No nos gusta estar enfermo!

Sunday, October 14

This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

We did not have church today once again because Hector was still gone.  We had a pretty relaxing day and Jaden got to play with Ebony again. 

We ended up eating lunch and dinner at the restaurant, so Jaden had his chance to dance quite a bit today.  He loves the loud music and wide-open space to run around.

This is chicken with rice and beans with coconut milk.  On top are plátanos maduros.  I came here saying, “I don’t like plátanos.”  But I learned quickly that I like these… they had sugar on them.  Yummy!!!

Jaden figured out how to get the noodles into his mouth one way or another... even if he had to use two hands.

We have been saying for a long time that Jaden needs a hair cut.  I have been nervous about cutting it because I could not picture what it would look like if we started cutting it.  Eddie decided it was time he try to cut it.  I was okay with that because Erica was coming over for the party tomorrow and I knew she could fix it if we butchered it (she is the one who cut my hair last week).  Eddie did a really good job… I am impressed.  See for yourself:

Yesterday, Freddy and I heard the song “Somebody That I Used to Know” on the radio.  In my broken Spanish, I told him that Eddie made a video with his friend.  Those of you who know what I am talking about, you know where this story is going.  We had to show the video to Freddy.  He immediately asked for a copy of it to put on his computer and he showed EVERYONE the video. 

He showed it to Jimena and her friend, but we didn’t tell her that Eddie was in it.  Her reaction as she realized it was Eddie was priceless.  Same goes for José Pablo.  I think we watched that video at least 10 times over the course of 24-hours.  Each time, someone new exclaims, “Es Eduardo?!?!?!” and bursts into laughter.  Todd, you are now famous here in Costa Rica!

Monday, October 15

Today is a holiday here in Costa Rica.  It is called “Culture Day.”  Because of that, many people did not have to work today and there was no school for the kids.  We thought we had class, but Eddie double-checked the CISA website, and it said class was cancelled.  The problem was, none of the teachers told us that we didn’t have class.  Turns out, we did have class and we showed up for class anyway.  Jennea missed the bus because it came earlier because it did not have to stop for many people.  Amanda made it on time because she happened to be at the bus stop early.  It was one of those days where everyone was “there” physically, but not really there mentally.  We were all tired, including the teachers.

After class, we walked home because Samia and Freddy were having a party for lunch.  They invited some friends over, and cooked over an open fire in the empty lot next door.  They also had refried beans and cheese dip, chimichuri, and other typical Costa Rican foods.  They brought the kitchen table outside under the carport so we could eat together.  Freddy set up his computer outside so we could listen to music.  Amanda and Jennea joined us and we all ate plenty.

With music and dancing, food and family, we celebrated into the evening. 

We enjoyed our time, but as night drew near, I started to not feel so good.  I just wanted to go to bed, but it was only 6:00 pm.  I wasn’t hungry for dinner… I was just tired.  We put Jaden to bed around 8:00 and started to get ready for bed, too.  As we climbed in to bed, we heard a noise come from Jaden’s side of the room.  Eddie when to check on him, and discovered he had thrown up in his sleep.  We got him up out of bed and cleaned him up and got new bed sheets from Samia, and he went back to sleep.  This was the second time he threw up in his bed in less than 24 hours, so we knew he was sick.  We set an alarm to check on him through out the night since he didn’t seem to wake up or cry when he got sick.  We also texted Hector to tell him that I was not going to be in class because I was planning on staying home with Jaden.  Well, about 12:30am, it hit me.  I spent about 30 min. in the bathroom being sick myself.  I had to get up multiple times during the night, too.  All I kept thinking was, “I never want to even look at food again.”

Tuesday, October 16

In the morning, Eddie got up with Jaden (who seemed much better) and he let me sleep.  I pretty much slept until noon and finally started to feel better.  He went to the store for some Ginger ale and saltine crackers.  Early in the afternoon, Eddie started to feel sick.  Thankfully, Samia took care of Jaden while we both rested and tried to recover.  It is truly amazing how God works… As I started feeling better, Eddie started feeling more sick.  He took care of me, and then I in turn was able to take care of him.  Ultimately, it was God (with the use of Samia) who took care of us.  She made us some vegetable soup, which we just could not eat (all I kept thinking was “I want some Campbell’s chicken noodle soup” but that was just not an option).  Jaden ate it though.  He also ate some jello and some crackers.  After awhile, I felt good enough to eat some jello, too.

Jaden seemed so much better throughout the day, but unfortunately he surprised us by getting sick once again right after we put his clean pj’s on and readied him for bed.  Samia helped clean up the kitchen floor, while we cleaned up Jaden and got ready for bed.

As we headed to bed, we got a phone call from Amanda… She was starting to feel sick.  By now, we believed it was a 24-hour bug and that it was going around our little family quickly.  We were not surprised that Amanda caught it, too.  But poor Amanda… She got it the worst.  She called Eddie and told him she could not stop throwing up and that she thought she was dehydrated.  Her host mother sayed with her the whole time and she suggested she go to the hospital.  Eddie called Hector, and Hector picked her up and brought her to the hospital in Turrialba at about 11:30pm.  They put an IV in her immediately and 3 hours later they sent her home.  She called to say she was doing better, but that she was very tired.  Praise the Lord she is okay!!!

Wednesday, October 17

We decided not to go to class again today because Jaden got sick last night, and Eddie was not feeling very good yet.  Thankfully, I feel like I have fully recovered (although I would be okay if I never ate rice and beans again in my life.)  Eddie rested and I played with Jaden.  By the time 9:15am rolled around, I was thinking “What? It is only 9:15? ”  It felt like 3:00 in the afternoon... It is hard to study when Jaden is awake because all he wants to do is go outside.   We have to watch him very carefully outside because of the dogs roaming around and the ants (which are everywhere and bite often).  Thankfully, he took a nap so I had time to study.

We went to visit sick girl Amanda today.  She had it rough… they gave her 4 different kinds of meds (one is just salt packets… but still!!!).  She is still pretty weak, but she is definitely better than she was last night.  We had a few interesting conversations with Macha, her host mom.  They involved some funny mix up of words and a few accidental curse words…  Oh the joys of learning a new language.

We hope to go back to class tomorrow, and we plan to give our presentations even if we missed 2 days of class.  I hope all is well in the good ol’ USA… We miss you and can’t wait to see your faces one day soon!

PS… If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can Face Time us with our (305) Skype number (or it may even work with our old 407 numbers).  It works pretty good when we are at home or school (where we have internet connection.)  Just email us for the number if you don’t have it.  We would love to hear from you!