Do you hear what I hear?

Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star a star dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
A song a song high above the tree
With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I know?
In your palace wall mighty king
Do you know what I know?
A child a child shivers in the cold
Let us bring him silver and gold

Said the king to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace people everywhere
Listen to what I say
The child the child sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light

It’s songs like these that remind me to post. They remind me to share. This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I love its powerful simplicity. Just like the birth of Christ it really doesn’t need to say more. It is what it is. He came to bring peace, goodness, and light. It is so motivating and yet it is a reminder of what I came to Nicaragua to do. Christ humbled himself to human form to meet the needs of humans, the need for peace. Through his merciful and loving spirit he cast out all darkness. I didn’t come to be better than the people here or to flaunt my fortunate upbringing. I came to humble myself to their level to truly see and try to meet some of their most core needs. One of the most powerful attributes of this song is how the message gradually builds in focus. It creates a wonder that leads you to the simple message at the end. While I can’t be perfect all the time and will continue to get frustrated every day by the enormity of the problems here (health, social, and economic) I will make every effort to keep focused on the goal for the next 15 months. I will strive to constantly be loving and compassionate with a gentle yet insightful spirit. It’s not just giving charlas that will bring peace. It’s the passion for peace that I show through daily interactions that will make the impact. My work for peace may not always seem to be successful, but I hope the effort won't go unnoticed.

I’m not sure how I keep myself too distracted to actually write a decent blog post. I mean I’m really not all that busy with work. I’ve been sick for just over two weeks now. It started off as a really bad sore throat and cough (usually how my colds start), but stayed that way up until Saturday when I started to get a runny nose. It’s finally working its way out. I guess that’s part of the reason. 3 weeks ago I was so distracted with planning my move to really accomplish anything, 2 weeks ago I was moving and settling, this last week I’ve been birthday”ing” which Included the visit of a couple friends but mostly just relaxing and trying to get over this cold.

On the actually getting down to “work” end of things, I really need to get motivated again to finish a couple new charlas I’ve been working on. I also need to keep up on my Community Health Survey. The results are due Jan. 15 and I have a ways to go before that will be ready. Finally, I need to keep working on getting a girls group and English classes ready to begin after the first of the year too. However, I get so distracted by the day to day things like discovering the key to the large “storage” room at the casa materna where all the earrings that the volunteer before me made. The last couple days I’ve been talking to a couple of the businesswomen in town to work with me and try selling them. They were intended to be sold in Granada, but I don’t have the desire to travel and sell them there. I’d rather sell locally but that means lowering the price. To me that’s fine because I haven’t invested anything, but that could make profits lower if I decided to buy more supplies and continue the project.

In other news, I’m trying to stay in the Christmas spirit while not getting so wrapped up in it that I only want to stay in my house listening to Holiday music and drinking hot chocolate. But that won’t help me accomplish what the lyrics above call for. While I do love my own Christmas tunes I also enjoy listening to the occasional Christmas music in Spanish that reaches my deck from a bar across the river. So far I’ve only heard a couple of unfamiliar tunes, but they definitely are unique and fully meet my expectations for well-known carols in Nicaragua. I purchased 4 pounds of sugar and 6 eggs yesterday. I’m planning to make Christmas cookies in the Casa Materna on Friday and with my little neighbors on Saturday. Hopefully I’ll remember to take pictures and post them.

I PROMISE to post again real soon.

Love, Peace, and Cheers to all!