In the swing of things

Remember when I said I would try to write twice a month? Yeah, well that's not going as planned, so... my apologies. Y'all deserve better! I will try to do better, but you might need to practice forgiving me like Jesus said "seventy times seven", because I might slip again. :)

We've already had our first spelling competition here at CICS (which Joel won from my group), and that means a third of the year has already passed. Add to that the month I was in Guatemala, and it's been a while since I've been home! However, my siblings coming to visit a couple weeks ago, the prospect of future visitors (shout out to Jason, Randall, Andrea, Duane, Mary, James, and Alverda!), combined with a busy schedule doesn't allow me to sit around and moan a lot.

School is going well, albeit more stressful than last year. Seems after the newness wears off, you start to see more things below the surface. Which is better than never seeing those problems at all because then you can work on them, but it makes for more restless nights thinking about what can be done.

I'll just tell you about one of the deaf children who has been on my mind a lot lately--Carlos. At sixteen years old, some of his ways are already pretty engrained in him, but there is still so much to be done. He has various behavior problems, but probably his biggest issue is lack of respect for others and this is shown through various ways, but usually through doing things his way or not at all. On the outside he is all that he should be. He knows all the right words to say, but most of that is just a facade to get what he wants.

I've been trying to show him love in any way I can, regardless of how he treats me. Things like making sure I shake his hand every morning and give him a hug with a smile. Or helping him with some small chores in the afternoon. I want to show him and point him to God's love who loves everyone with a love that we can't comprehend.

I realize though, that most of the work will need to be done by God. All I can do is sow the seed and God will make it grow, if Carlos allows it. Please pray for wisdom for me and also for his teacher, Matthias, and for the rest of the staff. Pray especially for Carlos that he would be able to give up whatever is holding him back and surrender everything to Christ.

Carlos loves challenges, and this puzzle ball sure is one!

As far as regular school goes, it's been moving right along. Sometimes not very straight or fast, but "moving along" just the same. :) A lot of the direction and speed depends on my students which can vary day by day, but keeps life interesting. Miguel, one of my precious little chaps is the one who most often gets into trouble, but I can't help but love him in spite of his best efforts at being bad.

Joel is constantly surprising me with his intelligence. He loves pleasing people and that includes getting good grades. He gets very depressed when he gets a lot wrong on a lesson, and I have to constantly remind him that mistakes are fine as long as you learn from them. If he keeps learning with this attitude and desire, he will go far.

Jairo is also learning and quite intelligent as well--if he wants to. He tends to view school as a game and a good time. Although those things are included, I have to constantly remind him to focus and do his best like I know he can. He has come far, but still has much to learn.

Miguel, like I said before, is a special little chap. I love him to bits, in spite of his constant infractions of pretty much every rule in the book. Patience is the key with him, but there are many days when I seem to be running on fumes. However, I have been surprised by him as well. Like the one day when he wrote the numbers 1 to 15 perfectly with no help! Or the day he got a better score in his math lesson than Jairo (and it was the exact same math lesson)! When that happens I love seeing his reaction to my mouth hanging wide open and exclaiming wildly about the earth-shattering event that just happened. His delighted giggle is just the best sound ever!

Sometimes I call my class of Joel, Jairo, and Miguel the "class of the locos", because that's honestly how it seems sometimes. But it's very entertaining sometimes as well. As clearly shown by the video below. I told them to act crazy for a bit. And they sure did their best impression! :)

I do my best with the children that have been entrusted to me, but many times I have to wonder if I'm doing it right. They need to learn academics, sure, but the main thing is not about academics at all. The main goal is for all of them to have a personal relationship with Jesus. And I want to be used in whatever way God needs me to accomplish that end. I know I can't do it on my own... So pray for me that I could have wisdom. I was reading in Proverbs the other day. In Proverbs 4:7, it says "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." My prayer is just that. That I could have wisdom. So pray for me when you think about it that God could give me wisdom, and maybe even some patience and humbleness to go along with it.

Joel grins at the camera instead of working, but what a lovely smile!

I will write perfectly on the lines, or else...

We had an "American" breakfast one morning. My siblings brought bacon
for me, so we made pancakes, bacon, sausages, and omelets. Elmer liked
it but he still had to have tortillas with it, so he heated some up! :)

All my kids love looking through this new book that was sent down for me!

Because math is always cooler with shades...

The first place (Joel) and second place (Jairo) winners of the competition
for my group.

Román and Antony enjoy some time blowing bubbles.

Not sure what they're making, but they're having fun!

The macho men! (with cute little cat markings on their faces) :)

Siblings time

I got my first visitors of the year last week, and boy were they great! The eight days that my siblings were here flew by! I'll try my best to describe some our adventures, even though it won't do justice...

On Monday, Elmer, Carlos, Miguel, and I went and brought them from the airport. The four of us hadn't eaten supper yet so we stopped in at Pollo Campero on the way home from the airport. Little Miguel was very bashful at first, even hiding behind me and peeking out just enough to be able to see. However, as is usually the case, he couldn't stay away very long, and it was only a matter of time before him and Gideon were having a high time in the back of the van!

