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!)