Gratitude

It seems that the practice of writing thank-you notes is dying. And that makes me kind of sad. Even in a digital age where we are constantly able to communicate with one another via text or email or Facebook, there is still nothing more meaningful than a physical, hand-written card.

I’ll freely admit, I’m not always the quickest at getting thank-you cards written, but I’m pretty good about making sure that they eventually get done.

And now that my boys are old enough, I think that it is important for them to participate in writing their own thank-you cards. It isn’t easy, but fostering grateful hearts, is worth it.

This year Emmett helped create thank-you cards for his birthday with watercolors. I wrote on the cards with white crayon, and Emmett used the watercolors to reveal the secret message. He loved it! And I think that the resulting art looks pretty cool.

Writing thank-you cards is such a simple way to show gratitude. So let’s not let this practice die, make it fun or make it creative or do whatever you need to do to make it happen. I believe it is worth it.

Playing Catch Up

My oh my, I blinked and it was October!  Here are some pictures from the end of the summer.

Boating with Grandma and Grandpa:

First Overnight Hike for Tom and Jack:

The Lake:

Father’s Day in the Woods

We celebrated the favorite man in our lives with a campout in the woods. Hammocks, tents, fishing, and s’mores…we did it all!

It was a great weekend camping trip and the perfect way to honor our favorite dad!

Water

Clean water is a privilege. But it shouldn’t be. Everyone, everywhere, should have access to it. And yet, they don’t.  It’s easy to take clean water for granted when we live in a place where we choose to drink bottled water over tap, leave the water running while we brush our teeth, and water our lawns to keep them green.

But much of the world does not have these choices. They are forced to drink unsanitary water and often have to travel great distances to get it.

That’s why this spigot is such a big deal. It might look like it belongs with a garden hose on the side of your house, but this spigot is way more important than that. Why? Because this spigot supplies clean water. And for the village of San Jose, this spigot means that they are no longer denied access to clean and sanitary drinking water.

But it still isn’t easy. This is the one and only clean water supply for the entire village. 29 families. 150 people. It is located outside the village commons, and is only turned on for portions of the day. Families must still fill large containers with water and carry them back to their homes. There is still no running water in their homes. They must use out houses for bathrooms, and wash themselves and their clothing in the nearby river. Water is still precious to the village of San Jose. But, it is no longer a privilege denied to them.

Do you want to help provide access to clean water? 

Please consider donating to Agros’ One Seed Alternative Gift Catalog.  You can choose to provide many of the different resources that Agros provides, including access to clean water.

Credit Due

Before I go any further with posts about Nicaragua, I owe credit to someone for many of the photographs taken on this trip.  This is Nat (pictured on the right).  He graciously offered to be the photographer on the trip, so that our group wasn’t whipping out 15 + cameras every time we saw something photo worthy.

He captured the essence of our trip perfectly. I am so thankful for his talent, and for his willingness to share his photos with the rest of us.

Coffee

Have you ever thought about where your daily cup of joe comes from?  I don’t mean whether it was brewed at Starbucks or from a can of Folgers, I’m talking about the journey those beans took to get to your cup.  I admit, I hadn’t thought much about it before this trip.  But coffee plays a big role in the village of San Jose, as it does for much of Nicaragua, and we got a crash course in Coffee 101.

These are coffee seedlings. They are growing under a homemade greenhouse made from lashed together sticks covered with banana leaves.

Once the seedlings are big enough, they are transplanted into little plastic bags. But those little plastic bags don’t come filled with dirt. Someone has to fill all those little bags to get them ready for the seedlings.  Enter our team.

We arrived at this spot to find a pretty large pile of dirt.  Just sitting there. Now you might imagine that this dirt was earthy, fertile, nutrient rich soil, just perfect for growing little seedlings into productive mature coffee plants.  Not so much. In fact, not really at all.  The soil was more like little pellets—hard, rocky, and not very much like any soil that something would want to grow in.  But this is what the soil is like before the rainy season in San Jose.  And coffee finds a way to grow in it.

We filled those little plastic bags for hours. On our hands and knees, without any tools, under the hot sun.  Now before you start feeling sorry for us poor gringos, let me remind you that although the work was tedious, it was a perfect introduction to the life of a farmer.  Farmers don’t get the joy of the harvest every day. In fact most days, they toil. But farmers don’t see their daily tasks in isolation, but rather as parts of a labor that will in time produce a harvest.

I think I can learn a thing or two from farmers. It is no wonder that the Bible is filled with so many passages about agriculture.

We also were taught how to prune the coffee plants.  Using a saw-like knife (like the one I’m holding in my right hand), we cut away all of the dead branches, and even many living ones, so that the plants had room to grow.  It seemed like I was cutting off perfectly good branches. But if there are too many branches competing for the nutrients of the soil, water, and sun, they will choke each other, and the plant won’t grow. 

Hmmm…Are you seeing the metaphor unfold?

Eventually, after much laboring, those little seedlings that have been pruned and cut, will grow and mature into coffee plants with beautiful, brightly colored berries.

And all that work will have not been for nothing.  There will be a harvest.

San Jose

San Jose was founded by Agros in 2007. There are 29 families, about 150 people total, currently living in this village. There is so much to say about this village-- the challenges they’ve overcome and the ones they still face, but I’ll start with what makes San Jose what it is, the people. 

Let me introduce you to Moises.

Moises has vision.  Of the 29 families that live in San Jose, only 3 families commercially grow vegetables. And Moises is one of them.  He’s taking a risk as an entrepreneur, away from the security that growing coffee has provided. Vegetables require irrigation, and water is precious.  There are many unknowns in growing vegetables, but there is also opportunity.

So what motivates Moises?  This guy. Jefferson is one of Moises’ three children. And when Moises’ pays off his loan and finally owns his own land, it is this little guy who will reap the benefit.

This is Terencio. Although he is nearly 70 years old, this man has spunk. During our time in the village, Terencio participated in everything.  He attended every devotional, craft, work party, and celebration that was had during our time in the village.

Meet Urania and Julio (wearing the red shirts).  They are in-country staff for Agros and work with the 4 Agros villages in the area. Each lives nearly 3 hours away and commutes to this area for the week. Leaving their own families behind, Urania and Julio provide agricultural technical assistance, and human resources for villages like San Jose. They live an incredibly sacrificial life.

Rosa teaches preschool in San Jose. She also lives there, is mother to three children, and helps her husband (Moises) tend their vegetable crops.  Most of the women in the village stayed in the background during our visit, as is the cultural norm. Not Rosa. She led games with the children, danced traditional Nicaraguan dances for us, and engaged us in conversation.  This vitality reflects her optimism and is another example of the hope that Agros provides.

Then there is this abuela (grandmother). Every day she walks up the steep mountainside to collect firewood to fuel the stove that she uses to cook for her entire family.

Here she is in her kitchen.

No village could be complete without a band.  San Jose’s band lovingly played music for us each morning as we arrived in the village.

And then there are the children. So many precious faces. They were the most beautiful, yet also the most heartbreaking, aspect of the village. Through them, I was reminded of God’s goodness, that there can be happiness, laughter, and hope,  despite circumstances that might seem otherwise.