Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Nicaragua

(Please forgive the awful spacing! I don't know why it's so gaping!) From June 5-12 I was finally able to take a trip I'd been dreaming about for 5 years - to Nicaragua with WEGO, the ministry with which we work. Jonathan's life was transformed there around 7 years ago and he has been several times since. We have supported WEGO in many ways and now work for the organization. It was finally 'my time' to travel down and see the place that is so important to my husband and to so many of our friends. I was on the medical team, playing 'pharmacist' for the week, which was a lot of fun. Our team was so much fun to work with and we were blessed by the amazing people we met throughout the week - 650 patients, to be exact. Another team on the trip was the teacher education team, leading training sessions for local teachers and supplying them with Christian curriculum. Our third team was the VBS team, which led day-long VBS programs at the schools we visited each day. Our medical team met our patients in a classroom at whichever school we were at on that given day. We were able to watch the VBS games and fun from the windows of our 'offices' and it was awesome watching our team and amazing interpreters work with the children! My friend, Allie, also went on the trip with me, and we had a great time getting to know each other more. Her husband, Skyler, is our coffee company graphic designer and was in Nica with Jonathan in March. One of my favorite days was spent at the WEGO orphanage 'Hogar de Gloria'. Allie and I painted some of the girls' fingernails and we ate some delicious mangoes picked off the trees by some of the girls. We had so much laughter and fun together! What I didn't expect was that we were able to feed anyone who was nearby with the food we had for lunch each day. We often had long waiting lines to see our doctors/nurses after lunch, so we would feed those waiting, sometimes close to 100 people, with whatever food we had. We always had enough!! It was amazing to see God provide food for all of those people, whether there were 100 or just 20. I loved my time there and look forward to the next visit, whenever that may be!


































































































































































































































































































































































































Wednesday, June 16, 2010

J turned 30!!! (2 months ago)

Well, Jonathan turned 30 two months ago...yeah yeah, give me a hard time about this. It's been busy, okay?? Anyways, I planned a fun surprise weekend for him including his parents and my brother & dad flying in (he had no idea) a nice dinner out, golfing, a surprise party the day after his bday, and a deep-sea fishing trip with the guys. I also compiled a book of letters/photos from family, friends & professors written to Jonathan in honor of his 30th - it's the best present I've ever made! Thanks to the 40+ of you who sent things in for the book! I wish I had more photos, but I wasn't present at the golf course or on the boat, so you can just use your imagination.