Posts Categorized: Faithfulness

Out with the Old, Even Though It Doesn’t Seem All THAT Old

| Faithfulness, Love, Peace

I guess “old” is relative. We live in the house that my family moved into in 1959. When my parents passed away, David and I moved into the house. We have neighbors to the left of us, who have been in that house for a couple of years, so not a new home for them. A couple of houses down from us, on the other side, people moved in a week or so ago; so, a new home for that family. So, “new” is rather relative.

Most of the appliances in our house are running along pretty smoothly. And, I’ve not looked into what the longevity is for our various appliances. And, of course, most appliances don’t give much of a warning that they’re on their last leg. Maybe the washer starts leaking. Possibly the air conditioner starts rattling. Loudly. Often times, our appliances give us a little warning. Or, they quietly breathe their last. And all the frozen food thaws out, and we just canNOT eat it all up fast enough.

When Kevin and Peter were here last, several weeks ago, David and Peter went to buy some Blue Bell ice cream. They put it into the freezer section of the refrigerator. The next day, the yummy green ice cream was more like a yummy green milk shake. Most things in the freezer were still pretty solid, but that was just a harbinger of disaster, as in “how fast can you eat up the rest of the food in the freezer?” Things softened and hardened, and, really, let’s don’t actually take a chance on a trip to the emergency to get our stomachs pumped. So you see where this is going.

We went to Lowe’s and Home Depot and then chose a new refrigerator/freezer.

We tried for a couple of days to keep the fridge door closed as much as possible and tried to cook things from the freezer that seemed like they might be thawing. I got a couple of ice chests to protect the cold/frozen food while we waited for the new fridge to arrive.  Then, the new refrigerator got delivered and they pulled the old fridge out and looked at the water hook-up and said, “That’s not acceptable.You’re going to have to get a plumber to come and attach the water.” So, they didn’t install it, and I called a plumber that I’d used before, and he came and looked at the water hook-ups and said, “This is exactly what it’s supposed to look like. It’s fine.” And by then, it was too late in the day for the new fridge to get installed, so we pushed the old fridge back into place and plugged it in, and then, when it chilled down again, we put the food that had been stowed in the ice chests, with lots of ice, back into the refrigerator.

 

And then (of course), they had to re-schedule bringing the new refrigerator, so that didn’t happen until the end of the week. That meant, on Friday morning, I had to put the food from the fridge back into the coolers, so they could stay chilled until the new fridge could get unloaded, brought into the garage, put together, partly, and then brought into the house, where it could get completely put together, get hooked up to the water line and the electrical outlet. And then they put the doors on and they brought the drawers and door compartments in, so I could put it all together on the inside and then, at last, I could put the food back into the brand-new refrigerator.

 

 

 

But first, of course, there’s always a “but first,” I said to the guys who’d brought the fridge and put it together, “you’ll take away the old fridge.” And they said, no, they didn’t do that. So I called David, who said, “Let me talk to them,” because when we bought the fridge, we’d also added that the fridge would be put together, installed properly, and the old fridge would be carted away, and we had paid to have that done. The paperwork for that was in David’s car (of course), but he talked to the guys and explained that we’d paid extra to have that old fridge taken away, and the young men, whether they believed him or not, took the old fridge. And, I suppose, they checked on it when they got back to the store.

 

The young men who brought in (and hooked up) the new fridge, also brought in several bins that are meant to go into spaces in the fridge doors. I got to decide where they should belong, and I guess we’ll decide over time, which ones would work best where. There are some pull-out drawers, also. And, the pull-out drawers in the previous fridge pulled out from the tops of the drawer handles. The new drawers pull out from the bottoms of the drawer handles. I’ve yet to remember that difference, and am still clonking my fingers on the tops of the drawers. It’s just been a week (REALLY!?!? just a week?) Still Clonking.

 

All adorned with the hallmarks of many parents/grandparents.

 

You provide streams of water in the hills and valleys, so that the donkeys and other wild animals can satisfy their thirst.
 Birds build their nests nearby and sing in the trees.
 From your home above you send rain on the hills and water the earth.
 You let the earth produce grass for cattle, plants for our food, wine to cheer us up, olive oil for our skin, and grain for our health.

