Nicaragua Snapshot

Here’s a snapshot summary of the Fusion Student Ministry trip to Nicaragua.

Lesbia- our translator

Luis- he’s more than a bus driver

Sleeping in hammocks

Spreading the word about VBS in Aduanas Dos

Sickly dogs

Trash everywhere

The Perkins’ Oasis

Planting trees

Sweating in places we didn’t know existed

Playing Celebrity

“Act like you’re making bread.”

“It goes down twice.”

“It’s when you hit someone with swag.”

Kellie- the trip hair stylist

The daily 15 challenge

VBS two afternoons

Seeing old friends, making new ones

Using the local bathroom

Andrew bonding with the kids

Roger and Elijah rocking at translating

Playing hackie-sack

“Use your feet!”

Playing soccer with the kids

Hiking all over the mountain side to invite students to camp

Helping Pastor Bismark move his house

The girls go teal

Happy Birthday Madi!  Cake and fireworks

Beans for breakfast

“For the experience!”

Staying at Campo Alegria for 2 nights

The volcano Ometepe

Bugs in the bed

Kids waking up at 5am

Karina sneaking up on Rebecca

Body Parts

Lisa and Sammy playing Knight-Mount-Chariot

Swimming in Lake Nicaragua

“For real, for real.”

A united church service

Shannon’s challenging message

Praying for the students

Pastors standing arm in arm

Tearful goodbyes

Flat tire?  We don’t need a jack.

Souvenir shopping at the Messiah market

Zip-lining 

“Upside down!  Upside down”

Monkeys in the trees

Lucy- the monkey with no modesty

Mermaids and Sasquatch

Pizza in Granada

Cold drinks

The guy who carved maracas

Haggling and buying hammocks 

Hannah and Jennifer’s “singing”

Sharing awkward moments from the trip

Be real. Be alive.

The Canfield Fair is a pretty big deal in my hometown and growing-up, it was a yearly tradition for our family.  Even though every year was pretty much the same, something different always happened.  One year I held the record for longest free hang at the Marine station.  Another year I remember attending the 4H dance.  One year my boyfriend sang karaoke.  When we were a little older, my brother and I walked the fair alone once and I remember some hick high school bullies throwing mulch at us.

My favorite memory of the Canfield Fair was one I shared with my dad and it's probably my favorite childhood memory of my dad.  

The Omni was in our family for longer than I can remember.  When we finally took it to the junkyard, miraculously still running without a problem, we made a scrapbook to commemorate it.  In it's last years, the Omni was dad's work vehicle.  Covered in construction dusk and full of tools, he and I were in the car alone.  It's one of the only times I can remember when it was just he and I.

Fair traffic was horrible and almost unavoidable.  Sitting in the bumper to bumper, stopped traffic, waiting to get into the fair, my dad and I began to play.  Dad found an orange construction vest and a hard hat for me and one for himself as well.  He joked about how everyone needed to get out of our way because we were in such a hurray to see the sights and eat the food; how we were in a state of fair emergency.  He put his orange rotating construction light on top of the car and starting "yelling at" the traffic director.  I giggled and giggled.  Of course we looked like fools in our little Omni, orange construction outfits, and flashing light.  And of course it didn't get us to our parking spot any faster.  But it was fun and silly.

My dad was alive that day.

This weekend I attended the National Youth Workers Convention and one of the speakers briefly touched on the importance of being real and alive.  Immediately that time with my dad came to my mind.

I want to be remembered for the times I laughed so hard I cried and I cried so hard I laughed.  I want these times to be rampent, part of my every day.  

I want to live life alive.

Mistaken Identity

I'm browsing the shelves at a store when I a stranger approaches me.
"Can you tell me where I can find the ___?" they ask.
I turn my gaze away from the product I'm inspecting and give them a puzzled look.  "Excuse me?" I politely reply because I didn't catch their question the first time.
"O I'm sorry.  Do you work here?"
"No, I'm afraid I don't.  But what are you looking for?  I might be able to help."

Has this ever happened to you?

It happens to me.

All the time.

The most recent time was at Hobby Lobby.  A man approached me as I was kneeling in the clearance aisle sorting through a bin of beads.  This is understandable and a simple mistake, but I don't get it when this happens at Wal-Mart.  Am I holding a price scanner?  Do I have on a name tag?  Do you see me wearing khakis and a blue shirt?  No.

I don't understand why this happens to me so frequently, but I appreciate the opportunity to help and serve other people.

Welcoming Committee

While in Nicaragua, our landlord sprayed our house for bugs because we had been having a problem with ants.  Funny thing about these ants was they weren't in our sugar bowl or honey, but we kept finding them in our coffee maker reservoir.

Nicaragua is over-populated with over-sized bugs.  LeErin almost slept with a millipede, we heard about huge centipedes, made friends with a scorpion, went to church with a ginormous beetle, were entertained by jumping bugs, and shared dinner with countless flies.  Bugs were constantly around us.  Yet, I did not see them to be a problem.  The flies were certainly annoying, but the bugs were manageable.  The barking geckos ate a good portion and none bothered me in my sleep.  But I was excited to come home to a bug free house and generally less bug populated country.

When we walked in our front door we were greeted by 1 partially dead and 3 totally dead cockroaches.  I was glad Kevin sprayed and happy to see the evidence of such, but was freaked to know that these guys had been hiding out somewhere in my home.  But the following morning, the ants were still marching across our counter and now into our sugar.  Last night I felt something crawling in my hair.  I flung it on the ground and turned the light on to see a cockroach scurrying across the floor.  Didn't get much sleep after that (despite my husband getting out of bed to kill it for me).

