to come back and do follow-up workshops that his teachers could attend, so perhaps I will have the opportunity to return to Nicaragua in the future. The teachers at the workshops told us how grateful they were to get this information and to have ideas that they could take back to their classrooms and put in place right away.

With all the rain, we are having internet issues so this all for now.

Nica Blessings

It has been such a blessing to be here in Nicaragua. This is how we spent our evening yesterday - sitting on the porch (there is a roof so we were protected from the rain) and singing. Wendy's father is a pastor and they had a church event last night, but they were unable to get to their church because all the rain had caused a rock slide closing the road they needed to take. That meant that Wendy's parents were able to spend the evening with us. Some other family members also came over to see Wendy. It was such a nice, relaxed evening and a blessing to be able share this time with this family.

Thank you for your prayers for this time. The workshops have gone amazingly well and the rain has not kept people from being able to attend. I will post pictures later. My family is doing well without me. I have slept well and eaten very very well. Once again, I have to say that I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be here.

Nica Tuesday

Between travel snafus and weather, it feels like circumstances are trying to keep us from hosting these workshops, but we are here and the workshops are happening. It is raining and raining and raining here. Apparently, in addition to it being rainy season, we are having a tropical storm. Think water, water everywhere. There is water coming in the house. The yard and roads are flooded. Some of the schools were closed today and participants had a difficult time getting to the workshop, but they came anyway. Some participants came all the way from Granada. We are safe and well. We are praying that things will not get worse so that people can get to the workshop tomorrow.

My camera is being difficult (maybe it is too humid here?) so this is the best I can do for pictures. I am staying with the family of my student Wendy and I took these pictures after dinner tonight. I have felt so welcome and comfortable here and am very thankful to be able to stay here. Despite everything, it is a great experience to be here.

This is Wendy's youngest brother. You can just see that he is full of energy. He and Jon Felipe would have a great time together.

This is Alex. She is also visiting this week and is staying here. She is helping out at Tesoros de Dios while the teachers attend the conference.

This is Nanna. She keeps us well fed. I have had homemade tortillas at every meal since I got here. Yum!

This is Wendy.

This is Sarah. She is staying here as well. She is from Michigan and went to Calvin. Turns out that she is a friend of my son Colin. How cool is that!

Treatment Day

Today was treatment day at our house. That was a good thing, because Maria was definitely in need of "juicing up." This switch back to warm weather has been hard on her. The nurse comes in the morning about the time Jon Felipe gets on the bus and leaves just as he's getting home from school. Currently, Maria is getting her IVIG treatment every three weeks.

Monday Musings - Oct. 3

We have some friends here in Sioux Center who let us just show up at their house and play with their kids' toys. Sometimes their boys come out and play with us, which makes it all even more fun. My two youngest particularly love jumping on the trampoline. We are even thinking about buying one. We worry about injuries and about liability as well since we don't have a fenced yard. We rent one side of a duplex, so fencing the yard isn't really an option. When we lived in Michigan, we had a great jungle gym in the backyard and a pool. Here, we don't even have trees in the yard. What do you think? Is a trampoline a good investment for our family or are we just inviting trouble?

Dust

This FFA (Future Farmers of America) field is right across the street from our house. This year they planted corn.

The other nearby fields were planted in soybeans. Think about what this farmer is spreading on this field. Hint: It isn't plain old dirt!

Think of all this "dust" drifting over this field and into my house.

Is it no wonder that Sioux Center is the dustiest place I've lived.

Fall in Iowa is beautiful. I love seeing all the shades of gold in the fields. I think I'll keep my windows closed, though.

Oct. 1 - Update

We got this hula-hoop on clearance and have been having a great time with it as you can see.

Maria likes to pose for photos.

Jon Felipe's not too into being photographed, but he has been having a great time inventing new games that can be played with the hula-hoop.

I've been MIA for a few months. The needs of the family did not allow for blogging, but hopefully things are settling back down. If I disappear for awhile, it just means my family needs me and, obviously, they're my first priority.

So, here's the big fall update:

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  Colin is still at Dordt. Still majoring in graphic art and enjoying his program. Still working at HyVee in the meat dept.


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  Jacob is attending Western Iowa Tech (WIT) in Sioux City studying video game design. This definitely seems to fit who he is. He is enjoying it very much. He is even thinking he might like to live on campus in the future. He still works at Hardees and they've been very flexible about working around his school hours.


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  Luke is a senior at Unity. He started working as a life guard at the pool this summer. Even though the outdoor pools are now closed, he's still able to get a couple of shifts in a week at the indoor pool.


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  Maria switched schools this fall and is now an 8th grader at Sioux Center Community School. She is happy and doing well. This school building is just over a block from our house so no more riding the school bus, a fact which does not make her sad at all. I volunteer at the school every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon so I see her at school often and we can come home together on those days.


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  Jon Felipe is in 4th grade at Sioux Center Christian School. He continues to thrive there. He has a birthday coming up at the end of this month, so he's busy counting the days.


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  Dwight's position at Ireton Christian School was eliminated for this year due to decreasing enrollment and budget cuts, so he's embarked on a new adventure. He has returned to school to learn band instrument repair and is working with my cousin George in his new music store business. Between going to school and helping with the new business, we don't see as much of him as we'd like, but he likes what he's doing and the store is definitely meeting a need in this area.


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  I'm still at Dordt. Still love it. Still keeping busy. More on that another time.