Something funny is happening here--not sure what.

The first two full days they were here didn't afford much time for relaxation, due to dentist, yes DENTIST visits. Since dental work here is about ten times cheaper than the states ($12 per tooth for cavities, for example!) and due to some "incentives", we decided to use up our two first afternoons at the dentist office. It took some time, but we were glad it could get done while they were here.

Poor Aaron...

One of the main things we wanted to get done (besides the dental work, of course) was install a new trampoline! All the kids, especially the smaller ones, could hardly wait till my siblings came for that reason. Miguel, in particular, would remind me almost every day: "April 20 trampoline!". And just to make that sink in a little: Miguel has a hard time remembering anything. The fact that he remembered the day and the month and what would happen that particular day meant it was something truly spectacular and once-in-a-lifetime to him!

Anyway, so Aaron and Gideon worked very hard for a couple days in 90 degree weather, no less, digging a hole in which to set the trampoline, and then installing it. And they always had eager onlookers giving them encouragement and even helping sometimes. :) We still enjoy the trampoline immensely now that we've had it for a several days. It's a great place to spend excess energy (not that I have excess energy, but some others do). Thank you so much to all of you who helped with purchasing it. May God bless you!

Gideon and Aaron hard at work!

Everyone wanted to help at least a little bit!

Joel and Jairo are happy to help Gideon
bolt the frame together.

Apparently shades help you work faster. Just ask Miguel...

And speaking of new things... I received lots and lots of goodies that were sent by various friends. Thanks to all of you for your thoughtfulness. My snack drawer is now refilled to say the least! (Plus another few boxes under my bed) :)

For the weekend, Aaron, Lydia, Gideon, and I went to the guest house for Friday night where went out to eat, played games, and had some very hilarious conversations. I realized just how much I'm missing at home during that weekend. Aaron and Gideon would talk and debate about the weirdest topics while Lydia and I could hardly do more than just laugh and say "oh, wow". Sometimes I wondered if Aaron just puts words together randomly in a sentence and hopes it makes sense. :) Whatever the case, we had a very good time.

Laughing at Aaron's craziness I'm pretty sure...

The culprit.

We traveled on Saturday from the guest house to Costa del Sol, a beach about an hour and a half away, where we again talked, swam, rode the waves, took pictures, etc. But before we knew it, the weekend was already over and we had to go home.

The remaining days before Tuesday morning were spent basically enjoying everything to the maximum--playing with the kids, jumping on the trampoline, mango hunting, sight-seeing, playing games, talking, etc.

Then there was the inevitable--taking them to the airport again. Not my favorite part... But I am thankful for the short time I did have with them. God has given me a great family and I am thankful to have people in my life that I miss a lot.

On the way back from mango picking. We weren't very
successful, but we had fun!

Two of Lydia's new found friends, Teresa and Beatriz. And Antony is
doing not sure what in the background.

Which one is cuter? (sorry Aaron)

Gideon oblivious to the fighting going on behind him.

Ana came to school just so she could meet Lydia. They are only 5 days apart in
age. Ana knew Lydia was her age, but she was never able to meet her until now.

Bro pic.

How does Antony manage to be in all these pictures?

Pupusas--it's what's for dinner. After the dentist visit.

On the way to the tienda to buy some snacks with the
paparazzi in tow.

My poor kids could hardly pay attention in class. I wonder why...

Aaron must have said something. 

Photographer in training. Don't drop that Miguel!

A friendly game of Old Maid with memory cards.

Tailgate ice cream party.

Lydia and Silvia. 

A Nicaraguan travel experience

The title of this post might be a bit boring, but I spent enough time already thinking of a better one, so that's it!

The adventures I am talking about are our experiences traveling to Waslala, Nicaragua for a Central American teacher's conference/get-together. Namely:

• BAD ROADS
• Beautiful scenery
• Border issues
• Police officers that liked to chat
• Interesting topics at the conference

You might notice I put BAD ROADS in all caps. Must've hit caps-lock by mistake. Whoops my bad! 

Actually, the roads were actually nice for most of the way (excluding a stretch of holy highway in Honduras) until we got to the last 25-30 kilometers around Waslala where the pavement stopped. Admittedly, the ride would have been smoother if the driver (me) would have driven slower, but where's the fun in that! And since I was with two other vans, I wanted to keep up with the lead vehicle which happened to have a pretty crazy driver also (Alvino). Each time we went over a major bump you could hear the luggage bounce up and down in the back, and inevitably Lidia would giggle about that for some reason. It was really funny to hear the sequence "brake...bump...jounce, jounce...haha" (repeat several times to get the full effect)

Be that as it may, the road we took led us through some amazing scenery: the huge, verdant rice fields and blue mountains of Nicaragua; the rugged, rocky terrain of Honduras; and the winding, tree-lined roads of outer El Salvador. It made the 17+ hours it took to reach our destination seem less monotonous.