How is it that I stayed for 7 days surrounded by bugs with no real problems and now in my own home bugs are cuddling up with me at night?  YUCK!  I'll put up with the ants if I can get rid of the roaches.  Apparently though roaches are a common problem in Georgia.  Lovely.

Today I'll be purchasing roach and ant bate stations, seven dust, and whatever other cockroach killing products the store may offer.  Maybe I'll even get a barking gecko.  They seem to do the trick in Nicaragua.

Lessons at the Rodeo

Over the weekend Corey and I attended a local rodeo with the Lambs- Shawn, Sheri, and their two children.  While Sheri and I were sitting in the stands watching cowgirls attempt to rope calves, there was a sudden clash of noise behind us.  The bleachers were your run of the mill sporting event stands, cold aluminum with large openings where you can see from the seat to the ground.  So when we turned toward the source of the noise we saw an over turned baby car seat with infant strewn across the lower planks, suspended by forehead and armpit.

Everyone around us gasped as I am sure you are and jumped to their feet as if they could catch the child.  Her mother scrambled to save her, utterly embarrassed.

Sheri and I just rolled our eyes.

Earlier we had noticed something no one else saw.  The "mother" was actually a teenage girl in the midst of a school project- she was to care for a high-tech, life-like baby doll.  Sitting with her friends at the top of the bleachers, the girl sat the car seat carelessly next to her without strapping the doll in.  As the evening went on, she gave it less and less attention and BUMP it fell.

After informing everyone that it wasn't real and rocking the fake child till it stopped crying, the teen returned the baby to the seat and again sat it next to her on the bench.

I get that it is just a doll, but did she not learn the first time?  This is why teens should not have children.

Why Georgia, why?

Why didn't someone warn me about Georgia?

Before we moved from North Carolina to Georgia, the only thing I was cautioned about was the summer heat. Heat I can stand so I wasn't concerned. But since moving here I've come to know other things about Georgia that I wish someone would have told me about!

Tornadoes- Is it common knowledge that tornadoes rip through Georgia? I'm geographically impaired; someone should have told me. I didn't know moving to Georgia would also be committing to hiding out in the bathroom in the event a mile and a half wide tornado would tear off the roof of my house. I didn't know I would have to adjust the volume of my movie to hear it over the 3 tornado sirens I can hear from my house. I didn't know my plans to go to DQ would be cancelled on account of intense winds.

Spiders- All the spiders I've seen thus far seem to be fairly average and the only excessively large arachnid was at the local pet store. But the ability of Georgia spiders to make their way into my home is uncanny. Even worse, we've spotted several inside our car!

Pollen- The first few weeks here I was miserable because of the pollen. Everything is dusted with yellow as plants begin to bloom. This isn't the first time I've experienced something like this, but the pollen period does seem to be longer than I am used to. And they say it only gets worse. Lovely.

Kevin Jarrett- Deanna tried to warn me on this one, but I just wouldn't listen. Obviously I'm joking. Even though there are some things about Georgia that are seriously scary, freaky, and annoying there are lots of really great things. The square, Carrollton dining, tank tops, skirts, and dresses, Six Flags, the Atlanta attractions, hovering bees, mulberries, our life group and stories of bushes, the friendliness of Georgians, Southern Hills community, and yes, the Jarretts.

Dedicated to Baby Amelia

Laura and Matt Dawson were here visiting with their 6 month old baby, Amelia.

It was great to have them and I enjoyed the few days we got to spend together.  During their visit, I was insipred and together we created the following list:


Good reasons to get a dog / Bad reasons to have a baby:

You could use a little more companionship.

When company visits, you'll have something to talk about.

The walks will help you get in shape.

Your friends and family say you need to learn to be responsible.

You need an excuse to fence in your backyard.

Strangers will have a reason to talk to you and you like meeting new people.

You love to play fetch.

You don't want to sweep up the crumbs on the floor.

Feeding time is a better excuse than "I can't. I have to wash my hair tonight."

It takes more than a buzzing alarm clock to get you out of bed.

The cat's not cutting it.

Creeper?

Tonight I went to a fundraiser at a local shop called The Nest.

My friend introduced me to the owners, a mother and daughter, when I first moved to the area and I finally stopped in last week.  I was surprised that they remembered me and was enthralled with the shop's quaint and artistic atmosphere.  On display was a skirt that I couldn't stop thinking about; two days later I was back to get a closer look and I talked to the daughter who actually made the piece.

Over the weekend Corey informed me that The Nest was hosting a fundraiser event for the local hospital.  It was a girls only, bingo, pajama party and I didn't want to miss it!  I invited one of my new friends to go with me, but due to circumstances beyond her control she had to cancel.  At first I was hesitant to go alone, but the thought of meeting new people and having a good time with other ladies from the community overcame my fears.  I donned my leopard print fleece pants and headed out the door.

I had a great time!  I exchanged small talk with the owners, wandered around the store, ate a few snacks, learned about heart disease in women, and played bingo.  When I got home, I posted a few short video clips from the night on Facebook to share my adventure with my friends.

The night went on.

Then I'm laying in bed, recalling the evening and I stop...

and I wonder...

Could they think I'm some type of creeper?  Because from their perspective...
I came in twice in one week.
And then a third time for their after-hours fundraiser.
I was the only person who commented on their Facebook post about the event.
I came alone.
I didn't say much to really anyone but them.
I posted two videos within an hour of the event.
I sent them a friend request.
And I blogged about it at 1am.

Hmmm...

Yeah... maybe.

Or maybe I'm just really good for business.