Oh No!!!

It’s been a tough week in the Kawell household. Our beloved X-Box 360 game console suffered a major injury last Monday and, despite many frantic and heroic efforts, finally gave out. Sadly, we packed it in its box and sent it off to Microsoft, who promised to have it fixed in under a month. It seems a hard fate for a machine only a year old to have to undergo such extensive repairs. Thankfully, the rest of the family is bearing this load very well, and we find ourselves turning to simpler entertainment on the sad Monday and Friday afternoons when we used to play with our dear X-Box. I’ll be sure to inform you all, dear family and friends, when our X-Box returns to sit proudly in its happy home by the television downstairs.

 

Get well soon, X-Box.

Nicaragua Post

A few videos from Nicaragua.

Waves in the Pacific.

Classic Nicaraguan art, in a friend's home.

The streets of Leon. Actually, this video was taken during a half hour wait outside of the preschool we visited. This is a common thing in Nicaragua, the lady inside was sick and simply didn't open the doors until half an hour after the usual time. The group you see is the teachers and parents waiting patiently. No one was surprised or angry.

This is a cute video of the kids I babysat. The video cuts off as I realize that the neighbours might begin throwing things!

A food market.

A kitchen in La Palmerita.

Another street video.

Merry Christmas!!

Um, not quite. But I (Abby) have been hoarding this blog for far too long, and I realized that nobody (ahem!) UPDATED THE BLOG WHILE I WAS AWAY! Consequently, there are no Christmas or New Years posts. So, having gone through the pictures and determined that several are too good to waste, I’ve decided to go back in time and update. A very late update. Anyway… Fire up the time machine and let’s go back…

To Christmas Eve! Yes, not even Christmas Eve is too sacred for cards!

Our dear friends, the Daileys came over for a delicious feast of-

With-

…for dessert, and lots and lots of-

Let’s see, that’s sweet tea in the background, apple cider in the middle, three cartons of eggnog, and chocolate milk in front.

But Santa has always preferred regular milk.

Mama and Mrs. Dailey visit in the kitchen. The evening finished with the final chapter of The Christmas Carol and many more carols sung around the tree. It was a wonderful evening! Now let’s move ahead a few more hours…

 

Christmas morning!

Nothing’s cuter than a nine-year-old on Christmas morning!

 

A Matt Forte jersey!

And yes, that’s a poker set.

Complete with a card shuffler.

But hey! He also got three worship songbooks for piano!

And Nathan got a Bible!

 

Nothing says Christmas morning like a blown-glass pickle! Here is the explanation, stolen from last year’s post.

According to family tradition, every Christmas morning 'Santa' hides 'the pickle' (a pickle-shaped, blown-glass ornament) somewhere in the tree. The first child to find it is the first to open his gifts. Then that child hides it again after he is done opening his gifts and the second child to find it is the second one to open. It's a pretty wild scramble!

 

LATER IN THE DAY

 

We visit Grandmother to show off our gifts. That poker game looks pretty intense! 

Jesse moves his info from his old phone to his new Instinct!

While Grandmother seems deeply interested in Mama’s new Zune mp3 player! 

And off to the Heinss’ for an evening Christmas party, with more carols! 

(Insert your own caption here)

 

MOVING FORWARD TWO DAYS TO CHRISTMAS AT GRANDMOTHER’S

Another pile of gifts…

With an iPod (mp3 player) for Grandmother!

Las tres Amigas Grandes! Cousins Robbie and Sarah with yours truly.

But little cousin Evie is still the belle of the ball!

 

So Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday!

 

(Sigh. Only on this blog)

I’m home!

This is Abby from Alabama! We flew into Atlanta last night after a long day, and Mama and Daddy were there to drive us home to AL. It’s good to be home, although I’m still a little disoriented. Thankfully, Nicaragua and Alabama are in the same time zone, so I didn’t have a problem with that. Flying in and out of Miami and Atlanta yesterday was confusing though. I will upload a few pictures tonight from the trip, but I promise more detailed posts later.

