Sickness, OUCH, cooking class and hiking

This is a photo of the Turrialba volcano. It is located approximately 30 miles from our home. It has been spewing gas at various times over the last 6-7 months. If someone could find more information about its activity online, please inform us.

Kipplyn has still been sick. She thought she had been feeling better, but it was shortlived. She went to the doctor yesterday for testing. They received the results today and she has a bacteria in her stomach that the other medicine would not (obviously) remove. The doctor wanted the test because he had an idea of what it was, but he wanted to be certain because the medicine is strong and he did not want to prescribe it unnecesarily since she is nursing Lily. I came into town today to pick up her medicine and post to the blog. I have a bag with the medicine beside me and I am thankful to God that they were able to pinpoint the problem quickly.

The kids have had a number of bumps, bruises, cuts, etc... since our arrival. This week was no different. On Saturday evening, I was getting ready to leave the house for a bible study when I heard John David yelling at the top of his lungs. At the time, we had about 20 kids inside and outside the house. I asked him to go to his room. At first glance, he appeared to have a little cut under his nose. The other children (6 or more talking at the same time in Spanish) were trying to explain to me what happened. Based on their excitement, I figured it might be a little worse than I first thought. They said he had been running at a full speed when he tripped over a retaining wall and landed on his face. We asked everyone to leave and I went to talk to John David again. I notice he had a lump on his forehead that was between the size of a golf ball and a baseball and protruded more than an inch from his head. There was no ice in the freezer and the store did not have any. Kipplyn had some ice cream treats in the freezer that she has been unable to eat for the last few weeks. They served a different purpose that night. John David seems to be doing well now.

Earlier in the week, Randi Kate decided to borrow a friends bike and race down the street (pretty steep grade). Her experience on a bike did not include rapid braking on loose gravel. She scraped up her right leg pretty good. Randi Kate also seems to be doing well now.

The kids gather in the street to roast marshmallows over the fire. It's a fun thing to do on "cold" evenings when the temperatures drop below 70 degrees.

Every Thursday, we have a cooking class at the school. Normally, we make traditional Costa Rican dishes. Kipplyn and I normally take turns staying home with George and Lily. This week it was my turn to go. We made upside down pineapple cake. Basically, it is about the same as home except the pineapples just came off the tree.

John David is a very selective eater. However, when he is involved in the process of making the food, he is usually the first to request "seconds".

Carolina (white) and her mother are neighbors of ours. They were teaching the class this week.

Charlie pays careful attention to his tasks.

Chandler and Randi Kate came to help.

Last weekend, Chandler, Charlie and I went on a hike with Adrián and his son Andrés. They live down the street from us. Adrian works at the mission with the handicapped indigenous persons. A new student, Garrett, arrived from California. He is staying with Adrián and his family. We all hiked to the top of a nearby mountain to view two different coffee farms that owned by Adrián's family. He has a river that runs through both of his properties. The view of the mountains and the many rivers are amazing. Sometimes, it seems the people that live here don't realize their land is so beautiful.

This is a very typical site in our area. There are many beautiful small rivers running down the mountains.

Garrett, Charlie, Andres, Chandler, and Adrian as we began to ascend the mountain. It is difficult to view the magnitude of the mountains in this picture, but it was pretty amazing.

This is a picture from one of Adrian's coffee farms. The coffee trees are called "matas de cafe".

This picture is taken at the top of a waterfall on Adrian's property. About 2 feet to the left of the picture, there is a 40 foot drop. The river continues for about 100 feet before dropping another 60+ feet. Sorry I could not get better pictures, but I don't have the same daring abilities that I had when I was a WildMan at Kanakuk. I'm not sure if it is age, wife and children, or wisdom.

On our return trip, we found a great spot for a photo.

Chandler, Cassandra, Taty and Lily

One of Chandler's friends (Cassandra) received an Ipod for Christmas and had not been able to load the music and pictures. Now that Chandler and I are experts, we were able to help them this week. We have not figured out how to add video yet. Maybe someone can help us with instructions on how to easily transition an MPEG2 file to an Ipod.

Every day seems to be an adventure. We have been busy learning Spanish and we are beginning to see an increase in our ability to understand and speak the language. Please continue to pray that God would give us the gift of language. We are really enjoying the people in our town. We expect to have a lot more interaction with other families in the coming month.