It's been a while. . .

We've not been very faithful on keeping up with our blog lately! We can blame many things. . .the novelty of life in a new country is wearing out. . .or we've been really busy. . .or it is just so hot here this time of year any extra motion (even typing on a keyboard) causes me to break out in a sweat. But we do want to keep you updated on our lives here, regardless of how trivial they may or not be! So here's a few things that have been keeping our hands and hearts busy.

1) Illness. We've been pretty sick these last few months, taking turns with fevers and puking--a pretty hard-hitting virus that hit us all but Henry. Mae also had a UTI that meant sporadic fevers for 10 days. Charlotte had worms (giving us all incentive to take some anti-parasitic medicine). Mae has fungus in her ears. Ruth has a night cough that just won't go away. We're excited to be well again, but thankful we've been able to be somewhat "functional" throughout the process.


2) Car. Our car has been having some mechanical issues lately. After 3 trips with our trusty mechanic, it is now GUSHING power steering fluid rather than dripping it slowly! We can't drive our van right now, and are relying on our neighbors and the school van to get us through until. . .next Thursday! We just bought a World Renew (formerly CRWR) vehicle from missionary friends of ours that will hopefully serve us more reliably than our comfortable-but-impractical Honda Odyssey!

 3) Micah. Our nephew Micah is living with us for the rest of the school year (as of a week ago)! We are thrilled to have him as part of our family and part of the NCA family, where he is in the third grade. He has already made so many friends and loves school. He plays outside ALL of the time and thinks Henry is crazy for ever wanting to use "screen time"; I think he feels like he is coming out of hibernation after surviving the last Michigan winter. Henry and Micah are sharing a room, and I love hearing them "chat themselves to sleep" while laying in the bunk bed.

4) Grandpa. My Grandpa Ippel ("Henry the First") isn't doing very well health-wise, and he is now in hospice care. My parents are driving up today from New Mexico to Michigan to be with him right now. We are so thankful for God's faithfulness in my grandpa's life--if he does pass away, we will have to make a decision about whether or not I will travel to Michigan to attend his memorial service--a tricky thing about living in another country.

Okay, there you have it. . .hopefully you feel more connected to us again:) Thanks for your love, support, and prayers amidst car breakdowns, puking, house guests, and hard decisions.

Visitors!

March was a busy month preparing for and hosting sets of visitors! We love this part of living here, but it IS work, believe it or not!

We had the privilege of hosting Jim and Josh from World Missions for one week. They were primarily here to create a few short videos for Tesoros de Dios, but they also spent time interviewing, photographing, and learning about NCA and our anticipated SOAAR program, the cohort program in Leon, and the Nehemiah Center. We're looking forward to seeing the fruit of their labor through videos and photographs featuring God at work through these organizations.

Andrew and Josh at the Masaya Volcano

Josh was a Calvin College friend (see above), and Jim was Andrew's small group leader when he did a service project in the Yucatan peninsula for 3 weeks in 1999 with START (see below)!

My group with our "host parents." Jim is on the right. Can you find me?

 It was fun to catch up with both gentlemen, and see how God allowed our lives to intersect again here in Nicaragua.

The day before Josh and Jim left, Ruth was at the airport greeting 14 folks from Rehoboth High School (NM)--2 leaders and 12 students. The group served at NCA Matagalpa, an orphanage, our church, and the dump where Ruth is beginning her childbirth classes.
                             
    

Their primary mission, however, was to serve as the childcare workers for our annual Central American CRWM retreat for four days this past week!

Dinner at our house before the retreat

Henry with his awesome group leaders, Glen and Amber

Sharing meals at Vista Mar

As the leader of "Fun Night," I got to pick on a few Rehoboth kids

We ended our time together with a dinner at Papa Johns!

Henry likes high school humor:)

What a blessing it was to have Charlotte, Mae, and Henry in the care of this group of students. The group came down with tons of ideas and materials to make this event special for the 30-some kids in their care (while the adults had our own sessions to attend). Our kids made painting with squirt guns, baked cookies in homemade pizza box ovens, created bouncy balls, ate homemade ice cream, and MORE! You have know idea how much our kids looked forward to this week at the beach again this year, and it again exceeded our expectations. It might seem like a "cushy" service project (babysitting on the beach!), but honestly, this was a HUGE service of love to the 60+ adults in attendance at this retreat and it would not have been possible without this group.

The Rehoboth group left early this morning (after a "fun day" of ziplining, volcano climbing, shopping, and exploring the town of Granada), though Ruth couldn't quite relax until they pulled into Rehoboth's parking lot last night (or early this morning, depending on how you look at it!)