The kids & I had a great inaugural camping trip in Wisconsin with Grandma Sandy and Poppa Dale in June, complete with thunderstorms, mosquitos, campfire and pit toilets. {note to self: must blog about this and entire awesome trip to Wisconsin. add to list of “things to do when kids are in school”. *gasp*… both kids, in 2 weeks!} Yesterday, the kids begged to set the tent up in the front yard. So like a fun mom, I agreed. They wanted to sleep out there, but I knew that wouldn’t last.

So they settled in at 6:30, still full daylight. For about 5 minutes. After about 10 trips inside, and before darkness had even really started to make an appearance, Analise told me she wanted to stay inside. (She was scared, but honestly, it was HOT in the tent, even with a fan rigged up.) So Brian, the fun dad that he is, suggested bringing the tent inside. Amazingly, we could just pick it up and squeeze it through the front door with everything inside it. (picture below from earlier today)

After about 15 minutes in their sleeping bags last night in the tent in the living room, they both wanted to go to their beds… because the floor was too hard. They were tucked safely in by 8:30 and asleep within minutes.

Today, though, they piled every pillow they could find into the tent, along with many other “important” things. They told us they wanted to try sleeping in it again. Lo and behold, it must have been quite comfortable, because this is what they look now.

I love these two. I love how they’re growing to be better and better friends. They can spend a long time working together to make things happen, usually something quite creative but also quite a mess. They have plenty of disagreements and fights, and I often end up frustrated. But I love how this picture captures that, at the end of the day, they’ll end up at peace, by each other’s sides. Thank you, Lord, for letting me feel like I’m doing something right. May they always be friends.

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A highlight of the summer for Analise will surely be the week she spent at a local Girl Scout camp, Camp Coleman, for horseback daycamp. They spent the mornings in the barn, riding, learning about all things related to horses and even cleaning out the stalls (Analise actually said, as only a 7-year old girl could say, “Today we got to clean out the stall! It was SO FUN! Except it really smelled!”) There were plenty of other camp activities, too… swimming, arts & crafts, playing in the creek, a climbing wall, culminating in an actual horseback ride around camp on Friday. She really enjoyed the week, except the middle few days were s little more challenging. “It’s really fun except when the horse doesn’t listen to you. Then it’s hard.” (um, like mothering?? I spared her the lecture.)

A few pictures that she brought home in a sweet little scrapbook on Friday (probably one of her most treasured keepsakes of the week.. along with a well-used horseshoe):

(PS – a HUGE thank you to Grandma Sandy & Poppa Dale for helping us give this to Analise as part of her birthday gift. Definitely memories that will last a long time!)

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After just the 4th of 5 days of swimming lessons, Josiah jumped off the diving board and swam to the ladder. We are so proud of him!! Here’s a link to the video of the big moment:

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“For freedom Christ has set us free…” and so we celebrate our freedom as believers and as Americans. Thank you, Lord!!

Analise is actually taller than Uncle Sam this year! (He’s a yearly fixture in Grandma Beverly’s patriotic decorations, and we measure the kids against him each year.) And next year, Josiah may have caught up to Analise AND be taller than Uncle Sam!

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The month of June is behind us, and though there are many numbers I could give you (like how many miles I traveled (10,000?), how many different beds I slept in (13), how many times I traveled through Chicago (4), how many hours behind I am on normal life (feels like at least 18!), I’ll focus on three special numbers.

5
The age my sweet boy turned on June 9th. Without me. But because he had presents before we left, and I arranged special delivery of cupcakes, a balloon and 2 HotWheels cars (thanks Allison!), I don’t think he really noticed we weren’t around. Josiah, my handsome little man, I am amazed every day at the thoughtful loving little person you are growing into. We love you so much, and we pray this year holds amazing adventures as God grows you into a faithful young man like King Josiah.

7
The age my baby girl turned just this week, June 29th. So many memories! How have I been a mom for 7 years already? This birthday was highly anticipated, from late May when she got to take treats to school to a very early party for both Analise and Josiah to early present-opening. Her actual birthday was spent at a fun worship arts camp, where she surprised us all with a solo. We capped off the day with a trip to PetSmart for our new fish, Pearl. Analise, my sweet girl, you’ll always be my baby. But you are growing into a lovely young lady, full of grace and confidence. I love spending time with you, and I pray this year holds many adventures where you taste more of Christ’s deep love for you.

