2 Months here

Chandler receives an IPOD!!

December 30, 2007

Now we have been here 2 months. At times I am amazed at the Spanish we have learned and then often reminded of how little we know. But, I am pleased with all of the other things we are learning!! We had a fun Christmas week with Grandmadele, Annie, and Karissa here! We spent 2 days at their hotel and I even got to take 2 hot showers! I think hot water is what I miss the most! It was a nice break and we so enjoyed the visit with them! The hotel is “a small distinctive hotel” called Casa Turire and was very quaint and lovely. We all enjoyed our time there and the food was a treat! Thank you Grandma and Annie for everything! Christmas day they arrived with 3 suitcases full of goodies for our family! Gifts from them and the Shankle’s. One case of completely full of candy, pop tarts, nutrigrain bars and all sorts of things! It was exciting for all of us! My grandma brought one box especially for me. I opened it to find 3 bags of Velvet Cream Popcorn!! It has been a tradition in our family and a favorite of mine! It brought me to tears and everyone thought it funny that I would cry over popcorn, but what can I say? Pops sent baseball gloves, Grammy sent a Magic Bullet, wonderful craft supplies from Aunt Summer, Moon Sand from Uncle Ben & family, and also our Christmas Jammies arrived just in time! Everything was as perfect as it could have been without actually having the entire family here with us. On Christmas Eve we received our box from Grandma Barb & PapPap too! It was so fun to open each gift! We received Spanish worship music, candies, Spanish children’s books, jewelry, so many wonderful things. It was all such a treat for us! Thank you all!!!!

Goodies from Grandma & Annie

We have become increasingly frustrated with the inconveniences here! I think we are the only people in the town without a phone and we are having a terrible time finding one to purchase. Every day we are confronted with a new issue because we don’t have any way to communicate with other people when we need to! We have spent many hours waiting for people to come that never do or walking or taking a bus somewhere to wait more! No one can contact us to change the plan or give us more information! It has certainly tried us and I don’t know if we have “passed”, so I guess we have more to learn in this area. This month, what I have to say about our conveniences and technology is this…

I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!! :-) No, really, I thought once we got here we would think we have too much and appreciate too little. Partly, that is true, but what I hope to take from this is to use our technology and conveniences to the advantage of our family, not to do more, but to have more time with our family and friends and ministering to others around us. We are blessed in the U.S. that we don’t have to spend the entire day- every day- doing laundry by hand, cooking everything from scratch, walking to the store, the bus and everywhere. But, somehow we fill our days with all kinds of other things ( well, at least I do) And then I still don’t have time to play with my kids, visit with my grandma, or talk to the lady next to me in line at Wal Mart. I want to use technology and modern conveniences to my advantage and the advantage of Christ.

Day for the birds

Kid's table at lunch today

Friday, December 28th - Today we went to Rancho Naturalista (www.ranchonaturalista.net). This place has some really cool birds. I would not consider myself a bird watcher, but I enjoyed seeing some unique birds.


Our family was joined by Hector, Daniel, David, Beverly and Herb. This place is actually the only lodging option in Tuis. It is located 1 mile up the road and another 1 mile + up the mountain. We were supposed to have transportation from the school at 11AM. At 12:25, no one arrived, so we used the vehicles from the school and drove to the top of the mountain. The place was nice. We were able to see many birds. There were dozens of hummingbirds buzzing around.

Hummingbirds near next to our table

At the top of the mountain, it was foggy and we were unable to see beyond a few hundred feet. We will probably go back a different day to get some better pictures. There were more than a hundred birds (this number was debated among our group). Actually, I think it was more. The food was great.

(L to R) Annie, Grandmadele, Beverly, Herb, David, Daniel, Hector, George, and Kipplyn

Herb and Beverly have been attending classes for a few weeks. Beverly is the US representative for the school. This is the first time that she has taken classes (I think). She has a good knowledge of the Spanish language and speaks well. Herb and Beverly have been instrumental in helping Daniel and Hector with the Mission. David has been attending classes for two weeks. He has been taking classes in the morning and afternoon. He has progressed well in two weeks of classes. He appears to be a little frustrated with his progress, but he has done well. No matter how much you learn, it only takes one conversation on the street to be humbled.

Every morning John David is excited to get to school early and see Daniel. Daniel is an artist and enjoys drawing pictures for the kids. John David loves to try to copy the drawings that Daniel does for him. This is JD with one of Daniel’s drawings. John David received quite a few fun art supplies for Christmas and has spent much time practicing ever since. He is quite the artist himself.

John David with a drawing that Daniel made for him.

There is a microloan program that is available to aspiring business people in the Tuis area. These loans are available to persons that generally have needs of $300-1000. In some unique cases, the loans are higher. I had a meeting last night (Thursday) with 7 of the individuals. I will be meeting with them in the coming months to help them with their businesses. I get the opportunity to have conversations in Spanish and they get free help with their business. The businesses represented last night include construction, furniture making, sewing, and truck driving. I am looking forward to this opportunity.

Tomorrow is the last day that Grandmadele, Annie, and Karissa will be here. They will be leaving for San Jose in the afternoon. Chandler went to the hotel to stay with them tonight. We will be going over to the hotel in the morning to hang out, eat lunch and swim if there is sunshine. Their visit has been enjoyable.

