Since I was only in Nicaragua for the first little bit of December I decided to combine the photo highlights from both of those months. This has been a month of immense celebration….
We started November celebrating my 33rd birthday. And I LOVE birthdays!!! This year all my loves in Chichigalpa surprised me at the Abide land for a time of worship and prayer over the home, me, and this dream. It was such a beautiful and powerful moment! I’m so thankful for people who love me so well. You can read more about this day here: The Gift of Community.
I also had a second celebration with my sweet Santa Matilde loves. It was so precious to be surrounded by so much love on my birthday. Even though I will say that these kids need a lot more practice at surprise parties… the moment of yelling surprise was a struggle 😉
Then, during Nicaragua’s election weekend, Cadence and I took a trip to San Juan del Sur. It’s too far to visit on our regular days off. In fact the last time I went there was during the previous presidential election 5 years ago. Our friend Clay who we hosted on the World Race over 3 years ago was there helping with a debrief so we were able to spend a few days exploring the town, drinking lots of delicious iced coffee (thanks to Cesar) and catching up with Clay.
Our kids wrapped up their school year this month and we finished up our tutoring groups. One of my last days of tutoring was spent making clocks with my precious 3rd graders in Santa Matilde. These girls hold such a special place in my heart!
The end of the month brought our Thanksgiving celebrations. Around the holidays there are always so many of our New Song missionaries who are traveling back to the States to spend time with their families. This year at Thanksgiving, Cadence and I were the only ones in country. Thankfully we are friends with this wonderful family and were able to spend Thanksgiving with them. It was such a gift! We started the morning with a Thanksgiving bike ride, homemade cinnamon rolls, streaming the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with the kids, eating a delicious Thanksgiving dinner and just feeling so at home with these lovely friends who have truly become family. I’m so grateful!
The school year has finished up and it’s time to celebrate our top students and our graduates. I couldn’t be more proud of them all! This year we had 8 students graduate from preschool, 25 from sixth grade, and 11 high school graduates. On top of that we had several students who were honored as top students in their class. This year was especially important to me because Rosita celebrated her high school graduation (pictured center)! I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited and proud to see anyone graduate. This girl has worked so hard and fought through so much to arrive at this day. She is an overcomer!
Cadence and I took Rosita to Granada to celebrate her graduation. We had so much fun exploring the city, celebrating her success, and taking her on an adventure to go zip lining at Mombacho. I love these ladies and adventures with them are my favorite!
While we were in Granada we also were able to travel to see Volcan Masaya at night. You can see the lava in the crater and it was seriously one of the coolest things that I’ve seen!
On my last Thursday in Santa Matilde for the year I was able to share one of my Christmas favorites by reading “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” to all my kiddos. It made my heart so happy! It was even more fun because NONE of my kids had ever heard the story (or seen the movie). I love sharing my own Christmas traditions with my Nicaraguan loves.
