Dedication Day...

I should be finishing up packing but thought I would get this written really quickly. We have to get up at 3:30 in the morning as Susanna is picking us up at 4:30 to get us to the airport for our flight back to the States. I’m not looking forward to the alarm going off that early…I just am not a 3:30-in-the-morning kind of gal! But knowing the payoff at the end of the day is going to be seeing Mandy, Jack and the kids waiting for us at the Tulsa airport makes it all worthwhile! It’s a short trip (2 weeks) but we plan on enjoying every moment we get to spend with our families and friends.

Wanted to give you a brief update on the addition at Danelia’s…it’s not quite finished but it does have walls, floor and a roof so we’re now on the downhill side. We were hoping it would be done by now but the torrential rains that we’ve had the last month has really hampered the building process. The bathroom and septic still need to be finished and the doors and windows need to be installed. There are some other things that we would need to get done but it shouldn’t be long before the kids are actually able to use it for their classroom.

Dedication Day...about an hour before the service began

We had a dedication service on Saturday and invited the neighborhood. It was a hot day and folks were slow to come out but we ended up with over 50 people in attendance. We had hoped for more than that but several of the Zona Francas were working that day and that meant that a lot of the parents were working which also meant that kids were on their own…a good reminder of why we’re doing what we’re doing there.

Jennifer reciting a poem about Nicaragua

Danelia planned the program and the kids sang, danced and others shared their talents. A local pastor came and had a short service and the vice mayor of the city came and gave a speech of support for what we’re doing there. She is the one who waived all the government permits for us so that we didn’t have to get bogged down in the process of trying to get the building erected. I was so leery of that at the time just knowing how this government functions, but she has held true to her word and has allowed all the work to continue. She was Danelia’s first grade teacher so I’m sure that helped sway her to decide to help us with this. Both the pastor and the vice mayor expressed their appreciation for us “investing” in that little barrio and the people who live there…it’s not a high-profile place, that’s for sure.

The pastor thanking God for His blessings

There were others who spoke, and other entertainment. One of the ladies told me that she played the flauta (flute). When she told me that, I was really surprised as I just couldn’t picture someone in that neighborhood having access to a flute or access to music lessons. She told me that she used to be a Catholic and that their church at the time had a woman who taught her how to play. I asked her if it was difficult to learn and she told me it was. She said she wished she had more time to practice but because she normally works 6 days a week (she had taken that day off for the celebration), she just doesn’t have much time to play.

As she spoke, I just kept picturing my friend, Jo Ellen who always mesmerizes me with her flute playing. Well, a little bit later, Danelia invited this lady to come up front and as she walked, I was excitedly anticipating the music I imagined I would hear. She turned around and it took me a second to realize that what she held in her hand was not a beautiful silver flute but rather, a cream colored plastic flutophone…like the kind that so many children play in elementary school. I realized that was the “flauta” that she was about to play.

I am ashamed to say that my expectations for beautiful music weren’t very high at that point. But God is still faithful to put me in my place when I so desperately need it and that moment was no different. As she began to play, she played each note very deliberately and separately but shortly after beginning to play, the most magical sound began to come from that little piece of plastic and by the time she was finished, I was ready to throw roses and shout encore! True, she wasn’t at all close to being on the same level as Jo Ellen and her silver flute but God obviously did something to that music between the time the note was blown and the time it reached my ears because what my ears heard was some very beautiful music. And now…I’m ready to try to add a music “class” to the curriculum at the school. I can just see 25 little flautists flutophoning away and calming the savage beast in all of us!

After the ceremony, Danelia served everyone a late lunch of vigarón…boiled yucca, shredded cabbage, tomates, chiles, vinegar and salt and chicharrón…fried pork rinds…real ones. This is a traditional Nicaraguan dish and is typically eaten with the fingers. Not only am I not a 3:30-in-the-morning kind of gal, neither am I a pork rind aficianado. I have eaten this dish at Danelia’s before but just couldn’t do the pork rinds again…so I ate the rest of the food and thankfully, Susanna likes pork rinds, so she helped diminish the quantity of them that lay conspicuously off to one side of my plate.

