Happy 2016!

Hello everyone!

We have lots of family and friends that have been stuck in the snow between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and we can't say we're not jealous of your cold weather!!! For us, this is actually the coldest time of year right now as well but cold to us is mid-80's. That's not cold, but we'll take it!

We'd like to send a quick update to all of you as we begin this new year. We will try to keep it brief as sometimes that's a lot nicer when you're checking your social media in between all of your other things!

School (NCA Nejapa):
We're just starting our second year of teaching at NCA Nejapa. Right now we're in our second week, out of three, of teacher work days. I know, it's a lot. The students begin on February 9th, and we're excited to see what this year holds. Last year was a good and difficult year for the both of us. We learned a lot about the people, culture, and language and spent so much time building relationships that we both feel like we are able to be more forward, effective, and helpful in our roles as this year begins. That doesn't mean that things won't be super hard for us because they will be, but we feel encouraged and hopeful for year two.

Fortress of Hope (CINAFE):
Ah, yes. The reason we moved to Nicaragua in the first place, right? We have been taking these past two months, December and January, off from CINAFE. It's been a really nice break for us as we were very, very busy with lots of different travels and different people - including us visiting PA for Christmas, Mitch's family visiting us for the new year, and our friends Jackson & Katie visiting just after that. We hope to put a new plan in place for our time at CINAFE once February roles around. If this past year is any indicator of our time at CINAFE, our roles will probably change quite a bit as this year goes along but we have a good idea of where we'd like to start. Our main focus will be a weekly activity with the kids of CINAFE. We're excited for that as it will allow us to spend intentional time with everyone there.

Our girls, Yosidara and Martha:
They continue to be great, and we are so thankful to have them in our family. It's crazy that in a matter of weeks we went from the two of us and a dog to the two of us, a dog, and two teenage daughters. Again, we feel like God has given the two of us tools to be able to take in two girls from another culture. It's a pretty unusual situation, we realize, and we're glad we listened to God and are doing what feels like following in His will for our lives. These two girls have quickly become our focus and are changing and forming us in ways we didn't imagine for ourselves in our time here in Nicaragua. We are thankful and trust that He will continue to lead us.



That's all for now!
Here are a few pictures from our vacations:

Here we are in PA for Christmas with our nephew Wyatt. He wrote us a card for Christmas :)

Here we are with Mitch's family standing by the Masaya Volcano, one of many things we did during their visit!

Jackson & Katie came to visit us before their little one is due and here we are in front of a cathedral in Managua. It was such a special time and we're thankful we could spend a few days together.

Just the two of us by these beautiful hydrangeas during a staff spiritual retreat for the start of our school year 2016.

Here are Dale and Jason at CINAFE for the annual board meeting. We enjoyed spending time with them and getting to know Jason more, not a board member but supporter of CINAFE and member at Pigeon River (Mitch's home church.)