Berrios Blessings

Friday, December 14, 2012

Evaluations and Birthday Cakes!

Monday, December 10

We were all nervous today for our “big evaluation.” Our studying and review session probably did very little to help us because it was more of an evaluation on our overall fluency in reading, writing, listening and talking. We all did just fine and Hector was not surprised by the level any of us are on. He said we all need to work on learning more vocabulary, but overall we are progr essing as we should.

Amanda and I headed to Turrialba to grocery shop and buy bus tickets for this weekend. We thanked God for how smoothly our travels went… we caught each bus we needed just as it was ready to go. We even passed by my teacher’s house on a bus we don’t normally take. I was even thinking today about how I am not afraid to go to Turrialba by myself now. I was shocked by that thought, but I actually realized that know enough to get by on my own.

Tuesday, December 11

We spent time in class today searching the Internet for information for our presentation on the “Festival de la Luz.” We plan on attending it this weekend with our friends from our church in Raleigh who also live in Costa Rica.

It is Hector’s birthday, but he never came to CISA today. We had presents for him and I even made a cake for him (well… let’s be honest: I may have made the cake because I wanted to eat cake). We had a party for him over Skype because he was in San José with his parents.

Ooooops...

Saturday, December 8

On Thursday, Hector told us that we would all be having an evaluation on Monday. That motivated us to spend sometime studying this weekend. Eddie and I reviews the verbs and vocabulary from book 1, and kind of chilled all day.

In the evening, we headed to Youth Group at Hector’s house. It was an entertaining evening of Christmas Pagent rehearsal, games and dancing late into the evening. Even Jaden joined in with the dancing games and entertained us all!

This is part of pageant rehearsal where "Elizabeth's" baby leaps in her womb when Mary arrives...

Jaden even played the part of "Baby Jesus" for pageant rehearsal.

Sunday, December 9

Yet another day to Praise the Lord… We headed to church where we enjoyed a time of worship and continued to try our best to understand the sermon. After church, everyone was invited for lunch at Hector’s house for his birthday. It was fun to have time to just hang out with some of the people from church and youth group.

Last night, Hector told me that there was private access to the river from his house.

Of course we had to check it out. I hope to head there more often once it starts to get warm again.

After the party, we headed home. Later in the afternoon, Eddie played futbol in the plaza and Jaden took a long afternoon nap.

After they played futbol in the plaza, Rysen asked Eddie to give him a hair cut. It was going so well… until…

Ooops… the guard fell off and Eddie made a booboo. Rysen about lost it when I showed him the picture of his head.

Thankfully, Eddie figured out a way to fix it, and Rysen is content with his new look.

This morning before church, we were talking with Samia. She was telling us about her busy week. It is a tradition to make tamales at Christmas time and she is planning on making 6 kilos on Wednesday with very little help. She has other obligations throughout the week and doesn’t have time any other day. 1 kilo of the corn makes about 50 tamales, and they have to be ready Friday morning. We are hoping to be able to help her when we get home from class on Wednesday.

Christmas Shopping and Milkshakes

Thursday, December 6

My Culture Class Presentation was on the meaning and tradition of the Advent Wreath. It was interesting to learn about since I witnessed it each year as kid and never really understood the meaning behind it.

Thursday continued on with Bible Class, Cooking class, and Zumba class. When I finally got home, Eddie left to go play basketball with Rysen. Unfortnately, the guys they usually play with were not there because it is vacation time for most people here. They didn’t let that stop them. Eddie found a store that sold basketballs and they went in search of a court. They had success and the even had a few Costa Ricans join them.

Before we left school today, Jaden was chowing down (once again) on a guava... I don't know how they eat those things here... but Jaden figured it out:

And this is just because we love him and his cute little "milk drunk" smile...

And... just because I love these guys too:

Friday, December 7

We decided to go Turrialba today with Deidre and Eucipio. We started with a stop at a cell phone store because Eucipo needed a case for his phone. After that, Deidre needed to go to the bank, where we spent about a hour or more waiting for her turn. Later, Amanda and Rysen joined us after her very professional visit to the dentist.

We headed to lunch and then did some Christmas shopping in Turrialba.

On our way home, we stopped in La Suiza for milkshakes.

and this is me trying to be as funny as my husband... it didn't work...

Montez is HERE

Wednesday, December 5

Montez is here!!!

He was almost born on his Daddy’s birthday yesterday. Instead, he was born early this morning and he is 5 lb. 12 oz 19 in. long! We can’t wait to meet him!

Jaden "meets" Montez

Jaden’s reaction to seeing his picture was so precious!

Check out my Facebook page for a cute video.

We worked on our stockings in Spanish class. Hector gave us each one to decorate with our names and to hang them at CISA. Rysen, Sonia and I decorated them today. … and we made one for Jaden, of course.

We learned that kids don’t write letters to Santa Clause here… instead they write them to Niño Jesus. Instead of “Secret Santa,” we are doing “Jesus Secreto.”

Noche de Navideña

After lunch we all headed home for a nap. Eddie had a long night ahead of him, and Jaden and I were exhausted, too. Eddie had a meeting at 4:00 and band practice at 5:00. After that, José Pablo, Jimena, Jaden and I walked to CISA at 7:00 for the second “Noche de Navideña.”

One of the guys Eddie met on his Chiripo trip came to visit us. Daniel invited him to come today for the “Noche de Navideña” so he made the trip alone just to visit for a few days. He ended the evening with break-dancing for our entertainment. Of course, Eddie and José Pablo joined in with their own unique dance moves.

