Pools and Horses

Saturday, January 12

Diana had a great idea back in December.  She suggested we plan some youth outings.  The first one she and Eddie planned was a trip to the local public pool for today.  Unfortunately, they had poor planning because she had prior obligations so she couldn’t join us.  We boarded the 9:00 bus to La Suiza (a 15-minute bus ride) and met several of the youth.  We all gathered together and started a 30-minute walk to the pool.  Little did we know we would be basically climbing a mountain!  Check out these stairs… and that was only part of our climb. 

 It was worth it though… check out the view:

A cool refreshing reward at the end of our climb.

We had a blast playing in the chilly water and soaking up some warm Costa Rican sunshine. 

There was even a large sun-deck in the pool for Jaden to walk around on.  

It was a perfect day.  It was sunny while we swam and cloudy while Eddie and most of the group played Frisbee on the synthetic “cancha.”  They had planned to play “futbol,” but you had to pay to rent a soccer ball.  Since Eddie brought a Frisbee, they played for free!

Later, we ate lunch and headed home.  Kirsten and I wanted to do a little farmers-market-shopping, and her son Noah wanted to join us.  We took the bus to Turrialba, and Eddie took Jaden and went back to Tuis with everybody else.

Kirsten and I filled our bags until we couldn’t carry anymore with fresh fruits and vegetables, and headed back to the main bus station.  We had to wait about 30 minutes before the next bus, so we took our time walking.  It was nice not to feel rushed.  I gave her a quick low-down on purchasing bus tickets to San José and we just relaxed until it was time to board the bus.

We heard from Amanda on our way to the pool and knew that she had arrived in Costa Rica safe and sound.  She made the trip to Tuis via 3 buses, one taxi, and a walk home from the bus stop.  She headed straight for her bed since she had been up literally all night. 

When I got home from the Farmers Market, everyone was asleep.  Shortly, Rysen showed up and wanted to wake everybody up.  He used our internet and waited patiently for about an hour… before finally going in and waking up both Jaden and Amanda.  The rest of the evening was pretty low-key.  Eddie went to band practice and Amanda and Rysen and I just caught-up on each other’s lives over a strange compilation of left-overs and cereal for dinner.

The other night, Jaden was playing with his "Bible for Babies." He turned to the page with the story of Zacchaeus, and got my attention and started pointing sternly at that page.   I realized he was remembering the song I sing to him, so I started singing "Zacchaeus was a wee little man..." and doing the motions.  He did them ALL with me and loved it!  It was a precious moment I will always cherish.  I didn't even know that he remembered that song!

Sunday, January 13

Amanda, Jaden and I headed to church together this morning.  Eddie went early to set up with Hector and the band.  Amanda feels just as joyous as we do about our short 1-minute walk to school.  Hector talked about “The Destructive Power of Envy” in church today, and we even burned the papers on which we wrote down who we envy and why.

After church, Freddy and Samia invited us over, so they took Jaden home with them and told us to just come over when we wanted.  They fed him lunch and played with him for a few hours before we walked to their house.  We hung out with the kids and Freddy because Samia was at the restaurant.  Freddy made us some empanadas and lemonade, and I played a game of Skip-Bo with José Pablo.  He won, and that puts the score at 0-3 (he claims he that he is the new King of Skip-Bo).

Eddie was outside with Jaden, and Erica’s son (Erica is a friend of Samia) was outside riding his horse on the road around the plaza.  He offered Jaden a ride on the horse, but Jaden was too scared.  I said I would love to ride it, and he let me.  He led the horse the whole time, so we gave it another try with Jaden.  

He was happy to ride with me and then with Eddie.  It was a special day:  Jaden’s first horse-back ride!

Eddie was not feeling to well all day, so when we got home he went to bed.  I spent the afternoon and most of the evening studying past tense irregular verbs.  I don’t feel like I know them yet, but I understand the groups they belong in and how to conjugate them.  Now I just need to remember what they mean and how to conjugate them in conversation.

Amanda spent the evening getting settled in her room.  After some rearranging and unpacking, her room looks very inviting: a perfect place for her to sleep and study!

Please pray for Eddie to feel better soon… I think he might have a sinus infection (or just a bad cold).