Karissa and Chandler at CISA

Merry Christmas

I can honestly say that I have walked miles and sat in front of computers for hours to bring this video post to you. I miss my consistent high speed internet in the U.S.

Today has been mostly sunny. That is a nice change to the constant rain that we had for 3-4 days. Yesterday, we had strong rains all day. The rivers were running rapidly and the roads were flooding in places. Grandmadele, Annie, and Karissa arrived safely at their hotel. The hotel is really nice (www.hotelcasaturire.com). It is a 4-star hotel. Right now, we appreciate any hotel with stars. It is located 1.5 km (that's a mile) off the main road. The road is terrible. It took 10 minutes from the main road to the hotel lobby because of the holes in the road and the heavy rains. We all spent the afternoon at our house and opened Christmas gifts. It was a great day. We received many gifts from grandparents, aunts, and uncles. The children were very excited. I think Chandler almost cried when we she received an IPod. Early in the evening, we gathered two taxis and went to Casa Turire. We had a great dinner at the hotel.

I left everyone at the hotel as they were about to get in the pool. I was going to take a bus into Turrialba. The hotel is located near the halfway point between Tuis and Turrialba. While I waited at the side of the road, a few of the professors, Henry and Armando from our school drove by and picked me up.

Thank you for the comments and e-mails that we receive about the blog. The whole family looks forward to the responses. It has been fun to journal our experience online.

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Christmas Eve

This week, Kipplyn, Chandler, and RandiKate made chocolate chip cookies. They did it the old fashioned way, from scratch. They were great. It is a treat here. Last week, we we were able to buy chocolate chips on a trip to San Jose. It's hard to believe, but the people here have never had a chocolate chip cookie. They like them too.



It's Christmas Eve. It's raining. I spent the morning in Turrialba. I went to the Post Office to see if our packages had arrived. Every package that we were expecting from our family was there. I was able to get a ride with Hector and Daniel. It was a good thing. If I had taken the bus and picked up the packages, I would have had to take a taxi back to Tuis right away. I also made a trip to the pet store (SHHHHHH, it's still a secret) to buy a bunny. Actually, I bought two. They cost about $1.80 each. The lady in the pet store spoke very fast. When I asked her to repeat things, she spoke faster and louder as if I was unable to hear her. That is part of the joy of living in another country and learning a new language. I just smiled, decided to buy two (I'm a big spender), asked how much and paid her. I think we are going to give the bunnies to the kids after the Christmas service tonight at the church. Actually, Kipplyn does not know that there are two rabbits. She is still expecting one.

Right now, Kipplyn's grandmother (Grandmadele), her aunt (Aunt Annie), and cousin (Karissa) are traveling from Tulsa to San Jose, Costa Rica. They will be staying in a hotel in San Jose tonight and driving to Tuis in the morning. They will be staying in a nice 4-star resort near our home. Grandmadele is 87 years old and has another birthday in about 2 months. Annie & Karissa lived in Chile for years and speak Spanish well. We are looking forward to spending the week with them. We will not have classes at the school, so we will have lots of time to do things.

We have a Christmas tree on our front porch. It was a gift from Seidy (our helper and friend) and her family. It was very nice of her to do this. She and her daughter, Gabriela, came over this morning. Chandler went to Gabriela's "graduation" last week. I think they have a ceremony after they pass the 8th grade. Chandler is enjoying getting to know her.



Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope that you enjoy this season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am in awe when I think that the creator of the world would send His Son as a child to live on this earth. That is why we celebrate this time of the year. May God bless you so that you may bless His people.

More PICS from the Panama trip

Here are some more pictures from the Panama trip. I am not sure if you can open these without a Snapfish account. If you need one, they are free.

http://tinyurl.com/2umt82

George at school

This video is about a month old, but I am working on adding video to the blog. Cameron is the one on the camera. Ana is one of the teachers and she watched George and Lily for the first month.

Craft Day, Christmas Caroling, and the Chirripo

Saturday, December 8th (before the gymnastics trip) – Earlier this month we had a Christmas Craft Workshop at our house for the kids in the neighborhood. We had 4 different crafts, cookies and juice. It was really a fun time! The kids don’t have an abundance of craft supplies to play with, so everyone was thrilled with the things we had. There were about 40 kids here and we met a lot of new friends.

Wednesday night, December 19th – There was a Christmas celebration at the mission on Wednesday night. It started with a candlelit parade of Christmas caroling in Tuis. There were more than 80 people that participated. After caroling, we returned to the meeting area for a service. RandiKate participated in an interpretive dance with a few of the other children. Sorry, I forgot to bring a picture of this with me.

Friday, December 21st – There was a Christmas celebration in the mountains for the Chirripo people. The Chirripo people are an indigenous group that has lived in the mountains of Costa Rica for hundreds of years. The majority of the people live in remote areas. We loaded up two trucks (one with clothing, food, and gifts) and the other with people. There were also about 5 SUV’s with people. In total, about 40 people left Tuis in our caravan. Chandler, RandiKate, Charlie, and John David rode in a Jeep. I stood in the back of the truck (see picture) for the whole trip.