 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip with apologies for the randomness.

This is a street in a village outside of Leon. I love the flowers: a year round occurrence this close to the equator.

 

A boy walking in the steam from the boiling mud pits. Notice the caution line; I’ll have more pictures of this area later.

The volcanoes afforded some gorgeous photo shoots.

I love this moment that I caught between two year old Josiah and a local boy in the village of La Palmerita. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Another volcano photo.

We visited during the dry season. This dirt was so hard that I couldn’t even scratch it with my fingernail.

A beautiful church in Leon.

Drinking bananas con leche, a local drink consisting of- how’s your Spanish? - bananas and milk.

Mrs. Toone prays with local girls she mentored during her last stay.

 

This has just been a quick preview of my Nicaraguan trip and I hope to update more tomorrow.

Hola from Nicaragua

This is Abby again, posting from the lobby of the Hotel San Juan D'Leon. I have a little longer for this post, since Mr. and Mrs. Toone are out at a good-bye dinner with friends and I'm staying with the sleeping kids. Tomorrow, we'll be driving out of Leon at one o'clock to head back to the capital, Managua. We'll be spending the night in the Mercedes hotel and flying out early Saturday morning.
So far, it's been the most wonderful experience for me and all of us. I've begun to realize that even though it's only been two weeks, I'm going to miss Nicaragua. Granted, it will be nice to read labels and understand conversation again (although my Spanish has definitely improved) and I certainly miss my family and friends, but this has been a wonderful experience in a wonderful country.
I will continue to ask for your prayers, though, as the next few days of travel will be hard on us all, especially since we'll be traveling with two worn-out babies, and sanity as well as safety will be a primary concern! But the kids have really been excellent. Josiah, the two year old, is too young to even notice the location change and the language barrier is nonexistent in his little world, creating some hilariously awkward situations! Analise, who is four, has had more difficulty and is of the opinion that if she only speaks loudly enough, people will understand her.
I had many questions about my health before I came and to reassure you all, we have not eaten in any questionable locations. I have been drinking only bottled water and am getting plenty of sleep since we're all on a two-year-old's schedule. I have also been taking endless pictures and video with my cameras, but I'm afraid that there will be no time to download any until I get home. Meanwhile, keep checking the Toone's site for info (the link is a few posts below).
I love you all, friends and family, and hope to see you as soon as possible to give you first hand accounts! Meanwhile I promise to post diligently as soon as I am home and have a little more time.
(DISCLAIMER: The author of this post is physically and emotionally very tired as well as unused to posting at ten thirty at night. If this post makes no sense, please consider that she is currently translating it into Spanish, trying to make sense of the movie she just watched, wondering about her fellow hotel guests and mildly panicing about an unenviable weekend just ahead. Please forgive any strange statements, as well as spelling and grammatical errors. THANK YOU)

Abby Update

Buenos! I hope that you are all following the news from Nicaragua on the Toone's blog. I just wanted to say hi and thanks to all the folks who are praying for me!

Way to Follow Abigail in Nicaragua

Abigail is traveling in Nicaragua with Brian and Kristine Toone and their two young children Analise and Josiah.  We have been able to talk to her several times since she has been down there.  She sounds great and is having great experiences.

Brian is a co-worker of mine and is does a great deal of web work.  He has had a family website for several years and has part of it dedicated to the travels through Nicaragua.  He recently posted some pictures.  Follow the link here and then follow the links in the individual posts.  If you click on a picture it will enlarge and if you look in the bottom right hand corner of the picture you will see an arrow button to advance through all the pictures.

Abigail will try and post here when she gets a chance.

Here is the link:

Toone Web Site

Feliz Anos Nuevos from Nicaragua!

This post is coming from Leon, Nicaragua. This is Abby and I am four days into my Nicaraguan mission trip. This is just to let you all know that I arrived safely and had a wonderful New Year's Eve! I hope to update with pictures the next time we get internet!
Happy New Year!