A Year of Firsts

This past year has been one of many firsts for us. It was our first year living in Nicaragua, first even year we haven’t had a new baby (since 2008), first time missing two of the ministry’s big events in the U.S. and Mexico, and our first Christmas and New Year in Nicaragua. The end of 2016 has been exciting for our family as we are enjoying these “firsts” and we look forward to things to come in 2017.

As I have mentioned in previous posts we have been doing weekly bible studies at place just down the street from our base camp. Most of the kids we work with are extremely poor and receive little to nothing for Christmas. Christmas Eve fell on a Saturday this year so we decided to do a surprise Christmas party for the kids. We brought them to the camp where I shared a Christmas message (we saw a handful of salvations) then we had a pinata and a gift for every child and adult. A special thank you goes to the two wonderful teachers from Michigan who helped provide the finances to buy the kids a gift.

Our kids truly enjoyed Christmas this year. They got to have Christmas early both in Michigan and Kentucky with family in early December but we wanted to make sure their first Christmas in Nicaragua was memorable. We spent lots of time together as a family, baking cookies, reading books and playing games. The day after Christmas our oldest, Emma, started crying because it was over. It wasn’t the gifts she missed, though, but the time we had spent as a family. One of our resolutions for the New Year is to spend more time together just laughing, playing games and making memories.

We pray that as you go into the New Year that you will seek the Lord your God with all your heart and find ways to show His love to the people around you.