My Favorite Things

If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, I’m sure I’ve said, “It’s my favorite!” I am aware that I strongly overuse that word. Almost everyone I meet becomes one of my favorite people. Don’t get me started on movies- you know I have 10 favorites. Bible books/passages- there are SO many that I turn to as my favorite. It’s only natural that here in Nicaragua most all of my activities are my favorites. Casa Materna. Spanish lessons. Bible class with the children on Tuesday nights. Just walking around this city. And baseball games!

So... Casa Materna. I’ve said it’s this super awesome house for women to stay in during their ninth month of pregnancy and a couple weeks after they have their baby to stay close to a hospital or healthcare center. There are many cities across Nicaragua that have Casa Materna’s. The church here in Jinotega has gotten very involved with the one in our city.  Monday afternoons, the ladies from church meet Janese and Becky at the Misión to put together baby bags or other goodies to take to the women. The baby bags have lots of helpful items for a new mom. Things like… disposable and cloth diapers, some wipes, a hygiene kit, a sewing kit, a blanket, squares to make their own baby quilt and a Bible. Janese and Becky are the North Americans that have invested a lot of time and love into this relationship with the church and with Casa. They help organize supplies from the US side to provide a smooth transition for gathering all the items and giving them away. 

This Monday they were matching squares together to pack with the baby bags.

Every two or three weeks, Tuesday becomes visit day. They also started visiting Casa Maternas in other cities. Normally, we join with the church in that city to help serve a meal for the women staying in the Casa, have a devotional time with them and bring them “baby bags.” A couple weeks ago, we went to the Casa Materna in San Ramon about an hour south-east of Jinotega. I got to spend most of the time in the kitchen (the hut behind the church) with two wonderful ladies from church, Liliana and Iliana. No. Not confusing at all. 

Lilly and I washing the rice.
Yes, a normal practice in Nicaragua.

Liliana cooking the chicken. Yum.

On Fridays, we visit the Casa in Jinotega. We find out how many new women have come and bring baby bags for them. One of the ladies brings a devotional message, and we sing and pray with them, too.  Then we help them with a project we bring. Usually it is their baby quilt, but sometimes they make bootties or bracelets. In the past, women would stay for up to a few weeks after having their baby before returning home; however, more recently they have been leaving Casa after a few days. Sometimes we only get to see the ladies once, so we do our best to shine His love and encouragement.

Praying. This was the day every one stood for all the prayers.
A beautiful sight.

We're all learning to quilt!

Another favorite part of my week is Spanish lessons on Mondays and Thursdays! For about an hour my maestra (teacher), Tania, goes over lots of Spanish words, pronunciation, sentence structure and grammar with me. She is wonderful and such a dear friend! Some days I feel like I’m learning a lot, and other days I can’t remember any words in English or Spanish. But the more I practice; the more I remember. Imagine that?!

Tania

Tuesday nights bring me lots of joy! Instead of just one mid-week meeting time, the church here meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thursday night is Gringo Devo. But Tuesday night we have a children’s Bible class where we practice English with the kids. Jonathan and Sheila are awesome with the kids! We sing songs, play games, color pictures and memorize scripture in English and Spanish. Right now their learning the song “Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord” or “Abre Mis Ojos O Cristo.” It’s so encouraging to see how much they learn and how excited they are for new songs or words.

Matching game- English and Spanish words
*The girls just got a match! And tonight they beat the boys 5-4!*

Singing Practice :)

Lilly and I try to walk around the city often. We love being outside. We love knowing more and more of the city. We love seeing the events on the street that are unique to Nicaragua. This week we’ve found a few new stores too- bonus- a clock that works is now hanging in our kitchen!! While some of the unique sights are a 6 year old boy climbing in a tree to relieve himself on the sidewalk, other sights are a little more breath taking…

Just driving around the country side... I LOVE hills!

Jinotega from the top of the surrounding mountains.

The cross at the top of the mountain. A very popular place to hike!
Laura Beth and Lilly are the two in front... the other kids just got in our picture :)

Squinty-eyed picture as we look directly into the sun!

The last favorite for today is baseball games! Nicaragua has a professional baseball league (LBPN), and Jinotega has one of the professional teams that feeds into the top four LBPN teams. The season opened a few weeks ago, but last Friday we got to go to a game! Go Brumas! Bruma means mist. So get ready because the Jinotega Mist is coming!

Felipe (Back), Lilly, Louis and I.
so many people packed in so tightly...

I loved being so close since the stadium in smaller.

They fought hard to come back after being behind 8-0 in the 9^th inning with 2 outs. We turned our caps around and cheered for rally time… or really just stomped for 10 minutes on the metal bleachers. It was great! One by one though, they scored 7 runs!! AHH!! The place was going crazy! And these three precious kids were jumping and cheering with us! It was awesome. Even when we lost...

Rally Time!!

Sister, Aaron and Marioso (She had the best laugh!!)

These are a few of my favorite Nicaraguan things.