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Nica Update: From Surviving to Thriving
April 17, 2016
Dear Family and Friends,
It is great to "be" with you as I write to you today. This past year has been another year of transition for our family and a very busy year at that. In this update, I will share about how God has used these transitions in our lives to facilitate healing and growth in each of us.
From Quinta Malu to La Veranera: Last June, our family moved to a different home. This move was needed to better accommodate a family of 5. It was also needed because of the stress that our previous home generated for Daniel. We lived next to a busy highway where semis would use their loud jake breaks from 4 AM until late at night. We also had a problem with our home being filled with smoke due to all of the burning trash in the neighborhoods around us as well as on the street in front of our home. This was something that the four of us adjusted to over the years, but because Daniel struggles with sensory integration, these loud noises and the smoke would often cause him to panic and this panic could last up to 30 minutes sometimes. Our time in this home with Daniel was spent continually trying to help him manage the stress of this environment.
In our new home, Daniel is remarkably much more at peace in so many different ways. We now live in a home that is nestled in a jungle type area where there is zero traffic noise, little smoke, is cooler, and the neighborhood is filled with kids Daniel's age and families who have been incredibly supportive of our family. Many people have commented on the remarkable change they have seen in Daniel this year. It has been so much less stressful for all of us to have him feel so much safer in his own home. | |  | | Pictured here is our "new" home. The amazing blessing of this home is that it is twice the size of our old home, but it costs the same amount of money to live in this home as it did in the last one. Our electricity is much less expensive for some reason. We consider this another gift from God. | | | From home schooling to NCA: Another new change is that both of our older kids have re-entered Nicaragua Christian Academy and Daniel has started to attend NCA. After, 4 years of home schooling, Will is now attending NCA full-time as a freshman. His transition from home schooling to full-time school has been very smooth. He is doing well in school and has developed some really great friendships. He secured a starting position with the NCA basketball team and has loved being a part of a team. They are 5- 3 and will now move on to semi-final play in Nicaragua later this week. As I write this, the team is currently in Costa Rica playing at a Central America Basketball tournament there. What is most striking about Will this year is how much he laughs both at school and at home. We missed that laugh last year and it is so great to have it back. Will said the other night at dinner, "It has been a really great year." | |  | | Will plays center and is great at defense as well as getting the ball to the guys inside. He is also able to touch the rim with both hands. He dreams of dunking that ball one day. He is 15 and is 6'3''. We are thinking that this dream will become a reality soon. Will's coach has said that Will is an incredibly hard worker during practice and is very teachable. | | | Rebekah has transitioned to part-time school at NCA while taking an on-line class and is also keeping up with school at home. She spends her mornings at home; goes to NCA at 11:30 AM for classes; goes to basketball practice; and then has an on-line live night class on Tuesday nights. She is learning to juggle and is doing it well. She too plays basketball and is part of the starting 5; playing at the Costa Rica tournament as well. The girl's team was unable to play in Nicaragua as there are no tournament offered for girls. And so the Costa Rica tournament is their only chance to play other teams – so far they have won 3 and lost 1. Rebekah is also learning to play guitar and has some great friends as well. She is also a part of an Ultimate Frisbee team that is made up of several NCA kids who will travel again to Costa Rica at the end of the month. This team is focused on mission as they play, engaging poor neighborhoods in the Managua area in this sport. Because the sport is self-governed, there are many opportunities to teach character lessons during the game. | |  | | During the Costa Rica tournament, Rebekah scored 21 points and had 48 rebounds. She is a consistent and dependable player – pretty much who she is all of the time. Rebekah is 16 and is 5'8''. She does not touch the rim, but she will drive the ball inside for 2 points! | | | July 4 through 24, Will and Rebekah will travel to France for a 20 day mission experience with the on-line school they were a part of while home schooling, The Potter's School. This school is very intentional about discipleship in the classroom and then offers several overseas trips throughout the year for kids to be a part of as a way to live out what they have learned through class discussions and devotional readings. They will be on a team with 13 other teens and college aged students along with adult chaperones. Vacation Bible School will be the team's primary mission in two different cities in southern France. The churches that host The Potter's School team have reported seeing 80% growth in their children's ministries following this VBS experience. This growth is significant given that France reports that less than 1% of their population are Christian. When asked why our kids would want to be a part of a mission experience when they live on the foreign mission field, our kids responded, "Nicaragua is our home. We desire to be "sent out" from our home in the same way that we see mission teams being sent here."
