Get Excited!

We are coming home for the Holidays! We will be home tomorrow in the afternoonish! Can't wait to see you! This is me excited to see you!

Belly Shot

Here I am at 20 weeks. I don't know if this is interesting to you, but I'm sending it anyway! :) I'm starting to show a little, which is fun! This dress makes me look a little bigger than what I really am - or so I think!

We went to the doctor last Friday and everything looks great. Here we get to have a sonogram everytime we go, so we get to see the baby all the time - which is very cool! I had some blood work done as well. I'm a bit anemic (the baby is sucking me dry of all my iron), but that's okay who needs iron anyway. The doctor suggested that I eat more foods with iron in it. He suggested liver as one of his top choices. Ummmm, no thanks - I'll just take a pill!

Weevils are EVIL

Do you know what a weevil is? Well, I do now. Basically there are these gross, nasty, dumb bugs that get into everything. They like flour, pasta, ceral, pancake mix, rice, etc. They like to hide in cracks and between walls.

The other day, we were making rice and when I opened a brand new bag they were everywhere! We slowly realized that they were all over our ceral bags, cans, uh gross! Their name is so appropriate. Weevil, as in in evil.

Please feel sorry for me! :(

Ok, not really, but they are gross.

Happy Birthday Mama!

Today, my mom is .... years young. As I'm about to become a mom, I'm thinking more about my mom. My mom and me are very different and also very similiar. People who had never met my Dad, always say I look like her, act like her, and have her same expressions. When I was a bit younger that would bother me, but now I take it as a compliment. I like my mom ( as well as love!). She is one of the strongest, most independent woman I know. As well, she loves me extremely well and is the most perfect mother for me. At times, we don't always see eye to eye - but I know that she loves me regardless. And I the same for her.

I hope you had a wonderful day Mom! I love you and can't wait to see you!

The Funnest Week Ever!

(I know funnest is not a word - but it's the most appropriate!)

Jon and Sami came to visit this past week and it was so wonderful! We got to do so much!

On Monday night they got in around 9:30ish. When they came they brought us so so so much stuff!! We got tons of maternity clothes (thanks Mom, Orell, Denise, Sami and Sara!), tons of smell good stuff, cool lights (thanks Julie and Chase!), a basketball, shoes, velveeta cheese and rotel, candy galore, and some wonderful towels!!! It felt like Christmas!! We are so, so, so thankful for all that was given/brought to us!! It was wonderful!

On Tuesday, we took the day off of work and just hung out. We ate some Nica food from a frutanga (not a Fruit-tangalo), played Scrabble, and saw James Bond.

On Wednesday after a short day of work, we were off to the beach! We (meaning David and Jon) sea kayaked, played in the pool, boogie boarded! We ate some wonderful food and saw some gorgeous stars! We stayed till Thursday afternoon. There's nothing better getting a tan on Thanksgiving day! We then came home and ate a yummy turkey dinner with some friends here! It was wonderful to have turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole!

On Friday we went to Esteli with some other friends here. We saw some of the most gorgeous waterfalls ever and hiked in a beautiful canyon! It was amazing! We came home on Saturday night! And then alas, our sweet friends had to go home today!

We had a wonderful time with the Lilley's and feel blessed to have had them here! It lifted our spirits and was a wonderful encouragement! Thanks so much for coming!

The Lilley's

We are so excited!!! We can't wait for these friends to come see us!! What a blessing!

El Guadabarranco

The other day while I was walking my kids back from music class, I heard, "Look Mrs. Russell, there's a guadabarranco!!" The guadabarranco is the national bird of Nicaragua. My kids and I learned about it while we were studying Nicaragua during their Independence Celebration. This picture doesn't quite do it justice. It's really pretty. But that's not the point of this post.

It hit me right then, of how cool it is that I work in such a beautiful place. Never when I was working in Dallas did I see a gorgeous tropical bird in the "hallways" of my school. We never had that experience, imagine that! We sat for about 5 minutes and looked at it. At that moment, I was thankful to be in such an amazing, beautiful place that the Lord created.

On a side note: I also think this bird is cool because it has these 2 real long tail feathers. Everytime I see one or when I taught about it, the lyrics, "Shake your tail feathers..." went through my head. These kids here would not get it if I sang that, but those kids back in Dallas would for sure! :)

What?

You know what's great? When the Nicaraguan government suddenly declares Friday and Monday a national holiday due to their municipal elections!
That's right! At the beginning of this week, I thought I would be working a normal 5 day week. Now I have a long 4 day weekend!
Even though that is wonderful to me - many of the Nicaraguans are worried there will be rioting due to the time off and the heated political situation here.
We'll see what happens- hopefully and prayerfully there will be a peaceful election weekend.

