with dirty feet and a growing heart

Wow, I am at a loss for words right now. In 12 hours the team will be loading onto the crazy colored bus for our final ride through Managua to the air port. All week we have been talking about how we are called to live in the tension of seeing these beautiful children with huge smiles on their faces, but also knowing they are living in the situations they are in.

Right now as a team we are living in the tension. The tension that we have been here for another amazing week. We have seen God "On the Move". We have seen brokenness that does not have words to explain, and we have seen hope that only our God of the Universe can bring. But our week has come to an end. And by tomorrow night we will be at home in our own comfortable beds, wondering why us? Why are we here and they are still there?

I'm sitting in the office right now with grime on my hands and dirt covered feet from another amazing day. This morning we went to the market and did an exercise where we had the team try to by a weeks worth of food off a typical weeks worth of wage. The list was 5 lbs of rice, 5 lbs of beans, 1 lb of sugar, a bag of salt, and some oil. Each group was given 200 cordobas ($10), the average weekly salary of a Nicaraguan family. Every team ended up using more than that to by these very simple necessities. My team needed 223 cordobas. After that we went into another community close to the orphanage and passed out the food to families. It was very humbling moment seeing the faces of those receiving this free, unexpected gift. Then as soon as we got back to the team center several of your students dug through their suitcases and put together bags of clothes to pass out to the people they met on their first day here. Be proud parents. Your students have growing compassionate hearts.

Well, it is almost time for our last dinner at the team center, and then tonight we have a goodbye party for the kids. We are having a bounce house and Mariachi Band come to help us celebrate the relationships we have made this week. If you get this and read this be praying for the kids here at the orphanage and for the team. The goal is that tonight is pure fun. No tears allowed (especially in front of the kids from the orphanage). For as hard as it is for us to leave, it is even harder to be left behind.

I don't think I can say it enough, but thank you to all of you who made this trip possible. Oh and parents, be prepared for your students to come back wanting to talk with you about supporting a child. We talked about this last night at porch time, and a lot of them got really excited about the idea...:-)

Well, this will be my last post from Nicaragua, next time we talk hopefully it will be in person.

With dirty feet and a Growing heart,

Natalie

los fotos

here are a few pictures for you!

1. Shannon holding Yaya after several hours of swimming.

2. A picture of the river (el rio).

3. Jessica and Alex at the Circus eating some tasty Nicaraguan cotton candy!

A Weekend in Nicaragua

Well, After a chill afternoon yesterday (some free time after we finished the work project in the morning), we began our weekend in Nicaragua.

Friday night, time to hang with the older kids from the orphanage. The older girls came out with the girls from the team for some dinner at a Pizza place and a trip to the Circus! Yes, thats right I said the Circus. We as a group got to go to the Mexican Circus in Nicaragua. Priceless. Just to give you some of the highlights, imagine elephants, tigers, a clown on a trampoline, and so much more. The girls had a blast. My favorite was when I looked back up and saw our team inter mixed with the kids from the orphanage all laughing at the same things (even when we gringos couldn't understand a word). At the end of the night I asked all of the girls what their favorite part was and they said "Todo" (All/Everything). It was a wonderful evening out, a lot of girly laughter all around. While we were living it up at the circus the guys took the older boys to a soccer field to play a few games. They split up into 4 teams of 7 and played the night away. After a lot of running around they went to a classic Nicaraguan buffet for dinner. During our porch time last night (the time of night where we sit around as a team discussing our favorite parts of the day, most of the team expressed how they enjoyed connecting with the kids who are mostly their same ages. It really set in that we are all truely the same, even when we live in completely separate worlds.

Well, to keep the crazy weekend going we woke up early this morning and hopped on a bus to go to the River for the day! We were the first team ever to take a trip to the river, so needless to say we were all pretty excited to see what the place would look like (I was praying the whole way there that everyone would have fun). Well, I had no reason to worry. We arrived to find a big watering hole, that was perfect for all of the little kids to swim in. There was also a waterfall and area that was perfect for jumping in and trying flips (parents, no worries all were safe in Nicaragua ;-)). Our trip host may have said it was the craziest place he has been to all summer, so I'm sure you can imagine that all had fun. At the end of the day, the River Trip was a success.

With only two days left we are all just trying to take it in and truly be present with the kids, and make some great memories along the way. In store for us tomorrow is church with the kids in the morning, some activities at the orphanage tomorrow afternoon, and a large group time with the older kids tomorrow night!

(Andrew says, Hi mom!)

los fotos

Finally some time to post some pictures! They are a bit out of order, so let me explain...

(sorry I couldn't figure out how to get the descriptions next to the picture....the blog and I are having trouble being friends this trip)

1. The farming project (here we were breaking big coal pieces with wood)

2. A nice pic of Bryce at the Feeding Center in Nueva Vida

3. Jordan and Wills carrying kids on their backs through Vera Cruz (the town around the orphanage)

4. The kids are playing a game of Duck Duck Goose!

5. Jenny (Kevin and Leslie this one's for you. We found Jenny and her mom and gave her your card! Her mom asked about Harper :-))

6. A group shot after the work project. If you look close, we are all covered in coal.

I Guess It's Friday Already

We are guessing some of you parents might be wondering why we haven't blogged in a day or two but since we are in Nicaragua for only a week we are packing in the days with activities with the kids and the community. It has also been a little difficult to find internet service around the orphanage during the down times because the orphanage has been limiting the internet hours for the kids because some were sneaking out during the late hours when they weren't supposed to.

