Berrios Blessings: Cookies and More Goodbyes

Tuesday, February 19

Today was a pretty uneventful day. We learned more uses of the past tense (Past Preterit Imperfect) we are practicing this week. It involves a lot of story telling, and walking down memory lane. Patricia was asking us to describe some things from our past. Some things she asked me to describe were: my grandma, her house, and my best friend from high school. What a precious thing Memories are! I love that we are making new ones everyday, and I love when we can recall our happiest ones. Sometimes the sad ones are good to recall, too; but I am thankful that God gave us memories! Here is Jaden making some fun memories with his friends and some goldfish.

Gatica made another delicious lunch and we spent the afternoon doing homework and resting until Zumba. There were a lot of people at Zumba today, but most of them were children. I love watching the kids trying to do the dances with us! It is the best when they don’t give up even though they don’t know the moves!

After Zumba, Amanda made dinner and we all got ready for Bible Study. It was a difficult topic and the women in our group were very quiet this evening. The men got into an interesting debate in Spanish and lost many of us English-speakers. The topic was of Paul calling his readers “saints” and if it was possible for us to be considered “saints” or not. Whether I understood or not, I love that people are here discussing the Word of God in our home. I just pray for God to work in ways that not even we can see or understand but in ways that change people’s hearts and draw them closer to Him.

Wednesday, February 20

Class was interesting today. We each took a turn reading our stories from last night’s homework. Then we wrote another story in class and read those to each other. It is amazing how 3 people can use the same list of words and come up with such completely different stories. I love it!

Later, we listened to a fairy tale, but Patricia would not tell us which one it was. We had to figure it out. I heard the words “abuela” (grandma) and “enferma” (sick) and I figured out that it was the story of “Little Red Riding Hood.” The funny part was, that the Latin American version of the story was a bit more violent than the one I remember learning and reading to my Kindergarteners. It involved the grandma and Little Red Riding Hood getting eaten by the wolf, the hunter cutting the wolf’s stomach open to save them, and putting rocks in their place so that when he woke with thirst he would drowned in the river because he was so heavy. Wow… no wonder I struggled to understand the ending!

We had a baking day planned for this afternoon so we invited the Morigeau family (Kirsten and Ryan and kids) over for lunch. Gatica made us spaghetti and we had fun socializing over lunch. Then we walked to Samia’s house to make cookies. We had a hard time deciding what kind to make first. Finally we settled on chocolate chip cookies because we had all the ingredients, including the chocolate chips! We had to make it without brown sugar, so we just doubled the white sugar and added some dry hot-chocolate mix. The hot chocolate was Samia’s idea and I think that it was ingeneous! They were a success! Everyone loved them!

I also made English Toffee again. It didn't turn out crunchy like it was supposed to but it still tastes good... I mean... come on... it's butter, sugar, vanilla and chocolate... it couldn't taste bad!

Samia also made some Sweet Cinnamon Bread (o pan dulce con canela) for us to eat with coffee this afternoon. It was delicious. It tasted like a cinnamon roll (without the frosting). Don’t worry… I made frosting for it when I got home, and I can’t wait to taste one for breakfast!

While we were at Freddy and Samia’s house, Jaden gagged on the pulp of the fruit juice he was drinking and vomited in Freddy and Samia’s kitchen… it has almost become comical how many times Jaden has vomited at Freddy and Samia’s house! He's okay, so don't worry about him; we just couldn’t believe it happened again!

When we got home, Eddie and Amanda went to band practice and Jaden and I sang songs and read books before bed. I love this age. He wants to mimic hand-motions and actions to go along with the stories. He wants to try to repeat words after me. He makes all sorts of animal sounds when prompted! Seeing the world through the eyes of a child is the best way to renew your joy in life.

Now, I have homework to do, but instead I am writing this because I need internet for my homework and Eddie has it. As I sit here pondering the past 5 months, I really am grateful. I am thankful for what a great experience this has been. I am thankful that we are actually learning Spanish. I am thankful that God has been working in our lives.

I am also sorry… sorry that it is coming to an end… sorry that some of the time here has been wasted on things that are not important… sorry that I have not spent enough time with the locals just chatting and practicing more conversational Spanish… sorry that we did not go on more adventures out in God's beautiful creation. I don't mean to sound like I'm having a pity party; I just mean that I am seeing things through a different lens. My eyes have been opened to a different way to live life. I miss some of the ways we do life back in America (like having a car and a store just around the corner to buy necessities like butter). I just don't miss the busy-ness of the life I lived back in the States. I just pray that this is a wake up call to just commit to things that have eternal value. I am not saying all those things that kept us busy are bad... I'm just remembering the sly little way that Satan uses to keep me from focusing on God: "If Satan can't make you bad, he will make you busy." I pray that as life resumes back in Florida, that it does not resume as "usual." I pray Eddie and I can seek out what is important for our family to participate in and raise Jaden to discern what is pleasing to God and what is not. I sure don't have it all figured out, but I sure am changed by the past few months of living "outside my comfort zone."

Thursday, February 21

I was the least prepared for culture class than ever! Oops… it feels like Senioritis. I understand that culture class is important and that we all have learned so much because of it, but why do we have to do it? I don't like using slow internet to research for almost 2 hours for a 5-minute presentation. Okay, I will stop whining now. Sorry!

I loved hearing from the new students and realizing that that was me 6 months ago. I was impressed with the kids (Anna and Ben) as they presented in Spanish. It was basic but it was done well.

Deidre, Bruce and I returned to class with Patricia and continued our past-tense story telling. Pasted onto cards, she had various pictures from 5 different fairy-tales. We had to separate them and put them in order. Then we had to figure out which paragraph when with each picture. Finally, she had us take turns telling the stories. Who knew, at the age of 32, I would have so much difficulty telling the story of the "Ugly Duckling."

Precious Natasha

This little girl is named Natasha. She is a 4-month-old baby who belongs to a woman from the indigenous tribe of Chirripo. She is a doll... I want to take her home with me. Her momma is going through a really tough time and won't speak to anyone. She visited the mission a few months ago, and she was in the same state of depression then. Please pray for her. I don't know her name or much else about her, but I know she is so sad. I am glad that God led her to the Mission to get help because her baby was screaming in pain a few days ago. She had an ear infection and some sort of rash all over her body. She has been treated and is looking content and oh so precious! I don't know where she is now, but how can I ever forget those sweet little eyes.

It was Amanda’s last day at CISA and we commemorated it with her Graduation. Her teachers shared a few words and hugs and Amanda shared how she will never forget the love of the people here at CISA and the people of Tuis.

She said her goodbyes and we threw her a mini surprise going-away party at Kirsten and Ryan’s house. We made mac-n-cheese and veggies and had chips and cake and coquito… quite a hodgepodge, but it was fun anyway. The kids played "Freeze Dance"...