Psalm 104:10-15

 

Gimpy Knee

| Faithfulness, Joy, Patience

I heard the word “gimpy” from my paternal grandmother. She had a “gimpy” knee. I wasn’t sure about the definition, so I looked it up and, yes, for sure, it’s a real word, and given the definition, she was using it exactly right. And, now, she has apparently handed down to me:

A gimpy knee.

A couple of Sundays ago, I woke up with a very painful right knee. Every step (well, every other step) was painful. We were supposed to be attending church with the congregation that sits catty-cornerned with our church. After worship service, there was a cookout at the park that’s between our two churches. So, quite a bit of walking around. David felt like that might be much more walking that I seemed able to do. So, I stayed home. Then, later that afternoon, after the knee wasn’t one little bit better, I went to the pharmacy close to our house to purchase a knee brace. I didn’t know how to choose a helpful knee brace, and there were several choices.

 

This is the one I chose at Walgreen’s.

It fits snugly, but not too tight.

 

It was comfortable to wear, at night and also during the day.

And, some of my dresses are long enough that the Knee Sleeve didn’t even show when I was walking around (which really wasn’t an issue, as I didn’t care if it showed).

After one full day of walking around the house and walking around doing errands (while wearing the Knee Sleeve), the knee was much, much better, and I felt like there might not be any surgery in my future.

Now, I’m back to doing yard work ‘most every day. I’m also doing house work, which is nowhere near as interesting and satisfying as working in the yard. And the yard work might be over soon, as the summer temperatures are inching up, and up, and up.

I’m walking well and am pain-free, even without the Knee Sleeve. But, I’m certainly not getting rid of it.

 

 Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;

Isaiah 35:3

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I Spent More Time Talking to People . . .

| Faithfulness, Joy

I’d most likely discover several intersections between us. Like this one:

I had a ophthalmologist’s appointment Thursday morning. Things weren’t very busy, and I spent some time chatting with my doctor. We talked about what his kids are doing and how the youngest of the clan is finishing up his last year of college and will be going to work with an important Wall Street business. Right now, he’s sharing a nice apartment with two other friends, right on the western edge of Central Park in New York.

I think that Dad’s maybe a little worried about some of the more dangerous elements of the big city. But, the boy is quite confident and eagerly looking forward to his new job. And, quite frankly, the other four kids are all quite competent and are working in interesting professions, and, I’m sure, contacting their parents regularly.

When Jeremy was teen-aged, he baby-sat for the ophthalmologist’s family, when there were only a couple of kids, so the doctor always asks about him. I said that he and Sarah had taken a trip into Manhattan to see a play, and they stayed at the Plaza Hotel.

Jeremy and Sarah knew that I read the children’s book “Eloise,” when I was a school-ager, and really enjoyed it. The character, “Eloise,” lived in the Plaza hotel with her nanny. I was so excited that they were staying there, that I went to the library and checked out “Eloise,” so I could read it again and enjoy knowing that Jeremy and Sarah were actually there! On one of the trips that JoAnne and I took to New York, we visited the Plaza, too, but we didn’t stay there.

As I talked about Jeremy and Sarah’s living in Brooklyn, the doctor mentioned that his parents had taken a trip to Europe, and they were flying back into New York when the Twin Towers were coming down. They were, of course, unable to land in New York, and their flight was sent to Newfoundland, instead. His folks had to stay there several days.

“I know about that!” I said. “That’s the play that Jeremy and Sarah went to see!”

He was somewhat confused.

“There’s a new play,”  I explained. “It’s called ‘Come From Away.'”

He told me about his parents’ experience in Gander, and I said, “I’m going to call Jeremy. He’ll love knowing that your Mom and Dad were actually there!”

I don’t ordinarily call Jeremy in the middle of a work day, at least rarely, but I thought this was unusual enough.

“Hi,” I said. “Do you have a minute? I’m with the eye doctor right now. I’m going to hand the phone over to him.”

The doctor explained about his parents’ experience trying to get home after 9/11, and Jeremy explained about his and Sarah’s experience seeing the play. And I felt like I was putting pieces of a puzzle together. Well, one of those preschool puzzles that only have a few pieces. But, when you put it together, even if there aren’t very many pieces, you get a nice picture.

 

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.

John 21:4-6 (English Standard Version)

 

 

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself that I need to look around and find Jesus. He is always there.

