30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 30--YOU!

We are so thankful for each of you, especially those of you who are reading this!  It is a little embarrassing to admit, but we too often check how many views we have after posting on our blog.  By reading our posts and bumping up our number of views you are encouraging us!  Thank you!

We feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives--two wonderful, supportive families, friends who have become like family, multiple church families, a community at school that pours into our children, and the large group of you who support our ministry prayerfully and financially.  Each of you is a gift to us, and we are thankful for you!

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Days 28 and 29: Coffee and Traditions!

Day 28: Ruth and I both need our daily cup of coffee to get us going. Yup, we're addicts. I LOVE waking up with a strong cup of coffee (or two or three). The fact that we have really great coffee grown right here in Nicaragua makes it even better! No Foldgers here. We were able to spend the last two nights at a hotel/farm/coffee plantation called Selva Negra. We had fun hiking through the cloud forest and through the coffee bushes. . .from bean to mug. . .awesome!

 

 

Day 29: This was actually year 2 of spending part of Thanksgiving break in Selva Negra with our friends the Starkenburgs. We stayed in the same house as last year, ate some of the same yummy food, drank the same hot chocolate, played some familiar games, and enjoyed the same frigid mountain air! Our kids loved hanging our with their "Nicaraguan cousins," even though 6/7 kids were sick at some point (including Henry, our latest Chikingunya victim). We are thankful for traditions today! We don't have a lot of traditions yet, having only been here for 2.5 years, but we are certainly finding how special and important traditions are for our family and hope to create more and more each year. Next year in November, Selva Negra here we come!

 

Chikingunya:( It hurts.

Fever! And "purple berries!" She doesn't know the word for grapes as we eat them so infrequently:)

 

 

 

 

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 26 and 27--Family away from family/Our house

We're heading out of town tomorrow, so we're doubling up on our blog post tonight, and we'll do two on Sunday as well when we return from the mountains of Nicaragua.

Day 26: Family Away from Family

Without a doubt, the hardest thing about living and serving in Nicaragua is being away from family. This is always true, but of course hardest on the "special" days, like holidays and birthdays and the school programs that would normally bring us all together. We missed being with our families during Thanksgiving today. . .missed that irreplaceable and automatic sense of love and belonging that we feel when we are with our moms and dads and brothers and sisters and grandparents.

BUT. . .we have created a family here. Not ever able to replace our true "blood" families back in the US. . .but a lovely community of people that make the holidays and birthdays and special events okay, because we can do life together, and do it well, in Nicaragua. The unique thing about this place (and I find it similar to Rehoboth, NM), is that when many people do NOT have their blood family around, they are more open, ready, and in need of folks who can stand in for family. And community happens.

 

 

We loved hosting 30-some folks at our home today for Thanksgiving. And while we missed our New Mexico and Michigan and Ohio families today, we felt very much "home" with the Holtrops, Sjobergs, Marins, Weigands, Boersemas, and Alex Pasker, too!

Day 27: Our Home

We are so thankful for our home. We love that we can comfortably squeeze 30 people in here to celebrate Thanksgiving today (okay 13 adults ate inside. . .the kids were all outside, thank goodness!)! We love that we have an extra bedroom for guests. We love our location, and our neighborhood, and our neighbors. We love the space and the high ceilings that make it a little cooler in here. We love the layout and the laundry room with a screen for a ceiling that lets the rain in. We're thankful for the many windows that are stuck open, and the fact that we never have to lock our doors (unless we're at church, when all the neighbors are gone, too!). We're thankful for this space and this place that we call home in Nicaragua, and we pray that we can continue to be hospitable here. Come visit!

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 25--School

Our kids love school. Of course, there are days they'd rather stay home and play. BUT. . .they really, really do love their respective school communities, and we're so thankful for that. Charlotte is nearing the end of her second school year at Mincaito, which operates on the Nicaraguan calendar. Her big Christmas/promotion ceremony will be next weekend, and then it is "summer" break with almost two months off! She'll be in the next grade level of preschool when school resumes in late January. We are so thankful that Charlotte looks forward to going to school each day, for her loving teachers, her many friends, and the way in which she is picking up some Spanish along the way!

 

Henry and Mae are at Nicaragua Christian Academy, and are surrounded by wonderful, diverse friends and staff members who make it such an awesome learning community. Today was the Thanksgiving program at  elementary school, and as I looked around at all of the folks sitting around tables sharing a meal together, I was reminded how thankful I am for this place. It is a joy to be a part of NCA as both a teacher and as a parent, watching Henry and Mae grow each day as lovers of learning, life, friends, and Jesus. We are very thankful for the teachers and leaders who make education at NCA a gift for our family.

