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!