Happy Un-Birthday!

 I forgot Oliver's birthday! I had been reminded the week prior, but when I arrived at Tesoros de Dios and saw Oliver on that particular Thursday, I realized that I had no planned way to celebrate Oliver's life other than a spur-of-the-moment "Feliz Cumpleanos!" I asked Oliver how he had celebrated his birthday today. He shook his head "no." Well, I asked him, are you going to have a party or special dinner tonight to celebrate? Another "no." I'm not sure if I understood him correctly, but it made me a little sad and motivated me to pull off at least a small celebration of another year of life for Oliver.

I promised Oliver that I'd find a way to celebrate his life the FOLLOWING week, and decided that we might as well have one gigantic fiesta for ALL of my Tesoros students, as I'm likely to forget their individual birthdays as well. So we wore hats and sang songs and popped balloons and laughed hard and decorated cupcakes together. There is a lot of life worth celebrating at Tesoros de Dios! Happy Un-Birthday to all of my awesome friends at Tesoros!

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!)

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!

My Incredible Wife Ruth

Happy Dia de Amor y Amistad! (Day of Love and Friendship, as many people call Valentine's Day in Nicaragua). I'm using this day as an excuse to brag on my wife a little bit, before she gets out of bed. I am so lucky to be married to Ruth, and I can't imagine these last 10 years of our marriage without her! Ruth is caring, demonstrating a loving concern that extends to our often-needy children, family and well beyond. She has her priorities right, valuing relationships and friendships above so much of the silly to-do lists I have in my mind. She loves serving the Lord, and I am so happy we have one another as best friends while we live and serve in Nicaragua. My love for Ruth is unconditional--she certainly doesn't have to earn it by doing anything. That said, I'm pretty proud of all that she does. She is amazing, and I want to give you a glimpse into this amazingness by listing a few of the things she used her time, talents, and energy for this past week:

1) Shopping for our family. No Walmart or Meijer run here. This is NOT a simple task in Nicaragua. She went to 6 stores on Monday to get everything we needed for our week.

2) Cooking for our family and hosting 2.5 dinner gatherings. We used to take turns cooking the States, but here, she does the majority (though I still enjoy helping!). This week, she made 6 pans of chicken enchiladas--some for hosting a dinner with visitng friends Gary and Rosemary Schipper from First CRC, some for a hosting a dinner with our Manuel (our pastor) and Maria Jose and family, and some for a co-worker of mine that is recovering from surgery. I love Ruth's hospitality!

3) Teaching in Spanish. Ruth spent her Wednesday morning teaching a group of 10 expectant moms (and 10 other observers, medical professionals, ect) for 2 hours at AMOS clinic, all in Spanish with no other English speakers around, part of a 8 week course. Last semester, she had only a handful of participants--it has grown so much this year, praise God! It takes so much work and energy to prepare a class in a language we are still learning. Ruth is brave and doesn't let the language barrier affect her work or relationships!

4) Carpooling: She drives groups of kids to and from school all the time!

5) Paying the Bills: Not like the US. You call on the phone, and do it all in Spanish. A horrifying task, and she does it monthly and so well. I would have no clue how to do it!

6) Playing Volleyball: Ruth loves sports (way more than I do!), and I love that Ruth loves sports. For the first time, she played volleyball one night this week with a group of adults (including a former professional player), and she both held her own and had a blast. I'm so glad she can have fun. If you are in a group of people, RUth is someone you want to be around. Funny, sometimes "edgy":), witty, loud (when playing sports!).

7) Valentine's Day Tasks: Of course, it was Ruth who made cute Valentine's with (not for!) all of the kids to share at school. 90,to be exact. I didn't do one. She also baked 50 heart-shaped sugar cookies for my students (of course on the day she made the chicken enchiladas). She is a servant-hearted mom and wife, and I appreciate so much the way she looks to love me through acts of service.

8) Coordinating: Ruth has been busy coordinating with Rehoboth school, CRWM, and a team here in Nicaragua to prepare for a group of 14 coming to learn and serve here over Semana Santa (holy week). She is so good at details and thinking ahead, and keeps our calendar organized.

My list could go on and on, and the moment I publish this, I'll no doubt think of something that should have been on this list. . . thanks for reading about my awesome wife on this day of "love and friendship," and I wish you all a day where you feel blessed by the friends and family God has surrounded you with. Ruth is leaving for the States this Thursday for a week. . .I'm so happy for her to get to be with her family and especially so she can meet new beautiful  baby Isla and help out her sister Muriel. .. but I know that her being gone for 7 days will only make me appreciate Ruth and all she does and all she is even more!

Autumn and Music Class

Autumn


January was a busy month (what month isn't, really?), as we hosted Autumn, a friend from Grand Rapids, for three weeks of service and fun. Autumn is a senior at Calvin College, soon heading to PT school, and before we even moved here asked if she could spend January 2015 here. . .and she did!

Autumn helped sort and pack books to help the transition to the new library at NCA, helped students in Henry's 2nd grade class, shadowed physical therapists at Tesoros de Dios, assisted Ruth with programs and giving shots at House of Hope, and even braved babysitting 19 missionary kids so the parents could go on a fantastic quintuple date!
 

On our "days off," we went to the ocean, a crater lake, a volcano, downtown Managua. . .I think we did a pretty good job wearing Autumn (and ourselves!) out. We're so thankful for her choice to come be a part of our lives for this month and to learn more about Nicaragua. If you are interested in a short term opportunity and want a free place to crash, let us know.


(Thanks, Autumn, for some of these pictures!)

Music Class

For the last year, my role at Tesoros de Dios has been to shadow their special education teachers and assist kids with homework from 3:15-4:15 on Thursday afternoons. I found that some of the kids were already finished with their school work by 3:30, and would spend the last 45-50 minutes of their time at Tesoros waiting with their moms for the bus to take them home. With the blessing of Michelle, the director, I offered to do some "music stuff" with the kids who were finished with their school work. This has now evolved into a dedicated weekly activity for about 12 of the kids. Our "music" class now involves a mixture of music, art, and movement. . .whatever I can come up with that might work with a diverse group of kids and a leader (me) who is still learning Spanish! Favorite activities have included using a parachute to launch things into the sky, finger painting to various styles of music, and laughing at my horrible Spanish singing:)