Life Lately

It has been awhile since we did a life lately post.  Here is a look at our life in Nicaragua over the past couple of months.  We hope that you enjoy!

Our lovely cat Brisa was lounging one day in the windowsill.  The month of August was tough for her as we were taking care of a friend’s kitten and let’s just say that this one hissed all month long.

This is the sweet kitten Niko that we have been taking care of.  He enjoyed smelling the big sunflowers that Kevin brought to freshen up our house.

Lately, I have been sewing up a storm and recently taught my friend Carmen how to sew.  She picked it up quickly and made a quilt in just a couple of hours!

This Saturday we will finish our semester’s class, the Culture of Peace.  This has probably been our best class yet – improved Spanish helps, but so do dedicated and motivated students.  We have our last class this Saturday at our house.  This has been a “tradition” of ours.  While we usually make a big breakfast, the students said that they are bringing the meal this time.  The only thing that we have to do is make brownies (great deal on our end).

Most Minneapolis folks have packed meals at Feed My Starving Children.  While the organizational name is not my favorite, the work that they do is.  While in La Concha, I came across a friend making a serving.

We made a weekend visit out to La Concha to see our friends.  Pictured above are Alison and I out on a beautiful afternoon’s hike, one filled with lagoons, volcanoes, birds and forests.

On a day off of work, I invited some of my Accion Medica Cristiana co-workers over.  We had coffee and dessert and enjoyed playing some games.  They are such wonderful ladies, that we want to hang out when we are not at work!

We headed up to Esteli to visit our friends and were able to stop in and see Jesuah again.  Jesuah was born six months ago, but due to medical complications was unable to leave the hospital.  His parents and extended family stayed with us for a couple of weeks, while he was in the hospital fighting for his life.  Today he is a happy and healthy boy, thanks to God!

We recently had a BINGO night at our house with the neighborhood kids.  We had not played BINGO since Christmas and they were very excited to play again, especially because they could win their favorite cookies for a prize.

Solkey was disappointed because she was not winning.  (She later won!)

This was a great activity for both younger and older kids, something that we often have difficulty with.  We had young 3 year olds playing (with help) and 15 year olds as well.

My neighbor ladies and I took an afternoon to go and visit Catarina, a beautiful spot just an hour from our home.  While it is quite close and I have been there ten-ish times, they had never been before.  We had a fun afternoon together.

We said “good-bye” to the one-year MCC workers.  We miss you Hans, Allison and Stacey!

We celebrated our friend Eduardo’s 15th birthday at the beach.  It was a fun couple of days with our lovely Nicaraguan friends.  These people have been so good to us!

And to finish off this post, the lovely Aleesia.  We had fun swimming in the pool while celebrating Eduardo’s birthday.  This little girl is just the best!