All in all, it was a great day…a long one but a fun one. We would have liked to have the building completed for the celebration, but even though it wasn’t, there was plenty of hope and excitement for what God has planned for that neighborhood and we are so thankful to be part of what God is doing there.

I want to thank you for helping to make this dream become a reality whether you are supporting us with your funds or your prayers…both are necessary. Thank you for your giving to this project because you are building more than a concrete block structure…we believe you are laying the foundation for increasing God’s Kingdom in that barrio.

Well, I could sit and share so much with you but I need to finish packing and 3:30 is going to come early here. I hope my bedroom light will wake up the neighbor’s anemic rooster… it would be nice if I beat him to the punch for a change.

See many of you very soon!

Moving on...

Will we ever get to settle in one place? It looks as though we have a move on the horizon. I hate moving. I hate the process, working out the logistics and most of all, I hate the good-byes. I told some friends recently that I wondered if Sarah ever felt like this when Abraham had her pack up and move.

Moving always seems to involve loss and I guess I have to admit I’m a sore loser…especially when those kind of losses involve loved ones, friends and/or pets. This move will see us saying tearful good-byes to three of our employees, our cats and our dog. And that is such a painful thought that I can’t hardly bear to dwell upon it.

We will be leaving this house that I absolutely love and moving to a condominium in a gated community the first week of December. This is what I have absolutely not wanted to do but circumstances have been pushing us more and more in that direction until we feel that it is our best option at this time…and it’s not necessarily a good option on some levels.

Our next door neighbor has hired 24 hour security guards and they are from a professional guard service which means they are armed. This is the first guard they have had in the two years we have lived in this house. They have also moved their Rottweiler to the back yard so we’re assuming that they’ve had some sort of problem just recently.

Then, someone in the lot directly behind us decided to join the other two houses back there and began to construct a frame for a new house right up against our security wall. They built on a high place so that it would enable anyone to just be able to climb on their roof and they could easily just step over our concertina wire on top of the wall and jump down in to our yard or climb down the platano trees. That made us realize that our security wall was no longer quite so secure.

The empty lot across the road from us now has 24 hour security as well. It is owned by the bank and they have hired two guys to keep an eye on it and to keep squatters from settling there. The guards have put up a plastic lean-to type shelter and cook outside as well as use the great outdoors for their restroom facilities. Not a great view from our perspective and I’m not sure how it’s much different than when the squatters move in.

We’ve also been looking at our own guard situation. Our night guard is a nice man but he’s not at all dependable. Jim has caught him sleeping again and it is not that unusual for him to just not show up for work. It is so hard to find someone who is trustworthy and dependable. We hear stories all the time about folks who have either been robbed directly by their own security guards or they were complicit in allowing someone else to do the robbing.

Periodically, we try to assess how we’re doing economically and we have been talking about how we might be able to cut back on some of our expenses. All of the above things combined with this issue is what brought us to make this painful decision. We both asked some of our friends who we know are our great prayer warriors about their opinion on this and almost without a doubt, they came back with the same answer that we had already been coming back to time and again. We needed to move.

We talked about just trying to find another house but then we realized we would be facing pretty much the same issues that we have here. Security and financial. Even if we should find an impenetrable place, we would still be paying out an awful lot each month in wages and that wouldn’t help our budget any. We just kept coming back to this same place.

I love our view here and I love our house. It has been perfect for us. It is much cooler up here than down where the condo is and the neighborhood initially appears to be a bit better here…but it’s not staying that way. It’s a fairly quiet area most of the time but in the past year, we have had some acts of violence occur right just on the other side of our wall.

Our neighbors in the big house next door usually have an all-night party at least once a month. They had another big shebang Saturday night that lasted until about 5:00 Sunday morning. They had a DJ and a mariachi band. The amplifiers were turned all the way up and the music was so loud that we couldn’t even hear our tv or have a regular conversation. It actually made things in our house vibrate. We shut our bathroom and bedroom windows and turned all three fans on in our bedroom in the attempt to muffle the noise a bit but it didn’t help much. If that wasn’t bad enough, they began shooting off huge fireworks at 1:00 a.m. These were so loud that they literally shook our bed and lit up our bedroom! They must have set off at least two dozen of them. As I lay in bed, I thought that maybe moving wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world after all. Pulling all-nighters at our age isn’t much fun.

