Merry Christmas!

I am loving this time for our family.  I'm big on Christmas and traditions and so it's a little sad to be away but it got me thinking....This is the first year we have not gone to church on Christmas Eve and sung Silent Night and lifted up the candles, the first time we have missed sitting around Grandmother Daniel's packed-full house eating boiled custard, the first time the kids have not come down the stairs on Christmas morning, shared new toys with cousins and debated which room to lay their sleeping bag down in.  It's the first year I haven't helped my mother-in-law set the table and lay out the serving pieces for a breakfast of egg casserole, grits, fruit, and Sister Shubert rolls.  There were no cute matching outfits for Christmas Eve and no packing up the car in LaGrange after breakfast to drive to Atlanta and do it all over again.  In fact, there was no car at all:)  The kids didn't snuggle up with the grandparents, didn't enter the world of make-believe with their cousins, and didn't experience the first (and quite possibly last) white Christmas in the South in their lifetime.  That could sound depressing but I don't mean it to.  All those things are fun and very meaningful and were DEEPLY missed but God has challenged me to remember that while all those things may be part of our Christmas, Christmas is NOT all those things!  Christmas is Jesus - a baby, born in a world where he would be cold and hungry and tired and hurt both physically and emotionally.  It's about a King who humbled himself to display his love and bring salvation and hope!  There are people in Peru tonight who know nothing of that hope.  They may share a meal with family and sing songs and follow traditions but without Christ...well, what's the point?  So we missed a lot of the traditions this year and it's ok for us to be a little sad about that but we didn't miss Jesus and we haven't missed his call and we are not without hope.  May our hearts be burdened for those who are left empty after worldly celebrations.   May we appreciate the traditions but PURSUE Christ!

In other news, we were super excited to find out last Thursday that we are having a little girl!  I've been trying to post this for a few days but couldn't get the video to work.  Sometimes I really wish I was a computer geek!  Anyway, so fun for our children to see the ultrasound and hear her heartbeat.  Thanks so much for your continued prayers!   

Grandparents!

We are out of school for Christmas (also their summer break).  Here's our first week of vacation!

Baby gecko on Hank's arm

Sweet cousins

Baseball lessons

Hannah giving Anna Grace swim lessons

Thank you grandparents for a wonderful week at the beach!

Who blogs on Thanksgiving??

So I had an interesting discussion with the kids at bedtime tonight.  Mark was out with the guys so it was just me getting everyone settled.  Hannah was having a slumber party in the boys room and as I was tucking them in, Eli started asking how different people in the Bible died and at some point landed on Peter and Paul which got us to the topic of persecution.  I was a little wary of having this conversation right at bed time, especially with Hannah who can get a little fearful, so I tried to steer away just a bit but as we were winding it down I could see the wheels were still spinning.  "Is Peru safe, Mama?"  says a sweet little voice.  "Did we choose a safe place to go?"  I started to answer with the easy reassurances.  "Well, Peru doesn't really have the kinds of persecution that Peter and Paul had or that some other places around the world have.  There are different kinds of persecution..."  Thankfully I caught myself somewhere in there and remembered to give her something more concrete:  "Well, what do you mean by safe, Hannah?  Where are we safe?"  And my 4 year old, who sits and takes everything in and almost never answers such questions, jumps in almost before it was out of my mouth, "With Jesus, Hannah!" he says.  "We have to stay with Jesus!"  And Hannah looks at him and Eli looks at him and I look at him...And then I watch 3 little children settle into their pillows with smiles on their faces and hearts fully confident in the One who knows things that even a Mommy can't and my heart is full too.  Thanksgiving was very different here today - none of the usual traditions of home - but God gave me this treasured moment of reassurance that we are with Him, exactly where we are supposed to be.  We are so thankful for y'all and for our sweet Hannah who turned 8 this week!

Hannah with Grandaddy Waters

Always smiling

Never afraid to get dirty!

A million memories with her sweet friend Mary Rushton - this
was their first day of pre-K

Silly times with her cousin

Ready to go!

Happy 8th Birthday Hannah!!!

And Happy Thanksgiving to all of you that we miss so much - we hope it was wonderful!

Birthday Time!

Eli turned 6 this week!!!  It has been a joy to watch him grow over the years:

We are looking forward to a million more adventures and memories to come! 

Estoy Embarazada! (that means I'm pregnant!)

Word is out - Baby #5 is due at the end of May!  This is really Baby #7 since we've had 2 miscarriages - have I really been pregnant 7 times?!?!?  We are in our ninth week now and have seen an OB here that we really like.  All looks good - as of last week, the baby was 1.67cm.  Crazy!!!  Morning sickness is actually starting to wane a little (or maybe I'm just getting used to it).  Mark's been a superstar - feeds everyone breakfast, packs everyone's lunches and snacks, pretty much does the whole dinner routine including cleanup - pretty impressive.