It took 2 hours and 35 minutes to get to the meeting place. The roads were terrible and the majority of the time, the truck drove about 10 miles per hour. The entire time I had to hold onto the bars above my head. It was a workout. But don’t feel sorry for us, the Chirripo people walked 4-6 hours to get to the meeting place. The terrain for them is very difficult as it has steep inclines and declines. At times, it is dangerous. There were more than 200 Chirripo that made the trip. This included more than a dozen mothers with little babies. I was the photographer and video person. After arriving, my hands were totally black from the soot on the bars in the bus. It took me about 10 minutes to find running water where I could clean my hands before handling the camera equipment. Hector & Daniel (the directors at our school) began the celebration by leading the Chirripo children in games. The children were having a lot of fun. The son of the chief of the Chirripo (I can not remember his name) is a Christian and pastors a church. The people that came were part of his congregation. I was unable to get any pictures or video of this because John David had an issue with ants. He came to me and said that ants were biting him. When I looked at the back of his green shirt, it was totally black. There more than 400 ants rapidly crawling all over his body. He had more than 30 bites on his body. He truly had ants in his pants. After stripping off his clothes and 20 minutes of shaking them, he was clothed and ready to play. He ran off and played with the other children as if nothing had ever happened. I heard there are a zillion ants for every person in Costa Rica and you need to learn to live with them. We are getting used to it, but it is no fun when you get into an ant hill and get attacked.

After the games, the children lined up for drinks. They get very excited about red Fanta. The whole event is very chaotic. Most of the Chirripo people speak some Spanish but they have a language of their own. This makes it difficult for providing instructions to the people. After drinks the people from Tuis served meals of Rice and Tuna. To top it off, they had hot dogs (cold and uncooked) in a bun. The red Fanta and hot dogs are a favorite of the people.

After the food, it was time to give out the clothes and Christmas gifts. There were hundreds of pounds of clothing (you can see the large white bags of clothing in one of the pictures) and gifts. They would carry this to their homes in the mountains on their backs. Their walk home will be 1-2 hours longer for each of them.

On the return trip, Chandler rode in the back of the truck and I found an opening in one of the cars. The mountains, rivers, and waterfalls were really beautiful on this trip. This is a great place to be.

Gymnastics Trip to Panama

****Disclosure**** This was probably the most difficult trip that I have ever been on. We are back home, we’re safe, and I can smile about the difficulties now.

Overall, we had a great experience on our trip to Panama. There are 11 girls on the team and there were 15 other family members that were on the trip. The girls enjoyed the opportunity to compete in an event with teams from Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. We enjoyed a true “immersion” experience with more than 40 hours of travel time from Costa Rica to Panama and back to Costa Rica. This same trip could have been accomplished with 45 minute flight from San Jose, Costa Rica to Panama City. Oh, how we missed our normal travel benefits.

Day 1 (Tuesday night)

We left the school at 8:45 PM. The “micro-bus” seats 27 people and is nice. We arrived at the Costa Rica / Panama border at 3:30AM. The border was closed until 6:00 AM. We waited in line for 2 ½ hours. When we arrived, there were less than 10 people in front of us. By the time we passed through immigration, there were more than 40 people that had already gone.

The bus broke down on the side of the road after about 2 hours of driving in Panama. Large trucks were driving by the bus at high speeds. There was not a shoulder on the road large enough for the bus. The bus was parked in the shoulder and partially in one of the two lanes of the road. Next to the road, there was a steep drop of about 25-30 feet. There were a couple close calls on the road. We had another issue with the bus 45 minutes outside of Panama City.

We arrived at the Panama hotel 19 hours, 15 minutes after beginning the trip the previous night. We had been told the trip would be 14-16 hours. Check-in took at the hotel took more than 3 hours for our room. The team missed their first practice which was scheduled for 1 hour before the bus arrived. We had a quick dinner at a diner across the street.

Day 3 (Thursday)

The team practiced in the morning. While they were practicing, I went with a few others to the Albrook Mall. It was very impressive. Generally, the prices in Panama are very cheap, but not at this mall. The prices were similar or more expensive than prices in the U.S. I spent the morning planning a team event for the afternoon at the bowling center in the mall. The bowling center had only been open for 1 month. I have to admit that I had a little bit of facility envy. After practice finished, everyone piled into taxis and took off for the mall. This was the first bowling experience for all but two of the people. We had pizzas and Coca Colas for the whole group. It was the most excited group I have ever seen in a bowling center. They cheered for each other every time they knocked any pins down.

After we finished bowling, everyone loaded into the bus and took off for the shopping center at Los Pueblos. The entire group was very excited about the shopping opportunities. They had been saving for the shopping trip in Panama for the entire year. We returned to the hotel, had dinner at the diner and went to bed.

Day 3 (Friday)

Three of the girls were scheduled to compete on Friday morning. After they finished, we all went to the mall for lunch. The girls ate at McDonald’s and then everyone went shopping. The girls that did not compete in the morning were scheduled for practice late in the afternoon. Once again, we had dinner at the diner and went to bed.

Day 4 (Saturday)

It was competition day for Chandler, RandiKate and 6 other girls. I left the hotel early to get the video camera set up and reserve the seats for the rest of our group. It was really enjoyable during the meet. It is really different than meets in the states. The groups were cheering, singing, and blowing horns throughout the event. It was much louder than a typical meet in which the girls have competed. Chandler and RandiKate were the only ones to compete in their group. All of the other girls had finished. The other girls spent the entire time cheering for Chandler and RandiKate. It was really fun for them and for dad, too. Chandler placed first on the beam and 4^th overall.