Now the down side of this decision…we will be losing three of our employees as we will no longer need our two guards or our gardener. This is where it starts to get really difficult. Night Felix has six children and although it’s true he’s not dependable and I don’t have complete confidence in him, I still feel badly that we will soon be putting him out of work.

But that doesn’t compare with how I feel about having to let Day Felix and Freddy go. These two Christian men are so dear to us. Freddy has been with us since shortly after we arrived. He’s so good to help us when we have something unusual we need him to do and we have helped his family a lot the last couple of years with everything from paying for medical situations to helping them with shoes and food. The only thing that gives me any peace at all is that I know Freddy is still working for Susann 2 days a week and for our old landlord 1 day a week. He’s a go-getter so I’m praying he will find work to take up the slack we will soon be imposing upon him.

The thought of letting Day Felix go is awful. He is so loyal and extremely trustworthy. He has been with us for a year and a half now and he is our go-to guy when we need to know or get something. He has helped us in so many respects and I consider him a friend as much as an employee. He has two little boys and he’s such a good daddy and husband. I am so worried about what will happen with Felix when we have to let him go…jobs are so hard to find. I am going to ask you to please pray for these people that God would bring even better employment opportunities for them so that they will continue to be able to provide for their families.

On top of having to tell our wonderful employees that they will soon be out of a job, we are also going to have to decide what to do with our pets. The cats were just tiny kittens when we moved here and their mother and brothers and sisters moved on a long time ago. These two boys, Skits and Snoops stayed around and adopted us. They are such good kitties, especially Skits, and I’m just not sure what to do with them. We could try to move them both to the condo but it’s in a much more populated area than where are now and right off a very busy road and I’m just not sure how they would acclimate. I had the thought of them getting out in the road and getting killed. Keeping them inside is not an option. Both have claws and both are used to being outside kitties. I am sure Skits would love to be inside but he would also want to have the freedom to be out when he wanted. The option of leaving them here is also not much of a choice. Even though Snoops will disappear for a few days at a time, he always comes back and is ready to be fed and that’s part of the worry…these cats are dependent on us to feed them.

Xander is another huge issue. What to do with him? We’re hoping that Day Felix might take him because Xander knows him and likes him…and Felix knows how to handle him. But we also know that Felix won’t and isn’t able to take care of Xander the way that we do…he will become a thin, mangy Nica dog and that breaks my heart. Plus, I have to confess that he’s just part of the family and is used to living well. He’s used to lots of hugs and pats, playing with his toys with us and chewing on his chew bones. That would all stop. But taking him with us is not feasible. There’s no way to make Xander a condo dog and there’s no yard to keep him in. Xander will have to go also.

All of that “letting them go” business is enough to make me sick at my stomach and sick in my heart. I just keep praying that God will give us a clear answer and clear assurance that they will all be okay but right now, I don’t know how that will happen.

So, all that being said…I hate the thought of moving! But, the place we’re going to move to is not all bad and we think we’ll be much more secure there. It has 24 hour guards and is a gated community. No one who doesn’t live there comes in without having to leave their ID at the guard house. It also has a security camera and guard dogs. There is a high wall that goes all around the complex. It is not a huge complex but is large enough that it will provide a nice, secure area to get out and walk in. We’re both excited about that prospect. We’ve not been able to do that without worry since we moved here. The complex also has a tennis court, a playground area and a swimming pool. Not sure that any of those pose much interest to us.

This complex is one that is one that doesn’t keep empty units for any length of time due to the security factor and the size of the condos. Most are pretty small here but in this complex, the units are a little larger. There are a lot of missionary families who live there. And most of them are young with small children so the noise factor will certainly be there but I don’t think it’s going to be as disturbing as the fireworks, gunshots and mortars that we hear on a regular basis now. In the small cul-de-sac type area where we will be living, there are also folks from Korea and there are Nicaraguans. The landlord does speak some English which Jim is happy to hear. Our next door neighbor on the attached side of the condo is a young couple with a two year old little boy and she is expecting another baby in a few months.

