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!