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Summer of 2019: Vineyard Conferences

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Reflecting on our time in the USA this summer takes me to the almost bookends to our time which were two conferences. Early in the summer I was able to attend the Vineyard National Conference in Denver Colorado held the second week of July. I was able to attend the conference with the support of HUB City Vineyard and the Recher family who funded my portion, as well as good friends Steve and Layne Fish, and Ron and Nancy Burnett, who allowed me to crash their AirBnB and freeload transportation. Martha Perez pastor of La Viña Jinotepe (our church in Nicaragua) attended the Vineyard National Conference with us. A portion of the contingent from Vancouver Vineyard Church It was an excellent conference with some amazing memories. Most memorable was a point where old school Pastors and leaders were acknowledged for helping to build a movement and second generation pastors and leaders were then acknowledged for taking the baton. We all prayed for one another during our kum ba ya m
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Summer of 2019: Grandkids

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The reason we even come home for the summers is because of our grand kids. We have a 7 year old grandson and a 4 year old grand girl. They are our everything as we get older and they grow up so quickly. We made the decision when Caelum was born that we would make sure that we played a role in their lives even though we live over 3000 miles away. While our 7 year old is on summer vacation, we are home to provide daycare for him. Our 4 year old stays in preschool because if she is taken out she loses her spot. So we get our 7 year old all day ling Monday-Friday. it is the best thing ever. Taking a long shot at BBall. This year we were able to go to the zoo a couple times, go to the Tillamook cheese factory, go to the park a bunch, play hoops out front almost every day, work on some house projects together, and practice school work together. At the Portland Zoo. (Yeah, they have fake animals there. But there are real ones too!) We were able to go camping with them and their p
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Summer of 2019: Friends and Soccer

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This past summer could also be called the Summer of Soccer. In case you didn't already know, I am a huuuuuuge Portland Timber fan. But living out of the country makes it unrealistic for me to be a ticket holder. I'm usually only in Vancouver/Portland for a portion of the season. Not to worry, I have one of the best friends ever in AJ Gomez. AJ is a ticket holder and this year he invited me to about 9 home games. I was able to make six of them. It was amazing. I had such a great time. AJ always invites his friends and clients to the games, so I was able to make new friends as well as reconnect with some old friends. AJ and I, with photobomber Mike Shanaburger. AJ and I go back to 1970 when we played soccer together for the Our Lady of Lourdes Pioneers.we played soccer together in club soccer for the next 8 years. AJ attended Hudson Bay High School and I went to Columbia River. Back in those days we didn't have High School soccer as a school sport, so we played club soc
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Summer of 2019: Mom

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Probably the most challenging and rewarding part of the past summer concerned our mom. We decided to bring her back home to Vancouver from Alabama, where she was living with her companion and his family. It was a decision we had hoped to avoid but in the end became an easy decision for my brother and I. The reason: mom's dementia/Alzheimers had gotten to the point that neither her companion nor his family was able to provide her adequate care. When they began discussing placing her in a care facility in in Alabama, we took the initiative to bring her home where she would be near family. She still recognizes her children and grandchildren. At the Atlanta airport bring mom home. We brought mom back shortly after 4th of July. The trip back was uneventful (she was well sedated). We were able to find a nice care home with limited number of residents where she is placed. She seems to enjoy it there. Throughout the summer I tried to visit 2-3 times a week. Once she got settled in w
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Back to Nicaragua!

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We made it back to Nicaragua after 4 months in the the states, mostly in our Vancouver home with our daughter's family. This was the longest extended stay in States since moving to Nicaragua in 2002. Blame the grand kids. Blame conferences. Blame family issues. Doesn't matter,  it was one of the best summers we have had in years. PDX famous carpet. I'm going to break our debrief up into a few different stories to avoid a long post. Suffice it to say, this was a busy summer. I attended two conferences related to our mission activities. We moved my mom, who has dementia, back to Vancouver, where we (her children) can visit her and assist her when needed. We provided daycare to our grandson throughout his summer vacation, which proves to be more enjoyable year after year. Waiting in the Houston's Goerge Bush airport has become a semi annual routine for us. Summer trips home also provide opportunities to go camping, visit other family members, reconnect wit
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The Great Experiment Is Finally Coming To An End!!!

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I started writing this blog addition on June 5th, the day of our 34th wedding anniversary. What I began to write was that we were not together for our anniversary but I have never felt closer to her than today. After nearly three and a half decades being together, experiencing ups and downs, going through nearly marriage ending trials and coming through without calling it quits, we decided that it was time for an experiment. Actually, we didn't decide. Our daughter did. Here's what I started writing a few weeks ago...   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Great Experiment is coming to an end. Today officially marks Julie and my 34th anniversary and we are not together to enjoy it. But I can tell you I have never felt closer to her than I do today. She is a woman worthy of so much more than what I have given to her over the last 3 and a half decades. Yet, she chose me and
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Our Journey into Missions (Pt. 7) The End... for Now.

In our ministry, Nica Impact, we are much more than just a program for assisting young adults in their careers. We have expanded our focus to include other educational avenues. One way we do this is through a partnership with the William Minor Foundation. In this partnership have built a local library that we manage where we have books and computer access available to local students to support their studies. All the funding for the library comes from the foundation while Nica Impact manages it. It has proven to be an amazing resource to local young people, especially those from the poorer segments of society. We also have developed a relationship with the US Embassy where they provide daily English classes for teenagers sponsored by the Embassy program called Access English. This program provides scholarships to poorer students so that they can participate in a two year intensive English course. It is an amazing program and we are honored to host one of the classes in our library.
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