{"id":769,"date":"2015-12-22T04:19:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T04:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=769"},"modified":"2015-12-22T04:19:52","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T04:19:52","slug":"a-new-kind-of-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=769","title":{"rendered":"A New Kind of Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is way overdue considering that I\u2019ve been back from Nicaragua for approximately 2.5 weeks. It\u2019s amazing how busy a person can be while not working and not going to school.\u00a0 And quite frankly, I\u2019ve been enjoying my \u201cbreak\u201d, if you can call it that, with Orientation, kids, Christmas prep and all of the processing that comes along with a major life event.\u00a0 I\u2019m referring to my trip to Nicaragua, but I suppose I could also be referring to the fact that, as of this weekend, my kids have a brand new step family.\u00a0 Not that my world changes much from that, but my kids\u2019 world does, and thus, we are processing.<\/p>\n

So, Nicaragua. Wow.\u00a0 I\u2019m not really sure where to begin. I guess I\u2019ll start at the beginning. After spending a few days in Kirksville for Thanksgiving, and dealing with some anxiety about being away from my kids for so long, Brian drove me to the airport on Saturday evening to catch my first flight to Houston.\u00a0 Despite the prediction that Lambert had the potential to be chaos on the holiday weekend, it was completely desolate.\u00a0 After checking my bag, going through security and getting a snack, I was at the gate with my book open in about 20 minutes.\u00a0 I had lots of time to chill.\u00a0 And fortunately, any of the anxiety I had been having melted away in the time I sat waiting to board.<\/p>\n

As we lined up to get on the plane, I found the pair I was traveling with. Dave and I were wearing matching Living Water shirts, so we were easy to locate, and Dave\u2019s daughter Rebecca was with him.\u00a0 The flight to Houston was uneventful.\u00a0 We landed, got our bags, caught a cab to the hotel where we checked in for the night around 11pm and planned on the 6am shuttle to the airport.\u00a0 Not much time there.<\/p>\n

At 5:59am, my phone rang as I was shoving my toothbrush into my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder. I was about to miss the shuttle.\u00a0 Oh great, I had already been labeled the late girl.\u00a0 Or as I prefer to be known, the girl who comes flying in just in the nick of time.\u00a0 I don\u2019t much care for any time of day that comes before 6am, so I cut it close.\u00a0 But we got back to the airport, grabbed bagels and coffee and made our way to the gate where we found several other matching shirts.\u00a0 Our trio doubled when we met our 3 Canadian friends, Eric and Jean from Toronto and 15 year old LJ from Saskatchewan.\u00a0 Then Lauren and Anthony joined us from Houston, separately.\u00a0 We would meet Enrique from El Salvador when we landed in Managua.\u00a0 Or group had formed from mostly a bunch of random strangers from around the world.\u00a0 And it couldn\u2019t have been more perfect.<\/p>\n

A few hours later we were in Central America. We got our bags, went through Customs and eventually met up with Enrique, Pancho and Chico (both are named Francisco so they go by nicknames to avoid confusion).\u00a0 Pancho and Chico were our lead drillers for the week and were in charge of getting us to wherever we needed to be.\u00a0 Our group chatted as we sat around a table full of fried chicken before heading to the compound where we would stay for the week.\u00a0 When our bellies were full, we loaded the suitcases into the team van and drove about an hour to Rivas, our temporary home.<\/p>\n

I followed the girls into our room and we got settled. Then we had a meeting with Lisette, the Hygiene team leader.<\/p>\n

A little background info, when I signed up for this trip, I had the option of being a member of the drill team or the hygiene team. My gut instinct is to always sign up for the hard job, give me manual labor.\u00a0 Weirdly, I don\u2019t have any idea which team I asked to be placed on.\u00a0 I likely checked the box that said, put me where you need me.\u00a0 But I of course planned to get down and dirty in the mud and a hard hat.\u00a0 However, as the trip edged closer, I started receiving emails for the Hygiene team.\u00a0 Uh, so I guess I\u2019m doing that?<\/p>\n

Anyway, I went to the meeting with Lisette and she said we could do drilling or hygiene, it was entirely our choice. What exactly does the hygiene team do?\u00a0 Well, they teach lessons to the women and children in the community about how to keep the water clean, how to avoid spreading germs, oral hygiene and nutrition.\u00a0 They do skits, crafts and play with the kids.<\/p>\n