8
The number of years Brian and I celebrate together in “the winter wonderland of constant awesomeness” that is marriage, according to author Jon Acuff. Time has flown by, and there’s been lots of love, laughs, adventures, and many miles. I kinda like spending time with you, Brian. This is getting kind of serious:)

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This post has a bunch of videos, so if you are reading this on facebook you will need to view the post on our blog in order to see the videos. Here is the link: http://www.toonesalive.com/blog/family/?p=2863

Here is a collage of videos from our trip … enjoy! But before you watch our videos, you should watch the first video below which explains the work of Nuevas Esperanzas in the community of El Ojochal.

Here are all of our videos with descriptions ABOVE each video:

This is a video of a short segment of the road to the El Ojochal community. The road is extremely rugged, but the Toyota Landcruiser is able to make it up and bring supplies for building rainwater harvesting tanks and other projects.

Andrew explains the view that we are seeing around Volcan Telica. The communities of Agua Fria and El Ojochal are high up on the volcano. Agua Fria was temporarily evacuated after the recent eruption. Hopefully it has settled down, but there is no evidence that the magma activity has subsided.

A gecko grabs a moth off the wall right outside our room. These geckos make a sweeting kissing sound when they are calling to each other. They are lightning fast and catch all kinds of insects – if only they ate mosquitoes!

Andrew explains some of the views from our vantage point on a hillside summit overlooking the crater of Volcan Telica.

A member of the El Ojochal community explains some of the challenges with the reforestation project.

Horseback riding from the lower part of El Ojochal to the very top. The road built by Nuevas Esperanzas stops at the school, which is the central part of the community. To get to the highest houses, you have to hike or take a horse. We chose to take a horseback ride up the steep mountain.

Members of Nuevas Esperanzas see one of the bee hives up close. Amazing that team member Erica (in the white shirt) didn’t even have gloves on!

Enrique from the Nuevas Esperanzas team explains to us the gardening project.

El Ojochal preschool (3-5 yr olds) kids welcome us with a short song.

More video of the drive up to El Ojochal on the road built by Nuevas Esperanzas.

A collage of videos from the arsenic project in the communities of Nuevas Amanecer and La Union.

Video of the school in the community of Nueva Amanecer – plus view of the El Ojochal hillside.

Riding in the back of the truck to Nueva Amanecer and La Union.

Anna plays a very large game of hopskotch after church.

If you had told me last week how much we would accomplish in our short visit to Nicaragua, I would not have believed you! What an amazing visit this has been seeing this beautiful country, seeing the impact of Nuevas Esperanzas on the communities of El Ojochal through the effective long-term development strategies being implemented in projects as diverse as rainwater harvesting and beekeeping. Yesterday was a special opportunity to worship alongside most of the entire Nuevas Esperanzas team during Friday tea (moved to Wednesday to accomodate our tight timeframe). With Leo on the guitar, Andrew on the trumpet, and Emma on the flute it was a special time of reflection thinking of what we are thankful for and for what we would petition God for Nuevas Esperanzas.

Before the photos, some maps of where we went on Monday and Tuesday … on Monday, we spent the day in the communities of La Union and Nueva Amanecer

Tuesday was our day full of hiking, horse-back riding up a steep volcano hillside, beekeeping, and meeting people from the community of El Ojochal.

Only a few more pictures to post from our day full of meetings and reflection yesterday including a very early bike ride to the beach. I’ll be posting several videos over the weekend.

What an amazing day today was at El Ojochal del Liston on the side of the Volcan Telica here in Nicaragua. We saw firsthand all of the project work that Nuevas Esperanzas has been doing in the community – road building, rainwater harvesting, gardening, beekeeping, and reforestation. It was quite the adventure as told by all the captions in the pictures below!

Yesterday, we had a great day visiting two communities at the base of Volcan Telica. Then we came back to the main offices of Nuevas Esperanzas and had a couple meetings reflecting on how the organization has gotten to where it is today and how everything fits into the strategic plan for the future. A common theme was how it is easy to see the hand/guidance of God throughout the entire process.

Great day today here in Nicaragua. I started out with a 45 mile bike ride, spent the morning catching up with board members who arrived late last night, and spent the early afternoon working with Leo on our Joomla vs. WordPress decision. Then at 5pm, we headed over to La Iglesia San Sebastian for mass where Andrew and Emma were playing in the worship band. The whole experience was surreal as we worshipped in Spanish in a church rebuilt on the grounds of a church that was bombed during the Sandanista revolution in the 70s. Afterwards, everybody from the board gathered at Luke and Stephanie’s house for a cookout and an excellent time of relaxing and reconnecting.