My big girl is 12 years old! How is it possible?

Chandler and Grammy in San Jose
Friday we celebrated Chandler’s 12^th birthday. She is such a blessing to us and to everyone she meets. We have always said she is “going on 20” because of her maturity. She is a big helper with her siblings and we enjoy spending time with her. She is a bit of a social bug and has many friends (everywhere she goes). This weekend we traveled to Arenal Volcano. We went to a place where they have natural hot springs and pools from the volcano. They also had waterslides and we enjoyed our time there. Chandler is not really one for heights or fast adventure, but she is always going to try it at least once! She is a good sport! Honestly, I was a little concerned about her before we came to Costa Rica. Because of her age, I was worried that it would be harder for her to learn the language. It was difficult for her to leave her friends and gymnastics, and I knew she would be homesick. Well, the first few weeks were a little challenging, but she jumped right in and made friends. She studied hard and had a desire to speak to her new friends and now her ability to speak the language is really incredible. I am so proud of her!

Why are we leaving earlier than planned?

A: Spanish is so easy, we have learned all there is to learn

B: A person can only handle so much fresh fruit

C: With temperatures everyday from 72-82 degrees, the weather is just too perfect

D: It is boring having someone cook every day for us

OK, no, just kidding…. We just know our time here for now has come to an end. We have had a wonderful experience and God has shown us so many things. We look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Happy 12th Birthday Chandler!!!

Chandler turned 12 years old today. She said the only thing that she wants for her birthday is a phone call from family and friends. She also wanted a visit to the local internet café to post on her blog and send a few e-mails. If you would like to call her, our cell phone number (dialing from the US) is 011-506-8-319-4739. If you have ECG for your long distance service your bill will be cheap. There are no guarantees if you use another provider (actually, your friendship or familial status may be called into question if you use another service). I added the number in the blog because all phone numbers in Costa Rica changed this week. Each cell phone now begins with an 8 and each land line begins with a 2. This number will only be valid for us until the 1st of April.

We are in La Fortuna, Costa Rica this weekend for a little getaway. We came to see an active volcano that regularly has lava flowing that is visible at nights. So far in the 24 hours that we have been here, there has been thick cloud cover over the area and specifically over the mountain. We hope that the weather changes before we leave on Sunday. We brought our neighbor, Mireya, with us. She has lived her entire life in Costa Rica but has not seen the majority of her country. She was very excited to come on this trip. We'll update more with pictures and a better description before we leave.

Happy 6th Birthday John David!

John David with his best friend, big brother Charlie

John David (also known as JD, Juan David, and Juan JD) celebrated his 6th birthday on Sunday. He had two parties on the same day. John David is such a sweet boy. He is quiet in groups, but easy to talk to one on one. He is very creative and enjoys coloring and drawing. He has a bit of quiet mischievousness about him. To steal the words of his Aunt Summer “he is so stinkin’ cute!” Each morning he comes to me to find Lily and spend some time with her. He is a blessing to our family! It is hard to believe he is already 6 years old! And, by the way, we have decided to come home April 3rd! Can’t wait- See you soon!

John David is blowing out the candles on his cake

A birthday photo with the guys (and Maria)

JD is ready for a jam session with George´s guitar

JD has a new teacher, Andres. He really enjoys the class and they have fun building things while he learns Spanish.

JD with his new wooden helicopter

More Lily Pics

This is Lily with Maria. Maria is a precious 10 year old girl that loves to hold Lily everyday!

Lily has quite a personality. Look at that sad face!


She has started to enjoy the Johnny Jump Up that we brought for her to use. She also enjoys it when her brothers and sisters push her in it like a swing!

Lily is 7 Months Old

It is hard to believe our precious “Lily-kins” is already 7 months old! She is such a doll with quite a personality! She squeals really loudly while clinching her fists when she is frustrated! She is about to take off crawling any minute now! I have to keep time for the little girls in the neighborhood who fight to get to hold her each afternoon. George calls her “Hilly” and helps entertain her alot of times too! Seidy and our neighbor Mireya have grown especially attached to her and are already talking about how sad they will be when we leave. It has been such a blessing to have people around us that love our kids while we are away from home.

Expectations

Recently I had a few days feeling very grumpy. I found myself frustrated with all of the people around me. I began to think and pray about this and ask myself, “What is it that I expect?”. I realize that I came into this trip with a set of expectations. I thought that, somehow, by leaving our life in the US, things would change- my children would get along better, serve each other (and me); my husband would suddenly know all I needed and respond accordingly. We would leave the constant bombardment by media and influence of peers or culture, leave the hustle and bustle of our lives and become so aware of others that we would miraculously be less selfish, more holy, and concerned for everyone else. Maybe my children will stop constantly begging for more “stuff”. As I write this, I realize how completely ridiculous this sounds. These were not consious expectations that I wrote down and hoped for, but the truth is, they were (or are) my expectations. So, what now? Sin is everywhere-even here in the beautiful tropics. It can’t be escaped. My children still fight, my husband still needs a few clues into my psyche, and we are all still quite self-focused. I know the Lord has taught us many things and we will leave here different than we came, but I am not sure what that will look like exactly. It all has me thinking about what a great influence “expectations” have on our lives each day. Often they can affect my entire day, my behavior and my responses to my family. I guess, if I can realize that my problem is un-met expectations, hopefully, I can change my attitude and appreciate more my time here (and everywhere).

