Nicaragua bound...

It has been a while since I have been able to sit in front of this computer and type but I had to at least fill everyone in on the latest developments. We are presently in Nicaragua, longer than we expected. We were scheduled to leave Costa Rica on the 19th of January. That morning we were up at 4:30am and out of the door by 5:15. Our tickets were purchased to depart at 7am though they were printed for 6am, the agent assured me that 7am was the right time. 

When we arrived at the Tica Bus station the kids sat in the waiting area while Tony and I pulled out all of the passports and tickets. After a few minutes the agent told us that we didn't have any tickets purchased. We showed him the physical tickets and told him that we were in just a week prior to purchase them. He shook his head with an OK and said "You’re are right, but your bus is already boarded for 6am and there are not enough seats for the 10 of you. Well, it was just too early in the morning for all of this confusion so we pleaded our case for over 10 minutes as we watched the bus fill up to no avail. 

They apologized for the mix up and asked us to see if the 7am bus would have 10 seats available for us (yeah right).

I excused myself and went into the ladies room to have a talk with the Lord. I asked him to intervene, if it was his will. If not, I needed him to give me peace about this and that He did. I came out, totally ok with whatever happened. Well, there were only 3 seats available on the bus so there was no hope for the Jackson clan. We changed our ticket dates to Friday the 21st at 12:30pm and headed out of the door. 

As we were walking to the bus stop, I asked Tony if he would like to go to Limon instead. Limon is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We have wanted to go for a while and I thought it to be the perfect thing to do  instead of going back home for 2 days. Tony consented and the kids were excited to see the beach so we took a bus to the Caribe Bus terminal. We arrived about an hour and a half before the bus departed so we ate some gallo pinto for breakfast and did our bathroom runs at .20cents a head. 

We were in Limon about 3 hours after we boarded and it was beautiful. The sun was shining and the people were friendly. We heard more English than we had heard in a long time. We walked the strip for a while and sat to enjoy the view. We watched as a news team crew came and set up their equipment to the right of us. We were happy to watch them begin when the anchor woman points over to us and the camera follows. I sat there wide eyed as she walked over to Tony and asks in Spanish, if he would like to be interviewed. Well if you know Tony, he loves the lime-light and stood up immediately to make his channel 6 debut. They spoke for 15 minutes about the food in Costa Rica and I took a few shots of Tony looking suave for the camera. : )

The rest of the day was great, we swam, took pictures and spent the night at a hotel. The next morning we were on the bus again heading back to San Jose. 

We made it back home that afternoon and had to unpack wash and repack our clothes. We were short on time as we have to hang our clothes out to dry and I was not sure if they would all be ready by 9am the next morning. 

The next morning we were up bright and early and on our first bus by 9:15am. What a sight we were hustling down the street with all of our backpacks. We got off in San Jose and did a bit of grocery shopping as we headed to our next bus. That bus took forever to get us to the Tica Bus terminal and I was beginning to think that we would miss our bus again. Thank goodness we arrived 10 min before they began to board... we were off to Nicaragua, with lots of excitement in the air.

The ride was long and it didn’t help that the temperature went from 20 to 90 degrees every hour with the ac cutting on and off. We stopped at both boarders twice to show our passports, pay exit fees and have our luggage’s inspected. 

We were picked up by our host and hostess Charity and Leo at the bus stop late that evening and brought to the orphanage. 

We were tired that night and did not get to see much until morning but we were happy to see all of the children the next day. There were 5 babies to hug and play with along with 9 children who were happy to be entertained by Tony. We really enjoyed being here and even got to see a volcano, up close and personal. 

By day 3 I wasn't sure how we were going to leave. Charity approached us and asked if we would like to stay a few more days to meet her dad who was scheduled to come for a visit. I was more than happy to say yes, and the kids said that they had prayed that there was a way that we could stay longer. 

www.newhopechildrensfoundation.org is not only an orphanage but a primary and secondary school, feeding centers and technical center for adults. God is doing a mighty work here with the help of many workers and volunteers. We were privileged to meet wonderful people like the Australian/English couple who rented out their home in England for 18 months so they can teach at the school, the college student who spent a semester here with the babies watching over them and the college graduate who is basically the house mom to the babies. We are seriously considering moving here to Nicaragua to volunteer at the home and school. Please pray with us as we decide on our future. I never intended on having to make a decision like this now, but God seems to be doing something wonderful here and we would love to be a part of it. I have tons of pictures to post and will do so once I get on my computer which we left in Costa Rica. This weekend we will be visiting the children’s home in Waspam, where the children are all from and possibly bringing a little girl back here. I suppose that I will have lots more to write about in the near future and will do so if the internet connection allows.

More to come…