We are actually going to be moving in to a condo of some friends of ours who will be going back to the States. It is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath unit although the bedroom downstairs is used by them as more of an office area and I’m sure we’ll do the same. Their condo is a little different than the others in that they closed off an open area upstairs last year in order to make it into a small bedroom for their new baby girl. Although the condo does have more rooms than does our house here, the rooms are much smaller. Even so, I think we’ll be able to fit our furniture in it if we move a few things around a bit.

Downstairs on the ground level, is a small living room, the eat-in kitchen, the study/bedroom with a walk-in closet, a bathroom and a nice sized walled-in laundry area that has bars across the open roof area. Upstairs is an open area in the hallway and three bedrooms. The master bedroom is small but it has a built in wardrobe and its own bathroom. The spare bedroom also has a walk-in closet plus its own bathroom. The other room upstairs is the created bedroom…it’s a small room but is big enough for a twin bed and can also be used for storage if necessary. There is a small deck off the master bedroom that overlooks the parking area…not much view from any of the windows. That’s a real negative compared to where we are now. The yard is non-existent…just a small little patch of grass in front and there is no covered parking which will be miserable during the rainy season.

Our friends had bought 4 ceiling fans and installed them in various rooms in the house, including the kitchen and the living room and they also put in a small window air conditioner in the small room upstairs. They are going to sell all of those to us which will be nice to have. The two bedrooms upstairs also have built in window air conditioners that come with the condo. I think I’m more excited about the idea of a ceiling fan in the kitchen and living room than I am an a/c in the bedroom but I’m sure that will probably change this next March and April when it’s so hot here. The showers already have widow-makers in them so we’ll have hot water showers and not have to buy more widow makers. The kitchen is a little short on cabinets but my kitchen here is, too, so I’m sure I’ll manage with what I’ve got.

The plan right now is that our friends have to be out by November 30th and they are flying home just a few days after that. Because they have a team in during that week to help them get ready to leave, they will be staying their last few days with the team. We are hoping our landlady will let us stay for the first week of December and just let us prorate the rent. That would give the condo maintenance people time to clean and paint whatever needs to be painted (and with 4 kids, I’m sure there’s got to be some touching up to do) and give us time to move without trying to do it as a marathon event.

So, that’s what we’re looking at in the next few months. We’ve not said anything to our employees yet and won’t do so until the time is closer as we will need them to stay with us until it is time for us to go. Since the move won’t take place until the first week of December, we will be obligated to pay all of our employees their 13 month wage plus severance pay and holiday pay along with their regular pay. Believe me, that all adds up to a chunk of change! Adding that to the usual first month’s rent, last month’s rent and security deposit that the condo complex requires, this is a sobering thing to think about financially. We’re praying our current landlady will be honest enough to return our security deposit here to help a little with the expense on the other end but neither one of us have high hopes as she’s not honored her word in any other aspect of our dealings with her. Even with the expense we’ll be facing moving, Jim says we’ll still be better off in the long run. Although the condo’s rent is higher than here, what we’ll be saving each month in wages for the three fellows will make it a more sound financial move and that’s not even touching upon the peace of mind we’ll have for safety and security.

So, I know we’re going to be making the right move…it’s just not going to be an easy one. We would really appreciate it if you would please pray for timely jobs for our employees, good homes and protection for our pets and favor with our landlady so that we can make this move with causing the least amount of pain or hurt possible to anyone or anything else. We have some rough days ahead of us in the next few months once we begin making these decisions known. Thank you for your prayers.

We've begun!!!

WHOO-HOO!!! WE’VE BEGUN!!!! We broke ground last Monday morning for the new addition to Danelia’s and I don’t know that I’ve ever been so excited and energized by a muddy hole than I have been by this one! The heavy rains have made digging a challenge but the work crew we’ve hired is certainly up to the task. Adrian, the job foreman, actually laughed at how excited I was when I saw the guys working. He has been so good about explaining each step of the process as we’ve made quick visits to Tipitapa this last week.