I've been holding out to blog until after our doctor's appointment but now I can catch you up on life here.  God has been very gracious the last few weeks - almost no rain!  That is extremely uncharacteristic for October in Costa Rica which is usually their rainiest month of the year.  We've spent lots of time at the park which is good for the kids and almost always a good opportunity for us to practice our Spanish.  Quite a few Costa Ricans speak at least some English so sometimes we have to talk them into using Spanish with us.  We've even met a lady from Georgia there!  Here are snapshots of the last few weeks:

We visited a local Children's Museum that had a Star Wars exhibit going on - very exciting for my kids:)

They did the best face painting I've ever seen.

Here's the finished product - they're sitting on teeth inside a mouth.

This past weekend we took a little excursion outside of the city to an amazing beach.  We went on a little nature walk to the beach and discovered this sloth hanging out.  Kind of nasty little animals!

We had to be rather on-gaurd there as there were an incredible number of rather aggressive monkeys and raccoons that weren't afraid to take food from a child!  The little ones spent a long time on this sand castle.

The big ones spent a lot of time climbing and looking for crabs on rocks like this one.

The water and waves were amazing!  Costa Rica has lots of riptides.  Every now and then the lifeguards would come out and tell everyone to move down a little - we were thankful they were so attentive.

Hannah got stung by something that got lost in the translation - best I could get was that it was not an animal but a jelly-like substance that can come in with the waves.  One snow cone and 15 minutes later she was back in the game.

Trips around here can be rather amusing - we had 8 adults and 15 kids under 10 on a bus winding through mountains for 4 hours.  Abe threw up a few times on the way home:(  The accommodations weren't anything to write home about but the food was good and the service was great and we're thankful to have such an opportunity to get out into the culture!  This week will be Spiritual Empahsis Week at school - kids will have VBS and adults will have a chapel each day during our break and another session in the afternoon.  Pray for this time - If we come out of this year fluent in Spanish but no further in our walk with Christ we will have gained nothing.

Quotable quotes from Eli:  "Daddy, is this the wettest place on earth?"  I'd have to say at this moment it just might be.  Here are the boys working with Daddy to clean up a minor flood we came home to after church on Sunday.

In better news, we did attend a church on Sunday with our team and were so encouraged by it.  We arrived not really knowing what to expect except an all spanish 2 hour service with 12 little ones.  I think we all left a little surprised by how encouraged we were.  The whole church gave us a very warm and thoughtful welcome.  The pastor even had someone come up and translate the welcome into english (although he said that was the last time he would do that since we are here to learn spanish!).  After the singing the kids totted off to their kids program like they'd been going there for years.  Abe was a little reluctant but Hannah scooped him right up and said in her sweet little mama voice, "It's ok Abe - you're going to like it!  They're going to speak spanish to you!"  I didn't catch all the details of the sermon but I got the main gist of it and certainly understood more than I would've a month ago!  And I never get over hearing people worship in different languages - always very moving for me.

Ok, here are the other pictures for the grandparents:

Daddy keeping Abe occupied while I get dinner on the table.

Eli whipping a liter of heavy cream to make banana pudding -
took forever (no mixer) but it was worth it!

Maybe one of the sweetest pictures ever!  This is a little playground
by La Ferria where we buy all our produce on Saturday mornings.

Eli's other quotable quote of the week (he's been on a role lately):  "Daddy, how come all the people on the bus stare at us?"

For the Grandparents

On our way to Punta Leona

Studying up on Costa Rican wildlife

Discovering butterflies - see one on Hank's finger?

Chasing a massive iguana

10 of the 12 exploring nature - maybe the only one we've ever gotten with everyone looking!

So thankful for the time with sweet friends there and a good place to put some of our Spanish to use!

The Ups and Downs

Things I've Gotten Used To...

Loud buses, motorcycles and dogs barking all through the night - I sleep like a baby:)
Kids waking up at 5am - actually makes getting out the door at 7 fairly easy
Not having a car - well, I kinda miss my car just because we had so many memories together but it's fun to                            walk everywhere too
Milk out of a box - actually not too bad
Rain, Rain, Rain with the loudest and longest rolls of thunder I've ever heard
Green Bean Pancakes

Our sweet friend Carlota making green bean pancakes

Non dairy creamer (although I'm sure I'll revert back when I get the chance!)
Un-matching china and silverware - sounds silly but I really thought that would drive me crazy
Taxi riding - very fun, even more so when you know where you're going.  kids love being out of carseats:)
Doing homework with my children (mine not theirs, a little odd)
Ants - such persistent little creatures!  This light switch is one of their favorite spots - not sure why but there's always a steady stream here no matter what we spray.  good entertainment for the boys though.