 

Thinking About What’s Next

| Faithfulness, Joy, Patience

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about an oncoming bitter weather forecast. It was cold, but not the sort of freezing that we had a year ago. Then, things warmed up and I worked outside in the yard on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. And now, it’s  COLD again. Not as bad as last year, but pretty cold. In the 20’s, and we just don’t really know how to get along in that kind of weather. School’s didn’t close, but they pushed the opening time on Thursday back two hours.

I made a big pot of chicken and wild rice soup, which should last us a few days. And I think I’ll be willing to get out Friday afternoon, to replenish some groceries, like milk, and return some library books, which might be overdue.

But last Wednesday, just as the temperatures were really dropping, I was able to read with my Reading Club girls.

The Fifth Grader did finish the Venus and Serena Williams book.

Given her previous choice (Venus and Serena Williams), it seems as though she’s wanting books about athletes. I was wanting Wilma Rudolph, but I don’t see her in the list of these books. I’ll have to look through the books online, to find other female athletes in this series.

Meanwhile, I’ve combed through the libraries in town and located these books for the Fourth Grader.

 

These are all the Rosa Parks’ books that are easy to read with short texts on each page. Of course, they all say basically the same thing, but we are going to plow through all of them. We are SO going to have the Rosa Parks’ story down pat.

 

 

There are, of course, two other libraries in town that I can go visit. I have checked online, to see where the available books are. I think I’ve got copies of all the picture book versions, but I might go and check to see if there are books that we could use. There might be books that are going to be too hard to read, but might have some good illustrations and/or photographs. At the rate that we’re reading, we should easily get to Spring Break and beyond, with just the books that I have. She’s working really hard to read all those words.

And I am working hard to try to explain what things were like for Rosa Parks, and every other African-American citizen. And I’m working hard to help her know how Rosa Parks changed things in ways that were so significant.

 

I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.

Jeremiah 29:11 (Good News Translation)

 

I also have plans. I hope for a future of growth and learning and understanding. This is my last year with the Fifth Grader. I’ll have another year, I hope, with the Fourth Grader. I’m already feeling sad.

Yeah, It’s Just a Tree

| Faithfulness, Patience

Last Monday afternoon, there was the sound of chain saws, and, while not completely unheard of, it was unusual. I opened the front door and looked out at my next-door neighbor’s yard. A couple of men were there, sawing off large limbs from my next-door neighbor’s very large ash tree.

That meant one thing:  tree is dead.

And I wept.

That tree is a tree from my childhood. We live in the house that my parents built in 1959. My parents and sister and I moved in at the end of May that year. One of the first things that almost every family did that summer was to begin planting. Little squares of St. Augustine grass were laid out on the ground, and watered carefully to encourage runners which would connect those squares to completely carpet the yard. Flower beds were established.

And trees were planted. Most yards had one or more spindly, single stalk, tree, in the front yards, the back yards, and sometimes on the sides.

And here’s what we’d do, my next door neighbor and I (when no one was watching): We’d go to the end of the block, and run, jumping over those spindly, little trees, all the way to the other end of the block. I suppose it’s a miracle that any tree lived. But they did. And, by the next summer, they were too tall for jumping over.

Over the years, many of the original trees died. I know my dad replaced trees in the front yard and the back. When Kevin was a preschooler, there was a maple tree in the back yard. They drop the most interesting seeds. The seed pods are shaped something like a feather, and the seed is at one end. When the seeds fall, they look like little helicopters. That tree didn’t last. In its spot, there’s a large crepe myrtle tree, which has just now dropped its many small red leaves. Yesterday, I raked them all up.

In the past few weeks, I’ve raked, and bagged up the leaves from the  red oak in the front yard and the pin oak on the side.

And this ash tree, in my neighbor’s yard, hasn’t drop any leaves, because it hasn’t made any leaves, for most of the spring and summer. Every now and then, it would put out a small spray of leaves, out of the center, but nothing like the leaf production that it should have.

And now, limb by limb, it’s coming down.

As I was leaving the house, a couple of days ago, I stopped and talked with the tree guys. I explained how sad I was about the tree’s demise, since I’d appreciated the tree for the many years it grew there. One of the tree guys, who was, at the time standing on the roof, said, “Thanks for telling me that story.” I said, “Thanks for listening.”

A few days later, as I noticed all the small logs beginning to pile up around the yard, I asked them what they were going to do with all those little logs. They said they put them in a chipper. I said could I have some of them. And they said sure. And one of them got his trolley, and I got my wheelbarrow, and we carted a number of logs to my back yard.

