I’ve thought a lot about writing a daily life summary for quite a while.  Every time I’ve sit down to write it I’ve come up empty.  It’s not that there isn’t stuff to write about, it’s just that it’s hard to put into words what daily life is like.  How much should I share, and how much do I keep in the family?  What do you all want to know?  What subjects bore you to death?

As I struggle with this subject and how to adequately convey what we’re doing, I’ve decided to try and answer the question about what our day looks like by sharing what surprised me the most about our life here.  You ready for it?

For me, daily life here in Nicaragua is very similar to what daily life was like in Oregon. 

I still struggle with many of the same things.

I still hate getting up early, my temper still gets the best of me, sometimes I still have a potty mouth and I continue to wonder overmuch about what other people think.  Yes, some of the themes are different…before I didn’t wonder what other people thought about how we’re spending our money as long as I felt peace about it.  Now that we’re living on support I wonder if our supporters would be upset to know that I spent $3 on a cup of coffee last week (even writing that out makes me cringe). I know it’s not healthy, and I’m working on it…sanctification takes time, people!

My main responsibility continues to be to my family.  If our family falls apart, our ministry does as well, they are that connected.  I still direct, guide, counsel, kiss owies, read books, do laundry, help with homework, cook meals, play referee…you get the idea.

But, the beautiful thing is that although I’m doing pretty much the same stuff, my audience has gotten bigger.  We have another kid living in our house.  We feed various people at every meal.  I’m counseling more kids than just my beloved Tate and Theo.  I feel very affirmed in this…God took what I was doing in the states (and what I love doing) and expanded it.  He’s enlarged my territory.

Remarkably, I’m even ministering to the same kids I was ministering to in the states.  It was long distance then and now it’s up close.  In Kevin’s case, very close, he lives with us!  I’ve also seen hope of some families coming together.  One of the boys (whose family we visited earlier) has recently had his brothers and sisters come to stay at Casa Bernabe.  We’ve been in regular contact with him for years even while we were in the states, and it’s neat to see the relationship grow to the point where he trusts us enough to have his siblings come and live here.  Granted, it’s not just us he trusts because we don’t run this place, but I still think of it as a way that God is expanding our ministry.

So, if you were to come and see us you might notice that my life looks kinda similar to what it did in the states.  The setting is different but many of the characters are the same, with some new ones being added in regularly.

I guess all of this to say that we’re still us and life here has many of the same struggles it had in the states.  But we just keep moving forward, trusting that the best is yet to come!