NEW and OLD

Today I made some observations about how my days have changed through my years of living in Nicaragua.

Day in the life of the OLD Carey:
4 am gym
5:30 head to work
Teach all day
Work on lesson plans, grading etc until 4:30pm
6:30 Church or Bible study
8:30 eat dinner and grade papers
10:00 bead time


Today, Wednesday, August 27, 2008
5:30am run with friends
7:30 work on some emails and work stuff from home
9:30 Supposed to meet a mechanic, waited around for 45 minutes but had 2 great conversations with others while I waited.
10:15 Mechanic shows up and we chat for a while
10:45 meet with a director of a guest house to make arrangements for a team and we chat about life and encourage one another for 45 minutes and then get down to business.
12:00pm Walk Home
Meet some old friends on the way and stop and chat for 15 minutes.
Work on some stuff for the afternoon
2:30 meet a friend to go on a walk for her birthday
4:30 bake a cake for Bible Study
5:00 Jason another friend drops by and we chat and feed him dinner
6:30 Jason leaves just as gals from Bible Study arrive
9:30 I'm here writing this blog entry and then heading to bed :-)

Ok so before my days were focused on tasks and the to-do list. I'm not saying that those lists are bad. I still write them and attempt to cross things off. Now my time is not measured in the number of items crossed off the list but rather in the quality time that I spend listening, sharing and spending time with others. The majority of my meeting with people today was completely unplanned but just happened because I was not so busy running from one place to the next. Wow! I think I like the new way of doing things. Sure there are times when it is frustrating because you really do need to get some things done but I find that God blesses and uses me through others when I take the time to slow down and be used by Him.

Cardboard Testimony

A friend just sent this to me and I cried as I watched it.

Growing Pains

Monday afternoons are a very happy time for me. Lily Thurlow a fifth grader and I head up to Vida Nueva Orphanage and play with the kids for a few hours. We have been going for the last 9 months or so. We are really happy because the 40 some kids ages 2 weeks to 10 years old have been in a house that was really too small for them. The Lord has provided a bigger house and set up for the orphanage while they are constructing their own building nearby. The director and all of the workers are so thankful for more breathing room for all of the kids.

A typical afternoon involves playing with the toddlers for a little while. Singing, hugging and laughter fill our time. Zooming trucks and lots of funny sound effects entertain the boys and girls alike.

Then we move on to feeding the little babies. There are a few that have found a special place in my heart. Isabella is one of them. When she first came she was 3 months old but the size of an newborn, severely malnourished. She cried and cried and cried for the first bit but now she is growing happily and is healthy. She has a sweet smile and loves to laugh. Soon she will be walking. She is already standing on her own and is very strong. Praise the Lord there is a family waiting to adopt her soon we hope.



Once all the little ones are fed, changed and put to bed then we head over to play with the big kids. There are 7 of them who love any attention you can give them. Last night they were arguing over who was going to sit on my lap while we watched "Super Perro" Underdog in English. Sometimes Lily and I bring different activities to do with the big kids and they love it. We have already decided that next week we are going to bring some books for them to make. Many of them have learned how to read this year so that is lots of fun.

moving at a snails pace

Good news and bad news have surrounded the truck this week. We finally got the resolution from the police on who caused the accident. We lost! That's the bad news but the good news is that we can now get quotes on what it is going to cost to fix the truck or sell it.

Here is my truck sitting at NCA while we wait. We covered the engine so that the rain wouldn't cause any more damage.

I just got the first quote yesterday and so far it is not looking feasable to repair the truck. I am beginning to raise funds for buying a new vehicle. If you are interested in helping me out in this way you can send in your donation to:

Christ for the City
P.O. Box 241827
Omaha NE 68124

Mark your donation with my name and Travel and Expenses. This will ensure that it goes towards a new vehicle. Thanks in advance for your prayers and donations in this area.

God continues to be faithful in providing for me. My roommate Mary just bought a new car and her old one hasn't sold yet so she is letting me borrow it until it sells. God is so good!

Newsletter

I am moving up in the technology world with the help of Nathan from our office. Here is the link to my newsletter online. :-)

Watch out! Who knows what will come next.
http://cfcinic.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/july-2008-nicaragua.pdf

Only in Nicaragua

Last week the faucet on the outside of the house broke off. The pipe was old and when the dogs bumped into it and it fell off. Having a Dad that taught me how to fix things like this Mary and I went to the hardware store and bought the necessary supplies for $1.50. We went home and fixed it right away so that we could fill our water tank before the city water was turned off. We went to bed that night thinking we had fixed the problem. Unfortunately that was not the case. We have spent all weekend without water and with multiple trips to the hardware store and still no resolution. This seems to be the way things go here in Nicaragua. Even the most simple repairs are not simple. We are now waiting on a plumber to come and fix the problem. (we hope)
Here I am adding another coat of PVC glue in hopes that this would hold it.

Visitors

On top of all the teams we have had this summer we have also had a number of special visitors. Michaella from our home office in Omaha, NE USA and Sonia from the base in El Salvador were here last week. They had the opportunity to learn a little about the history of Nicaragua and CFCI here. They were fun to hang out with for the two short days they were with us.

God of Details

So I know it has been a week since the Kirk of the Hills team left but I have had trouble accessing my blog so I am sorry this is later than I had hoped.

The week with the Kirk was great! God totally reminded me of His greatness and that no matter how hard I try I can't plan for everything and that is ok. Before the team even arrived there were details that I couldn't have expected. One of the adult team members was going to arrive 3 days after the team. I had made arrangements for him to stay with one of the families from the church. Later on he had to pull out of the trip all together. The same day I found out that he was no longer coming was the same day that the grandmother of the Nicaraguan family got really sick. It was a relief for the family to be able to focus on caring for their grandmother and not worry about a guest in their home. During the week that we were in Popoyoapa, Rivas the grandmother passed away. God knew the plans for that week and He took care of all the details before we even knew what was going to happen.

It was marvelous to see the youth from the team working together with the youth from the church during the week. We had the opportunity to clean up, paint and repair desks at a little two room school in the community. Everyone worked together joyfully. Even the kids from the school were out helping clean up their school. Thankfully not too much blue paint ended up in places that it shouldn't be. :-)

Take a moment to check out the pics from the week. I didn't post all of them but there are a few here. Hopefully I'll have the Kirk video linked up soon too.

Home Sweet Home

Yes, that's right. I am home (my house in Managua) now for at least a few weeks. Last night was the first night of many to sleep in my own bed and wake up and not have to dig through my backpack for my toothbrush. :-)

The summer has been downright BUSY! We just finished up with a Tsunami of teams for the summer. Praise the Lord we saw lots of amazing things happen during the past few weeks with three different teams all here at the same time. Grace Church sent a medical team and spent the week sleeping in hammocks and running a clinic in Villa del Carmen. Seacoast Youth spent the week in Madroñal working with the youth there and ended with a weekend retreat with youth leaders from around the area.
Kirk of the Hills youth spent the week in Popoyoapa working and playing with the youth of the community. Now there is one more team on the way this Friday.

As we take time to finish up with this last team and regroup after a busy time I'll write more with specific stories if how God is working and has worked through the summer.

TRUCK UPDATE
Still waiting on the final police report and court decision. They keep telling us to come back. Hopefully this week we'll know more. Meanwhile, the truck sits and waits for the mechanic to do an estimate of repairs. I still can't touch it until we get the final ruling.