Third Culture Kids

Christmas Shopping and Fireworks

El Salvador is a nation with many fatherless children. Because of crime, violence, immigration, and poverty many kids are growing up without the love and support that a family provides. These children spend much of their childhood being moved from one protection center to another which offers housing, but little else in terms of support and nurturing. There are also other types of centers, shelters, and private homes around the country and some children find themselves here because they were abused, have special needs, or are victims of horrible crimes such as human trafficking. This Christmas we were able to bring some love to some kids in El Salvador who have no family to love them, to nurture them, or to guide them. We realize that our efforts do not […]

“Mommy, Why Does Everyone Always Have To Leave?”

“Mommy, why does everyone always have to leave?” My daughter cried this question out through her tears this past Friday as we walked away from her school. She had just finished saying good-bye to a classmate who was moving back to her home country after three years in El Salvador. Tori didn’t take the good-bye well. She never takes it well. Someone leaves after a few weeks, or a year, or three years and she simply can’t cope with it. She can’t cope with it because in her life she is always losing someone, or something, or an identity, or a friend. She lives there in between all the losses. My kids are TCKs…Third Culture Kids.  That means that they don’t belong to their home culture, and they don’t belong to their […]

Meet Zoey!

We’d like to introduce the newest member of the Snyder zoo! We now have 4 chickens and 1 puppy. Yesterday we brought home “Zoey Canalita.” Canalita means cinnamon in Spanish. Her mother is a Doberman, and no one seems to know who her father is but we think that she will be a fun friend to the kids, and a good guard dog for our family. She’s a cutie, and she’ll be a lot cuter once she is sleeping through the night!

Yes, I am a Slacker

I have been completely slacking off on this blog. Life is running away with us these days since we’ve been back in El Salvador. So here’s the short list of what we’ve been doing instead of blogging: Connecting…Lots of new doors and connections have been opened up since our trip and we are excited about new opportunities to serve the streets in El Salvador! Expanding…The El Faro ministry is all set to expand with new workshops, new woman are becoming involved in the Free the Girls program, and I’ve had some new opportunties to work with girls at risk in San Salvador. Circling…We’ve been in a holding pattern with a few transitions in our ministry, but we will update you soon! Appearing on national television…Ok, so Jon and I haven’t […]

Settling In…Again

We made it back to El Salvador last Thursday night and the weekend was a whirlwind of filling our empty refrigerator, buying school uniforms, and covering books and materials with plastic in preparation for the first day of school. This morning, the kids climbed into Jon’s big red truck and headed off to school for the start of a new year. I got a lump in my throat watching them wave good-bye and start First and Fourth Grades. With the start of school, and a return to our regular routine we are back into Spanish, San Salvador traffic, and life in El Salvador. Our time in the States was wonderful and the good-byes were hard (as they always are), but it’s good to be settling back in where we belong. Ready […]

Rest for the Weary

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”   (Matthew 11:28, the Message translation)   This summer we’ve had our feet in 11 States, we’ve met with churches, organizations, and individuals that love El Salvador. We have seen the Statue of Libery, swam in Nana’s pool, had cousin sleepovers, and watched the kids hold their newborn niece. We’ve been prayed over, and we’ve prayed for. We’ve talked and talked about our […]

Updating…

Six weeks ago we arrived in the U.S. for the start of our furlough. The first week I was still exhausted from all the end of the school year, packing to leave, wrapping up work madness that was our last month in El Salvador. It took at least a week to get the tension out of my shoulders! These past six weeks have been a mix of relaxing, time with family, visiting with friends,speaking in churches, and updating friends and supporters. The kids have taken it all in stride and they have especially loved playing with all of their cousins. We have traveled a lot this summer and they have transitioned well, but they have asked about our house, and they’ve mentioned eating pupusas a few times. It is strange […]

Wrapping Up

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity around here. We have been wrapping up ministry and house stuff as we prepare to leave for our 8 week home assignment. We’ve also had all of the end-of-the year kids stuff…school parties and awards ceremonies, and today they competed in a tournament sponsored by their karate school here in El Salvador. Eight weeks is a long time to be gone, and wrapping things up so that we can get on a plane tomorrow has been a bit of a challenge. But here I am surrounded by suitcases and almost ready to go! We are so excited to see family and friends, to reinforce English with our kids, to share about what is happening in El Salvador, and to get […]

Discovery Team Gets It Done!

We had a great time with a work team from our sending church, Discovery Christian Church. They have supported us in El Salvador from the very beginning, and they kicked off our fundraising campaign for the ministry center through their BRIX capital campaign. It was so fun to have the first group from Discovery actually see the building and what is going on there. They came with the purpose of laying ceramic tile throughout the building and they worked HARD! Painting, laying tile, sawing, demo, they did a little bit of everything and we are so grateful for all of their hard work!!!! Let’s get to work! Demolition Day! Looks like Tori wants to break some stuff too! Painting, painting, and more painting! Ian wanted to get in on the […]

Tori Writes

I’m so proud of my talented little girl. She shares my love of all literature and writing, and she just entered a poem into the Spanish writing contest. She wanted to share it with all of you:   Aves del Mundo Torogoz es nuestro orgullo, nuestro ave nacional, es lo que vivimos y vivimos otra vez en nuestras vidas es lo que tenemos para el Torogoz. Guacamaya tiene plumaje azul como el mar y un canto como el viento en un día soleado. Pavo real tiene muchísimos ojos falsos en sus plumitas, y es grande como un rey de Egipto. Tucán tiene un pico largo como una banana y su plumaje es tan lindo como un arcoirís en el cielo después de una tormenta larga. Paloma trae paz a nuestro […]

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