Feliz Cumpleaños Samia

Friday, November 30

Jaden and I had a great day together. We went for a walk (where I learned Jaden doesn’t like to get muddy), took a nap and went to Turrialba with Amanda. On the way to Turrialba, Jaden and I sat in the front seat. Jaden couldn’t take his eyes off the bus driver and even began mimicking him as he changed gears.

Eddie came home from his trip, washed his shoes and clothes and then met us in La Suiza for dinner with Rysen and Juan Gabriel. Over pizza and milkshakes, we looked at pictures and heard all about their trip.

COMING SOON: AN UPDATE FROM EDDIE ABOUT CHIRRIPO

Saturday, December 1

Feliz Cumpleaños, Samia! We started the day with a family breakfast, and Samia and Freddy made a trip to Turriabla before she had to go to work in the afternoon. We all went to eat at the restaurant with Samia for lunch.

When we got home, we got an invitation to join Amanda and Rysen to wish Deidre a Happy Birthday. We ate cake, drank coquito, and hung out at her house with Zeidy, Gabriela, and Josué until it was time to go to youth group.

Happy Birthday, Deidre!

We headed to CISA, where Eddie and Amanda had band practice with the youth band for a few hours. We had another fun night at youth and ended the evening with trust falls.

Sunday, December 2

Eddie, Jaden and I headed to church this morning with plans to send Jaden home with Amanda after church. But… plans change. Amanda was dealing with a new kind of sickness… parasites. Since there are two types and one is contagious, we decided not to send Jaden her way. Instead, we asked Deidre to watch him because we were invited to Turriabla with Freddy and Jimena to watch José Pablo play futbol.

We celebrated with pizza because José Pablo’s team won. We also needed to stop at the grocery store for a few things on our way home. Freddy was so tired that he let Eddie drive home. Before we could go home, we had to pick up Jaden. Freddy was so tired that as we passed his street, he asked Eddie to stop so he could walk home to take a nap.

We finally picked up Jaden and we all went home exhausted. We vegged out on the couch and watched “Popeye” until it was time to go to bed.

Monday, December 3

Our regular climb up the mountain was made more exciting this morning because Deidre joined us for our last exercise class! She helped make my walk more interesting with her great stories told with her great Boston accent. I love it!

After showers and breakfast, we met for our regular Monday morning meeting. Hector gave Eddie some interesting news. His homework for the month of December is to prepare a 3 minute devotional and song everyday in Spanish!!! (Eddie thought we were all taking turns, but we informed him that he misunderstood)

In Spanish class Rysen and I practiced vocabulary and numbers… they are coming to me more easily, but I still need to practice them. When your everyday purchases cost 2 million colones, you get used to using big numbers. In case you are wondering, 2 mil in colones is the same as about $4.

After school, I got right to work baking a cake for Samia and making coquito for the surprise party later. This morning, we told her that we were celebrating Deidre’s birthday this evening and that we would not be home for dinner. She bought it…

When she walked in Gabby’s house and we all shouted “sorpresa!” she was surprised! Once she realized we were all there for her birthday, she shed a few tears of joy and we all enjoyed replaying how we pulled off the surprise… the only glitch was that she was wondering why Hector was not invited to the “pretend” party for Deidre (she ran into him in Turrialba this afternoon).

Gabby and Erica made 4 pizzas and about 50 “tacos.” After consuming enough food to last a month, we sang “Feliz Cumpleaños” and cut the cake.

The "Entertainment" for the party!

Zumba Class #1

The outside of April and Tony's house.

The month of December has been just as busy here as if we were still in the states. We have been busy with regular life... nothing new or crazy... just life. Plus, our internet connection has slowed dramatically. All that made it a little difficult for me to update our blog... but hopefully today, I can get caught up.

We cannot believe how quickly time is passing. We have almost completed our first three months here! To those who are praying for us and continuing to read our blog: THANK YOU! We know that we are here to learn Spanish, but we also hope to be used by God in the process. We have not seen big things happening, but we know that God is working in the little things. Please continue to pray with us as we keep our eyes and ears open for opportunities to serve Him, even in the little things.

Tuesday, December 4

Valentina and Jaden

Today was just a regular day in Spanish class. We are steadily working through book 2 and Eddie and Amanda are working on book 3. Eddie began his new assignments today. Hector instructed him to prepare a devotional and a song every day of class from now until Christmas. It is good preparation for him, considering we hope to work with the Latino community at a church when we return to the states. Hector is not afraid to challenge Eddie and Eddie is not afraid of a challenge. I am proud of him for that, and it is exciting to see him lead our teachers and fellow students in a short discussion about the Bible each day.

After lunch, we had Bible class where we watched a video on the history of CISA. It was fascinating to see where God has taken this ministry over the years. God has shaped its focus and provided for this ministry in amazing ways. I couldn't find the exact video, but if you have an hour, here is a link to a similar video if you are interested in watching:

LINK TO VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgZ50FN6gAk

Indoor Turtle Sanctuary

We know many of the faces in the video, so it was a blessing to watch it and know God is working here in this little town of Tuis.

After class, we rushed to the bus to visited Tony and April’s house. April works for CISA, but is home on maternity leave. She has two children: a little girl named Valentina who is just 3 months older than Jaden and a little boy named Noah who is about 2 ½ months old. Toni also has a daughter named Kimberly that we met at youth and she was visiting her father because the school year has ended here. Their house is beautiful and we enjoyed our time there. Jaden enjoyed all of Valentina's toys!