So, let me give you a glimpse as to what we've been up to...

The team began a work project here at the orphanage on Wednesday. The family trip from Springbranch had begun this work project to construct shallow boxes lined with plastic bags. Our job was to fill those boxes with a mixture of sand and charcoal and rice to be used as a fortified farming system. We were able to fill all of the boxes, and today we get to begin planting all of the produce! Including tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. The produce will be eaten by the kids at the orphanage as well as sold for a profit.

Wednesday afternoon we had the opportunity to take a tour of Vera Cruz, the community that surrounds the orphanage. I was so proud of the students as they really engaged with the people they met. Some went into their homes and got to see where they lived. In the middle of the tour there was an intense down pour (we are in the middle of the rainy season so it has rained some everyday), so we all just paused in the middle of the town and spent time under the coverings of the houses. It was such a beautiful moment. After returning from the tour we spent the rest of the day hanging around Casa Bernabe with the kids.

Yesterday was a long one for the team. The day began with a trip to the feeding center at Nueva Vida (New Life), a refugee camp that was set up after a hurricane that hit in 1998, and has now become a community of 15,000 people. The feeding center we visited currently feeds 300 kids a day, however with a shipment of meals that is coming from a partnership between OrphaNetwork and "Stop Hunger Now" in October, they will be able to feed 1100 kids a day (all of the kids of Nueva Vida). SO AMAZING! Our team had the opportunity to actaully serve the kids their meals, it was a bit chatoic - especailly when another down pour hit during the middle of the meal. But just imagine 150 kids in the center, 30 people from our team trying to gather their plates and bring them thier meals, all while it is pouring rain all around us. The team really enjoyed this hands on opportunity of physically serving the kids of Nueva Vida.

We arrived back at the team center just in time for a 30 min break for lunch before we took the kids from Casa Bernabe on an Educational Field Trip. We divided our group into two, and one group took the younger kids on a boat tour of lake Managua. The other group took the older kids on a tour of an unused prison in Managua. This is the first time I had participated in an educational field trip, but it was such a cool thing to be a part of. The staff of Casa Bernabe is really starting to think strategically about challenging and educating the kids while they are here. And who doesn't love a good field trip?

Needless to say by the end of the day our team was pretty wiped, so we spent the evening yesterday just chilling and debriefing at the team center. Well, we are up and at it again today as the team is now planting all of the produce into the boxes we put soil in on Wednesday. So I must go...pictures still aren't uploading. But I will try later today as we have free time at the orphanage all afternooon today! I hope all is well with you back in the states, and thank you for all of your prayers!

Bienvenidos a Nicaragua!

Good Morning! After a long day of travel yesterday (an hour delay in Miami), the team arrived safely in Nicaragua! Everyone was so ready to get here, as we were waiting in the customs line you could see everyone just fidgeting with excitement. We then collected all 50+ of our bags and loaded them onto the back of the bus and arrived to Casa Bernabe at 3:30 in the afternoon!

After we ate our late lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around with the kids from Casa. The guys played game of "futbol" with the older boys (the "pasada boys")...and got crushed by them. While all of the girls just hung out playing jacks "yacks", running around on the playground, throwing water balloons, and all of the other fun that happens when you have the freedom to just run and play with 20 kids under the age of 14. Right at sunset, I took a moment to just pause and take a look at all of the team jumping right in and playing with the kids. I was so proud, and so thankful we finally made it. Wow, I love Nicaragua.

The night concluded with some thoughts shared by the Field Director, Eddy, of OrphaNetwork. He shared all of the OrphaNetwork goals for the orphanage. The team was pretty tired by the end of the night, we had a long day. So we called it an early bed time so we would be alive and ready to kick off the week this morning.

Well, I must head off to breakfast so I'll be ready to work hard as we begin our work project this morning!

Sorry, tried to post some pics. but the internet is a bit slow here, I'll try again later! Be proud of your students, we are going to have fantastic week!

Packing Meeting

On Friday afternoon the fun officially began! As a team we met at church and compiled all of the donations that had been collected at church and from family and friends. After a great lunch, a room covered in donations, and two hours of packing we had 26 suitcases FULL to the max of great gifts. THANK YOU to all of you who helped collect donations!

We had baby clothes, toileteries, new underwear, shoes, soccer gear, you name it and it is probably now in a suitcase! At one point I just sat back and watched as everyone worked hard making piles, folding clothes (yes parents, I did say folding), stuffing them in bags, and then weighing them (in hopes to be as close to 50lbs as possibl), and I got so excited about what we as a team are going to do and learn while in Nicaragua.













During our first meeting as a team we decided that the theme for our week was going to be "On the Move". On the Move has mutliple meanings to it. 1. God is On the Move. Just looking at all that is going on in Nicaragua it is evident that God is at work. So while we are down there it is our goal to just be a part of where God is already moving. 2. We are to be On the Move. While in Nicaragua we as a team are going to be as engaged and involved as we possibly can. Not hesitant to get to know the people we encounter and to be available for where God wants to use us. 3. You are On the Move. This trip would not be possible without all of you working to help us get there financially and through your prayers. So thank you. Thank you for all you have done to make this trip happen....we are all extremely greatful!

check out our t-shirts for the trip! (sorry couldn't figure out how to flip the image).

well, next post...Nicaragua! till then, I must finish my packing and try to get some sleep...