Family

Five Reasons Why We Love the World Cup

Family, Life in El Salvador -

For all of you who live under a rock, tomorrow is the World Cup final. Our family has thoroughly enjoyed watching all of the matches in this year’s tournament, and we are sad to see the whole thing come to an end tomorrow! So here are a few reasons why we love the World Cup… 1. We get to learn about countries all over the big, wide world that don’t normally come up in everyday conversation.  The kids filled albums with players from all the different countries participating, and they learned a little bit about each country in the process. Now they know where each country is located and what they call themselves in their native language. 2. Soccer is not only a great sport, but also a really, really […]

Indigo

Family, History of El Salvador, Places to Visit in El Salvador -

A few weeks ago Tori and I had a truly beautiful experience on her class field trip. We went to a hacienda that allows visitors the opportunity to learn about the indigo-dye process. Back in colonial days, El Salvador was a major exporter of indigo dye for the world. This gave the land enough economic security to declare independence. Since then, times have changed and synthetics have taken over.  We got to see how things used to be, and it is an experience I would recommend to anyone who visits El Salvador. The beautiful Hacienda San Juan Buenavista 500 year old ceiba tree Indigo dye comes from this plant It starts green and is pounded out from the plant. Tori is making an impression on a piece of fabric with […]

Updating…

Family, Free the Girls, Interns, Short-Term Missions, The Lighthouse Project -

It’s definitely time for a quick update. Our internet was iffy for the past few weeks so I haven’t been able to post anything, not to mention we have been running, running, running for days! We are in the homestretch of the school year for the kids which means final projects, tests, and a general wrapping up of 1st and 4th grade. I can’t help it, the last few weeks of the school year are always bittersweet for me. I hate the fact that my kids are growing up so fast, and I am looking forward to having them around all summer. We also have continued to have growth in our ministries with the Lighthouse Project welcoming more homeless men and women each week, and the addition of another girl […]

Spring Break

Family, Holidays, Life in El Salvador, Third Culture Kids -

We just arrived back in the city after two days at the beach. We are in the middle of Semana Santa, which means “Holy Week” and everyone has off of school and work. My mother-in-law is here so we are doing some fun touristy things and getting a moment to catch our breath. My favorite part of spring break is not the beach, or the special events, or even the change in the routine. My favorite part is that my kids are in the house all week. I love hanging out with them and I know that all too soon spring break will be time that they want to spend with their friends, or it will be a vacation that they get from the far away college where they attend. So […]

A Day at the Lake – Lago de Coatepeque

Family, Life in El Salvador, Places to Visit in El Salvador -

About an hour from San Salvador there is a beautiful crater lake that was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions many thousands of years ago. The lake is clean and sparkles emerald in some places. This weekend, our generous friends invited us to spend the day at their lake house. It was wonderful to soak in the sun, be in nature, and connect with friends and family. By the end of the day, I was reminded how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful place. The weather was perfect, and the views were spectacular. Jon proclaimed it the most relaxing day he has had in at least a year! Everyone enjoyed it, so if you are ever in El Salvador make sure to check out Lago de […]

Am I Becoming Religious?

Family, Prayer, Thinking About God -

I don’t think of myself as “religious.” At least not in the sense that I am willing to mindlessly repeat actions because that’s “right” or “required.” I like to think that I consistently act from the heart. Apparently I’m not as consistent as I thought, and it took a six year old to show me that. Last night we had some friends at our house, and everyone was downstairs talking while I went upstairs to rush the kids through the bedtime routine so that I could get back to my company. I quickly tucked Ian in with his stuffed animals, and said a standard bedtime prayer thanking God for the day and requesting a peaceful rest for my son. And then a small voice asked me two big questions. “How […]

Downtime

Advent, Family, Holidays, Life in El Salvador, Places to Visit in El Salvador, Third Culture Kids -

It feels like we’ve been “up” a lot lately.  I’ve learned in my life that if I stay up for too long, I eventually fall down. That’s why we decided to make an intentional effort to be “down” during the kids’ Christmas break from school. It gave us a chance to catch up on sleep, to take it slow, and to spend some time connecting as a family. A bonus is that we got to do lots of fun stuff that we have to put off doing when we are “up.” This is what “downtime” looks like around our house… spending time with the kiddos celebrating a traditional Latin American Christmas watching Christmas Eve fall over San Salvador lighting fireworks in the streets with our friends like crazy people looking up […]

Christmas Shopping and Fireworks

Advent, Family, Free the Girls, Holidays, Human Trafficking, Kids at Risk, Third Culture Kids -

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 […]

Meet Zoey!

Family, Our Animals, Third Culture Kids -

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

Family, Free the Girls, Third Culture Kids, Transitions -

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 […]

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