Feliz Navidad!

Thursday, December 20

Today we looked forward to our last day of class before break and a Christmas Party.  Sonia had us practice listening to her dictate a paragraph in Spanish, and Rysen and I wrote it down in Spanish.  The hard part about it was that many of the words we did not even know the meaning of.  She said it was still good practice to listen for sound patterns and just hearing the language.

We continued to practice irregular past tense verbs… and I was disappointed with my progress.  We wrote 10 sentences with past tense verbs and I got 8 wrong…  Ahhh!  Please pray for us!  I expressed to Eddie that I feel like I am hitting a wall in my language learning, and he said the same.  I know we are still learning a lot, but being half way done with our time here makes us want to feel like we have learned half the language.  I feel like I have mastered a good 6%... I guess it is time to give our brains a break and go on vacation for 8 days :)

After a frustrating class, I was reminded by my precious husband to just enjoy the rest of the day.  God helped me change my attitude and we all had a fabulous time.

We each took turns reading our letters to “Niño Dios,” and I loved hearing what kinds of things were on everyone’s hearts.  

After we finished, they told us that we would be burning the letters because that is the way to “send our requests to Niño Dios.”  We participated, but not before taking pictures of our hard work.

We presented our “botas” (stockings) to the person whose name we had for “Amigo Secreto,” and then we all opened them at the same time.

I tried to implement our family tradition of “one-at-a-time-sitting-on-a-chair-in-the-center-of-the-room-starting-with-the-youngest” but they said we didn’t have time for that.  I guess not everyone likes it, but… boy am I thankful that I get to be with my family this Christmas and share in memorable family traditions.  One more day… and we will be home!

Eddie and Amanda and I wore our matching shirts and Jaden had one in his stocking from Titi Amanda.  Of course we had to show off our "Pura Vida" and "Mae" souvenirs.  

The best part of the day was watching Jaden play with his new "camera."

Jaden loved it when the teachers posed for "una foto" for him and his new camera!

Check out the new furniture at CISA... Merry Christmas!

We spent the afternoon packing and getting ready to leave tomorrow morning.   Samia prepared some of our favorite meals this week and tonight’s dinner was a pasta dish that was one of my favorites while we were here.  Freddy got home super late because his car was at the mechanic.  Once he got home, we spent time exchanging gifts with the family. 

Jaden's cute new "Pura Vida" shirt...  Thanks Tico Family!

Tica Sisters!

Jaden spent the whole evening dancing and playing with Ebony... It was like he knew this would probably be the last time for that... and I think he was avoiding bed time.

Tico Brothers! 

One big happy Tico Family!

We also got to share some of our funniest memories over the last three months.  The one that stuck out Samia was from our second day here.  She reminded me of how concerned she was for me when I fell and hit my head… especially since my husband was standing over me laughing.  Oh, how we love our Tico Family.  We will miss the love and warmth they have bestowed upon us.  I will miss watching Eddie tease Jimena, José Pablo goof around with Eddie, Freddy teasing me, and Samia’s cooking and great stories.  Of course we will also miss seeing them hug and kiss and love on Jaden!  Praise God for a wonderful host family!

As we celebrate the Christmas season, we can't help but be grateful to God for all the blessings he has given us.  We remember this season with over-flowing hearts of JOY and thankfulness for his birth, his life, his death, and his resurrection.  Jesus is the REASON for the SEASON!

Our Last Week of CISA in 2012!

Monday, December 17

In class, we started our day with our assignment for the week.  After Eddie and Amanda’s presentation on letters to “Niño Dios,” we were instructed to all write our own letters to “Niño Dios.”  We brainstormed ideas and wrote our rough drafts.  We also spent time on past tense verbs some more…  they are still not my favorite!

After class, we decided to take advantage of the sunny day.  Rysen, Eddie, Jaden and I climbed down the riverbank for a cool dip in the river.  We are excited to be having hot weather again, and look forward to swimming in the river more in January.

Tuesday, December 18

Today we spent time on our letters again.  We finished them and put them in a bag that Sonia made.  Our plan is to read them together for Culture class on Thursday.  We also spent time on verbs again.  I realized how much I need to practice conjugating irregular verbs.  I know it has only been three months, but today I feel frustrated that there are sooooo many verbs I don’t know the meaning of… let alone how to conjugate them.  Oh well… I will persevere!