Turrialba Volcano

Our volcano has been acting up a little lately. It has been smoking some here and there and one day the people who live up close to it had to leave for a little while. No one expects it to errupt with lava, who knows... it makes pretty pictures.

The Engineers visit CISA

Joshua, Brad, Steph, and Ali

We met a group of four young people at the school in Tuis before our trip to the beach. They are engineers and if I remember correctly, three of them are civil engineers and the fourth is a ???? engineer. They spent two weeks at CISA in an intensive Spanish curriculum. Each of them is volunteering 6 months of their time in a valuable ministry called EMI. We were only able to spend a short period of time with them, but we enjoyed it. Joshua was kind enough to provide some information about their organization and the projects that they are currently involved in.

Message from Joshua:

EMI is a non-profit Christian design firm that provides architectural and engineering services for other Christian ministries around the globe. Most of our work consists of designing schools, churches, orphanages, and medical clinics in third world countries. EMI’s headquarters is located in Colorado Springs, with international offices in India, Uganda, and Costa Rica as well as a second sending office in Calgary, Canada. The purpose of our international offices is to intentionally invest in the region, network with other Christian ministries and potential clients, and become experts in local design practices. The Costa Rica office is brand new, having moved from Guatemala City last fall. Right now we have two staff engineers and four interns, with two or three more families set to join us within a year. You can read more about EMI at www.emiworld.org.

This spring we are working on two projects – both of which are located in Guatemala. In late January through early February, we recruited two teams of volunteers and spent a week at each project – surveying the sites, meeting with the ministry directors, and developing our design.

Our first project was a training and development center for Agros International (www.agros.org). Agros is a Christian ministry that is working to break the cycle of poverty in indigenous communities by helping people acquire land, providing basic services, offering education and training, and coordinating economic development. Much of their work is focused on the Ixil region in northwestern Guatemala – a region still recovering from a brutal civil war which ended 12 years ago. In order to effectively serve these communities, Agros is in the process of building a center for training and development outside the town of Nebaj. Agros requested EMI’s services to review their master plan and design a carpentry workshop. When our team arrived, we found that Agros had purchased a beautiful piece of land; however, it was very hilly, leaving little flat space to build on. Our challenge was to use our engineering sense to locate all of the proposed buildings within their difficult site.

Our second project trip was at Casa Bernabé (www.casabernabe.org), an orphanage just outside Guatemala City that houses approximately 160 kids. Due to problems of corruption, the country of Guatemala has recently changed their adoption procedures, effectively stopping any adoptions out of the country, and creating a higher demand on orphanages. Many of the children at this orphanage are not necessarily orphans, but have been either abandoned or abused by their parents. At Casa Bernabé, the kids live with house parents in eight different homes, separated by age and gender. Since 1996, Casa Bernabé has provided the children with education at an on-site Christian elementary school. However, the current facility is inadequate to handle all the kids at the orphanage. Our project was to design a remodeled school building with a new second floor, as well as update their site plan and provide recommendations for their wastewater treatment system.

Now that we’re back at the office in Atenas, Costa Rica, our job will be to complete the design of these two projects, including construction plans and a design report. It is an incredible blessing to have this opportunity to use our engineering training to help all of the incredible ministries in this region.

Our Trip To Playa Conchal

What an amazing week. When I walked into the house where we were going to stay, I was completely blown away! I have not EVER seen anything like it! It was huge and completely amazing. I can't even describe it properly! Pops has outdone himself again! We even had our own private pool with a beautiful view of the ocean. This is a long way from Tuis! We will post a slide show of many of the pictures soon. We all had a wonderful time of refreshment and Grammy and Pops completely spoiled us! It was great to get to spend time with them and it is hard to let them go home without us! Now we are on our way back to Tuis and 2 more months of time here in Costa Rica.

Tico Trivia

Anybody know what this is??

Baby Ava Milagro

February 27 I got news that my friend Rachel had her sweet baby that had been diagnosed not to make it through the birth. We have all been praying for a miracle for baby Ava. The miracle for all of us is that she is still alive and was able to go home with her family. The likely diagnosis is trisomy 13. This causes a whole gamete of problems that I won't go into right now. It is not really my story. We continue to pray for their family during this time. I hurt for all of my friends who are there and aching for our sweet friend who will only be allowed a short time with her child. The day she was born Chandler asked me if there was a chance still for Ava to live. I said sure. God can do anything! After about 1/2 of the day had passed I realized that Chandler was not eating and I asked her about it. She said she wanted to fast and pray for baby Ava to live. What a precious thing for my 11 year old to have the desire to do and a sweet expression of love for this family. It is hard to go through painful times, but even more, it is heart-wrenching to see your children hurt too. Baby Ava's big sister is a dear friend of Chandler and just as I hurt for my friend. Chandler hurts for hers. My baby girl is getting big.