Mae did great in her program! You can see the video below! Sorry to Henry--the camera stopped worked for your performance:( Sorry!

The Eagle Center

We wonder why she was a little hyper today:)

PreK2 Friends--this is a class I work with a lot and spent my time with today at the program.

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 24--15 or so awesome kids. . .

Today I'm thankful for these kids that I have the privilege of working with on Thursday afternoons at Tesoros de Dios! I praise God for their lives, and for the brief but wonderful time our lives can intersect each week while we play and laugh and sing, and play instruments and do art together. This is just a handful of the 100-plus kids that are blessed by the services and therapies offered by Tesoros de Dios. But these are the kids I know and have come to love over these last two and a half years.

I'm thankful for David, and Madeline, and Melisa, and Cynthia. David was making fun of me for the song motions I was teaching today, and gave me a laughing attack in front of everyone!

 I'm thankful for Jorge, who took a little time to win over, and for Juan Jose and this guy on the end whom I just met and don't yet know by name.

I'm thankful for Jefferson, who is sometimes too cool to participate, but absolutely always ready to help. And I'm thankful for my son Henry for coming with me today as we practiced for our Christmas program--he was a great DJ. And for the moms who spend so much of their lives dedicated to their children, always present with their children at Tesoros de Dios. And for Oliver and Brandon and Kendry and Pablo and Uthman, students who aren't in these pictures because they weren't present today or were too busy moving around for me to get a decent picture. Pray for these kids. And thank God for them with me today!

 

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 23--I'm too embarrassed to even say what this one is about

There are many benefits to living in a tropical climate... you only need a summer wardrobe, you don't have to deal with putting coats, boots, and snow pants on everyone in the family to get out the door, and it really is beautiful (or if I'm being honest, stinking hot!) every day.  The biggest drawback, though, is that without the change of seasons, Thanksgiving doesn't really feel like Thanksgiving, and Christmas doesn't really feel like Christmas.  We do our best to make it feel like the holidays by putting up decorations, but it just doesn't quiet cut it. 

Mae and Charlotte sad that these tiny pumpkins are too ridiculously expensive ($12 each!) to buy

One thing I am thankful for, though, is Netflix's Fireplace For Your Home, a 3 episode (with varying soundtracks) show that transforms your TV a fireplace.  With a "fire" going (even crackling!)  in our living room, it almost feels like it could be winter outside.  And the best part is, it doesn't emit any heat!  I know it seems silly, but it takes the edge off of our homesickness during this time that it is hard to be away from family and home. 

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 22--Boy Scouts

People are always a little surprised to find out that we have Boy Scouts here--yes, Boy Scouts of America. It is actually a fun mix of American, Canadian, Korean, French, and British Boy Scouts that attend these bi-monthly events. 

Once a month, Henry and Andrew attend meetings at the US Embassy, where they have been able to get a behind the scenes tour of what goes on there. 

Their other monthly activity involves exploring Nicaragua--usually an overnight campout or a day hike. 

 

 

We are thankful for Boy Scouts because it encourages Henry and Andrew to spend some quality father-son time together, because it allows them to build friendships outside of our missionary community "bubble," and because it gives them the opportunity to have adventures that they wouldn't necessarily be able to do with the women of the family (for example, Ruth would NOT have been excited to go on the no-electricity, no-campfire, rain-all-night, gross-bathroom campout at the Turtle Reserve that they were at last night.)

30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 21--Henry the Performer

Henry's ready!

Last night, Henry and his friend Annie, took the NCA Talent Show by storm as they rocked the stage with "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" from Annie Get Your Gun. Henry is a natural performer. Of course, he was a little nervous ("I can't feel my legs. Seriously, dad. And I'm going to pee!" was what he told me backstage), but mostly, he was just SO excited to get up on that stage for year 3 of performing in the Talent Show. Henry has a great voice and a dramatic spirit, but what I'm thankful for even beyond that is the way he is so willing to use his great voice and dramatic spirit in front of others!

One thing that is a sacrifice that comes with living here is the lack of opportunities for Henry to develop and use these natural gifts regularly. . .no big drama clubs, musicals, youth choirs for kids his age in English. In Grand Rapids, I think he'd be able to use these talents even more often. So we're even MORE thankful for the occasional opportunity Henry does have here to be a performer.

Henry and Annie did get first place in the Elementary Division (despite really bad sound system issues with their microphones), and of course Henry was thrilled--but I think the thrill of the stage was just as important to our little performer. The day after the talent show, and what was Henry organizing in our house? A talent show. He's getting ready for next year!

Click here to watch the performance!

Backstage Interviews on the big screen!

Mae and her friends watching the show (part of her birthday party)

The Eagle Center had great decorations! And Henry had a great group of fans!