Happy New Year!!

I see it's been a long time since I posted my last update.  Christmas and New Year have come and gone and now it's time to get more work done.  As far as what's growing so far we still only have the beans we planted in the first beds.  They are filling in the beds so it's nice to see some progress.  We had an invasion of white fly so we had to spray a pesticide in order to not lose the whole crop.  On Christmas Eve, Don Hilario and I planted yuca in three beds.  It was probably the hottest day since I've been here--not what I wanted for Christmas.  Right after that I called it a day and got ready for our Christmas dinner.  I wanted something sweet of course so I went on line and found Mimi's Cafe carrot-raisin bread recipe.  No molasses so I used pancake syrup.  Not bad.  We ate beef rolled with a chicken vegetable filling with cheese, mashed potatoes, diced carrots and chayote with lots of Numar (Central American fake butter), purple cabbage/apple salad.  It was good but I really missed tamales and turkey.  After dinner we all received our presents in front of the Christmas tree.  I bought the two youngest boys remote control cars and they had a blast racing them.  Then they found out that they can control each others cars.  I wonder how many fights they've had since I left.  Early the next morning I was on my way to Costa Rica.  All the kids leave the orphanage for New Years so I went to stay with my friends.
 I've been in Costa Rica since Christmas day and I'm still trying to get back to the island.  I arrived back in Nicaragua on January 11 but because of the high winds no ferries are crossing the lake to the island.  Meanwhile I'm staying at the home of a missionary couple from South Carolina.  Mike and Joan Vilasi have been in Nicaragua for almost seven years.  They were the first people I met in Nicaragua when I first came four years ago.  I bought over 30 flower and vegetable seed packets from Costa Rica because so few choices are available in Nicaragua.  I also brought over homegrown seeds of squash, frijol de arbol (gandules) and a tuber called papa Chiricano (Chiriqui is a province of Panama), naranjilla  (lulo), and red ginger plants--all hidden in my backpacks.  I prayed that they wouldn't be taken from me by Nicaragua customs.  They didn't even give me a form to fill out or send me to check my bags.  I got my passport stamped, paid to enter the country and jumped in a taxi--home free.
Now I can't wait to get back to the orphanage and get back to work.
I hear things are cold up in the northern hemisphere.  I wish I could feel the cold, but I can't complain.  When I got back to Nicaragua it was the coldest I've ever felt here.  Some of that cold wind is blowing all the way down here.  I hope it stays cool for a while, but if these strong winds keep blowing they will become a problem for growing crops.  Please pray that the winds will calm down.  I will write again soon to show you how things are going.  Thanks for reading all of this.  I won't try to fill in for so much time again.