you asked!

Humble apologies for the delay in replying to some of your questions. Here goes at least one for today!

This question was asked recently by a couple of people, in different countries!

How can you live like that?

Since I am quite content with life here in Nicaragua I had to turn the question back over to them and ask what they meant. Apparently they were concerned about lack of physical security, my low income, often no electricity and no water, and never being sure of where I would be living next.

Oh, living by Faith? It's easy! I have seen how The LORD has provided for my every need, not necessarily wants, but needs, at just the right time ever since I left the comfort and security of my home in Gainesville 5 years ago.

 I am well aware of the increase in crime here over recent years, especially in Managua, the capital, and take precautions as required. Safety is not guaranteed anywhere, and as Stacey Eldridge says: "Safety is not found in the absence of danger, but in the presence of Jesus." Let me tell you, there is no safer place to be than in the will of God.
As for the other issues, living here in a 3rd world country certainly helps you get your priorities in order.

Having no water for a month makes you really appreciate running water when you do have it. I remember last year, the orphanage up in El Crucero had been without water for a couple of months and the first time it rained hard, we sent all the children outside with their soap and shampoo to take a shower. They loved it. A Heavenly shower!

 And who would have thought that the sound of a toilet flushing could make you feel so thrilled? I currently have running water for a couple of hours in the early morning and a trickle at random times over the weekend. Hey. You get used to saving water and bathing out of a bucket!

I am typing this with a flashlight headband, I must look like a coal miner right now, but haven't had electricity in my home for the past 5 days, except that oddly enough, one power outlet works! No lights or anything, so I have a small fan, a table lamp and this pc hooked up to it. Not only have I learned to be content in the midst of all this, but I actually find it hard being back in USA or UK and dealing with all lifes distractions and seeing so much go to waste.

My first 3 years of living here were without any fixed income, never knowing where the next cordoba was coming from. So when I was offered a position at NCA with a steady income/a living stipend of $300 per month it was like winning the lottery. It is amazing how far you can make that $300 go when you have to. You should try it some time!

 At this time I wish to thank all of you who have sent in financial support over the past few years. It has enabled me to do many outreaches in the communities, to orphanages, old folks centers, deliver food parcels to the hungry, and take care of some extras for myself like repairs and fuel for my vehicle and I have been able to get some health issues taken care of, more about that later. So I thank you for your generosity and for your faithfulness with prayers.
I will continue to reply to your questions as time and internet allows.
I love hearing your stories too. Praying I can come and visit you in person over the summer.

May God continue to sustain you and shine His Glory down upon you.
With love in Christ
andrea x

count your blessings...

On Monday evening I got a phone call from a friend of mine while I was trying to park the car. I know, I shouldn't have answered it if I couldn't talk, but I did, and hurriedly passed the telephone to one of the children from our church who was in the car with me at the time. She explained to my friend that I couldn't talk and that I would call her back soon.



Let's say my friends name is Rose,. When I called Rose back, I didn't know that my 8 year old KFC was able to hear us. She overheard Rose crying, say that she did not have a job, was looking for work and willing to do anything and travel the hour into Managua every day to work if necessary. Rose had no means to buy food for her family, her husband and 10 month old son. My KFC immediately called her dad and said he had to take her shopping when he got home. She sat down and made a a list of things she wanted to buy and when her dad came home she went to the local store and bought 2 bags of groceries . With her own money! Diapers and milk for the baby too! It blessed me tremendously to witness her heart in this situation. She didn't even think twice about it. When I thanked her she just said > "God told me to buy groceries for her with my own money." and smiled.



Since Rose had been crying when we talked on the phone, I had asked if she needed to get out for a while and offered to take her and her son into Managua for lunch and a day out. When I arrived to pick her up yesterday, Labor Day, at 9>30 am, she was up to her knees in mud. It had rained really hard the night before and her house had flooded.



They had just built a small extension onto their very basic home for their baby son. The price of cement has just gone up so they couldn't afford enough cement to make the outside wall completely watertight. About 2 feet of water had leaked into the room. She had been up all night scooping it out with buckets.



For the next 3 hours she proceeded to dig a channel in the dirt for the rains to follow next time it rained. Since we are in rainy season now, this needed to be done right away. She apologised for not being able to go into town for lunch with me, she said she had to finish the work while her husband was home. I helped to look after the children of the extended family who live there with her. At times they would help scoop out the dirt that Rose loosened with the pick axe. It made me so sad to see them working so hard, what a struggle! To top it all, when the neighbor brought a drainage tube over to put into the channel she had dug, it would not fit! So she had to fill most of it in and start again, to dig a trench that the pipe would fit in.