Wednesday, December 19

Field trip today!!!  Instead of going to CISA for class, we boarded the 8:00am bus to Turrialba.  We met our teachers there and went on a tour of “portales.”  (Nativity Scenes)  Sonia planned on us seeing about 10 different ones through out the city of Turrialba.  Unfortunately, many of the schools were closed for vacation and we could not get close enough to see them or get good pictures. 

Here are some that we did see:

Also, the big Catholic Church near the central park was still putting theirs up, so we didn’t have very good luck today.  We had fun anyway.  We visited Sonia’s house where she has a very creative garden.  She made all of these figurines, and mostly out of trash. 

She also painted this wall at the entrance of her back door.

She made this adorable Nutcracker, too!  Her creativity abounds! 

We ended with lunch and shopping.  Jaden took a good long nap when we got home… his little brain absorbed so much today!  He just loved walking with us like he was a big kid… Where did my baby go? 

Jaden also had fun playing on the tractor at the Universidad De Costa Rica...

Festival De La Luz x 2

Thursday, December 13

Eddie began our day with a great devotion about love.  We read and discussed Romans 5:6-8 in Spanish.  These daily devotions are awesome because we are learning more about God, each other and Spanish all in one. 

In class, we reviewed for our presentation and Sonia checked my homework.  I had to write autobiography using the past tense form of the verbs we started learning this week.  We continued to review them, and I know it will take a while before I am able to use them fluently.

Jaden and Sonia played outside this afternoon and he was so busy digging and dumping rocks into this bucket.  I love his concentration...

After class we had our “clase de Biblia” with Hector and we got a chance to discuss interesting facts about the books of the Bible like which was written first, what time period the bible was written over, and other great discussion questions.

Later in the afternoon, we had our regular Zumba class with Deidre, and it was the biggest class yet.  We had about 15 women in attendance and they are inviting their friends.  It is a great outreach program, and I hope we can begin to build a relationship with some of the women we meet.

Since Samia and Freddy had to go to Jose Pablo’s graduation tonight, we told her not to worry about us for dinner.  We stayed at CISA all day because after all our classes, Eddie had a meeting with Josue and band practice.  We ordered Pollo Krispy and had a movie night with all the students plus Josue.  We planned to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” because it is a Christmas tradition (for Deidre) and because some of us have never seen it, but there were no Spanish sub-titles.  We watched Avengers instead.

After the movie, we had a very chilly walk home and it was sprinkled with shooting stars that were visible in the clear night sky.  God is One Amazing Creator!

Our new house starting in January... and now Amanda will be joining us!

Friday, December 14

Yesterday, we witnessed a true miracle.  It started with a conversation that happened on Wednesday.  Amanda happened to mention that she still has airline tickets to return to Costa Rica because of her original plan to stay for 6 months.  Hector heard this bit of information and felt that it was his duty to share a burden he had on his heart.  He asked to speak to Amanda in order to share this burden with her.  He told her that he had recently had a dream that left him with an uneasy feeling about Amanda leaving CISA next week.  He feels that she is just starting to grow in her Spanish-fluency, she helps Eddie to be a more effective band leader, and he just felt that God was telling him she should stay for the next three months.  He asked her if there was anything besides finances that was preventing her from returning for another three months.  She confirmed that “finances” was the only reason she was not planning on returning.  She had purchased the tickets before fundraising, trusting that God would provide for what he had planned for her.  Since she only raised half of what she would need for the 6 months stay, she decided to only stay for 3 months. Well… God did provide… just not in the timing we thought he would. 

Hector made an offer to Amanda… he told her she could attend CISA tuition free.   Since we are living in a rental house starting in January, she can live with us.  Basically, the only thing she has to pay for is food. 

She talked this over with us, her family, and her boyfriend and made the decision to follow God’s leading through this open door.  She is going to stay in Costa Rica with us for another 3 months, as we originally planned! Wow… we serve an awesome God!

Also, I am praising God for the people he put in our lives here in this small town of Tuis.  Jaden has had a fairly rough week when it comes to eating and just plain grumpy-ness.  He has not been himself.  For this reason, Samia and Freddy and I all thought he might be “estroncado” again.  If you are not familiar with this, I blogged about it earlier when Jaden was sick in October.  “Estroncado” basically means that his body is not functioning properly because of a minor fall or something that is common in children.  As a result, one leg seems to get jammed up into his body enough that you can see that one leg is shorter than the other.   He was walking a little funny and he was tripping more.  It also seems to affect his digestive system.  Because of the pain he may have, he did not want to eat much and he was just angry more often than not.  If you know Jaden, this is not how he usually acts.  He loves to eat and he loves to be happy and he loves people. 