 

And here they are. I’m not sure what we’re going to do with them. Make a border, maybe. We have a chain saw, so I think we can decide how to use the logs. And, I said to David, as well as the tree guys, that if we decide we don’t want them, we can easily put them in the green bin (which is for recycling yard waste), if we decide we don’t want them, after all. (But I think we’re going to want them.)

 

 

 

When you are set free, you will celebrate and travel home in peace. Mountains and hills will sing as you pass by, and trees will clap.

Isaiah 55:12 (English Contemporary Version)

 

I don’t do lots of traveling. But I think I should pay more attention to the mountains and hills that I pass by; and listen to the clapping of trees.

Yes, I’m Still Wearing My Mask

| Faithfulness, Joy, Kindness, Peace

When I made my first do-it-yourself mask, I never dreamed that we’d be wearing masks for, what seems like, the rest of my life. Later, I ordered a couple of masks that have my college logo on them. I keep them hanging on the turn signal lever on the side of the steering wheel.

At church, we are still wearing masks during Sunday School and during Worship Service. The logo mask sometimes generates questions. One adult friend asked what it was, and I said it was my college’s logo. “Oh,” she said. “I thought it might be Hogwarts.”

When I go to the elementary school close to church, I’m part of a group of adults who, once a week, spend lunch time with children who need a little help with reading skills. I’m with a fifth grader who is reading a book about Venus and Serena Williams. I wear a mask, and she wears a mask, too, until she is eating her lunch, and reading sentences, between bites. (I’ve been reading with her since she was a first grader.)

Despite the months and months of mask-wearing, I often leave my car and get almost all the way into Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/and lots of other places, before turning around, going back to the car, and retrieving a mask from the turn signal lever on the steering column in the car, and heading back to Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/et.al.

But, I have begun to appreciate my mask more, now that winter is coming up. The temperatures in Central Texas aren’t usually extreme in winter. (Well, there was that EPIC February deep freeze last winter.) But it can be really windy, and combined with cold temps., the wind chill factor can cause folks to go racing to stores for heavier, woolier, outer wear.

And I am really glad, at this point in the year, that I actually have something that helps keep my nose warm. So, as I’m walking across a parking lot, on my way to Target/Library/Grocery Store/Drug Store/et.al., I’m much more comfortable than I ordinarily would have been, and am glad that I have my mask.

 

Give each other a warm greeting. I pray that God will give peace to everyone who belongs to Christ.

1 Pete 5:14 (Contemporary English Version)

 

There are lots of ways to be warm. I wish you all the warmth you need.

It Was Sort of Nice Outside

| Faithfulness, Patience, Peace

After a doctor’s appointment and a couple of errands today, I thought I could work in the yard some. The temperature was almost 70° and the sun was shining. There was also a sort of stiffish breeze. I went out with a jacket on. I noticed, as I walked into the back yard, that there were some sticks on the grass. So I went to pick them up. And, soon, I had so many that I couldn’t wrap my fingers all the way around them. I walked around to the green bins (the ones where we put the leaves and weeds and dead plants) and tossed my handful of twigs and sticks in the larger bin. I went to the back yard again, and picked up more sticks. There were sticks everywhere! The wind had been blowing at a pretty nice clip all morning, enough that any little dead end (or middling-sized dead end) of a branch, had snapped right off and tumbled down into the yard.

There were sticks in the grass, sticks in the garden, and sticks in the back part of the yard where I’m trying to get Asian Jasmine to grow (on the north-ish side at the back) and sticks in the thyme garden (on the south-ish side at the back). It seemed as though the ends of many of the limbs on the trees, an old, large pecan tree and a much younger, but still pretty large, crepe myrtle tree, were small enough to easily snap right off under the unrelenting breeze. And it was, indeed, unrelenting.

I’d pick up sticks and put them in my left hand until my hand was full, and then walk over to put them in the larger green bin. I was putting leaves in the smaller bin. I kept thinking that I was done picking up little sticks. But, the wind kept on blowing. I’d walk across a part of the yard where, just a few minutes earlier, I’d picked up a handful of sticks and twigs, and, suddenly, there were just as many sticks and twigs as there had been a few minutes previously.

And, yes, I could take the big bin down to where the sticks were, but, I kept thinking that I’d picked them all up, and then the wind would blow and more sticks would gently float down to the ground. I do have a good-sized collapsible, lightweight, green bin. I finally got that and toted it around the back yard, tossing in the various sizes of sticks and twigs.