Her hands were blistered and bleeding. I could see the sweat dropping off her face and glistening over her entire body as she worked in the heat of the day. Then we drove all around town trying to find a 90 degree connector, not sure what the technical name is, an elbow joint maybe, anyway, we could only find a broken one that was a little too small, but thought we might be able to make it work. We were excited about our find and took it back to her husband. He said he would make it work, it was all they had. I watched him cut up a perfectly good pair of jeans so he could bandage wrap it around the joints and glue it on to make it fit.



It touched me deeply to watch their determination to make their home waterproof and safe for the family, using the very little resources that were available to them.



The whole time, my friend did not complain, she just kept apologising that she could not go into town with me. I know she read the love in my eyes each time our eyes met, and she returned it with a smile.



LORD sometimes I feel so inadequate. I want to build her a new house, a waterproof one with tiled floors, not mud and dirt, and with the pigs running in and out. A house with a flushing toilet, not one at the end of the yard that everyone uses, the hole in the ground that stinks. A shower with running water, doesn't have to be hot, just fresh running water, not just washing in a bucket day in and day out. LORD I want to do so much.

Yet I know that is not necessarily what is best for them at this time. The most important thing is that they all come to know you LORD. Then with you all things are possible. Help me to just keep sharing your love with them.



 In two weeks I do not know where I will sleep, but my hope and trust are in You LORD, and for now I will count the blessings you have given me this day Father God. Thank you! And thank you for speaking to the heart of our 8 year old KFC, and that she was ready and willing to obey your command. Thank you for letting me witness that act of love and provision. Never let me take what I have for granted.



Thank you for allowing me to see You in all this LORD.

BTW, KFC is the name our children's ministry chose to call themselves / Kids Following Christ!

Hosanna!

Hosanna

I see the king of glory
Coming on the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes
The whole earth shakes

Yeeeah

I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing
The people sing

[Chorus]
Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest [x2]

I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees
We're on our knees

[Chorus]

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to
Eternity

[Chorus x2]

Hosanna in the highest

my home for now.....

The heat is on!

March is here, and with it the heat. Today was crazy hot, and now as I lay in bed I wonder if sleep will come tonight. Even the fan is blowing hot air. February was wonderful, cool mornings and evenings with a refreshing breeze throughout most of the day. We are in our other season now, the dry season. Gone are the lush greens of the countryside, March's change of scenery brings changing hues of yellow and brown. The ground has dried out and the dust is taking over. I left my Bible open the other day while I went to take care of something, when I returned a short while later, I was horrified to find a fine layer of dust resting upon it.

Many thanks for your prayers for a roof over my head. I was able to find a couple of rooms available for 3 months. I moved in Feb 14^th, oh yes, Happy Valentine's Day, or as we say here, “Feliz Dia de la Amistad.” Happy Friendship Day. I like that better! I digress, so I have this place until mid May, and then who knows. I am amazed at God's provision. I am amazed at His works. I am in awe of His ways. He is never early, never late, never has to go to plan B. He is Sovereign God, always with everything under control. Even the seasons know exactly when to change. The minute March arrived, the heat was ushered in bringing all that goes with that. I am reminded of Job 38, when God speaks after 38 chapters of silence, to remind Job who is in charge and why. Then it all makes more sense.

Last week we took Ruby to Pizza Hut to celebrate her 14^th Birthday. She is getting stronger daily and is almost walking without anyone helping her. God is still in the business of working miracles. I believe God is who He says He is and that He can do all He says He can do. Hallelujah! Ruby's great feat on her special day was that she learned how to drink out of a straw. Something so natural and normal to the likes of you and me, but for this special angel, she had to wait until her 14^th birthday to experience her soda through a straw.

I went up to the children's home in El Crucero again on Friday afternoon after work. Made spaghetti dinner by candlelight, since the electricity had been off since around 9 0'clock that morning. Which meant that there was no running water either. Funny how these things become so normal after several years of living here. Which by the way, on reflection, is five years this month. It was March 2007 when my feet first stepped onto Nicaraguan soil. I digress again, sorry, maybe the heat is getting to me. I can't keep my thoughts in order. Oh yes, speaking of running water, I had no running water in my new abode for the 1^st 10 days I was here. No big deal. When there are children dying of disease and starvation, right in front of me, why should I whine about no water? I have a roof over my head and for that I am grateful.

