livin' la vida

putting our roots down...

2006-09-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

On Friday, September 8th, Thomas and I made a BIG decision that we've been wanting to make for quite some time - we finally signed papers on buying a piece of property. We had looked at so many different pieces and almost bought a piece back in June but that fell through. We had wanted to buy land near the sports center so that we are close by. The piece that we ended up buying is right behind the sports center property. It's off the road a bit so we own't hear the buses honking so much! In the next couple of months we will begin the process of bringing in water and light and then begin building a wall around the property and get started on building our home. Since most of Thomas' cousins work in contruction or welding, we are excited to have them build for us. We are definitely excited about having a place to call our own.

teams, teams and more teams!

2005-08-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well I must say these last couple of months have been full of lots of new faces :)

At the sports center we have been blessed with team after team coming to help us at the sports center. They have done everything from dig ditches, plant grass, break down old cement walls, machete, paint, spackel, help with our clothing sales, do puppet shows, and spend time with the kids from the feeding program, local schools and the community.

I want to thank the folks from Woodinville, Menlo Park (my home church) and Sudbury for all of your time of service to our developing sports center. Thanks for being flexible, for working hard and for loving the Lord with your lives! We appreciate it!

Time to Play Ball

2005-06-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

It's finished! The basketball court is painted and ready to be played on and the guys are already coming. We just hosted our first 3 on 3 basketball tournament and the guys had a great time. However, the guys in the neighborhood haven't needed much encouragement to get out and play. Almost every day around 4pm we begin to have a small crowd that soon turns into 2 half court games and usually lasts until 7pm or so. We would like to build another court someday and be able to cover one of them so that it would usable during the rainy season.

A HUGE thanks to the USC team that came down and put in the new basketball court! We look forward to having teams and volunteers who love to their game on!!

We are also mid-construction on our media center/library. Things sometimes seem to move quickly and then you run out of bricks and you might be waiting for a little while! We have a a bunch of donated books to create a library with and look forward to having a place where kids can practice reading and learn to really enjoy it. Eventually we hope to have a number of computers that youth, kids and adults can learn to use. Construction on the Ranchon has finished and our next step is raising money to furnish the kitchen with a fridge, microwave, stove, gas tank, sink and tiled counter, cupboards, etc. Anybody interested in helping out?

a basketball court on its way

2005-03-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

We started pouring concrete on our first basketball court for the sport center! We have a team from USC here this week that have taken on the basketball court project. Some of Thomas' cousins that are welders are welding the beams for the basketball hoop and hopefully by April we will have a court ready to play on.

Here are a couple of pictures of what of all we've been up to.

Also in building the big Ranchon, we decided to put in two small ones that are right between where the basketball court is going and where the volleyball court will be. St. Pauls, do you recognize that beautiful block wall? We just had a road grater here the other day and it smoothed out the volleyball court area and put more dirt at the end of the soccer field.

It's exciting to see things coming to life!

could you do this?

2005-03-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

This is just a cool cultural picture!

This is a common way to carry things here especially for folks that go through various neighborhoods selling theirs wares.

moved in

2005-03-15T07:11:00.000-08:00

Well Thomas and I are officially in our new apartment! It feels great to have our own place and have the freedom to live as a couple. Just the other day though I ran into a friend here in Managua who asked where we were living. I told him we had just moved into an apartment. "You're living be yourselves?" he asked. I explained to him that although so many couples here live with their families or relatives for quite awhile after they are married, that we needed our own place. Most of Thomas' cousins who are married still live with family because they can't afford to buy land and build or rent anyplace. And for many people its just the culture, people are used to living in big families and at times are fearful of living on their own.

Living in a different culture and now married into it makes for some interesting frustrations as well as funny moments. At times though I have to stop and think about how much the culture I grew up in affects the way I think, judge, make decisions and carry things through. There is no end to how our cultures affect us - something both Thomas and I are finding out more and more!

Therefore, patience and communication have become even more important. And for me thinking through issues and trying to understand where my culture has affected me. The best part is to know that our God is an international God. He understands all cultures because He created all of them. Therefore He understands me even when I don't and He understands you.

So things are going well for us at our new place. The curtains are made and hung, the gas stove is finally connected, we managed to fit everything in our small kitchen and Benz is absolutely loving the privilege of being an inside dog.

starting off

2005-02-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

After my brother blogged his way through South America and we all got to read about his adventures, I decided that it was about time I try this bloggin' idea. So here goes. I still plan to do my prayer letters every 3 months but hope to add more informal updates to this blog for anyone who wants to see pictures and read about what's going on. Enjoy!

First all the biggest event of last year was getting married!! Thomas and I were married on Dec. 18, 2004 and are very much enjoying married life.

As for things at the sports center, stuff is going up. Take a look at our latest project...a palm-roofed Ranchon!

And as far as the scholarship program goes, I'm still busy running around Managua paying schools but at least the teacher strike is over and all kids are finally in school for the year. From what I can tell in talking to some teachers, the government finally decided to give an extra $50 or so in December. Teachers earn about c$1300 ($78) a month so $50 at the end of the year is quite a lot. It's too bad that their overall salary can't be increased.

Here are some local kids that received notebooks, pencils, scissors, ruler packets, etc. from the scholarship program.