Danelia is storing the first load of cement bags in her living room in order to keep them dry and to keep them from being stolen. When we were there on Monday, they also came with a truck load of sand which they quickly shoveled in to a mound blocking Danelia’s front entrance…so much for the idea of them neatly shoveling it off to the side!

In spite of the rains, they have been able to get the trench dug and the water drainage pipe laid and began digging the septic. They have also gotten the large foundation rocks laid and are now working on laying the concrete blocks on top of them. The dirt that is coming out of the giant hole for the septic system is being used to level the ground inside the structure. They have already torn down Danelia and Arturo’s outside shower in order to be able to construct the back wall so they now have to go next door to their neighbor’s house and use her outdoor shower.

I think Danelia is a little shell-shocked at how quickly the workers destroyed her side yard and removed her little wire fence. Of course, with all the rain we’ve had, it’s a muddy mess both inside and outside her house but even so, she’s so excited that the dream is becoming a reality.

Even the neighborhood kids are excited about all the activity. Most are too young to really have a firm grasp on what this will mean for their cramped little classes, but they are definitely feeding off the energy of all the adults that are involved…and of course, they love climbing on the building materials stacked outside in Danelia’s tiny front yard.

It wasn’t even 10:00 yet and it was already getting really hot that Monday morning. Danelia and I sat in her rockers right under her ceiling mounted little oscillating fan. We looked around at the cement bags, the tracked in mud and the mound of sand right outside her front door and we began talking about what God was doing in her neighborhood. That led to a conversation about how so many who come to Nicaragua want to go to the highly publicized La Chureca, which is the city dump where several thousand people live (no one knows the exact number) and El Timal, both which have become almost tourist attractions in themselves.

I felt a pang of guilt when she said that. I remember all too well our visit to La Chureca our first year here. I was as curious as the next person about what it would be like there. I certainly wasn’t prepared for what I saw. I can remember thinking with such sorrow and sadness that women were raising their children in that environment. Since living here, I still feel that sadness and sorrow but it is somewhat tempered by the fact that I have heard and read about numerous highly-funded organizations, both mission organizations and NGOs, from all around the world that pour so much money in to those areas and yet nothing seems to change, not much anyway. Mothers still prostitute their children, drugs flow freely and violence continues.
I’ve also seen many other areas where the poverty is just as extreme but the people live differently. I know poverty makes for desperate situations and I also know poverty is often a good “hook” to bring money in…there are two sides to argue surrounding La Chureca and El Timal and I can see both sides…but I also definitely understood what Danelia meant.

We talked about how life in those places is not the “norm” for most of Nicaragua and Danelia said that it makes her sad that places like that get so much attention and receive so much help. In her words, she believes that they just “take and take” from the government and the gringos who come to visit and that most of the people who live there have no desire or intention of changing their circumstances. She said it makes her angry that they take the donations and so many of them turn around and sell them in order to buy drugs or alcohol. She said that she wished more Americans had a truer picture of what life is really like for the majority of Nicas because she feels that so much of it is distorted for wrong intentions. It was interesting to hear her point of view on things like that.

She told me that there were thousands and thousands of neighborhoods just like hers where they, too, struggle every day and that they have the same kind of destructive behaviors in many of their homes. She said the difference is that she sees that in her neighborhood, a few of the parents want something better for their children and that they are willing to take that step to try to make that happen.

We talked about how God has given them a wonderful opportunity to bring light to that darkness in that barrio and she thanks Him every day that this “dream” of a place of hope in their neighborhood is about to become a reality. She almost brought me to tears as I listened to her talk. I saw her face soften and her eyes glisten as she began talking about all the things she can see this building being for the families who live there.

