This week has been a tough one, because of stories I’ve read (or heard) or hurt children. As a mom, that really tugs at my heart strings and makes me hug my own kids a little tighter. The hardest story to handle is of 5-year-old Maria Sue Chapman (daughter of a great Christian musician - Steven Curtis Chapman). On Wednesday night, Maria was struck and killed by a car in the driveway of her home. The car was driven by her older brother and was a terrible, horrible accident.

Losing your child is any parents’ worst nightmare, but losing your child at the hand of a sibling is torture. That poor boy has to live with this for the rest of his life. The worst thing would be for parents to blame the sibling, because at that point they would be losing two children instead of one.

But I don’t believe Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman will do that. I believe God doesn’t give you more than you can handle, and perhaps He has brought them to this moment “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

If you haven’t heard it before, Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song about little Maria a few months back. It’s called Cinderella. It was inspired by a bath time that Steven tried to “hurry,” but Maria and her sister Stevey Joy weren’t exactly cooperating. Listen to the song and be inspired by the lyrics of this special song. (Have some tissues handy if you have kids!)

Someone wrote the following on Steven’s blog, and I think it sums up the story perfectly:

The stroke of midnight came too soon.
The grand ball came to an expected and unexplainable close for your Cinderella. And like the story-book Cinderella, the magic came to an end, but in a different way.
Your Cinderella exchanged her beautiful gown, not for common clothes, but for a spotless, white robe.
Her glass slippers for a street paved with gold.
Her tuxedoed attendants for a host of saints and a chorus of angels.
Her distant prince for the ever-present Prince of Peace.
Her bejeweled chariot for a heavenly mansion prepared since the foundation of the world.
And she exchanged her gleaming white horses for the reality that she never needs to rush off again – she is now home.
Really, the grand ball came to a close for those left behind. But for Cinderella it is just beginning.

I know it’s hard on a rainy day
you want to shut the world out and just be left alone
But don’t run out on your faith

‘Cause sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing is just a grain of sand
What you’ve been up there searching for
forever is in your hands
When you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else
seem so small

- Carrie Underwood, “So Small”

After a missed connection in Houston, we were rerouted to a different airport and finally arrived home at 1:30am Tuesday morning. Our bags are still in DC, but should be delivered today. I did have my camera though, and have just uploaded some of our pictures to Picasa. (Send me an email to get the URL for the pics.)

We’re definitely very tired, and were glad to sleep in our own beds (and also to brush our teeth without using bottled water!). For 10 years I’ve been hearing from people who have made the trip to Campo Alegria how the trip is life changing. That’s just another aspect of a trip like this that you can’t really understand until you’ve experienced for yourself. Seeing how much of the world lives (at least those in poor areas of the world) causes you to take stock of your own life.

When they told me I might not have my luggage until Friday, I started thinking about how much I needed my makeup and hair stuff (which for the most part went unused in Nica anyway). Ummm… hello?! Didn’t I just leave a third-world country where most people don’t even have electricity to use that flat iron! I think it’s that constant juxtaposition of the haves and have-nots that is most prevalent in the minds of those who make trips like this.

I suppose my biggest fear challenge is to keep these thoughts in the forefront of my mind as the days and weeks go by, and not to forgot them as quickly as my suntan fades.

Thanks for your prayers - we received many blessings because of them along the way. If you’re interested, here’s how you can continue to pray for the projects we visited:

• For Adam and Rachel at Campo Alegria, that another American couple would join them as they minister to the town of Rivas and everyone who visits Campo Alegria. (Also for the impending birth of their second child.)
• For the girls of Casa Havilla, that they would grow up to be strong women of faith, who are able to help change the community around them for the better.
• For continued safety of the Buzzbee family, as they minister and support the people of Managua. (Learn more about the Buzzbee family here.)
• For the funds and volunteers to grow Campo Alegria, so it can bring hope to many many more children in Nicaragua.

We intended to stay at Campo until today, but ended up leaving Friday morning because Corinna´s hives were so bad (even with tons of Benedryl, Claritan & Zyrtec), and she ran a fever all Thursday night. (We were so grateful for the very well-stocked medical kit at Campo!) So we headed north after breakfast, stopping in Granada and Massaya along the way for a wee bit of shopping. We made it to the Buzzbee´s around 3pm - just in time for the girls to really enjoy their swimming pool. Before dinner, we visited an art show Melissa set up to raise funds for the Buzzbee´s programs. All the art work was created by kids at the school in the dump. They really do a great job with these programs.

