School is Back in Session!

(This is a shot of our school we have here on site.)

This past week the children started back to school from their "summer" break. The school breaks are set up differently here because of the rainy and dry seasons. Think of it this way, nobody wants to go on summer break when all it is going to do is rain, rain, and rain every day! The kids have been on break since October and now it is back to school!

After school is done, Jared and I get to help the kids with homework and then play games for the rest of the afternoon. We are two, highly sought-after English teachers. I have English lessons with two of the older girls here once a week for several hours, and I am starting to have English lessons with some of the younger kids. I mostly try and make a game out of it to keep their attention. Today I drew out pictures of the different parts of the body with chalk and then I would say the word in Spanish and the kids would race to the spot. The first one to get there had the chance to tell me the word in English. It was hilarious what kind of words would come out of their mouths when in a rush to get it right. One little girl, named Iza, had just been watching the game for a minute and didn't really know how to play, but she joined in anyway. A couple turns before she had heard one of the little girls run to the foot I had drawn and when I asked her what it was she said "Fút..." (This is also the shortened name for Fútbol here) When Iza had reached this spot first and I asked her how to say it in English she screamed "Soccer!" I laughed really hard when I realized why she had thought that.

(These are some of my sweet English students, Iza is the one on the right!)

Jared is also teaching English to several of the kids and even some of the employees here. This is a great opportunity to spend one-on-one time and it shows the kids that we care about them.

Christmas Fun!

Well, Christmas came and went in a blur! It was so much fun to be in another culture and experience how others celebrate the same holiday. The week preparing for Christmas was so busy for all the staff members. It was a full time job to get the gifts ready for our 50 kids. It got even more complicated that our local church donated several gifts for each of our kids. It was our job to go through and open up all the gifts and make sure they were going to fit the kids. It was a huge process but so worth it.

Getting to watch the kids open their gifts was so much fun, especially if it was their first Christmas living here at the Home. The kids didn't know what to do with themselves! We opened up the gifts on Christmas Eve at 10:30 after a beautiful Christmas program, communion, and a traditional meal of grapes, cheese, punch, apples, meat, and cookies!

At midnight all of Central America set of fireworks... A LOT of fireworks! It was insane, and I thought I was going to get sick from breathing in all the smoke. Our kids had a blast playing with sparklers as we watched the firework show from ALL of our neighbors and even some from our own yard.

Christmas morning we had a traditional breakfast of pancakes and grapes. After breakfast the kids got to open their stockings and some bigger gifts for each house. The little boys' and girls' houses received scooters that they have been riding ever since! For lunch we ate tamales, another tradition throughout Central America.

Jared and I rested for the afternoon and later we had dinner and played games with another missionary couple that lives on site with us. All in all it was an awesome Christmas experience for our first Christmas together. Here is a link to watch an awesome video of our time here at NLCH http://nlch.net/#/photos-videos then just click on the button that says Christmas Video!