Talking with Danelia that day was a good reminder of why we are doing what we’re doing in spite of the challenges we face. I kept thinking on the way home that this was such a work of God and that no matter how many problems might crop up such as prices already increasing in some of the materials due to the demand as a result of the destructive flooding we’ve had or volunteers failing to show up, that God will complete this good work in His time and in His way. I can’t tell you how inspiring all of this is and how exciting it is to see mud-caked men being used by God to build His house of hope there.

We are paying Adrian as the foreman and he has hired several workers to help him. These guys seem to vary from day to day. We also have some volunteer labor who has actually shown up which is the most exciting thing for us…that there are people in the neighborhood who are willing to help however they can. Very few men have come forward although we had five who said they would but the ones that have, are so much appreciated. Even Miguel was there yesterday morning, moving dirt! That was such a great surprise! The women have been more faithful with their part, bringing food or donating a little money to help with the drinks and food for the workers. I was really touched the other day to see one of the moms bring a small plastic bucket of beans and rice and some cuajada (a type of cheese) on a piece of paper and give it to Danelia. She told her to give it to the workers and that she was sorry that there wasn’t more.

I thought of the little boy who gave his five small loaves of bread and his two fish to Jesus. It was enough. It’s always enough when Jesus is in control of it. We have seen Him multiply and stretch in ways that we never could and He knows that if this project is to be completed as we would hope, then He is going to have to that again.

We did find a toilet and sink on sale at Sinsa even cheaper than we could buy it at the market. Sinsa is always so expensive so I questioned the salesman to make sure the price was right and he assured me it was. So, we purchased them and then drove to the warehouse to pick it up. Of course, we had to wait outside in a waiting area for over an hour to get it put in our car, but for what we saved, it was worth it.

We also got another donation of lots of bits and pieces of school supplies from Susanna that different groups had left with her that were leftovers from projects. For the most part, there’s not a whole lot of any one thing but lots of a few things and everything will most definitely be used… a couple of bottles of glue, a package of pencils, a few sharpeners, etc. which will all come in handy. I’m always excited to get those kinds of things, but the thing that got me the most excited was there was a globe that had been left! That’s something that would have been pretty costly for us to buy here and it will be so good for the kids to be able to learn how to use one. Such an unexpected blessing!

Earlier this week, I found a set of 5 children’s Spanish books that have all kinds of children’s stories in them. Books are truly special and this purchase made me dream even more about making a small reading area in one corner of the room with a bookshelf and maybe a rug of some sort for the kids to sit on. I want to create a love of reading in these kids. Danelia actually shared the same idea with me yesterday and we laughed at how often we both have the same vision for this little concrete box.

Today, I found the website of a company in Canada where I can buy some children’s Spanish books at a greatly reduced price and I am really excited about that. Typically, those books are higher than when they’re in English which is so frustrating. Several of these are even Christian books which is even more exciting. I methodically went through all the categories and have managed to find about 23 books for less than $100! I love bargains! So, I am going to try to get them ordered in the next day or two so that hopefully, they will come while we’re in the States and we can bring the first load of them back down with us when we return. Books are heavy and they eat up our airline weight allotment for our luggage pretty quickly.

Our other big dream? Danelia and I both want to someday be able to paint the school – this would be really special as their homes are all gray concrete blocks so a painted room would be a bright, cheery treat. Danelia told me she would love to have some kind of mural on one of the walls like she has seen done in the hospital and I have begun searching the internet for mural stencils that we might be able to use to paint a scene on. A few years ago, we did something similar to that at one of the hospitals here but it was on a much smaller scale. I wasn’t sure if I could find anything or not and sure enough, I have. So, now it has been added to our ever-lengthening Wish List.

So many Wish Lists remain just that…wishes. But God has started bringing some of those wishes to fruition. We are deeply grateful for those of you who have already donated to help us with this project. Everyone, including those who had a part in giving of the very generous donation from an adult Sunday school class at FBC in Cassville, the Willard Lone Star Baptist Church’s kids who gave their VBS money and the young woman who was here last month and left her change for us…everyone who donates to this, regardless the amount, is an integral part of what God is doing here. You have enabled us to get a good start on this and I just want you to know that there are not enough words of thanks for that. You are making a difference…our blessed Hope is here and change is coming!