I love kids, but somebody hand me a drill already. Right?\u00a0 Wrong.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if ya\u2019ll know this about me, but I sometimes have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder about proving how strong I am. And by a little bit, I mean a really giant chip on my shoulder.\u00a0 Well, as I embarked on a week in Nicaragua, I was about to learn about a new kind of strength.\u00a0 I somewhat begrudgingly (only inside my own head because that\u2019s where the battle was going on) agreed to start with the hygiene team on Monday and take things one day at a time.\u00a0 I really wanted to use my work gloves that my kids had written messages on for me.<\/p>\n

After meeting with Lisette, and with Jorge, our overseer for the week, we all got changed into more appropriate clothes for 85 degrees and went on a little tour of the city. We were situated very near Lake Nicaragua, which is absolutely gorgeous.\u00a0 The lake was surrounded by mountains, there were kids swimming at the beach and wild horses roaming everywhere. \u00a0We were informed that one of our options for our \u201cfree day\u201d on Friday was taking a boat to several of the islands on the lake.\u00a0 Awesome, sign me up!<\/p>\n

We drove back to town, stopped into a church in the city center and wandered a little bit. Then we headed back to the \u201chouse\u201d for dinner.\u00a0 Every meal we ate all week long was delicious, lots of rice and beans, fried plantains, fresh pineapple and watermelon.\u00a0 I may or may not be drooling just thinking about it\u2026<\/p>\n

On Monday morning we were up early. Devotional time on the patio started at 6:30am, followed by breakfast at 7 and leave for the work site by 8.\u00a0 We would stop to gas up the van and get supplies on the way and hopefully be ready to start work by 9ish.\u00a0 \u201cish\u201d is key in keeping time in Central America.\u00a0 They are very, um, flexible on time.\u00a0 It was a welcome change from the states.<\/p>\n

When we arrived in Nandaime the first day, we took a little walk around the community to meet some of the people we would be building the well for. It was about 45 minutes from where we were staying and was more rural.\u00a0 Many of the neighbors had considerable livestock, chickens, pigs and it wasn\u2019t uncommon to see cows using the main thoroughfare.<\/p>\n

After our walk, the drill team got right to work and I joined forces with Lisette and Lauren to prepare for our first lesson. In the mornings we would teach the women and the younger children who weren\u2019t in school yet. Then we would all break for a picnic lunch. \u00a0After lunch we would teach the same lesson to the school age children while the drill team would get back to it.<\/p>\n

While I fully intended to participate in the actual drilling at some point, as the week wore on, I couldn\u2019t fathom giving up my role with the hygiene team. Typically, Lauren would talk them through the lesson, Lisette would translate, and I would do my best to illustrate the points through acting out a skit or being the voice of our puppet, Francisco (yes, another one).\u00a0 Even with minimal Spanish, I was able to make the audience laugh.<\/p>\n

On the first afternoon, the very first little girl that I walked over to and said, \u201cComo se llama?\u201d gave an answer that made me both excited and brought a tear to my eye at the same time. \u201cAlison\u201d she said.\u00a0 I stumbled through my Spanish to tell her that was my daughters name too.\u00a0 I showed her a picture of my kiddos.\u00a0 Alison and I were bonded immediately.\u00a0 She was my little piece of home, away from home.\u00a0 My heart knew it was in the right place.<\/p>\n

Everyday Alison would wave excitedly when our eyes would meet, I would beam and wave back. She was always full of hugs, just as so many others were.\u00a0 After the lesson, we would do crafts and Lisette would make balloon animals, or we would paint their faces.\u00a0 They always left smiling.\u00a0 So did we.\u00a0 We also left exhausted.\u00a0 We would nap in the van on the way back.\u00a0 And our no hot water showers were actually very refreshing after a sweaty day in the heat and dust.\u00a0 One night we went out for ice cream and a walk in town, another night we went out for a fantastic steak dinner at a nice restaurant.\u00a0 We all slept well at night, even if I forgot to plug in the AC one night, and despite my bed that creaked if I got too close to the right edge.<\/p>\n

We had a few complications with the drilling project through the week, and we questioned whether or not we would complete it. On Thursday we went to the community and it looked like we were all set to finish up and do the well dedication that afternoon. However, the pumping process that day took longer than it should have.\u00a0 That afternoon, Pancho posed a scenario for us.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t finish on Thursday, so we could come back on Friday, our \u201cfree day\u201d and finish, or we could go do our end of the week activity and then Pancho and Chico would come back and finish the well without us on Monday.<\/p>\n

