Poor turkey still had an egg in it!

my Christmas corner, complete with stocking and countdown

A nativity scene at the Microfer in Managua

Ready to go

Hanging out with the kids at Hogar Belen

Moises has captured the Christmas spirit! haha

Yes that is stuffing at the top of the picture, and a beautiful plate of turkey and rice to accompany it.

Eating my meat Nicaraguan style, straight off the bone, both hands in.


AH! I made it through Christmas in one piece and only cried because my sister got me going on the phone. Just kidding, it has been an amazing few days. I will start on the 23rd when my cute little parasite woke up. I actually still don't know if that is what I have, and I am too stubborn and what I like to think as "tough" that I have yet to go to the doctor. But anyhow, I slept until noon and then headed into Managua to pick up a package from some of my greatest friends :) It was the perfect combination of chocolate, sandals, and movies. I decided to stay the night at the office as it can be somewhat dangerous on the bus for multiple reasons, some personal and others not, haha but I had a chance to talk with my sisters, listen to Christmas music and make some peanut brittle (my opa's favourite Christmas treat and one I thought would help put me in the Christmas spirit).

24th: Christmas Eve: Christmas Eve is actually Christmas here. It is the day of festivities and celebrations. So I headed back into Esquipulas to wrap up some presents and help prep the turkey. And yes, there was still a little egg in the turkey. Poor guy only needed a little more time to get out. But I now know the internal anatomy of a turkey....a true life skill. For those of you who know me well, I don't like to touch raw meat and I don't know how to cook meat. I always said that would be a job for my husband. But I am learning slowly (they cook all their meat with orange juice, onions and garlic), and I had both hands in the pot mixing it around. Later on I headed to Hogar Belen to hang out with the kids for a bit and hand out some stickers my mom had sent for the kids. There was also some Arroz con leche (rice pudding x3 in yum factor). I usually don't feel like Hogar Belen is a sad place to be, but that day it was. Earlier on in December the kids had received presents for Christmas and had a big dinner, but on the 24th most of the workers including myself had gone home to spend time with their families. I guess a lot of these kids don't realize or understand the difference between the days, but still, they don't receive that one on one attention or get to participate in those family activities. For example, one of the little guys Amilkar who is about 4yrs old will just sort of stare into space or up at the clouds, but once you come close he just clings to you. You have to bring him out of his own world by swinging with him or tickling him, but when he does come out, it is awesome. Unfortunately he doesn't always have someone to bring him out of the clouds.

Christmas Eve service is always one of my favourite times to be in church. It is always a candlelight service, christmas carols...you get the painted picture. And despite waking up late from an afternoon nap, I knew I wanted to be at church for this service as well. Although it was a little different. The evangelical church here doesn't really celebrate Christmas. It isn't that they don't believe Jesus came to earth. But from my understanding it is either because the Catholics celebrate it and so they want to set themselves apart from catholicism, they feel it is a North American tradition, or others don't believe Jesus was born in December. Either way, I didn't feel totally comfortable wishing "feliz navidad" to all the elders in the church. But after church we had a great feast at our house. Turkey dinner (they added in some ingredients after I had done my part...it was more delicious that way), with rice, salad, and my own personal touch of stove top dressing/stuffing. Mom had sent some gifts for them and I had gotten a few things for them as well. Needless to say I think they were a bit overwhelmed when I gave them their gifts. But it felt so nice to be able to actually give them something tangible as they have done nothing but served me for the past few months.

Christmas DAY: It was a bit of a different Christmas, but amazingly good. I had my own private gift opening in my room with Michael Buble and Josh Groban singing in the Christmas carols, as my family had sent some gifts wrapped for Christmas day. Although the rest of the days events were pretty low key, honestly last night I felt sooo at peace. It was a joy and a peace that I haven't had for a long time. I feel so blessed by my family and friends back home who have gone out of there way to let me know that they are thinking of and praying for me. And I miss them incredibly, but am also really happy to be where I am right now, with the friends and family I have surrounding me now. This is a bit of a side note, but I was reading the story of the birth of Jesus, and Mary was one laid back lady. If I was pregnant and I knew I was carrying Jesus, I would be yelling at Joseph that he hadn't made a reservation or that we should have left earlier to get a room at a hotel. I should not have to have Jesus in a manger! But no, (from what I make of it anyways), she just went with the flow. The situation was what it was and she went with it. I think she understood God's purpose or at least was willing to trust that He was in the moment wherever that moment was held. And she pondered...I am more of an out loud thinker...but she just pondered, and I think she just waited to see where and how God was going to show Himself. I hope that I am not speaking for God or just adding words to the Bible. Maybe I am just adding in what I am learning and assuming Mary and I are working on the same lessons. Needless to say by the time the evening rolled around, I was filled with a peace and joy of truly being happy to be where I am, in this very moment. Cause I know God is working around me and has planned out so many little details. I am so blessed to be with my host family, I am able to joke around with my host parents and they are very laid back and easy-going, I have a 15yr old host brother who will accompany me to the field at 5am so that I can go for a run, and a little brother who truly makes me happy that I was the youngest child. haha I'm just joking. Even with Christmas, there are so many families that don't celebrate Christmas and yet my family was more than willing and gracious enough to put up Christmas lights with me because they saw it was something special for me.