When I, at last, emptied the collapsible bin’s contents into the large green bin, I put everything away and went back inside. I checked the weather and saw that it’s going to be just as windy on Friday as it was on Thursday. One part of me thinks that, surely, all the little ends on the twigs on the trees have already been broken off. One part of me knows better.

 

The Scriptures say, “Humans wither like grass, and their glory fades like wild flowers. Grass dries up, and flowers fall to the ground. But what the Lord has said will stand forever.” Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.
1 Peter 1:24-25 (Contemporary English Version)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gardening

| Faithfulness, Goodness, Joy, Patience

It rained again. I’m not complaining. We’ve run the sprinkler system about four, maybe five times. All spring and summer and into the fall. Everything’s still growing well. I’m grateful, to be sure, but it seems like the mosquitoes will not give up. It’s fall. It’s chilly. They should be dead, I think.

(Hmmm. I looked it up. According to: https://www.cmmcp.org › mosquito-information: Mosquitoes function best at 80 degrees F, become lethargic at 60 degrees F, and cannot function below 50 degrees F.)

Okay, when I was outside today, the temperature was in the upper 70’s. So, seems like I should keep on squirting the bug spray on, probably for another month. At least.
I spent a while yesterday and then some, today, too, cleaning up the thyme garden.

I did wonder, when rain was falling, more days than not, if it would be too much water on the herbs. But, there wasn’t really anything I could do. The water always dried up, or soaked in, in a day or so. But, then, rain would fall again.

And now, I’m not sure that too much rain might have harmed the thyme, or maybe this is just what a thyme plant’s life cycle looks like. Possibly, they’ll just hunker down during the winter and bounce back to life next spring. Some of the plants completely died over the summer. Others are making a small comeback. I’ve replaced a couple. The three better-looking plants at the front are three different varieties that I found at the end of last fall. They’ve thrived through the winter, spring, and summer. The big green mass at the far right is Creeping Mother of Thyme. I’ve had it for years, and it has grown and spread and been dependable.

I’ll just have to wait and see what next spring brings.
I’ve grown different kinds of mint for quite a while. I don’t cook very much with them, I just like the way they look and smell. One hot, hot day, last summer, I came home from church, walked through the patio, and went in the house. I didn’t think about watering the patio plants. (And I always water the patio plants.) Then the next day, when I went back out, the lovely curled mint and chocolate mint plants were dead, dead, dead. As was the pineapple mint plant on the shelf beneath them. I was horrified and really sad. The curly and chocolate mints were new to me, and the pineapple mint was a plant I’d had for years. I poured water on the hard, dry dirt and grieved. Then, about two weeks later, TA-DAH!! Really! a couple of tiny leaves were coming up. When I bought and potted the plants, the chocolate mint was on one side and the curly mint was on the other. Apparently, they have different root systems. The curly mint is now all around the edges of the pot, and the chocolate mint is in the center. I don’t care; I’m just glad they showed up again.

And, the plant on the right, with the red flowers, is pineapple sage. I planted it here when we very first moved in this house, and I was working on making a garden. When you rub the leaves with your fingers, they will smell strongly of pineapple. It’s amazing.

I was going to take a bit of a break, and went to the patio to sit on the bench there. It’s where I’ve been sitting to read in the late afternoons. I lean back on the pillows, balance a glass of tea on the arm rest, and enjoy a book. When I went to rest for a moment this afternoon, I couldn’t. We’d had a short, but significant, rainfall, mid-morning. I touched a cushion. It seemed all right. I pressed down, and, no, it wasn’t all right. The sun had warmed, and dried, the cushion tops, but quite a bit of rainwater had settled in the bottom of the cushions, and also to the bench. So I ended up on the concrete steps.

 

And, when I was out in the garden, I had the same idea. I could sit down for a moment. Nope. These cushions were really wet. Top to bottom. And, there was water on the bench’s slats.

 

No rest for weary me. I didn’t want to traipse up the yard just to have a seat on the concrete steps. Not all that comfortable. So, I picked up the rake and went to gather up fallen leaves.

 

What beautiful tents, Jacob, oh, your homes, Israel!
Like valleys stretching out in the distance, like gardens planted by rivers,
Like sweet herbs planted by the gardener God, like red cedars by pools and springs,
Numbers 24: 5,6 (The Message Translation)

 

A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself. – May Sarton (2014). “At Seventy: A Journal”, p.53, Open Road Media
As long as I can put on my overalls and my Crocs . . .

