30 Days of Thankfulness: November 29 and 30--The Rest of the List

The end of November is here! We'll admit, there have been a few days this month that we've grumbled, "WHY did we think this blog-everyday-thing was a good idea?" Admittedly, it has been more of a task than a joy to take a picture and write each day, though we truly are thankful for all of the things we've written about this month.
So as the month comes to an end. . .I hope that we'll maintain a sense of thanks regardless of circumstance. I was reminded by another blog from a missionary here in Nicaragua that true Christian thanksgiving is about an attitude that isn't so much about having good things or having everything worked out. “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Would I still be thankful to my Creator even if many of the things we've mentioned this month disappeared? Our car breaks down. We get sick. Our internet goes down again. I don't know. Something I'm working on, for sure. It is pretty easy to feel thankful when everything seems to be going our way.
Here are a few things we didn't get to write about, but that we'd jotted down when we started this journey:

Caponeras--The little three-wheeled motorbike/taxis that take me part of the way home every once in a while when I can't get a ride otherwise. It costs about 75 cents for a 5-minute ride.

Galletas de Oro--A few weeks ago my classroom aide, who is Nicaraguan, was eating a Dutch cookie (Stroopwaffle) during preschool snack time. I couldn't believe it! It turns out that a Dutch man who lives here (and whose kids attend NCA), taught his wife how to make these delicious treats and now markets them in Nicaragua! YUM! Fun having something "Dutch" here!

Spanish Classes--We are thankful for a weekly Spanish class afterschool at NCA, a weekly chat session on our neighbor's porch each Monday night after our children are in bed, and a great iPad app we use almost daily to improve our Spanish. A slow road, but we are determined!

Seranias Market--Our closest "store" (4 minutes in the car or a 20-minute walk), it's nice to have a place to quickly grab a 2-liter for a party, a pack of spaghetti, or some bananas. Kids like picking out random treats here for behavior, and enjoy that parrot that screams "Que Rico!" when you enter.

Jairo--MANY people have made our lives possible here in Nicaragua. Jairo has spent a LOT of time with our transition here, specifically in terms of our paperwork for residency. He has spent entire days sitting in  the immigration office on our behalf, only to find out we didn't come with the correct paperwork. We are thankful for this help; on our own, we'd be in big trouble. While we're still working on our cedulas (residency), he always says, "Don't worry, Mr. Henry. Don't worry!" I try to take his advice!

Nicaragua--At an English-speaking Thanksgiving service last Sunday, a man stood up to thank God for Nicaragua. "We're here because we love Nicaragua, and we love the people of Nicaragua." That's true. We need to remember to thank God for the privilege of living and serving in another country, and for the welcome we've felt from the people here. Nicaragua is a beautiful, broken place (a statement true of the whole world, I suppose), but we are right now called to this PLACE and we are thankful for this dot on the map that is slowly becoming much more than a dot!