2 Weeks Down, 13 To Go!

We have now finished two weeks of school and we're still seemingly sane. Next week, we'll begin to see with clarity how April and I are doing as we have a couple of exams, including a big one in Gramatica. Yesterday, we went to La Carpio, the place we mentioned in our last article. For those of you that have been to Nicaragua, it reminded me of the slums near the market in Masaya. Kids are kids, however, and we had a fun time with them. The center is pretty cool- it has a very small gym (think smaller than the foyer at Browns), a kitchen, a small computer lab with 10 computers, and another room for meetings and less strenuous activities. April was able to do a little piano tutoring with a young man who plays mostly by ear and goes by the name, "Pencil." Our contact person is a man known as "La-Low" though his real name is Steve. He came and picked us up in a microbus similar to the one we have in Nicaragua. We packed 16 people into the van and off we went. I'm sure we'll write more about La Carpio in the weeks to come.

Comings and Goings:

Camden is pretty excited about his sports. He is signed up to play basketball for Sojourn Academy. There are just 6 high school boys on the team, so they opened it up for junior high boys as well. Cam is one of 5 junior high boys on the team. It will be pretty funny to see him play amongst the giants. His coach is a sweet, single, 6' tall young lady named Trish who happens to be the daughter of Bill Wegman, a 10 year veteran of the Major Leagues (Dan/Matt, airfare is only $300 to visit). Speaking of baseball, Cam and I get to play for 3 hours every Saturday morning with a group of kids and adults. It was a blast last week! We are looking forward to tomorrow.

Mason has made some pretty cool friends. One of them, Skyler, is staying over tonight. They both love Yuh-gi-oh and Pokemon and any other topic that covers swords, fighting, fantasy, or Ebay.

Karis and Ellie are also having friends over tonight. They frequently spend time with the neighbor girls, Mary Esther and Scarlet, who happen to have a mom named Audrey. This confused Ellie because she had thought her Aunt Audrey was a different woman. We confirmed that fact with her.

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers and for reading and commenting on our blog. For those of you in Michigan/Pennsylvania, this helps us feel connected to you even though you are far away.