Time to Celebrate!

This past week, Nicaragua took a break from life-as-normal to celebrate Nicaragua Independence Day, or “Fiestas Patrias.” This past week began with colorful dances, traditional food and outfits, and an annual program showcasing the history and beauty of this country. Click here to see some of the dancing (yikes!) and below to see Charlotte sing and Mae recite some poetry by Ruben Dario, Nicaragua’s most famous poet. Henry's poem is too long to upload here; visit here to hear him show off his Spanish!

The festivities ended with a break from school (3 days, actually), which allowed our family to head to the beach together for an awesome respite.

We are not only celebrating Nicaragua right now!  We’re celebrating a good start to a new school year, and the healthy routines that our family craved after a fun, unpredictable summer. Job charts, family meetings, bedtime routines, exercising, reading together . . . good stuff that typically flies out the window during summer vacation!

We’re celebrating the smooth transition of Charlotte into NCA International; she LOVES school and can’t stop sharing what she learns each day. We’re thankful our other kids are loving their teachers this year, too!

We’re celebrating a good start to our ministries this year. The SOAAR program is off and running; the first month of coordination is exhausting and overwhelming at times, but I think we’ve found a good rhythm with students and volunteers classroom assistants. It is wonderful to NOT be in year 1, though we are by no means experts yet! Ruth is back at House of Hope and AMOS, ministering to groups of women each week; we’re celebrating the partner organizations that exist here in Nicaragua that we are privileged to work with.

We’re celebrating the natural beauty of this place we have the privilege to call home! Our time at the beach ended today—a few days of sand and sun and boogie boarding that was good for the soul and spirit! It was our first-ever “only family” vacation in Nicaragua, and it was a nature-lovers dream! The kids had to say goodbye to her hundreds of hermit crab friends that they gathered and released constantly. We saw a huge whale swimming close off the shore, which was a first for all of us, and the kids came across a troop of howler monkeys in the trees near our room. We followed three baby sting ray in the shallow waters, and Henry and I re-covered a nest of turtle eggs that was under attack by dogs and vultures (I’m guessing they came back to finish their meal, but we tried!).  

Happy Fiestas Patrias week! May you find many things to celebrate this day!