Saturday, January 31, 2009

Moving

Whew, this last week has been busy! We finished our last week of language school. It was a great refresher after being back in the States for so long. While it was a little sad to say goodbye to our teachers, we are excited to have built strong relationships with them during our many weeks together. Several want to get together once we are settled in our new place, and few really want to join us occasionally in our work in Desamparados.

In addition to going to school everyday this week, Cailah and I were working hard to find a new apartment over in Desamparados. The apartment we are currently living in is close to the language school, but over an hour bus ride away from Desamparados where we'll be working. After making over 50 phone calls (in Spanish) and trying to find apartments with very complicated directions, we finally found the perfect one. God has completely blessed us. It's a brand new apartment that sits up on an incline and looks across the valley to the nearby mountains. The view is gorgeous, and there is a little patio for us to put two chairs and some plants. Now we just need to get everything to go in the apartment: stove, refrig, table, couch, ect. This is one of the few times it would be really nice to have our own car as we try to check out different deals all over the valley. Lucky for us, the Dixons, have already gone through the process of furnishing a house here, and they have a car. They are generously helping us figure everything out. Once we get things set up, I'm sure we'll be doing another video tour. Until then, enjoy the view from our front porch. (It would be really great if the power line weren't there, but oh, well)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Pictures from Home

Unfortunately, I took very few pictures during my extended stay at home. These are by no means an adequate representation of my trip, but they're better than nothing.

Hanging out with my old friend Kristine who picked me up in LA for my appointment at the consulate.


Celebrating Papa's birthday. I made the carrot cake, but didn't make it into the picture. Oh well.


Chinese food on Christmas Eve, a tradition I try to change every year. Mexican food would be so much better!




Papa and Me


The adults' night out at my favorite little French restaurant.


Delicious caramalized pear dessert crepes. Yummy!


Hanging out with Danny and David during my 4 hour layover in LA. They were a huge help with all my luggage. Thanks guys!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Thank you

I want to take a few minutes to say thank you to so many of you who have been praying for me and my family over these past couple weeks. Your prayers and your sweet words of comfort and encouragement have meant so much to me. These last few weeks have been challenging, but I am continually reminded that God is good ALL the time. He is using each circumstance in our lives for His glory. Each day there are blessing that keep popping up here and there that so clearly show God's hand over everything.

My mom had to go to Arizona with my grandpa for two weeks to help sort through all his stuff there and get his condo ready to sell. Because we are in a period of transition in Costa Rica, I was able to have the flexibility to extend my stay and help Dad take care of the kids while Mom was gone. While home, I have been so blessed by our community of friends and family that have surrounded in this time, especially from my home church, Crossroads. Our church family took such great care of us; helping me get kids to school, basketball games, piano.... Plus, while my mom was gone, I don't think I cooked one meal! This was a huge help, even though I love to cook, since I also happened to be really sick most of the time my mom was gone.

My mom is now back; which I am so thankful for. My grandpa has moved into a one-bedroom apartment above the garage of our neighbors, two houses down the street. It is perfect for him. He is close to family and near enough to town that he can still walk to his favorite coffee place, McDonalds. He is glad to be here, but there still is a lot of transitioning. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

On Saturday I head back to Costa Rica. I am thankful for a few more days to get to spend some quality time with Mom. It's hard to realize that this is, most likely, my one trip home for the year. It will be hard to say goodbye to my family all over again and to leave my strong community here. But at the same time, there is a part of me, that is hopefully for the community I will build in Costa Rica. Right now, that community is very small, but I look forward to building relationship that will expand my "family" down there. It will never replace the relationships I have here, but I look forward to the day when the two communities will be joined together forever and we won't have to say goodbye anymore.