Friday, February 15
The sun was shining so we decided to go on an
adventure in Tuis.
The problem is: we got
a late start.
By the time we
headed out the door, it was almost noon and the clouds were coming.
We were already ready and on our way,
so we continued.
We were joined by
Ryan and Kirsten and family.
Amanda had told us about a spot that Diana showed her, so we headed that
way.
It was about a 35-40 minute
walk up the road past Tuis.
We met
José Pablo on our way, and he went home to change into his swim suit and caught up with us on his
bike.
We had to cross the river to get to the spot, so this bridge
was our only option.
4 adults, 4
kids, 1 teenager and a bike all made it safely to the other side.
No grandmothers need to worry.
Once we got across, we followed a path
along side a sugar cane field.
Who
knew that the leaves of the sugar cane stalk could be so sharp.
None of us were hurt, but we were sure
to be careful of those prickly leaves.
Once we arrived at the spot (which none of us had ever been before)
I...we
sat down for a peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich-picnic-lunch.
 |
| Ocean enjoys his PB&J. |
We worked up a sweat and an appetite on
our way there, so it was a perfectly refreshing lunch.
 |
We caught a glimpse of these
tiny little frogs... they were
about the size of my pinky fingernail! |
Then, we all started to venture into
the cold water.
Sadly, the sun was
hidden behind more and more clouds.
We knew that the rain would soon be upon us, so we cherished our time
until we just new we needed to head home.
While we were there, José Pablo jumped of the rock into the pool several
times.
All of a sudden, Kirsten
decided that she wanted to jump.
She convinced me to go with her.
She braved the leap into the cold water first, and came up screaming…
which lead to a slight panic as she realized she lost her watch (the very same
watch she had just purchased a new battery for only a few weeks ago).
Well, the leaves at the bottom were all
stirred up from her jump, but we all tried to help her find it.
It was sad when we had to give up and
claim defeat.
But, she didn’t let
that stop her from jumping again.
This time, her 4-year-old brave little boy joined her.
After she jumped in, he didn’t hesitate
to follow.
Of course, I finally
made the leap, too.
It was cold,
but not freezing (it is Costa Rica afterall).
After we dried off a bit, we decided it was time to head
home.
We encountered a group of
long-boarders risking their lives as they sped down the hill past us.
A friend followed them in a car to honk
his horn and to warn others and to pick them up at the bottom of the hill.
We had the knowledge of and “ice-cream-reward” in our
freezer at home to motivate the kids
all of us to keep walking. We
arrived back at our house tired but full of a sense of accomplishment.
We let the kids play, chatted with Kirsten and Ryan, and let
Jaden and Ocean take a nap. Then,
for dinner we took a walk in the rain to Rancho Monteverde. We wanted to visit Freddy and Samia
anyway. Of course, we were the
only ones there, so we had a blast hanging out with them and eating some good
food. I have just learned this
week what a Chuleta is… and I ate 2 yummy ones for dinner. Freddy gave us all a ride home, and we
even picked up Amanda as she got off the bus from her trip to Panama.
All in all, it was a great day and I am sure we will all
sleep well tonight.
Saturday, February 16
 |
| Early morning reading time with Titi! |
After a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, platanos,
toast and pineapple, Jaden was not his normal happy-self.
I decided to let him rest in his bed
for a bit, to see if he just needed an early nap.
He surprised us by getting out of the pack-n-play all on his own!!!
You see, over the past few weeks, I
have noticed a hole in the side of his pack-in-play.
I should have fixed it when I first noticed it and it was
only about 3 inches long.
Now it
is over a foot long, and Jaden has figured out his exit strategy.
It needs to last us 5 more weeks… so we
pushed his bed up against the wall in hopes of deterring him.
We will see if that works.
We were running low on food this weekend, so we knew we
needed to do some shopping. Amanda
was sick of being on a bus, so she kindly agreed to watch the boys at Kirsten
and Ryan’s house while we went to Turrialba. She got off the bus with Jaden as they got on at the bus
stop near their house. They also
had Stephanie along. She is a new
student from Germany.
Our first stop was the bank, and then we showed Stephanie
around the city. We stopped along
the way for some Dutch cookies and some ice cream. Then, as we walked through the farmers market, she bought a ¼
watermelon and asked the vender to cut it into 5 pieces so we could eat it
right there. After shopping for
our fruits and veggies, we walked to Cosechas for some smoothies and headed to
Maxi Pali. We wandered around that
zoo for a while and then called a taxi to get everyone and our purchases
home. How exhausting it is to
shop!!!
After cleaning up the house a bit, we ate a delicious dinner
and got ready for an evening of Youth Group at our house.
There were 12 of us tonight, and we had
lots of fun.
Josué was basically
in charge of the evening, but of course Eddie was there to keep things
interesting as he always does.
The
night consisted of the girls drawing a giant picture of a dream-boyfriend or
husband and the boys drawing their dream-girlfriend or wife.
It was entertaining to say the
least.
After ice cream and cookies, Eddie had to initiate another
ridiculous challenge to entertain the teenagers… well, more to entertain
himself.
He laid the pillows on the couch and free-fell face-first onto them. Check out Amanda's Facebook for several videos...
We had fun with the youth tonight, and I
appreciated the fact that Jaden was able to go to bed on time because we were hosting the group in our home. He has been exhibiting some angry faces
and attitudes in the last few weeks.
It is quite obvious when he needs his bed.
Sunday, February 17
Today was Amanda’s last Sunday with us here in Costa
Rica.
Hector allowed Eddie and
Amanda to sing a song that they wrote (in English).
Before they sang it, Amanda explained to the congregation
what the words meant.
She did a
really good job of explaining the song in Spanish, and they sang beautifully
together!
