Critters - crispy and otherwise!

Wow, what a beautiful morning we have here in Managua. It is relatively cool here with a slight breeze. Living higher up than the city, we catch a bit more wind which helps keep us cooler. We had a unbelievable thunderstorm last night with two lightening strikes hitting very close some-time shortly after 3:00 a.m. We think a tower up the hill behind our house might possibly have been struck. There was an explosion of both sound and light at the same time with one strike quickly following the other and close enough to light up our bedroom, shake our house and provide enough incentive for Roberto, our night guard, to seek refuge in our living room! Even the iguanas quit their cavorting...or maybe God's majestic display of His power was enough for us to no longer notice their scrambling about.

They tend to always be active but seem to make more noise at night - possibly it's because the noise of daily living has quieted down so their activity seems louder. We have a place in our ceiling in our bathroom where part of the plaster is missing and there are just little slats that show. Every day, all throughout the day, we get a fine dusting of dirt sifting down on our sink area...when the iguanas are more active, the dusting gets to be chunkier. I've been asking God to keep those slats firmly in place...I don't relish the thought of sharing my bathroom with an uninvited iguana!

We're learning a whole new way to live with critters. We have a pair of blue jays which attack their reflection in our car all day long...Hey, Verdayne, I'm wondering if there's any kind of insurance against this vandalism? These blue jays resemble ours in the states but are larger, with a longer tail and a top knot that resembles the "flag" on a quail's head. Although they differ somewhat in appearance, their personalities appear to be just the same...pesky!

We also have bats which come out every evening at dusk and fly around the front of our house. They are a bit startling at first, but are more than welcome as I know they help to keep the insect population down a bit, especially the mosquitoes. Since the rains have come, the mosquitos have increased as have another type of annoying flying ant-like insect...it makes an appearance every night and the only ones glad to see these things are the resident geckos...and they LOVE them! It's really pretty entertaining watching them go after them as they light on the walls. I tried to help the geckos out by taking a fly swatter and killing about a jillion of the flying things but I guess the geckos like to get their own "plates" - they didn't touch the ones I had killed.

I can't imagine how many bugs we would have without the geckos and the bats. I do think they must have some sort of treaty though with the 2" long cockroaches. I hate those things and I consider it a good day each morning when I arise and find several of them lying tummy up! We also have an endless supply of ants - all sizes and all colors. We have teeny, tiny little ants they call sugar ants, huge black ants and super-charged red ants that race all over the place...none are welcome but haven't seemed to take the hint.

Last night the fireflys made their appearance on a grand scale. Jim described it perfectly when he said the bushes and trees all looked like they were adorned with Christmas lights...the twinkling was breathtaking and it made me think of being a child on a summer's evening. I know our grandchildren would have loved the "catch and release" opportunity and their folks would have appreciated the sheer beauty of it all. It made me smile to see it and it made me tender to think how God would bless me with such a moment to touch my heart. Last night, we got to experience both the gentle beauty of God's creation and then be reminded of the enormity of His power (although be it still restrained) with the thunderstorm a few hours later.

One more story to share this morning. Right after we moved in to our house, before the rains came, I was in the front bedroom getting ready to iron my shirt for the day...ironing is a necessity, now. My iron is a steam iron and that morning, it was spitting and sputtering steam like crazy. I just figured it was because it's a cheap iron. I had almost placed the iron down on my t-shirt when all of a sudden, this huge burst of steam came out and a wad of something came flying out of one of the iron's steam vents. I thought it was gum and wondered how in the world gum could have gotten inside my iron. There were big streaks of what I thought was water all over my t-shirt. On closer inspection of the wad, I discovered it was a baby gecko! Evidently, it had crawled in to one of the iron's steam vents to hide or else in search of water. Unfortunately, it didn't survive it's "hot tub" experience. And the supposed water that was all over my shirt? Well, needless to say, it wasn't water and I had to pick a different shirt to wear. Thankfully, my shirt came clean and so far there haven't been any more boiled geckos making an appearance on my ironing board!

We're starting to get a bit more settled and will soon be looking for a language tutor. I've discovered there's a re-nutrition center not far from our home so I will be trying to find out more about it in the next few weeks. We're still not sure why God has brought us here but here we are and we're praying we will be sensitive to the next step He puts before us. We've been given directions by many who are far more experienced and wiser than we that we need to take a bit of time to adjust to this new way of life before we jump in to things with both feet. I'm not good at waiting...perhaps that's why God brought us here 'cause that seems to be how all of life is here in Nicaragua...waiting for something, someone, someday.

Well, time to get on with our day. I want to get our sheets washed and hung out before the sun gets overhead. If I wait too late in the morning, it's miserable standing out there at the line for even more than a few minutes.

Remembering all of you in our conversations and our prayers. Until next time.