Our Walk Home

I thought it could be interesting for you to see what we see everyday. So here is our walk home in pictures.

This is the gate to our school. We turn left from here!

Almost everyday there is someone burning some sort of trash. Sometimes it's just wood, sometimes it's paint cans. Apparently they are not quite as concerned with the environment as people in the states!

A typical Nicaraguan house.

These are 2 pulperias - little stores on the side of the road that sell coke, beans, fruit and sometimes meat. I don't buy the meat!

We're about 1/2 way home.

This is seen everywhere. If you own a nicer house then you have a huge massive gate and wall. Usually with a security guard outside. Theft here is unbelievable. We have 2 sets of friends that have been robbed in the past month. It's sad, because it makes neighbors not be able to get to know each other. But if you don't have a huge wall, your house will get broken into. Have no fear though, where we live it is uber secure! There are 3 or 4 securty guards on duty for all day and night. We know of no one having there stuff stolen here. Finally this is the huge gate to our apartment complex. Notice the guard signs.


This is the walk inside our apartment complex and our door. It's open because today it was hot!



Hope you enjoyed seeing our walk home!

I'm a third there!

Just a little update on baby Russell - I am 13 weeks this week. Which means I am now in the beginning of the 2nd trimester! Crazy, huh? I am feeling pretty good. I get a bit tired during the day, but nothing unbearable. I feel nauseous every once in while, but it's not terrible. I am so thankful that I'm not throwing up all the time - God is good to me! Really, I am very grateful to not be super sick!

Here is a pic of my "belly".

It's a tiny bit bigger than what is usually is! :) Clothes still fit which is good since I have no maternity clothes here!

We go to the doctor next week to have a check up. You can be praying that everything is going well with the devolopment of our little baby!

We painted

This weekend, David and I finally began painting! We painted our bathroom yellow - it was meant to be a fun soft yellow, but it's a bit bright! Oh well!

We also painted one wall a blue gray color. I've never used any sort of blue in decorating, but just decided it could be fun! Nicaragua is fun because there are so many bright colors everywhere. Here are some pics!

My Forgetfulness

I can be very forgetful. It's sad, but true. David and I will see a movie and I will have forgot that we saw it 2 weeks later. I can't remember the names to any songs or the singers. It's quite sad.

One thing I don't want to be forgetful about is to be thankful. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm pregnant or what - but I have been missing home a lot recently. When I start missing home, I can quickly go down a Woe-is-me path. I'll start thinking of all the things/people I miss. My eyes and heart get set on the wrong thing. And being thankful goes out the window.
So I have decided to be thankful and to remember to be thankful!

One thing I am so thankful for here in Nicaragua is that I get to work with my husband. Back home, we had very different schedules. We could go days without really seeing each other. Here I get to see him all the time, even throughout the day! It's been such a great blessing, that I am so very thankful for! I know it might not always be this way. So I am grateful for our time we have together right now.

Here's a cute pic of him!

The Big News

So, as most of you know, but some may not. David and I have big news! We found out for sure last Thursday, that we are going to have a baby! We are so very excited!

Here's a picture of the home pregnancy test- two lines means your pregnant!

I'm sure you have a bajillion questions! So did I. I'll try to answer some of them!

-We are going to have the baby here. We met with the doctor on Thursday and he is so nice, well educated and works in the nicest hospital in Managua. Many of the other missionaries here have had him deliver their baby. We totally trust him!

-I am about 10 and half weeks pregnant!

-I have been feeling sick off and on, but nothing too bad! Right now I crave Taco Bell - but I don'tknow if that's a pregnancy thing. I always want Taco Bell!

-The due date is May 4th. We will have the baby and then be able to come home for the summer at the beginning of June. So we can see all ya'll!

That's all I can think of right now, but feel free to ask anything else!

We love and miss you!

The New David

We've had a fun weekend! I went to buy paint yesterday to paint our fun little apartment, we got to see a movie, and eat a yummy meal! This morning we went to church and had a wonderful time worshipping and hearing the message. The speaker (the pastor was visiting the States) spoke about sanctification. It was a blessing to hear. One of the things he talked about was his ministry. He works with youth- many in gangs- in a real rough barrio close to Managua. He spoke about being blessed by being around the "unsaved". It really challenged me to continue to meet more Nicaraguans and share in their life. It was also an encouragement to me - because I know that while he is out doing his ministry - his sons are at NCA- being taught by David.
And finally a picture of David's new beard. I love it! What do you think?

Blogspot!

Our blog is driving me a bit crazy! I've posted a few blogs, but they won't go through! We're alive and doing well! Hopefully, I'll figure it out soon!