I love going up to be with the children in the orphanage. They always thank me, yet the honor and privilege is mine. I am blessed beyond anything I could ask. To be able to share just a few hours with this wonderful family God has provided, thank you LORD. Two of the children from our church came with us. Is it OK to be so proud of them? Children ministering to children. After helping prepare and serve the meal selflessly and without needing adult direction, one of them took her guitar and led us all into the presence of our LORD with Praise and Worship. The younger of the two then led a devotional. All the children were quiet, everyone listened intently, you could have heard a pin drop as she shared The Word of God in that place. Then the requests for “just one more song” were honored before it was time to close in prayer and say our good nights. I slept well that night with pictures of smiling faces before me and echoes of the children's voices singing praises to God in 3 languages: English, Spanish and Miskito. Father God, I marvel at your creativity, Hallelujah for diversity.

Oh, about my back, it has been getting progressively worse for the past couple of years. I put off going to a doctor for a long time because of financial reasons, but it was getting to the point where I could hardly stand up in the mornings, so I made a couple of appointments to get help. Alas, they did not work out. Either the doctor did not show up, or the X-ray department was closed the day I was scheduled to go. I drove across town during rush hour after work one day, made it to the hospital in one piece, then took my place in line. I waited a fair while for my turn, and had to push to keep my place in the queue, (they line up a little different here in Nicaragua) but I was disappointed to find out that not only was the X-ray department closed that day, but that it had been closed for the past 2 years. Sigh. I know, I know, so why did they schedule me that day for an appointment for X-rays? I don't know, you just don't ask those kind of questions, you leave praying all the way home and thanking God that He knows all things and that I don't have to.

Well, I caved in yesterday and paid 10 percent of my monthly income for an appointment for an adjustment with a visiting chiropractor. The place was so hard to find, I got horribly lost and arrived so stressed out, over 30 minutes late. Which is really 45 minutes late to me being a Brit. Because if I'm not 15 minutes early, I am late. Anyway, my 20 minute appointment may have helped a little. I will continue to do the exercises he suggested and may see him again on his return trip in 6 weeks. I have spent a lot of money repairing my car recently, but am at a point where I feel it's time to get myself repaired. I need to go to a dentist, dermatologist, a back doctor and a vein doctor, so, little by little, I plan to get back in good shape again this year, and extend my expiration date. I'll keep you posted on that one!

So, again, I thank you for being you, for being there for me, for your encouragement and support with prayers and finances, and for keeping in touch. Thank you for caring. Thank you for loving. Whatever happens, whatever things look like, keep loving. Remember God has called us to love even when: we don't want to, we don't feel like it, we get nothing obvious in return, they don't deserve it, they're not worth it, they don't even know it, it makes no difference. Keep loving, it's what you have been called to do, and remember these 3 words:

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13 v 8.

with so much love In Christ,

from me,

andrea

Ruby's 14th Birthday at Pizza hut!

We went to Pizza Hut to celebrate Ruby's 14th Birthday.

Ruby drank out of a straw for the first time today! Way to go!

We had fun celebrating together.

The servers came and sang  Happy Birthday to Ruby. 

She joined in! Ruby loves music!

Ruby enjoyed her special day!

Boys day out!

When I lived at the orphange is Los Cedros I would try to schedule some time alone with each child at least once a week, which was hard with about 20 children. But I really felt it was important for them to have that time out of the normal routine to help them realize how special they are as individuals. A time set aside for just them to get all the attention and not just be one of many.

 Last weekend a good friend of mine picked up two of the boys from the home in El Crucero and I picked up two of the boys from the orphanage where I used to live in Los Cedros. Together, we had so much fun just doing normal everyday things! The children are different when you get them in a more intimate setting. They communicate better and you get to see more of who they really are.

The hard part was taking them back afterwards. Lots of tears at parting, and the other children wanted to know when it would be their turn. It was hard to walk away hearing cries of. "Me next, me next."

 LORD, I thank you for bringing these children into my life. I thank you for saving them from their tragic pasts. I pray that you will meet their deepest love needs and place them in adopted homes with families where they can flourish and grow and be living testimonies of your great Love and Mercy. Thank you LORD.

Leo you are too cute!



David, you always were handsome!



Frankie you know how to capture hearts!

Isidro, I have such fond memories of you over the years!

David, I remember you from when you were just a tiny baby! My how you have grown!

Leo, you sure have changed from just one year ago!

This has to be one of my all time favorites!

it's the simple things in life that bring great pleasure!