Hindsight

Many of you recently read in our most recent prayer letter about the new inclusive special education program called SOAAR (Students of All Abilities Recognized) that Andrew is coordinating at Nicaragua Christian Academy next year (if you didn't read it and would like to, you can find it here).  We are so excited about this opportunity and the changes that it will bring for Andrew vocationally, for the community of NCA, and for the new students that will be brought in as a result of this new program. 

What we didn’t have space to do in our prayer letter is to acknowledge what an answer to prayer the development of this program is for us personally.  I would like to quickly do that here. 

Since the time that we got married almost 11 years ago, we have talked about serving in a different country.  We felt that God was using our gifts (basically a willingness to do illogical things), serving professions (teaching and nursing), and experiences (growing up in culturally diverse settings) to prepare us for the mission field abroad.   

So, you may be wondering why we didn’t move to Nicaragua (or somewhere else) 11 years ago. The dilemma was Andrew had a different calling as well, and that was to teach, advocate for, and highlight the abilities of people with disabilities. We often investigated opportunities in different countries, but couldn’t find a place where Andrew could use his passion for and training in special education.  At the time, this was a deal breaker.  

The year before we moved to Nicaragua, I decided to try again.  I opened up Google and typed in “organizations for people with disabilities in Central America.” The first thing that popped up was Tesoros de Dios (http://tesorosdedios.org/) the organization where Andrew now volunteers on Thursdays.  I emailed Andrew the link right away, excitedly thinking this could be it.  After communicating with the director, though, Andrew realized that without being fluent in Spanish there was little he could do there.  Instead the director suggested he check out NCA. 

We then went to NCA’s website (http://nca.edu.ni/) and got super excited about the possibility of working there--it seemed like the perfect place to teach and for our children to learn.  Andrew applied, but at the time the school had not yet posted openings for the following year. I checked to see if the positions had been posted several times a day, and when they finally were, my heart sank:

Preschool Teacher

Middle School Math and Social Studies

High School Chemistry

Art Teacher

None of these were positions in which Andrew had any experience or initial enthusiasm about teaching.  And yet, we felt we should continue in the process.  A few weeks later, Andrew was offered a preschool position, and while teaching preschool had never been on his radar, he accepted the position, in a way forfeiting his passion to teach students with disabilities.

We fully trusted God that preschool would be a good fit for Andrew and that he would feel fulfilled in his role teaching 4-5 year olds, and it is has indeed been a wonderful two years!  We never expected that God would later create a position for Andrew where he is able to use special education experience and passion. We also never expected that Andrew would be able to play an active role at Tesoros de Dios by volunteering there weekly and serving on their board. But why not?

Uthman, a student enjoying painting and music during Andrew's Thursday class at Tesoros de Dios

We know that God is good, that he loves us, and cares about even the smallest details in our lives, but too often we look at a situation and think, "There's no way that this can work out"--or we even forget to ask God to work it out because we have decided in our human minds that there is no way that it can. I hope that we can go forward trusting in God's ability to make the impossible possible in every aspect of our lives.   

“But those who trust in the LORD… will soar high on wings like eagles.” Isaiah 40:31

Two stories (why I love what I do!)

Story 1: I work with a student--we'll call him John--three afternoons a week after my preschoolers are gone for the day. He's a fourth grader, and has some fairly significant emotional needs that affect his ability to "do" school well. John not only struggles with schoolwork, but with his social relationships as well. "I hate school," he has said on more than one occasion. "Everything is boring. I have no friends. I have nothing to look forward to. School is torture!" He exaggerates his dislike of school for adult attention, but the truth is, school really is not something he looks forward to. We decided to create a "Circle of Friends" for John--he gave me some names of students he felt close to; students he could trust. Affirmed by his 4th grade teacher, four students and I began meeting this past Friday. Our goal is to spend 20 minutes of each Friday lunch break eating a snack, playing games, and chatting about life, and about how we can support John in the classroom as friends. John could not WAIT for Friday to roll around this past week! He spoke to me about nothing else, and as I went up to find the students for our "Lunch Bunch" on Friday, they were all running down to meet me, ready for the activity. We made popcorn with an air popper (exciting!!! (for 4th graders!), played Uno, and chatted about our families, what we like and don't like about school. We were actually late for class we were having so much fun! John ran past me later that day, gave me a high five, and said with a huge smile (something not often seen!): "This is the BEST DAY EVER!" I hope he has many, many more "Best Day Evers;" it was fun to be a part of this one.

Story 2: When I arrived at Tesoros de Dios this last Thursday, a group of doctors from Cincinnati was there as volunteers, working with various students in small groups. A group of speech therapists was working with Oliver, a student with cerebral palsy. Oliver has very little intelligible speech, and can't control the movement of his arms, so communication is basically impossible for him--he can't talk, write, or use most traditional communication devices that require touching a screen with his hand. The group, however, had devised a device (think of an ipad-like device on a low stand) for Oliver to use with his toes--he has somewhat more control of his toes than his hand. When I arrived, he was typing his name on a touch keyboard with his toes. It was a long, painstaking process. . .each letter took about 20 seconds. But when he was finished typing, he pressed "Habla" (Speak)--and a voice from the device said "Oliver" (with a fairly realistic Spanish accent!). You should have seen the smile on Oliver's face--possibly the first time in his life that he has been able to clearly "say" his name! He proceeded to type his middle name, his last name, the name of his brother. . .each letter typed more quickly than the last. He was exhausted when finished, but so proud of his new "voice." He'll be able to use this device in the school he attends, and hopefully with practice he'll get faster and faster in order to make it more realistic to use in the classroom. I'm so thankful for Tesoros de Dios and this group of doctors who donate this week each year serving our students in so many incredible ways! And so proud of Oliver, too!