Tonight has also been really special as I was able to come into Managua to spend some time with the other SALTers and YAMENer. We did some Christmas baking, face masks, painting toes and watching Christmas movies. Definitely a nice time to relax and enjoy some time together....and of course now update my blog.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas/ Feliz Navidad! And a Happy New Year!

love

amanda

My sticker Christmas countdown says its 6 days until Christmas...but its really 5

Manuel-ito, I am not being mean to him, he just doesn't like that I actually make him stand up.

This is Elvirita, I am feeding her everyday from around 1100 to 1200. We are working on transitioning her from a bottle to a spoon but it is a very slow process....and messy!

A group came into Hogar Belen to help celebrate Christmas with the kids

Some face painting to start things out

Antoni and I during one of our play dates

Which tree isn't like the others??haha

Putting up Christmas lights

Feliz Navidad Todo!! Espero que todo esta bien con ustedes! It is only 5 days because Christmas is celebrated on the 24th here. I am currently listening to the Edmonton Christian Radio station to get a little flavour of Christmas music as it is hard to come by here. It's funny the things that are sentimental to us, or the things that cue our mood. For example there is no snow obviously, not a lot of Christmas music being played, and an abscence of other familiar traditions around me. And so for me it feels really weird that Christmas is so close. But nonetheless, the reason for the season is the exact same! And thanks be to God that it is. God is a God who is bigger than traditions, He is bigger than borders, languages and any other box we may put around Him or around ourselves. Jesus may of come as a small package but He is a powerful and amazingly personal gift.

I am looking at only three days of work this next week and then the festivities begin. This month has flown by and again there have been good and bad days....but as a whole the good days far outweigh the moments of struggle. The last few weekends I have had a chance to spend more time with my host family, we headed into Managua to see the Christmas activities and fair that they have in December. I also went to the market with my host mom to buy some Christmas lights (I am by no means above Christmas traditions :) .

Work has been going well. We are now up to 30 kids with a huge variety in abilities and ages. As of January 4th, the older ones will be moving to another house about a 1/2 hour away from Hogar Belen. I had a chance to visit the site on Thursday and I think there is a lot of potential in creating a home-like environment for them, and the place is beautiful. The psychologist, physio-therapist and I have been working on setting up a plan for the kids and workers. We don't just want them to be busy but to also be learning vocational skills, how to plan, follow directions, build self-esteem, and get involved not only in the house but possibly also in the community. Initially I was not included in this planning which was disappointing for me as I felt like I had a lot of ideas to share...but then there was that language barrier again. But I was really excited this wednesday as I was asked to write out my ideas and share them with the rest of the team. It's hard to know how much will get followed. I would love to be leading some of the group activities because I feel like it is really O.T. but we shall see.

Although Christmas is so close and I definitely am missing friends and family, I feel like I am getting to experience so many great things that I can't spend my time wishing I was somewhere else. Coming here was a risk, and being away from family has been hard. Each day is filled with moments of uncertainty and at times anxiety, but the more awkward I have anticipated it to be, the more God has given me His peace. It's hard to explain, but I have been going through a devotional book and it has been talking a lot about rejoicing in your weakness and thanking God for the difficult times because that is when we seek God. And it is so true. I feel like I am learning to trust God more in situations (big and seemingly small) because what else am I going to do. I don't have a lot of control with what happens and so I can really only pray that God would guide my actions and reactions. Although days are still up and down, I feel like more often than not God has given me His joy and peace.

I will fill you in on the events of Christmas! As for now the plan is to have Christmas supper on the 24th and the 25th will just be spent relaxing with my family. Then the 26th and 27th I am going to go into Managua to watch Christmas movies, maybe do some Christmas baking and listen to Christmas carols with what few MCCers are here (likely just a couple others SALTers)

Many Blessings over Christmas!! Feliz Navidad! Enjoy every minute spent with family and friends. (And don't take for granted the eggnog! haha)

Lots of love

amanda

Feeling Better

The MCC Nicaragua team

Just me getting distracted as per usual during the meetings

Ah! my countryside get away, we actually went swimming in that river in an area where a little waterfall came down

Frijoles....natural

The beautiful countryside of Matagalpa, Nicaragua

Hey, thank you everyone for your prayers. I am back in Managua but had a really great weekend/week out in Matagalpa with the rest of the team. Sunday morning was an early start to catch the bus and head out to Matagalpa and then out to the compo or countryside. I stayed the night with one of the other Salters who is doing her year long term out there. It is definitely a different way of living but the countryside is beautiful, the people are so generous, and we had a great time! In fact I was cold for what I think is the first time in about 4 months! We all went swimming in this area of the river where a water fall ran into and we could jump off these tiny cliffs! It was great.

Monday was a 'fun day' for the team, so we all went out to a swimming pool and had a chance to relax and eat some lunch together. And of course the work started yesterday and today. I actually really enjoy meetings though as I find it a good chance to get to know the other team members, what they are doing and how they are doing in their area of work and what the plans are for the next year with MCC.

And of course evenings are free and so we were able to just relax or get to know Matagalpa a little better.

Thank you for your prayers, I will be at Hogar Belen today and tomorrow and then there will be a long weekend as Monday and Tuesday is the Purisima which is a big Catholic holiday celebrating the conception of Mary. So although it would be a FANTASTIC weekend to go away.... I think I will hang out with my family and see what happens from there.