...and Ryan got to play the part of "God" because he is the tallest. Poor Macha was demonstrating the humble publican and Adrian is the Pharisee. Hector was continuing his sermon series on the 7 deadly sins, and this week was pride.
We were able to meet some new people at church this
morning.
4 more new students
arrived yesterday.
They are living
in Gatica’s house and they will be attending CISA for just two weeks.
The couple’s names are Bruce and Vicki.
Their children’s
names are Ben and Anna.
They are
about 13 and 12 years old.
They
are from Illinois about 15 minutes west of Chicago.
Bruce is a doctor and he works on Ogden Avenue.
He has had a chance to practice his
medical Spanish because about 50% of his patients are Hispanic.
He and his wife studied at a language
school in Mexico for a month, but that was 15 years ago.
After a quick lunch of banana-cinnamon pancakes, it was time
for Jaden’s nap and time for us to study.
Eddie really wants to help me study and catch up with him.
Unfortunately it was a short nap for
Jaden, and then Eddie felt like he needed one.
I tried to study outside while Jaden played in the front
yard, but he was more interested in drawing in my notebook or playing with my
phone, both of which I was using to study.
Needless to say, I didn’t get much studying in. I did get a few photos though:
It turned out to be a gorgeous afternoon.
It was hot and sunny until 4 pm (of
course it was a day we didn’t plan a trip to the river).
Eddie had to get out of the house so we
took the bus to La Suiza to play at the park with Jaden.
Kirsten and Ryan and the kids joined us
just as it started to rain.
I decided that we must be a cold front
and they must be the warm front because every time we come together for an
outdoor activity, it rains!
We
waited out the rain, and then Ryan and Eddie played basketball for a while and
the kids played on the very wet playground where Ocean was practically launched
off the end of the very slick and very fast slide.
The poor boy landed about 4 feet away from the end of the
slide!
Finally, we decided to head home. We ordered hot chocolate while we waited for the bus at the
local “soda.” We got home just in
time to eat the tacos that Amanda made for us. After dinner, Eddie and I cleaned up the kitchen while
Amanda got Jaden ready for a shower and bed. We have been putting Jaden on the potty before he takes a
shower, just to get him used to it.
Well, tonight, Amanda must have had perfect timing. Jaden peed and pooped on the potty for
the first time! We all cheered for
him and I gave him a Skittle as we showed him what he did. That is when he freaked out! I am not sure it was a successful
night… it may have scared him away from the potty for a while.
Monday, February 18
After breakfast today, I got a phone call from Hector. He told us that our nanny, Diana, is
sick and needed to go to the hospital.
Please pray for her! She
started with a UTI, but Kirsten thinks it has gone to her kidneys. She is in pain and even started
vomiting. Hector asked Gatica if
she would watch Jaden today while we were in class. Jaden was not too happy about being left behind while we
went to school. He loves being
around people and playing with the other kids.
Deidre and I started class with Patricia again this
week. After their evaluations, the
new students were placed in their respective classes. Bruce is in our class.
Stephanie and the rest of Bruce’s family are in a class together with
Sonia.
Patricia has her work cut out for her this week. She has been instructed to try to catch
me and Deidre up with Eddie because next week we will all be in class
together. Today, we learned another
past tense form. Thankfully, it
was not too complicated. The
hardest part about it is pronouncing it, but it is fairly easy to remember how
and when to use it. Finally,
something that is not complicated!
After lunch, we decided to go to Kirsten and Ryan’s house to
use their internet because Eddie had an important telephone call that he needed
to make. I tried to get Jaden to
take a nap there, but it did not go over too well. We hung out there for the afternoon and then came home for
dinner. That is when Jaden’s
tiredness caught up with him.
After meltdown after meltdown, we showered him and put him to bed just
after 6pm. I hope he sleeps at
least until 6am!
Please pray for Eddie and me as we are seeking direction for
our future. Our time here is
coming to a close in less than 5 weeks, and we are seeking where our next step
will be. God has already opened a
few doors and Eddie has just started sending out applications. Our vision is Miami, but we are still waiting for God to confirm that that is
where He wants us. And if it is
Miami, we are trying to figure out where
in Miami God is calling us.
I was trying to figure out why I am not yet looking forward
to returning to the States. Sure,
there is plenty that I miss from the States; but I am just not feeling ready to
leave this beautiful country. I
think I figured out why: it has been almost 6 months since I have had to do
laundry my own laundry! Also, I
rarely have to cook or clean here.
Who wouldn’t want to leave?
I guess it is my lazy side coming through! No really, though, I do not quite feel ready to give up the
Tico life-style. I am just getting
used to life here. I am starting
to enjoy the simplicity of life.
When I think about moving back to Florida, all I can think about is
getting caught up in the American life-style where you are too busy to even
breathe!
And this may not be for the mushy-gushy, but I am really
going to miss spending almost every waking hour of the day with my wonderful
husband.
When we go back to the
States, he will have to get a job and spend his days at work.
Now, I don’t want to sound like I am
complaining.
I will be very
grateful that he has a job and that our family is provided for, but a part of
me will be sad to see him go each morning.
It was one of the things I looked forward to most about
moving to Costa Rica in the first place.
I knew that I would be spending a lot of time with my husband, and I
thought that after almost 6 months it would be enough.
It is not.
I still love to be in his company all day everyday.
Well, not
all day, but
everyday!
My favorite part of the day was
watching Jaden go “shopping” with a mini shopping cart, pick out 5 items, and
“pay” the cashier after he put the items on the counter for her to ring
up. Afterwards, he had to go put
everything back and put the cart away.
He loved it! It was like a
real shopping experience (miniaturized). 
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
