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.