Beautiful Nicaraguan rice fields. Seriously breathtaking!

We stopped to take a picture along a particularly pretty mountain range.
Left to right: Paty, Lidia, Maria Eva, Melody, Verónica, Samuel, Elmer

Occasionally (twice to be exact), the monotony was also broken up by police officers in Nicaragua that really wanted donations. Foreigners in Central American countries make for easy targets, so sometimes you get pulled over for the tiniest of infractions in the hopes of getting a hunk of cash from someone who doesn't know better. Fortunately for us, though, we had Alvino who was very familiar with the culture and knew exactly how these things worked. Of the total of $350 they wanted in fines, they were only able to extract $20. After that, I made sure to be more careful to pass only on dotted lines or when there were no policemen around.

And just when we thought we might finally have a trouble-free trip to our destination, we got hung up at the Nicaraguan border. Due to a law that had just been enacted, we were only allowed to take one of our vans into Nicaragua (we had three). So after much haggling, it seemed we might have to go home again, or go by bus and leave our vans--neither of which seemed like a very attractive option. However thanks to God answering prayers and, again, the expertise of Alvino, we were able to talk to the big cheese of the border agency and convince her to let us pass just this once.

Just enjoying lunch time while waiting for our border issues to get resolved.
Left to right: Verónica, Lidia, Paty, Elmer, Samuel, Maria Eva, Melody

Boy, were we ever glad to finally go under this sign after all the issues!

We finally arrived, safe and sound thanks to God's protection and answered prayers, at the clinic in Waslala, Nicaragua where the conference was held on Tuesday evening. Tired and hungry, we quickly ate food that some kind souls had saved for us and sought a place to lay down. The girls and boys each had a house to stay in, but due to a lack of mattresses, Elmer and I and three others got to sleep in a motel the first night. One of the best nights of sleep I ever had!

Wednesday and Thursday were packed full of sessions where we learned about classroom discipline, teaching mathematics and drawing, financial topics, etc., which Mary, Melody, and I took turns translating into sign language so Elmer and Verónica could also follow along. Honestly some of the topics didn't really apply to deaf classrooms, but we still learned some very good things. One of the ideas I got was to maybe have some kind of garden for my children. There's nothing like nature to capture the imagination of a child. Plus it affords tons of teaching opportunities. We also got to meet many other teachers from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

The clinic close to Waslala, where the conference was held.

On Friday, the ones that stayed around after the conference was over, went on a nature excursion with Pablo Yoder (the one that wrote The Work of Thy Fingers). We hiked for a while through the woods, saw some monkeys, birds, and other wildlife, ending up at a sizable waterfall. At the beginning of the hike Pablo had made a pact with two other men that they would do whatever he did, so when we came to the falls, Pablo scrambled up the rocks and stood directly beneath the torrent of water! Of course the two men followed suit, not wanting to go back on their word. Some other people including ourselves tried it as well. The cold water was like a masseuse pounding on my back due to the 20+ foot drop.

Part of our picturesque hike...

The water felt sooo good after a good, long hike!

Left to right: Samuel, Elmer, Melody, Verónica

At the end of our hike we were greeted with an even greater spectacle--a live sloth! Sure it was ugly, but it was still amazing to see one in its natural habitat. Pablo showed it around by lifting it by the hair on its back, careful to avoid the dangerous, flailing claws. The sloth might seem to be a stupid creature, but let it sink one of those razor sharp claws into your flesh, and next thing you know you will need to go to the hospital to get the claw removed even if you manage to kill it.

A real, live sloth straight from the woods!

Pablo explained that the sloth is a very slow creature and it takes its time to do everything, including using the bathroom. It does its business only once every weeks! The sloth we saw had a ring of green around its neck, which was said to be algae. Apparently they are so slow at getting around that the algae grows on their bodies!

On Friday night, we traveled further into the town of Waslala to buy fabric from Pablo Yoder's store. Afterwards, we played some volleyball until dark and ate supper nearby. By eight or nine that evening we were ready to get some sleep, knowing that we needed to get up at three o' clock the next morning to head out.

But get up we did! We started that early in order to get home around three or four that afternoon, but God had other plans. Due to radiator trouble on one of the vans, and some slow going, we were FINALLY able to see our lane at 9:30 that night for a total of 18 1/2 hours on the road! The other two vans got home even later (midnight) because of the radiator finally giving out and having to tow the problematic van all the way home from about the border of El Salvador. However, in spite of some hiccups, we were all very thankful to God for giving us safe travels, and for all the new things we had learned.

For me, it was an experience that I probably won't readily do again soon, but it was still something very worthwhile!

Us being...us. Left to right: Lidia, Melody, Paty,
Elmer, Maria Eva, Verónica

We even got a tour of the clinic!

Pablo Yoder leading a discussion on having gardens as
a part of school.

Paty, singing fervently with her eyes closed, while Mary
and Verónica have some fun. Everyone else was sleeping.