A Shower In Nicaragua

During the rainy season, Nicaragua has daily showers and in the "rainiest of weeks" it has downpours. Streets are flooded, school sidewalks are impassible, and laundry is continually damp.

A different kind of shower was thrown for me a few weeks ago....it was full of fun, laughter, fellowship, prayers, gifts, delicious food, beautiful flowers, and a lot of my favorite people! :)

It was so nice to have many of my teacher friends from NCA gathered along with other dear missionary friends. I was surrounded by genuine love and support for which I was so grateful. Luke and I received a lot of wonderful things for our kitchen...we're excited to use them in our new house!
We played a game where every time I got a question wrong that Luke had already answered, I had to put a gumball in my mouth. It was a fun challenge...I got quite a bit of questions right but I still ended up with a mouthful of gum!

Two of my very best friends, Mary and Carey, threw the shower for me. I'm excited that both of them are bridesmaids in my wedding!

I felt truly as if this time were a special downpour of blessing in my life.

Snapshots of the past few months...

Even though I haven't posted on my blog since August, life has been full of activity down here in Nicaragua! Hopefully these pictures will give a bit of an idea of what's been going on.

Our school celebrated Independence Day in Nicaragua in September.

My Pre-K students recited a poem at our Independence Day program.

We kicked off the year in Youth Group with theme of: Living Above The Line. Our theme verses are Colossians 3:12-17.

One Saturday, we did a "Compassion in Action" day with the Youth Group kids.

We visited a hospital and played with kids who have cancer.


Hanging out with "our married friends", Lauren and Mike.

Birthdays are super fun in Pre-K II!

What's a birthday party without a pinata?

Candy = happy (and hyper) kids!

Look who else got candy! :)

Helping lead worship in church.

Counting down the days until we'll be Mr. and Mrs. Luke Rosenberger. :)

First Week of School!

Our first week of school at Nicaragua Christian Academy went very well! I've really been enjoying my position as Pre-K teacher. I have the level 2 class which is 4 year olds. So most of them have at least had 1 year of experience in a school routine. I have exactly 7 girls and 7 boys. :)
It's been fun starting to get to know each of the personalities and unique things about each of the kids in my class. And I've really been enjoying teaching this age group! :) It's a great fit for me and I'm so thankful to be teaching Pre-K.

This first week of school we learned the rules...again and again. :) And we talked about Noah's Ark in Bible class. We're learning to count and to separate things by color. In reading, the kids learned about all kinds of jobs and workers.

And....they learned to say my name! Miss Stewart is not the easiest name to pronounce...especially for a kid whose first language is Spanish. But by the end of the week they were chanting "MISS STEWART!" :) Too bad they will have to learn a new name to call me when they come back to school in January! Mrs. Rose shouldn't be too hard to learn but it will take some practice! :)

I'm so thankful that I have a teacher's assistant, Ana. She has helped me so much and has a lot of experience with Pre-K at NCA. Her extra hands and eyes are a huge help to me as these little ones keep me on my toes. A day teaching Preschool takes lots of energy and creativity....I feel like I use up my whole day's energy already in the school day with them! But at least I'm not exhausted. I'm just tired at the end of the day, which is expected....but content to be teaching and to be back in Nicaragua. :)

8 States in 7 Weeks!

Ok, so that includes the airport layovers but still, its crazy to think that Luke and I were in: Florida (twice), Texas, Kansas, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Georgia in the 7 weeks we were in the states this summer! We also were in 6 different churches 6 weeks in a row!

So, yeah, we were in a lot of places. But we had a great time! :) It was so fun to be part of both of our two sisters' weddings, to spend time with family and hang out with friends, and plan a lot of our own wedding! :)

In the month of July when we were in Indiana I felt like we fit 2 months of activities into 1!

A lot happened in July:

My sister Karen's wedding reception in Chicago


4th of July celebrations



Catching my first fish!

Going to Cedar Point with Luke's 3 sisters and their men

Celebrating my birthday

Several times!

Holding babies :)

Watching the Indianapolis Colts practice

Being in Luke's sister Katy's wedding...

...and much more.

It definitely was a month full of fun and activity and some relaxing too. :) Its fun to be on vacation and with family...but now that we are back in Nicaragua we're both ready to get settled into a school routine and life here. I'm super excited to be living with a missionary family this fall and to be teaching Pre-K at NCA!

School starts on August 11th! All this week we have teacher orientation days to prepare for the new school year. I hope to be posting some pics of my kiddos once school gets in swing.

Karen's Wedding

My younger sister, Karen, got married on Saturday, June 28th. I loved being her maid of honor and seeing her and Thomas become husband and wife!

The colors she picked out and the bridesmaids dresses were really beautiful. And our Aunt Sarah did a great job at decorating and doing flower arrangements.

At the reception afterwards, it was fun to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while like people from our church in Grand Prairie, people from Bolivia, etc.

After the reception Luke and I went to the "Bolivia get together" at a BBQ place and that was fun too.

I was so proud of my sister and so thankful Luke and I both got to be part of her wedding!

Buses, Planes, and Automobiles!

It was quite the adventure coming from Nicaragua to Texas! First, Luke and I flew from Managua to Ft. Lauderdale on an overnight flight. We had an 11 hour layover in Ft. Lauderdale! It actually didn't turn out to be too bad...we spent our time crashing on the floor, eating, reading, and connecting to the free wireless, which was the perk throughout the airport! When we arrived into San Antonio, we stayed with parents of a missionary friend from Nicaragua. The next day we got to experience the River Walk and see the Alamo! That was so nice! I loved the River Walk...very beautiful. We had lots of fun walking around and taking pictures. OH! And I got an icecream cone in honor of my 1st icecream cone ever, which I had when I was a toddler on the River Walk. :) That afternoon we got on a Greyhound bus (which was over 2 hours late) to Houston and stayed with some friends of Luke's family. The next day we drove their van, which was being loaned to Luke, up to Dallas. So it took us 4 days to get to our destination but it was really fun! :) Each leg was different and it was so fun being together on our trip....I mean, our journey!!! :)

In Nicaragua Now

I've been in Nica for just over a week now. It has been a full but really good week. SO fun to see students, hang out with old friends and other teachers, , attend end of the year school activities, and of course be enjoying my time with Luke! :) Its been so fun to be able to be back and get congratulations from "my Nica family". Many are so excited for me and Luke. So its been fun.
Graduation at NCA was this past Friday. Luke was one of the Senior advisors so he had lots going on. This class of 2008 has been my favorite class at NCA since I came in 2005. I had most of the girls in Bible class and some of the guys in my debate class. Plus, I got to know many of them through helping with youth group, chapel music, and sports. It was an exciting time at graduation but also a sad time to see these Seniors go.


I enjoyed playing a song that I had written for the Seniors. It comes from Ephesians 5 and is called "Children of Light". I was so glad I could do that for them and have that be my prayer for them as they graduate and start new chapters in their lives....that they would live as children of light. I was sad to have missed out on their last year at NCA this year, so being able to play that song for them as part of the ceremony was really special for me.

One of the Seniors, Wendy, is especially special to me, and I lived with her family last year. She became a sister, a friend, one who I shared many adventures and laughs with. :) I will miss her so much next year and can't even begin to think about what it will be like without her bright smile and hugs.


Now that school is over and graduation has passed, Luke and I are now officially both on vacation. Yet, we have to-do lists that we're working on too. Lots to take care of and errands to run, etc. But its all fun because we're doing them together this time. Its been so nice to spend time with Luke's sister Maggie, husband Jason, and now 3 month old Noah! :) And just basically enjoying being in Nicaragua again. :)