Long Time, No Blog

Hi friends-
Sorry for the hiatus, we've been a bit busy and a bit under the weather. We're feeling mostly better now - so don't worry.
Tonight, David and I went to meet with some Nicaraguan college students. They are a group kind of like our 20's group back home - so it was fun to be there. David and I shared about our experience in East Asia. It was good to talk and remember a lot of the reasons of why we went there and why we are here as well. I really feel like the Lord used our time to refresh us and give us a good perspective.
This past week, we have been back to teaching. It's been good and hard, which seems to be a theme here for us. I would expand on that thought, but I'm tired and must sleep! :)
We miss you all!

San Juan del Sur

We had a some time off this weekend because of Nicaraguan Independence Day. We definitely made good use of our time off! Some other teachers invited us to go to San Juan del Sur, a cute beach town south of Managua. We were blessed to stay in a nice house for real cheap! We read, hung out, played games, and rested! I didn't realize how tired I was until I finally stopped! We are so thankful to have the time off and now are ready to get back to work!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

The view from the house we stayed in.

We tried to catch the gorgeous sunset, but missed it!

Us and some of the other teachers.

And of course, a classic picture of me,

The Rainy Season

This is the rain today. At my old school in Dallas, I had to deal with some kids from crazy homes. Because of that, their behavior was not always the best (chair throwing, cussing, etc!) I would have to stop teaching and deal with the beahvior issue. I don't really have that problem here - but I do have 'the rain'. You would think, rain? Not a big deal. OHHHHHH, but you are wrong. It rains so hard for so long. The roofs are tin, so I have to yell to be heard. It's a bit of chaos! The roof leaks! And today, 4 of these gross, nasty centipede things decided to come in the front door. Just so we are clear - centipedes are gross! (they are in the pink cup in the video)
So instead of trying to yell at the top of my lungs, we just did centers. Praise the Lord for centers!
Here are few pics of my kids doing centers:

The Nica Corn Dance

This is Katherine and Julie. Katherine is way sweet. She says , "What?" after everything I say because she doesn't quite know what I'm saying. Julie is a cool Korean girl that can speak Spanish and Korean. Isn't that cool??? She knows almost no English, but she can speak Spanish. So I speak Spanish (Spanish that I'm translating to English in my head) and she listens to Spanish (which she is translating to Korean in her head) Weird, huh? Needless to say, sometimes we don't quite understand each other!

Aren't they so cute!?!?

This is for Sami

Recently our super good, cool, awesome friends - Jon and Sami- have told us that they are coming to visit us in November!! We are beyond excited. So excited, that I have to not think about it much or I would never stop jumping up and down.

If you know anything about Sami - you know she loves mint chocolate chip ice cream and she tries to eat it on any trip they take. Well I found the most wonderful mint chocolate ice cream bar. It really is so good, I inhaled it in about 3 seconds. So when Sami comes, I will definitely stock up!

P.S. I think all of our friends are cool and awesome!

A post with no pictures

Our camera is acting funny, so I can't upload our pictures. (I think it's called uploading - I really don't know the difference between upload and download?!)
Today David played in his first official Nicaraguan soccer game and he did really good! He will probably disagree with you - but don't listen to him - he wasn't watching himself! His team played against 2 other teams entirely filled with Nicas. Nicas are really fast and pretty darn good at futbol. But David's team (some Nicas, some Americans) beat the first team! The second game they lost, but only 1-2.
It was a fun, long day- which we ended with making dinner with some friends!

One of those days

I woke up this morning feeling kind of blah. Every once in a while, I get a little homesick and just feel disconnected. I miss home and friends and family. I came home early from school and took a nap. I felt better until taking a shower and all the power went out! :( This is me trying to brown some meat with only a candle to see by!

David promised the lights would turn on soon and he was right! Not 5 minutes later they did come back on!

Days like this are hard, but we are praying for the Lord to refine us and mature us. We want our joy to not be dependent on circumstances, but upon who He is! Easy for me to say, hard for me to live by -at times.

Things I love

We are forutnate to have a lot of American products here. But there are a few things here that are different, but I think are way cooler. They are (in no particular order)

This is how Nicaragua does dish soap. I haven't seen Dawn or Joy, but who needs it, when your soap can come in this cool container. We don't have hot water here and this stuff seems to clean things super good. I'm a fan.

Bug spray in general is wonderful and this is not just Nicaraguan, but this stuff can save my life and ankles many-a-days.

Chiky's are these wonderful cookie things. They are like heaven in cookie form. I could eat the whole package in one sitting - don't worry though I don't!

Milk in a bag - enough said.

Meet Paolo and Steven

This is Paolo (left) and Steven.Paolo is a gentle spirit. He wants to please, he's kind and has a great soft smile. Paolo is a great friend to all his classmates. He's one of those kids that is just all around great. Steven, on the other hand, is crazy! Not crazy, in a bad way. Just so excited, so hyper, so not-listening-to-me ever. Steven will be in line one minute and the next second he will be climbing a tree dragging some poor innocent girl with him. He screams probably once every 7 minutes. I have said to him, "CALM DOWN" so much that I overheard him saying it to another student - he has no idea what that means because his English is not very good!

