Day 2 and 3

Day 2

Hola¡! Que pasa¿? Feliz Año Nuevo! Well one thing is for sure, Nicaraguans know how to ring in the new year. As part of our service to AOL here in Jinotepe, we started out New Years Eve day by giving the play ground a face lift. We painted the playground equipment with all kinds of colors. Everything here is best when they are bright colors so we used amarillo (yellow), verde (green), azul (blue), rojo (red), and negro (black). The older kids contributed as well as one younger kid, Steven. After finishing the playground we decided to add a personal touch to it by putting our handprints on the bottom of the slide. When we finished we took on the impossible task of getting the paint off of our hands, arms, legs and in some cases, our backs, faces, and the back of an ear if you could believe it. This gave us a great opportunity to bond not only with the paint but the kids as well. Laura, in particular, did a great job with bonding with the paint after loosing a battle with the swing set. She was covered head to toe even with a splash of paint on the back of her neck.
Suzanne, Joe, and I (Bri) spent the morning in town with Javier (Director of the Nica AOL homes) picking up supplies and the cakes for the fiesta (party). We shared some great moments with Javier getting to know him better as well as learning a valuable key element in life. He took us to a church after we had been in the market. He said that with the hustle and bustle of the day, it is good to take time, stop, and give thanks to God for the blessings in this day. We went into the church and prayed. It wasn’t a long time, maybe five minutes, but just enough time to stop and praise the Lord for the day at hand and the blessings he has given us. The real blessing in this moment was that no matter where you are, what you are doing, who you are with, or what language you speak, God is there and waiting. He is eager to be with us. He is loving, and pleased when we are with him. In turn, we can continue the day with feelings of fulfillment (Ephesians 3:17-19), God’s grace, love, and peace.
Later in the afternoon, the ladies prepared for the New Years party while the boys went into Jinotepe to play some soccer with the older boys. As some of our readers know we brought backpacks for the kids and packed them full of school supplies, toys and books. Some spent time preparing the backpacks while others helped the older girls decorate. We used snow flakes we had made with the younger kids the night before as decoration in addition to our Feliz Ano Nuevo snowflake sign. We tried our best to bring a little bit of Colorado with us, and it seemed to have worked.
Around 6 pm the team got dressed in our western best (adjusted to the weather of course) completed with bandanas, and ate pizza with the kids. When everyone finished eating some dancing began as well as some face painting. Soon after that the piñatas were brought out as the kids were overly eager to dive for candy. We continued the night teaching the kids country dances, the chicken dance, more face painting, crafts and games. Around 10 we had a surprise for the kids, SNOW! Thanks to Joni and Jess, who found a special snow kit, we were able to provide some of the lovely white stuff that falls so often in Colorado. As John put it, it was our best worst idea ever. What was supposed to be us throwing snow up in the air and letting the kids experience snowfall, quickly turned into a deadly snowball fight inside Casa Grande. The floors became super slippery, much like ice, except hold the cold and the snow became very dirty, a nice brown tinge color by the end of it. Bodies were everywhere and after the last of the snow was thrown, we evacuated everyone so we could clean the floors before more dancing continued. After the snow fiasco we lit some candles on the cakes and celebrated a couple of birthdays and the new year and enjoyed the after math of a bunch of kids on a sugar high. After the cake and more dancing, which was the popular activity amongst the kids, we showed a video of the past Nica teams and then prepared them for their gifts. As we handed out backpacks and watched the faces of the children light up, everyone felt like we were the ones being blessed and given the best gifts ever. The kids opened their gifts with such excitement and enthusiasm that it was obvious that they were grateful to be given some thing that most of us in the United States would take for granted. It was great that so many people from back home were able to bless us so we could in turn bless them with the gifts. So, thank you to all of you readers who helped make this a truly blessed New Years Eve!
Ten til midnight we gathered outside on the basketball court to watch fireworks, which is really newspaper and gunpowder. Not the safest really, but still fun to watch. This is something they are very proud to share with us. So we sit enjoying every moment even though we might be grinding our teeth, cautiously dodging sparks, and saying “oohs and awws” all while having a smile on our faces and kids fighting for a seat on our laps. Sitting together wishing each other a Happy New Year, or Feliz Ano Nuevo, giving out hugs to all, and watching the older boys try not to burn themselves, every team member was able to take away a memory from an evening that we will never forget. Until next time….

Adios, Bri



Day 3
Feliz Año Nuevo! Well, we definitely had a night folks! After spending a good hour sweeping, doing dishes, moping and cleaning Casa Grande, we were all ready for bed. There were only a few people who woke up early this morning, early meaning before 9 am. Because most of the kids were still sleeping or taking care of chores, we ate a late breakfast at 9:30 this morning, enjoying the laziness of it all. After either helping with dishes or talking with Juan, a native Nicaraguan who was adopted by a family and moved to Canada years ago, some people went to take a nap, read, do devotionals or start planning activities for the kids. Suzanne spent most of her morning with Franscela, whom she sponsors, playing with dolls. It is amazing to watch the interaction between the two, because Franscela is so shy she doesn’t get the attention she needs and in this case she glows from the attention and love from Suzanne.
Most of today will be pretty low key due to the excitement of last night. After the relaxing morning and a delicious lunch, we had the opportunity to tour the grounds. Aldo led us on a walk into the jungle, and we were blessed with sweeping views of the Nicaraguan countryside, and could see three volcanoes. This is a truly beautiful country! The weather is warm, and the breeze felt great. We saw some ‘wild’ animals – horses and cattle – and a few of us got the chance to ride “Pepper” bare-back (aptly named by Breanna). What a way to spend New Years Day 2010 – riding a horse in the jungles of Nicaragua! It felt SO good to be enjoying the outdoors, and walking in the sunshine.
After our walk, we joined up with the kids and Hannah led us in the tie-dying activity. New shirts for everyone! Can’t wait to see what they look like tomorrow! The day was going much too quickly – it was already time for dinner. After dinner, we were able to devote the evening to playing with the kids. Soccer, hide and seek, jumping rope, card games, and board games were happening all over the grounds. These kids have a LOT of energy!
God has blessed us with so many new sights, sounds, smells, tastes and, most of all, showing us His love through these kids. What an honor to be here, reminding these kids of how much God loves them. And as we are a witness to this, it sinks in just how much He loves each one of us. Once again, we are here to be a blessing to the children, but find ourselves as the ones being blessed.
Dios te bendiga,
Joni