I am really glad that my kids get to grow up in El Salvador. They are bi-lingual, they understand that in the world they can be part of the solution to things like poverty and injustice. They get to attend an international school and make friends from all over the world. They feel like they are part of  God’s big plan. I never feel sorry for them because they have this as their childhood. This is a rich life, and I am glad they get to grow up in such a unique environment.

But , like any life, sometimes it’s hard on them. The hard part for them is not the foreign language (they speak it) or the strange food (they love it), or missing things like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July (we do our own traditions and they don’t know what they are missing). No, the hard part for them is having family members come in and out of their lives. That is the only part that feels like a loss to them.

My parents were here in February and when they left my kids really grieved. This morning their Nana Snyder and their Aunt Erica (Jon’s mom and sister) got on a plane to go back to the U.S.  They cried. They asked why people had to leave. And they wondered why they have to grow-up so far from the rest of the family.

So we talked about our memories from the week and looked at pictures and we laughed. Today we will have a fun together with some of our friends here. But still the house is a little quiet, and the kids are a little sad. That’s the hard part.

Us with Aunt Erica. She was such a great encouragment to us this week and she worked really hard alongside our ministry helping us in many ways.

At the beach with Nana. Tori and Ian love showing off all the favorites parts of their home to Nana when she visits.