No one gave it a second thought. It was immediately unanimous.\u00a0 We were coming back on Friday.\u00a0 There was no doubt about it.\u00a0 We all wanted to finish what we had gone there to do.<\/p>\n

So Friday morning looked much like every other day. But since the hygiene team had no more lessons planned and we were all just waiting to put the pump together, we played.\u00a0 Anthony and LJ threw the football and kicked the soccer ball with the kids.\u00a0 Enrique and Lisette made balloon animals and hats and swords and hearts and anything you can think of.\u00a0 We played with bubbles and just hung out.\u00a0 And then, it happened.\u00a0 Pancho filled a bucket with water and started chasing the kids.\u00a0 And before we knew it everyone was filling anything they could find and dumping water on everyone.\u00a0 What better way to celebrate fresh water, than with a huge gigantic water fight?!\u00a0 I was on my way to put my phone, and Rebecca\u2019s phone in the van, for safe keeping when I saw Pancho headed my way. I held the phone over my head so he would see it, and he dumped the water right into my ear.\u00a0 I laughed, since the phones had been spared.\u00a0 And then the phones went away.\u00a0 And I lived in the moment.\u00a0 And I laughed.\u00a0 And laughed.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t stop laughing. I laughed so hard I had actual tears at one point. It was the best water fight I have ever participated in.\u00a0 The kids were using the hard hats, filling them with water, and getting anyone and everyone.\u00a0 It was amazing.\u00a0 It was the best possible way to spend our free day.<\/p>\n

Eventually it calmed down and the kids went home to get cleaned up. We put the pump together and we had a working well.<\/p>\n

I had asked for a fresh coconut earlier in the week and at lunch I was presented with my very own coconut with a straw. One of the families gave us a watermelon, so we sat around eating and laughing and LJ throwing rinds at the Rooster.<\/p>\n

The community members started congregating; we all gathered around the well and said a prayer. We took pictures and celebrated that our new friends had a well that would safely provide clean water for them.\u00a0 As our time was coming to a close, the hugs came fast and furious.\u00a0 And as the hugs slowed, and the waves down the street started, so did the tears.<\/p>\n

Have you ever seen the movie Inside Out? Ya know how as a baby, her emotions are very simple, but as she gets older, they become more complex as she feels many things at once?\u00a0 Well, in that moment, I felt so many things.\u00a0 That whole day was about feeling everything on the spectrum.<\/p>\n

This trip was the perfect capstone to the year 2015. I have experienced every emotion on the spectrum this year, as well. I said in the beginning of the year, I wanted 2015 to hold big things.\u00a0 12 months ago, I couldn\u2019t have imagined all that this year would bring.\u00a0 A week in the hospital, a diploma, a new step family for my kids, a budding career in nursing, a new stamp in my passport.\u00a0 I\u2019m still healing from some of my past, but 2015 proved that none of that can hold me back.<\/p>\n

In Nicaragua, I didn\u2019t pick up a tool, or get muddy, or even put my gloves on once that week. But I don\u2019t think my friends in Nicaragua will remember that about me. My Spanish is conversational enough to ask names, and ages and what things they like to do.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think they will remember that about me either.\u00a0 They don\u2019t know anything about my struggles as a single mom, or missing my dad, or any of the tragedies of my life, so they won\u2019t remember that either.<\/p>\n

I think they will remember my smiles, and my tears, and my laughter, and my goofiness, and my hugs, my joy. They might remember that my Spanish wasn\u2019t perfect. I believe I told them I was sad to snow, instead of sad to leave, but the figured it out. More importantly, I think they will remember that I was willing to be vulnerable enough to try.\u00a0 I was vulnerable enough to leave a piece of my heart in a little village in Nicaragua. \u00a0And there is so much strength in that.<\/p>\n

\"With<\/a>

With Valeria, Alison, Vianca and friends<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is way overdue considering that I\u2019ve been back from Nicaragua for approximately 2.5 weeks. It\u2019s amazing how busy a person can be while not working and not going to school.\u00a0 And quite frankly, I\u2019ve been enjoying my \u201cbreak\u201d, if you can call it that, with Orientation, kids, Christmas prep and all of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-cp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}