We took him to a woman in town who massaged his belly, arms and legs.  She also massaged his bottom and right at the beginning, it seemed to hurt him.  Within about 10 seconds, he was relaxed an seemed more comfortable.  He was even playing with the woman’s grandson who was entertaining him with a small toy.  The change in him is dramatic, and I wouldn’t believe it unless I saw it with my own eyes.

Praise God for people with a different culture and more knowledge about the human body than me!

After that, Jaden and I spent the day at Amanda’s house.  He loved hanging out with her, and “helping her pack” her suitcase.  He also took a nap while I enjoyed her high-speed internet!

Eddie, José Pablo, Josué and Rysen went to La Suisa to play basketball.  When they returned, we discussed and grieved the lives lost in Newton.  It is such a heartbreaking tragedy and I am thankful to continue to be able to hold my son tight.  Our prayers are with those families.

Saturday, December 15

Waiting for the new bus becuase ours was "malo"

This morning, we headed out on the 9:00 bus to Turrialba… leaving Jaden with Jimena for the day.  Once there, Eddie and I met Amanda and boarded the 10:00 bus to San José.  With minimal problems (only having to change buses once because ours was “malo”) we made it to San José.  

We walked around town, did a bit of shopping in the market, and then waited for our friends to arrive.

John and Jamie are fellow Costa Ricans now, but we know them because we attended the same church in Raleigh.  They committed to living in Costa Rica for a year and to volunteer work near Tamarindo, a city in northern Costa Rica.  

They made the 5 hour drive to San José and met us for lunch and the largest cultural event of the year: “Festival de la Luz.”  It is a festival that mostly just involves a parade of lights.  


The website made it look more entertaining than any Disney parade I have ever seen, so we decided to stay.  It started at 6:00, so when we finished our late lunch around 4:30, we wandered around the city until we could find a good place to watch.  We found a spot, and purchased “bancos” to stand on.  Everyone was standing on the stools, so we needed them to be able to see anything. 

Before the parade started, Amanda and I headed to the bathroom at McDonald’s.  The line was super long and we expected to have to pay the attendant to enter.  Little did we know, we had to show him a receipt from McDonald’s to use the restroom.  Amanda told him we didn’t know and begged “Pleeeease.”   The nice man let us in, and we made sure to have a receipt next time we went back.  As we excited McDonald’s at 6:05, we were surrounded by fireworks and just knew the parade was starting. 

 We were wrong…  We headed back to wait for the parade to start… we waited and waited and waited.  We waited for “la primera carroza con luces” (the first float with lights) and it did not arrive at our location until 8:30.  We waited 2 ½ hours and only saw about 4 or 5 floats before we had to leave and get their car out of the parking garage before it closed at 10:00pm.  It was a great experience, but one that I don’t have to repeat in my lifetime.

Sunday, December 16

John and Jamie wanted to go to church with us, so we strolled in 15 minutes late, which was right on time for “Tico Time.”  We had a moment to remember the families that lost loved ones on Friday in the town of Newton, and we shed a few tears as we honored the bravery of Victoria Soto (the teacher who died protecting her whole class).  

Hector also spent some time remembering the good times at CISA over the past year.  After church, we headed to the restaurant so that Samia and Freddy could meet John and Jamie.  We enjoyed a relaxing lunch (seeing as we were the only customers there) and finished with a bit of dancing “Gungam Style.”

After lunch we relaxed by the pool at the hotel, although it was too cold to swim in.  Jaden had fun splashing and kicking his feet in the water for a while while the men napped and the women chatted.  We headed to Turrialba for dinner and basically got stuck watching another parade.  We ate pizza at “Mama Mia’s” on the second floor and watched most of the parade from the balcony.  It was a good spot to watch from, but not a good spot to escape from.  I have never felt so smashed by people as we tried to make our way back to the car before the parade was over.  We saw a few floats and a lot of school bands, and Jaden got to see his first parade.  All in all, it was a good night, but we were ready to go home and go to bed.

This float with a sewing machine is from the factory of Rawlings... they make the official baseballs for MLBA.  The factory is right here in Turrialba and they were throwing balls out into the crowd.