We went back to the hotel to pack our bags and clean up. The girls all went swimming. The pool was located on the 12^th floor at the top of the hotel. It had a great view of the city and the ocean. We were told that we needed to be at the hotel at 7:30 ready to pack the bus and get on the road. We went to the mall with Sofia and her mother, Ins. Ins and her husband have 3 schools for learning Spanish in Costa Rica and Panama. Oscar, the coach of the team, also joined us. We were in search of a Taco Bell. We never found it, but ate at a new Mexican restaurant. Then we shared a Dippin Dots experience with our Costa Rican friends.

We were in the lobby at 7:15. Actually, it was a few more hours until we left. We loaded the bus at about 8:45 and then waited for another two hours (I have no idea why we were waiting). We drove through most of the night. We went a little out of the way to the school owned by Ins and her husband. It was a good break for us. It was in the mountains of Panama near a Volcano. It was very chilly in the morning. We ate breakfast and had coffee on our stop. Ins and Sofia stayed at the school and the bus took off for the border.

When we arrived at the border, we went through the immigration line and they told us that our (me, Chandler, and RandiKate) passports had not been stamped properly. They said that we could not go back into Costa Rica and we could not go into Panama. I was really confused, hot (more than 85 degrees) and tired. In the end, it all worked out, our passports are stamped properly and I have $40 less than I had before we went through the border.

On Sunday night, we arrived at the bus station in Turrialba more than 23 hours after we left the hotel in Panama City. A taxi was waiting for us and 25 minutes later, we were home in Tuis.

Kipplyn & Mom in Tuis, Costa Rica

Me with the Saturday Coke Truck! :-)

Thank you all for your prayers for George and all of us. Turns out he had an intestinal bacteria and with medication is doing better now. He has is color and his smile back! Thank you Lord!

Bo and the girls are back from Panama. They had a great time and have much to share along with pictures. We will work on that for tomorrow.

Sunday was Bo and my 13th anniversary! WOW! Things have changed a lot since our wedding day! :-)

It was such a rough week, but I am so thankful to be here, having this experience. Things I love about being here...

THE SUN!!! It is beautiful! about 80 degrees each day, but cool at night for sleeping! The land is beautiful! There are mountains, waterfalls, rivers, trees and flowers surrounding us everyday! I can hear the rushing river from my class room where I study Spanish!

I love the time here with my family. Playing cards, games, learning about a different culture, teaching the kids to wash dishes by hand. Having time to take with them...

I enjoy learning Spanish. I find the language interesting how it relates to English and how they both derive from Latin. Learning the sentence structure and vocabulary. It is very hard for me, but I find it interesting!

I am thankful for people here that care for us and enjoy getting to know us too.

Actually, I am thankful for some of the difficulties that help me appreciate home even more!

Love to you all! We will post about gym tomorrow!

Another Day

I got a message from Bo that they arrived fine. Not much detail. It took them 19 hours, it was a pretty long trip. The girls compete on Saturday in Panama City, Panama and they all return Sunday. Please continue to pray for them.

George continues to throw up, so we are going to another Dr today. I will post more info later.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

The Good.... God is good. I see His hand many places. He has sent me many helpers during this time!

The Bad...(WARNING! This is not for the faint at heart) Well, you want the truth? ...... It has been a terrible 6 days. It would have been bad at home, but here, WOW! I can't even put it into words. Remember there is no hot water?? Want to clean a house, dishes, and clothes after vomit with cold water? We did boil some, but it is difficult. There was vomit everywhere! At one point someone was outside, someone in the bathroom and 2 in trashcans! And George vomitting anywhere!! When I heard the noise from Lily in the night it was it was just about more than I could handle. Yesterday everyone seemed to feel much better and we all went to school with stomachs that were still a little sensitive. We had to get Bo and the girls ready for their trip to Panama. They left last night at 7pm for a 15 hour drive in a bus! (you can add them to the prayer list) Later, George began to vomit AGAIN! He was up in the night and I became more concerned about him. I think he has already lost 5 pounds! THEN... the dryer stopped working! In one day,George had no dry clothes because he had vomitted so much and they just weren't drying quickly enough on the line! I called Hector early this morning and he wanted to take us to the Dr in Turrialba. So, Hector, Seidy, Lily, George, and myself went to the hospital emergency room.

The Ugly... Healthcare at hospitals is free here. You can imagine the amount of people there. The building reminded me of an old school. Nothing like what we could call a hospital. Seidy helped me with the kids and with the Spanish. Miraculously, we were seen quickly (thank you Jesus) A young dr examined George and told me to take him to another room. The nurse gave him something to drink and said he wanted to see his vomit!!!!!! There were other sick people in there with us having their blood drawn, vomitting, crying. It was terrible. George drank the liquid easily, we waited 30 minutes, and of course, NO VOMIT! The dr said he had a virus and gave us Pedialyte, suppositories, and sent us on our way! AIY... Hector, is very helpful and wants me to be OK. I told him we will wait another day and see how George is and go to another DR (not the hospital). So, today, George has been very hungry and no vomit or diarrhea. Hopefully, that will continue through the night.

I have spent quite a bit of time talking to God. I have my spirit back and feel much better. We are OK! Thank you all for your prayers! I can certainly feel them! I miss you!