Daniel started school at NCA (7:30 AM to 11:30 AM) and has grown in remarkable ways in this environment as well. The beginning of the year was a struggle for him as he is not very fond of sitting or focusing. By the end of the year, Daniel will now at times sit for a half hour or so, depending on how engaging the lesson is. He has a full-time assistant who is by his side throughout the whole day. She helps him to move through transitions and helps him through challenging interactions with other children. This year, his teachers have focused solely on helping him develop his language skills and social skills with his peers. I love hearing kids yell, "Daniel!!!" when he arrives at school – he has developed several very sweet friendships. He will repeat Preschool next year to spend more time developing academic skills. He loves counting to 10 and is working on the ABC's. He is so motivated to learn and to master things. If you are not my friend on face book, please "friend" me as I share many daily stories of how Daniel is growing and learning from day to day. | |  | | Daniel turned 5 on March 23 and celebrated with friends and an Elmo pinata. Daniel was super excited about his party, picking out his pinata at the grocery store a week before his party. We hung Elmo in the living room for that week - to Daniel's delight. However, the sad part was that we grieved the loss of Elmo for a couple of weeks after the party. | | | From office to classroom: It has been inspiring over the past 7 1/2 years to watch how God is moving in Dan's heart. When we arrived here, Dan did not feel called to teach; he was involved in administrative activities. However, over time, Dan's heart has moved toward being more and more involved with students face to face. This year, two of the students that Dan has mentored over the past 5 years will be graduating. Dan's life has been changed through this experience as he has come to know the joy of being involved in the growth process of young believers. He mentors several other students as well as a couple of other young adults – one who is a missionary and one who does not know the Lord. Dan has also been asked to teach an AP Economics class for two periods a day next year. He is very excited about this opportunity as he has enjoyed teaching a finance class over the past few years. A parent of a student from Dan's finance class approached me and said, "My son comes home every day and tells me about something new that he has learned in your husband's class." I have delighted in watching Dan live out his passion for the hearts of students in these ways. | |  | | Pictured here are some of the students in Dan's finance class. | | | From exhaustion to energy: The trauma our family experienced last year took a great toll on each of us (as an adopted child is given space to work through their trauma, it can cause secondary trauma in the members of his/her family). I am learning a lot about what trauma can do to a body. Physically, I have spent the year moving from being exhausted from the time I woke up until bedtime to now being able to wake up rested and not needing a nap most days. I am making many nutritional changes and am better able to maintain an exercise routine. Spiritually, I started meeting with three women in my home for Bible Study (The Armor of God). God is breathing new life into me through the principles of this study and He is using several women to encourage me as I journey forward. I am also better able to meet with God in the AM while Daniel is in school. Emotionally and mentally, God has provided two amazing counselors who are helping me to move through the trauma of last year and back into a place of health.
My days involve several trips back and forth to school to drop off/pick up kids and to attend soccer and basketball games. Rebekah is independent with home schooling, but I continue to plan and check assignments weekly. Daniel continues to need close supervision to help him navigate relationships with neighborhood children and so I spend the afternoons playing with six 4 to 7 year olds. I've also had opportunities to speak to a couple of different groups and have been involved with working through an acute crisis with an NCA student this year. But mostly, I spend my days driving people around and playing with a 5 year old.
There are still days when Dan and I look at each other and comment on how we can't believe that we made it through last year. A friend recently reflected on how our older kids were privileged to watch their parents go through something that was extremely difficult – causing significant conflict in their parent's marriage and in their family - and yet their parents and their family stayed together. She said, "Lisa, there is security built in them as a result of that." Insight like this reminds me of God's much grander picture and purpose behind suffering. And leads me to thankfulness for how God uses His church to encourage and build up.
You are among those in our lives who so faithfully encourage and build us up in many different ways. Thank you all for loving us so well. One way that you encourage us is through your consistent financial support. This past Christmas, we were three months behind in meeting our support goal for the year. When Dan received the support report in January, he said, "it was a pretty emotional moment for me." In response to our Christmas letter this year, we received three full months of support. We have never received nor have needed to receive this great of an amount at Christmas before. You did not know that we were three months behind, but God did. And you responded to His call to give. And that is my favorite part about this life that we live here in Nicaragua – I love watching God do things like that over and over again and to then have the opportunity to share and celebrate Him and His goodness with others. We are so thankful for you!
We love you,
Lisa (Dan, Rebekah, Will, and Daniel) Van Zoest | | | | | | | |
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