These two kids are so different, but I love them both. I love Paolo because of his meek, gentle spirit. I love Steven because he loves life and lives it to the full. They are both cool kids.

We have coming up Nicaraguan Independence Day. At our school, they celebrate this big time. I mean BIG time! David and I are learning a traditional Nica dance about corn - they'll be pictues later! My kids are also learning a corn-Nica-traditional dance. It is one of the funniest things I've seen. The boys are going to have pretend machete's, so right now they are practicing with rulers. Giving 6 and 7 year old boys pretend machete's is not the best idea. Instead of dancing they act like they are cutting off each other's heads.

Here is a video of they boys dancing. If you look closely you can see Steven in the far back not dancing, just turning in circles!

Our blessings

We are still figuring out life out here in Nicaragua. There are quite a few things that we still are learning about. One of them being -how to pay bills. We get our water bill and electricty bill just laying on our table. How it got there? I'm not quite sure! But anyhow, you can't pay them on line, we are gone most of the day, so we can't go to ask the office how to pay it. So we were stuck!

We eventually figured we'd just do our best. So we gave some money and hoped it would cover the bill. Come to find out our school is beyond fantastic! The apartment complex overcharged us -which again how would we know! So the school (and many other people) fought for the apartment complex to lower the bill. And they did!! (The lowered it about $10) When do you ever hear that happening?!?

Also our shower head (Widow maker) has not been working - so we've been taking cold showers for a month. David mentioned it to one of the school employees and guess what!? He is helping us get a new one!

We are beyond blessed to be in a place with SO many people willing and desiring to help us! They show us how to be true servants.

Our Night

We have been really blessed to come into a fantastic community here in Nicaragua! There is a great sense of fellowship, genuine care, and respect for others. We have met tons of people here. Some of them are in ministry, some of them have normal jobs, some are with a non-profit organization. Some are from a conservative background, some are from a more charismatic background. Somehow, the Lord has blessed this group of people with unity and it's really cool to see and be apart of.

Tonight we hung out with a lot of these people and did this!

This is our friend Rebecca hitting a pinata!

And now, this is what David and I are doing!

He's sleeping -because he's bone tired and I'm bloggin! :)

One of my greatest loves. . .

is fans here! I love them! It is absolutely wonderful here when you have a cool breeze and fans going! But sometimes the power goes out - like today for about 3 hours and the fans do this:

That's my fan motionless. It was a bit sad and I was even more sad when my kids where cranky, hot and not listening!

But have no fear, it eventually came back on!

Nasty Feet

Nicaragua is great! We really do love it here, but there are some things that take some getting used to. One of them being - my feet are almost always disgusting. It's too hot to wear anything but sandals, so my feet are always in contact with the elements! We are in the rainy season right now, but apparently in the dry season it is really, really dry and dusty. If my feet are nasty now, I can't imagine what they will look like then!

Everyday when I come home from school, my feet have dirt, dust and mosquito bites all over them. I have to wash them when I come home and then again right before I go to bed. I don't know about you, but going to bed with dirty feet is close to terrible!

Check it out.

2 posts in one!

Well, our first week of school is over! This week has been both great and also hard! For me (Kristina) 1st grade has been pretty good, not too different than kindergarten! The hard things are the lack of English my students have and just the difference in Nica and American culture. I spent most of the week repeating myself extremely slowly (with hand motions) so they would understand what I was asking! I also had to learn how laid back the Nica culture is, even in school. The concept of students walking in a line is not the norm here. Oh, but it will be in 1st grade!!!

David's week was a bit exhausting! He is teaching 2 classes of Economics, 2 classes of Geography and 1 Bible Ethics class. He loves the Economics and Bible class; the Geography is bit less exciting. He's got some awesome students and then some students that test him. The first week/year of teaching is always trying, and it's not different here in Nicaragua!
You can pray for us to have strength, patience, joy and endurance to get everything done (plans, making test, interacting with students, teaching in the heat, etc.). Also pray for us to have a deep love for our students.

Here's a pic of David on Friday after his last class!! It's sums up how we were feeling! ( I don't know how to turn the picture yet)

Tonight, we got to celebrate a new teacher's birthday! Apparently, for all birthdays the teachers go to TGIFriday's. So, it was super fun to have yummy American food. Here is the birthday girl, Melissa, and another teacher, Joel.

And here is David and I eating a delicous chocolate, heavenly dessert! :)

Looking at this picture, I feel like I look a bit sweaty, so please don't judge me - it's hot here!