Please Pray

Please pray for us. Everyone has been sick this past weekend. There is a virus going around and we got it hard. George started vomiting Friday and it has made its way through everyone (even Lily). George has continued to vomit today. It is horrible cleaning everything! I guess I can be thankful for cement floors.

Chandler's & RandiKate's Gymnastics Team In Costa Rica

Lily is 4 Months Old

Nov 30^th

WOW! It is hard for me to miss the birth of baby Forest Cook. Christy is such a dear friend and I hate to miss the celebration of life after so much difficulty! PTL for victory over death. Thank you Lord for new life and a healthy baby boy! Congratulations Cooks! We all love you all!!

Grammy is here! It is Christmas! Daddy sent me a big box of chocolates! They are perfect and so yummy! I am trying to hide them from the ants! (the kids too)! The kids were so excited with all of the goodies from Grammy and Pops! We haven’t had real candy in a month! We have Recees! Yummy! It feels so good to have Mom here and get a chance to show her around. She is staying at a Bed and Breakfast with a different child each night, but she says she could have stayed here.

GYMNASTICS HAS FOUND US!!!!! OK, we found a gymnastics team here. Bo took Chandler to check it out. The other girls were so excited and amazed at Chandler’s abilities! They have very “rough” equipment to practice except for once each week they travel by bus to San Jose for a real gym. They have asked Chandler and RandiKate to participate on their team! Chandler smiled from ear to ear for 4 straight hours. There is a possibility that both girls could travel with the team to Panama for a meet with 150 other girls and a number of other Central and South American countries. It would mean 15 hours on a bus for the girls and Bo, but what an AMAZING life experience for them! They will also get to visit the Panama Canal and other places in the area! OH AND GUESS WHAT????? The gymnastics routines are the EXACT SAME as home! Can you believe that???? Chandler is not sure what level she will compete. The girls here compete at level 2 or 3, so she is deciding whether or not to do 4 or 5, but if she wants to compete with the other girls it would be 3. I don’t think it really matters, it is just for the experience! Tonight the girls performed in an exhibition with the team and they drew quite a crowd! Chandler and RandiKate definitely had their “Rock Star” moment!!! It was so much fun for all of us!

We had another special treat tonight. Bo found an ice cream shop. Guess the name? POPS!!! J All of the kids were excited to go to POPS’S! We miss you Pops!

Lily is 4 months old this week! Amazing how time flies!

RandiKate with Friends Victoria and Mariani

Thanksgiving

November 23

Yesterday we had a really good time at our Thanksgiving Dinner with the entire school. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! It was fun to meet everyone’s families and get to share an important holiday for us. Bo did a great job with his presentation of info on the holiday. Everyone told me they could understand his Spanish and that he did very well. Some people were even interested in reading more about it. It was a little hard not to be with extended family for Thanksgiving. I think it is the first time that I haven’t at least spoken to our family. I missed them! It was Lily’s first Thanksgiving.

This is the first day I am feeling a little sad. We had to deal with a little “situation” with the school. The boys’ teacher was fired today. She was a new teacher and the director just wasn’t pleased with her performance and how she was fitting in to the program. He said they were bored and he can’t let that happen. They asked her to change some things and she didn’t so, they told her that today was her last day. It is hard for me because of the relationship. I like her. Also, because the classes will change for the kids now and that will just mean more adjusting for them. I pray that the new teacher is amazing and the transition will be a good one. I trust Hector’s judgment and it is his school, but I just hate those kinds of situations. L Please pray for the kids next week as they adjust to a new teacher and changes in their classes. We do have 2 new kids coming, so that could be fun too!

We received a package from my mom yesterday! It was so fun!! Thanks Mom!!

She arrives in only 1 week and we are counting the days!

This week we made a new friend. Cameron is a friend of Hector & Daniel from California. He came to the school to help out and volunteer where ever needed for a few days. He has been traveling Latin America the past few months learning Spanish. He and Bo got along well and we all enjoyed the time we spent getting to know him. He was a homeschooled kid from a family with 4 children. He is newly graduated from college and in a different stage in life, but I think he enjoyed being with our family and we enjoyed being with him. It is amazing how often the Spirit can make people friends instantly.

Nov 27
Things worked out fine with the boys teacher. She was actually relieved to be able to spend more time with her family. Thank you , Lord!

Mucha LLUVIA!

That means TOO MUCH RAIN!!! We hear that a lot around here lately!! :) Everyone is doing well. (Glory to God!) Lily is growing so much! George is talking so much more! He speaks complete SPANGLISH!!! It is so funny! He makes us laugh everyday! RandiKate has made many friends and they enjoy playing Barbies and do a lot of roll playing to figure out what the other is saying! One of her sweet friends is named "Milagro" It is precious to us and reminds us to pray for the Feria family! We miss all of you and especially with the Thanksgiving season. No one here understands the significance of the holiday! We are hosting a big dinner with traditional Thanksgiving food. We are preparing to explain (in Spanish) the importance of the holiday to us! We will have about 30 adults and about 20 children Thursday evening. No, I am not cooking! :-) There is a lady in Turrialba that lived in the US and will prepare everything for us. This may be the first time any of the teachers will have eaten turkey!! It should be fun and we will post some pics afterward. We hope you all have a wonderful day of remembering all that we have to be thankful for and to God for our country and His provisions! Much love to all of you! (Oh, This is a picture of our family at the table for lunch. The table is usually set with wonderful food when we arrive home from school)

Our Address

You can send letters to us and they will arrive within 1 week if you remember to put "airmail" on the package.