Is it Rustic? Or Is It Just Old?

| Faithfulness, Joy, Love

This business is across the street from the Main Branch of the Waco Public Library, so I notice it pretty often. I’m intrigued, but not enough to go in to shop. The last thing I need is more furniture in the house.

And while not exactly “rustic” (of, relating to, or living in the country, as distinguished from towns or cities; rural), a lot of our furniture is, well, “old.” I know, “antique” is a nicer way of saying “old.” But, really, the only thing in the house that could be thought of as “new,” or “modern,” is the treadmill. And that’s not exactly a piece of furniture, even though a cousin once said that, when they got a treadmill, a friend said that, all too soon, they’d be hanging their clean clothes on the their treadmill’s arms. And she said that that is what happened. While I don’t hang my clothes on the arms of my treadmill, if I did, I’m quite sure that there’d be plenty of room for my hands to grasp a space to hold on to, while I walked.

 

But, back to our actual furniture. The newest pieces of furniture we have are the stools that surround a cabinet extension. They date back to our previous home, which had an island in the center of the kitchen, where we often ate our meals.

Almost everything we now have is, well, old.

 

 

 

We have a cousin who did some Interior Decorating work. At one visit with her, we saw that she’d used an old sewing machine drawer to hold notes and pens. What a clever idea! A few weeks later, Mother dropped into a, well, sort of junk shop. She saw an old treadle sewing machine and asked if she could purchase one of the drawers. “Of course,” said the owner. Then, a couple of days later, she went back and bought the other three drawers. Then, a day or so later, she decided to buy the rest of the old machine’s cabinet. Then, she refinished it all and gave it to me. The cover worked for a machine. Then, another machine was taller. Now, my current sewing machine is a little taller still, which is why I’ve attached those small wooden spools to the corners, so it will rest a little more evenly on the machine’s surface. Of course, it’s run by an electric foot pedal, and not the treadle, but I very much still love my old/new sewing machine.

 

 

 

God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.

1 Peter 4:10 (The Living Bible)

 

 

I think maybe the only piece of furniture we’ve purchased might be a bed. Really. Our decorating scheme can only be described as eclectic. (deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources [other people’s castoffs]

Nicaragua

| Faithfulness, Kindness, Patience

The Nicaraguan school looks much like any other school.

At the International Christian School in Managua, Nicaragua, where my niece, Natalie, teaches, about 65% of the students are natural Nicaraguan, 25% are North American, and 10% are Asian. Many of the students are children of missionaries, and some have parents who have businesses there. The student body is made up of 3-year-olds through 12th graders.

 

Natalie with some of the graduating sixth graders

 

Natalie teaches Sixth graders, and Social Studies to both Fifth and Sixth graders. The Fifth grade teacher teaches Science to both Fifth and Sixth graders.

 

 

 

Many students in Nicaragua go to school from Pre-K through 6th grade. Graduating from 6th grade is a significant accomplishment for Nicaraguan students. They are given a diploma from the school and from the government. For many in the traditional Nicaraguan educational system, that is the end of their formal education. Others may go on for further classes.

 

 

 

Natalie lives in a house with 2 other teachers. They rent the house, and that’s where they have lived in previous school years. The compound also has another small house where an additional teacher lives. They share a car for traveling the five-minute drive to the school, going to church, and trips to the grocery store. Or, there might be a trip to a Pacific beach.

 

 

 

When I asked Natalie how much longer she plans to teach in Nicaragua, she said, “It’s a year by year decision.”  She’ll be leaving next week for the new year of teaching.

 

 

When I ask why she so much enjoys doing this work, she says:

I enjoy getting to work with this community of believers. Our school serves many missionary families who are serving the country of Nicaragua. Some are training and mentoring local pastors, some own businesses that employ and train Nicaraguans, and others work with ministries that serve Nicaraguans living in poverty or those with special needs. In addition to teaching the children of missionaries, I also teach Nicaraguan students whose families are influential in the community. Their parents may be pastors or business owners who are in a position of influence. It is our prayer that by helping raise up these students to love and serve Christ, they will be future leaders in creating positive change in their communities and the country of Nicaragua.

 

Natalie’s favorite Bible verse:

 

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Psalm 16:11 (New International Version)