Today (Saturday) we visited Casa Havilla, the home Melissa runs. The 9 girls who live there all came from families who live in the dump. The parents allowed their girls to move to Casa Havilla, to give them a better life. We gave each girl a backpack filled with wonderful treats. When we first arrived, they definitely looked at us as if behind glass walls - very shy and reserved. After they received their backpacks, their faces lit up and there were smiles all around. Mike said it was amazing to see them sharing the items and passing them around, because only a year ago when they came to the home, they would have been fighting over everything (not maliciously, but rather because they had to fight for everything in the dump). They sorted throught their bags 10 times while we were there, smelling all the soaps, reading the books, and playing with the toys. Thank you to everyone who contributed - it was pure joy to see these girls receive such treasures.

So the reason for the title of this post is that when we woke up this morning, Corinna´s hives and fever were gone, and they haven´t returned! It´s wonderful because those three days were really tough, but a little sad because now Peter thinks his granddaughter is allergic to his campo! Who knows - it could have been anything. We´re just glad it has passed!

Now we are at the beautiful Barcelo hotel in Montelimar. Such a contrast to where we´ve been and what we´ve seen over the past few days… I must admit I feel a bit guilty! But it was also glorious to take a hot shower! (And will be glorious to sleep in air conditioning!) The girls are loving the pool - I think they swam for 5 hours already today.

I guess that about sums it up for the past two days. It´s been somewhat of an emotional roller coaster, but the final outcome is all good. It prompts me to pose the following question (to myself as much as anyone else): what pushes you to do the things you do? Is it a desire to succeed? If so, how is your success measured? Or maybe simply a desire to survive? Or perhaps a desire to please someone… yourself, others, or the One who created you?

Sorry if that sounds a bit more philosophical than usual for me, but a trip like this certainly makes one ponder such questions. Time to let Wyeth use the computer for a bit… my next post probably won´t be until we return. Adios!

Well, we arrived in Managua around 7:30pm local time on Tuesday night, but then didn’t make it to the Buzzbee’s home until almost midnight (it takes a while to get through customs with 10 bags, oh and then it took about an hour to rent a car). Anyway, we arrived in darkness, but woke up Wednesday morning bright and early (5am - it was 7am back home the girls reminded us). When we walked up to the “prayer tower” on top our bunkhouse, we had a chance to see the sun rising over the jungle - it was amazing! I have some pictures, which we will upload when we get home.

After a great breakfast with the Buzzbee family, we were off to visit La Churecha (the dump). I can’t really say a whole lot about that right now because of how overwhelming it was. None of the pictures I had seen really prepared me for the scale of it all. We visited the school inside the dump that the Buzzbee family runs. The children ran to us and were so welcoming. It was a stark contrast to the homes (shacks) surrounding the school. It was like a little oasis inside of a large desert. We left that with equal feelings of helplessness and inspiration to move here and start working right away!

Oh - one funny thing that happened in the dump… I tried out my Spanish. I was able to explain that Corinna and Caeli were my hijas (daughters) but then I told these kids that Wyeth was my hermana. I felt very confident but then saw them chuckling as I walked away. It was a few minutes later that I realized I should have said he was my “espousa” (spouse) instead. Hermana means sister! Oops!

After leaving the dump, we stopped by a grocery store before heading south toward Campo Alegria. Along the way, we stopped to visit a large volcano. We arrived at Campo sometime in the afternoon. Again, the photos don’t do it justice. It feels like you’re never going to arrive but then when you do it’s just so beautiful. I must admit I found myself wondering how Peter ever convinced anyone to build this place! It’s amazing - only God could have gotten people to believe in Peter’s vision! (But we’re so glad they did!)

The girls swam before dinner. Beatrice and Oscar (the Nicaraguan caretakers) prepared dinner for us. Adam and Rachel (the missionaries from Chop Point) also ate with us. We turned in early (the sun goes down around 6:30pm and rises around 5:30am). The wind was FIERCE all night, but for that we were thankful as it kept away the bugs!

Today we went to the school where we intended to give out the backpacks we brought. The principal was fearful of starting a mini riot, since there were more students than we had backpacks for, so we decided to leave most of the packs with Adam. The principal will call Adam whenever new students want to come, but don’t have the adequate supplies. We will take 8 of the packs with us to Melissa Buzzbee’s home for girls, when we visit on Saturday.

We took a quite detour to stop by Adam’s house (where I’m typing this) and are getting ready to go to San Juan del Sur for lunch (it’s on the Pacific Ocean). We will spend one more night at Campo before heading back to the Buzzbee’s in Managua on Friday.

Thanks so much for your prayers - our trip here was uneventful (which was good) and both girls were great on the long plan ride! We appreciate your continued prayers for health issues. Corinna has been dealing with a bad case of hives since yesterday. I haven’t seen her this covered in over five years! Hopefully her skin will clear and she will feel much better soon.

We probably won’t write again until Friday night or Saturday when we return to the Buzzbee’s home. Until then… Adios!