Christian Immersion Spanish Academy & Voz Que Clama Mission
BO SUMMERS
Apdo. 28-7150
Turrialba, Costa Rica

Sweet Bo!

Bo brought me flowers from his trip into Turrialba! They are beautiful roses and Lilies!! They are amazingly fragrant and I love how it fills the house! Notice the vase??!!

More From Costa Rica

November 9

Whew! It has been raining for 3 days almost continually! I can tell that we are being covered in prayer because normally this kind of weather would make me very sad. I feel fine. Believe me, I will be happy when the sun shines again because dealing with the rain is a pain. I should have brought rain boots, coats and umbrellas with us! We can purchase them here though. Supposedly, it doesn’t rain at all in Jan/Feb. It will probably be very hot! *smile*

Lily found her thumb! I will continue to try to get her to take a pacifier, but it sure is cute when they are this age!

PTL! George slept through the night and Lily slept during school! Thank you all so much for your prayers for us!! We moved George into the girls room. Maybe he feels more secure with them. If he were to wake up, he knows the girls will “mother” him. Thankfully, we all slept all night! (well, not Lily, but that’s ok) I think we actually stayed in bed until the LATE hour of 6:30am! *smile*

OH, Yesterday was a great fun day of grocery shopping! I rode the bus about 40 minutes into Turrialba (with Lily). I was concerned about how that could be with the rain and a baby AND shopping but Lily slept peacefully in the pouch and everything went smoothly. I met my professora at the bus stop and we walked around the town to a supermarket for grocery shopping. My homework the night before had been to make a shopping list (in Spanish) and be ready to shop. It was so much easier to remember the names of things while actually looking for something familiar and remembering what I need! I enjoy Diana’s company and she speaks enough English to help me when I cannot come up with a Spanish word (which is often). We walked to a few more stores trying to find a few more items including a mosquito net for Lily’s crib. Everything I needed cost around $100,000 colones! It felt crazy spending so much money at the grocery store! Afterward, I took a quick taxi ride home.

November 10

John David fell and hit his head. It was a little cut that may have needed a stitch. We walked up and down looking for the dr that is here from PA. Bo went into another town to get some hydrogen peroxide. I shaved is head cleaned it out very well and put a butterfly bandaid on it. The dr looked at it and said it was fine. The main concern would be infection, so to be sure to clean it each day. We are thankful it was not worse!

November 12

George fell and busted his chin on our cement floor! Thank you Jesus that it did not bust open!!! It may have been a trip to the emergency room. He has a big goose egg on his chin and it is very blue! L

November 15

Things are going well. The sun has begun to shine again. The babies are doing well. John David is having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to being in school each day. I know he will be fine, but today he is a little tired, I guess. We are planning a visit from Mom and we are all excited preparing for that! She is going to come Nov 29^th! (Happy Birthday Forest Cook) We can hardly wait!

We are all learning a lot of Spanish and Hector (the director) is searching for a phone for us! Thank you for your continued prayers!!

Hugs!!!

George's Business

OK, Some of you have heard me say "George goes in his bed from 2-4 everyday. What he does with that time is his business" Well, I guess I got what I deserve! (Praise God for washable markers) LOL!!!

Random thoughts

We're still here. Our time on the internet is limited. We have had some highs and lows during the first two weeks. It has definitely been a positive experience. Most of the lows were probably common "culture shock". It rains a lot. It has been fun to watch our home become a magnet for children in the neighborhood. Here are some very basic observations that I have made. Children do not need to speak the same language in order to have fun together. Girls enjoy beads and dolls. Boys enjoy balls, trucks, and dirt. Kids make messes. Boys make most of them. Charlie likes to throw a baseball in the street every day. The other boys want to be the first to get one of the other "guantes" (gloves). If Charlie notices someone walking by, he likes to show how hard he can throw the ball. Costa Ricans are "futbol" (soccer) enthusiasts and not baseball enthusiasts. Their hand-eye coordination is obviously not as important in soccer. We have met a few neighbors by looking for baseballs in their yard. It rains a lot in Costa Rica. Boys play rough. Butterfly bandaids are very useful for cuts to the head. We enjoy watching "Madagascar" and "The Incredibles" in Spanish. We don 't understand everything, but the plot remains the same. I know a lot more Spanish than I thought I did. I also realize that I have so much to learn. We took some video from the church service last night and also of our walk from the house to the school this morning. We are planning to send a CD to our family. Perhaps we will figure out how to upload it to the blog. Did I mention that it rains a lot.

This Week

November 5, 2007

It’s A Small World After All

Yesterday we went to La Mission. It is the church we will be attending. I really enjoyed it. The music was great with lots of enthusiasm! There was a guest preacher. Guess where he was from? Little Rock, Arkansas! We couldn’t believe it! He spoke with a translator. We enjoyed the time and meeting people.

It has been easy to meet people here. We get stared at a lot with all of the blonde children and especially the baby. Chandler says she doesn’t like it. I keep telling her it is because she is so pretty! J

First Day Of School!

We had a good day of school. Bo and I each have our own tutors, the girls have one, the boys have one, and there is someone to play with George and Lily. The girls that watch George and Lily are thrilled to have them! I don’t think many people bring their 3 month old or 2 year old! So, they get lots of attention. I don’t know if Lily will ever get put down! It is ok, though. I am happy that she is being loved. I like my teacher. We just had a conversation and asked each other questions about ourselves- Much more like visiting than studying. I like the relational part of that. I know I will learn more that way too! The kids played games and learned words in their class. After school, we walked to the little store for ice cream cones to celebrate! It was great!

Did I mention it rains every afternoon? It is so weird. We wake up early to the beautiful sunshine and it gets pretty hot (probably 80) and just when I think, “Ok, I am hot” a dark cloud rolls in and it rains for the rest of the afternoon and sometimes into the night. It is nice that it cools us off for the night. It is the rainy season here, but I am so thankful that it the sun shines most of the day!

Our First Week Here..

Nov 6 we have been here 1 week. Seems like longer right now. It is good to start school have some things to do. School is really great, but I feel like my head might explode. There is so much to learn! I like my teacher Diana. She is young and I enjoy talking with her. On Thursday we are going shopping as our lesson. Sounds good to me! The kids seem to enjoy their classes too. They keep telling me they didn’t do school, but played games, went on walks, look at books (all in Spanish of course) Funny, they don’t even realize they are studying and learning!!

We went to the neighbor’s house for a birthday party Carne Asada! Yum! It was fun! The children run all around the road and the adults visit (sound familiar?) Bo had gone into Turrialba, so it was just me and the kids. I listened to the women and picked up a few words here and there. I hope to be able to converse more with then some day. One thing that is funny… the moms dress their babies up with hats, socks, and layers of clothing in the evening when it cools off. It really isn’t cool, only the sun has gone behind the mountains. (about 75-80 degrees) Lily is usually only dressed in a onesie. All of the other women are so concerned about her being cold and constantly ask me if she is ok. J

November 7

Lily is 3 Months Old! She is so precious! Happy Birthday Lily!

Please pray for George and Lily. They are all mixed up on their sleeping. Lily hasn’t slept well all day since we started school and by the end of the day she is a crying mess. George doesn’t nap and goes to sleep by 6pm then is up all through the night and up for good by 5 am. It is wearing on Bo and me! The sun comes up early and there is a lot of noise outside by 5 am and George wants to watch out the window. All of that would be ok if he hadn’t been up every hour since 2 am! Whew… they need a little sleep adjustment.

Some things to pray for us:

To have the “gift of language” and remember what we study

For us to grow closer as a family and to God

George and Lily to adjust to sleeping arrangements

For us to be able to get a telephone (there are only a certain # available because of a monopoly here)

Much love from here,

Adjusting

Well, I am already feeling adjusted to the house. The little inconveniences aren't bothering me. Today I did some laundry on the porch. The washing machine is so basic. You have to manually change the buttons between each cycle. There is a spinner you move the clothes to after washing. Then hanging on the line. It was fun today, but I am thankful for Sedy! :-) George came up to me and said "Miss Cruz". WOW! I could have cried over that! :-) I guess laundry reminds him of her too. We are going into "town" today for a little shopping and make some copies. I haven't gotten the slide show to load, so here is one picture of our house.

Doing well

Last night was a good night of sleep. Amazing the difference that can make! It has been a good day. We walked down to the school (5-10 min) for orientation. Everyone is cheerful today. We are learning already from the lady that helps in the house and the neighbor children. It is fun. We are enjoying the food! I had a Coke this afternoon! YEA! :-) There is so much to see outside here. It is very beautiful. I am thankful.

COMO SE' WHAT????!!!!

October 31, 2007

Como se WHAT????

Whew. Well, you can say “culture shock”! It didn’t take long last night for me to realize how comfortable I am at home and how much I take for granted. The house is large for a hotel room. There are 3 small bedrooms and a bathroom off of the kitchen/living area. Sedi (Sadie) is our new helper. She had a good Costa Rican dinner for us when we arrived. It started to settle in that we are here for 6 months. There are so many things I go to look for and don’t have. It was noisy outside most of the night and the kids were a little unsettled by that. The motorcycles and roosters started at 5am. I was up by 6 am. The sun must come up earlier. It is 1 hour behind Central Time right now, but will stay the same when home “falls back”. Charlie woke up a little teary and mad whenever we spoke Spanish to him. I held him for a while and he cried and said he wanted to go home. Chandler started counting the days down. This could be hard. I here my mom say “ya think?” We ate Fruity O’s for breakfast and quickly got to work trying to sort and organize all of this stuff. There are no closets, only 1 small armoire in each room. We are using trunks for some storage. The kitchen is small. There is a microwave and small refrigerator and a small stove/oven. The laundry is outside on the back porch. The floors are cement! Not like nice stained cement, but like your garage. The beds are fine. Not great, but fine. The girls have a room with a bunk bed and the boys have 2 twins with a trundle for George. Lily is in her crib with us. Sadie came at 10 am this morning. She made a quick breakfast and we left with Hector to Turrialba for big grocery shopping. It was similar to Cancun, only like one of the small local mercados not Wal Mart. It was fun and Hector was helpful. When we got home Sadie had put away ALL of the clothes and organized everything!!! I couldn’t believe it! I said “Bo, Cruz was here!!!” WOW! That helped me so much! We also had coffee this afternoon. That helped too! Sedi is nice and speaks only Spanish, so it is a little difficult, but it is only the first day. Bo is doing great with his Spanish. I am surprised at how much I understand too. A neighbor came over this afternoon. I really understood what she was saying (I think) I think she was asking me if I wanted to leave Lily with her while we go to school. I told her “No, con migo” (No, with me) Soon, some local children started to gather at our front gate. We invited them inside the gate to the front porch. Our older children and the locals began to play and have a good time together. They know a little English and we know a little Spanish, so we figured each other out. Bo was happy and said this is what he hoped for. It helped him.

All of this has brought real missionaries to my mind. So many people out there who are called by God to go to foreign countries and tell people about Jesus. Many of them are in danger. Most of them are certainly uncomfortable. They have much less that this. I find myself praying for them. –for grace for them. I know God has called them and they have grace, but I don’t know that it is just easy breezy for them. I am sure they miss their families and the comforts of home just as much as I do.

I feel better tonight than last night. I know I was so tired last night. It is really fun to be here with Bo. I enjoy our time together. Hopefully each day will be better than the one before.

My God Is An Awesome God!!

October 30, 2007

My God Is An Awesome God!

Today we traveled from Tulsa to San Jose, Costa Rica. We set our alarm clocks for 4 am! The flight left at 6:10 am. I prayed all morning about our trip. I prayed for God to go before us and prepare the way. I was hoping that traveling with 6 small children was enough of a challenge of its own without adding traveling issues on top. Thankfully, it was! The little ones were perfect on both flights! Lily and I were upgraded to first class on the first flight. She nursed and slept the entire flight. Then George and Bo were upgraded on the second flight. This gave us an open seat for Lily’s car seat! She was great! They showed an ok Disney movie and all was well for all of us. Then off to customs… All of our 13 checked trunks/bags arrived unharmed. We found someone to help push us through the airport to immigration. We had so many children and so much luggage we just passed right through without even asking us anything! We hardly even had to wait in line at all! On the way out of the airport there is a large glass window where people stand outside and wait for others coming out of the airport. I have never felt so much like a fish in a fishbowl as this time! People even had their faces pressed up against the window staring at all of us! It was so hilarious. Bo’s biggest concern was the luggage and how would we get to Tuis with all of us and all of our stuff. Hector arrived at the airport to pick us up. We all fit in a 12 passenger “mini”-van and our luggage behind us in another vehicle. No problems at all. Talk about “God going before us”! It was awesome! I sang the song all afternoon. We drove through San Jose about 1 ½ hours to a restaurant. It was our first experience ordering and waiting to see what we actually get. It was all good, just a bit too much food! J There was a huge rain while we were there. The kids had a ball running around outside in the downpour! Then we drove another hour to our house in Tuis. The countryside is beautiful. There is sugar cane and coffee growing all along the sides of the roads. It all reminds me of a movie. Little tin roof homes built into the mountain side. The houses are all different beach inspired colors. Our house is coral. I will send pictures as soon as I can get a time to actually get online and post on the blog. The house….hmmm. I will write more about that tomorrow. Thank you God for our traveling mercies!

One More Week

Well, we have moved out of our house and into my grandmother's apartment. The apartment has been such a blessing to many of our family members over the years! It is, once again, to us! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa! One week from right now we will be settling into bed in our house in Costa Rica. WOW! Bo & I are really excited. It is hard to believe that the time has finally come! The kids are a little apprehensive, but I know it will be a great experience!

We are still waiting for our house to close and pray for that to happen tomorrow! Bo has a ton of work to wrap up and I am just finishing up our packing! Things are coming together! I am so thankful for our friends and family who have been supportive and continue to pray for us! We leave Bartlesville on Friday for the weekend in Fayetteville with my parents then we fly out of Tulsa on Tuesday Oct 30th at 6:30 am! We should have more pictures up soon and video of our new home shortly after.
God bless!

Lose My Soul

Our family has always enjoyed listening to Toby Mac! We especially like this song right now "Lose My Soul" There are many statements that speak to me- "I'm not gonna let these material things get in my way, I'm trying to get somewhere (Heaven), Father God I am clay in your hands, I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul, Where's your heart?, What's your title?, The first thing to prosper should be inside of me, How do I sense a tide that's rising- desensitizing me from living in a light of eternity? Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world, That fight for our love, and our passion, As our eyes are open wide and on you. Grant us the privilege of your world view, And may your kingdom be, what wakes us up, and lays us down." I want to be wide open and available to the blessings that God has for me and our family. I want to have a heavenly focus and not such an earthly one! I want the Spirit inside of me to grow more than anything else! There are so many distractions trying to get us away from that focus!

Doors Open

It seems like things are falling into place pretty easily. It seems like the doors have opened easily for us to continue the process of going to Costa Rica. We are thankful and praise the Lord for selling our house so quickly. Now we are in a sprint to pack and move out by the 18th! We are excited to get started on our adventure. We are a little nervous about the unknown and so much time missing our friends and family, but we know it will be a great experience! Bo and I have been having many conversations about what we want to spend our time here on earth doing, what God has for us, and what kind of legacy we will leave. We want to be still and quiet and have our eyes open to what God would like to show us! There is a ton of work to be done and we will take deep sigh of relief on the 30th of October when we board the plane for Costa Rica!