Avocados the size of a small child's head
Not flushing toilet paper
The occasional gecko running up the wall (inside, not out.  made for a fun dinner tonight)
Mark being home (hannah says that's the best part about being here - "Daddy almost never goes away")


...And Not So Much!
Needing to go to 3 or 4 different grocery stores every week
Rolling my "r"s
No disposal in my kitchen sink - not necessary, just makes life easier and trash less smelly
$6 for a box of cereal
No good salsa - yet!  I know i can make my own, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
The shower - getting there though.  it's not terrible - just a delicate balance between heat and pressure.
Upside down question marks
Not talking to family/friends all the time
Not being able to speak Spanish - so annoying to stumble over words and not be able to communicate!

Must go to bed now so my brain will be ready for more Spanish tomorrow.  We took a fun little excursion to the beach this weekend - I'll try to blog about it later this week!

Settling In

We are all moved into our new house!  We are very thankful for our gracious family and friends who have hosted us this summer but it's nice to actually have clothes in a closet and not be living out of a duffle bag.  I'm not sure how to describe what living here is like - different I guess???  There's lots to learn.  Mark and I had our first excursion to the grocery store without any help - which resulted in a long and very WET walk home carrying all of our groceries because we couldn't find an unoccupied taxi.  They weren't kidding about rainy season here!  I've struggled with loneliness at times and feeling a little cooped up since it's generally not safe for me to be out alone but now we have internet and phone lines and official classes start tomorrow!  The kids are adjusting very well and loving the fact that there is an adventure around every corner!  Here is my new dishwasher:

And the laundry help:

And this sweet one got a date with Daddy:

I look forward to hearing how all of you are doing back home!

D-Day!

Hard to believe that 4 years of planning have gone by and we have now started a new leg of this journey! I'm about to fall asleep typing so I'll give you the quick version of today. We started at the Atlanta airport at 6:30 this morning with 4 happy kids and a mound of luggage. Check in and Security could not have gone any smoother thanks to many prayers!

Hank waiting patiently Abe on the airplane (he calls it "hairpane")

And Eli napping on the floor of the Costa Rican airport in the middle of a very long day!

So we're glad to report that we're here safe and sound. We had our first meal out on the town tonight - ridiculously yummy burritos. Looks like we will be able to move into our house on Saturday morning but most of our bags are there already and we will be able to go there tomorrow and do some unpacking. The kids are excited but exhausted. We kept them up late tonight to start adjusting to the time change (CR is 2 hours behind GA). It's awesome to watch them grow and adapt through this process. On a side note, Eli lost his 1st 2 teeth last week and Abe is sleeping in a big boy bed for the first time tonight - let's hope we don't hear a thud:)

Purpose

Disclaimer: I actually wrote this last week but never got around to posting it. Still relevant though...hate to waste it:)

So Mark's great aunt died last week and we attended the funeral today. Funerals have a way of making you ponder deep questions - what is this life all about? what am I doing? where am I going? what legacy am I leaving behind? It's good for me to think through these things and remind myself of what God has shown us during this transition season. I think the most unasked question we get (or don't get, at least outside of church circles) is, "WHY???" And frankly I've been asking myself that lately as my sarcastic inner self tries to argue that this was clearly a terrible idea, it's never going to happen, and we have totally lost our minds! WHY are we leaving ______ (family, friends, church, community, ministry, job, life) that we know and love so well? WHY are we reducing our lives to 14 duffel bags and whatever we can store in a coat closet? WHY are we moving to a third world country where we're likely to have spotty electricity, really big flying roaches, and lots of diarrhea? WHY are we uprooting 4 young children and giving them every vaccination under the sun? And then I remember that Christ died on a cross for a lousy sinner like me. And I remember that life does have a purpose - to know Him and to make Him known - and if I miss that and if I miss teaching that to my children then I have missed it all. What a sad legacy that would be - to live a life that was safe and comfortable and happy but to never run hard after the one thing that brings true joy and satisfaction. So we press on and we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And we consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart. (Heb 12:2-3) I encourage you to run hard wherever God has placed you.

A Start

4 weeks and 5 days until we move out of the country and I feel a little late starting this blog since so much has already happened! Guess you gotta start somewhere and I guess packing is as good a place as any. We move out of our house in 12 days and here is what my bonus room looks like (brace yourselves):




Notice the legos because I do still have 4 kids playing around all of this. TV is on the floor because we sold the entertainment center:) And can I just talk about vac-u-seal bags for a minute? In the bin on the right you are looking at a twin size down comforter, 6 sets of twin sheets, a full mattress pad and set of sheets, 8 towels, 2 hand towels, and 2 washcloths all sucked down to store for Cusco. That's amazing!

The green sticky notes on the wall tell me what goes where - this is the "pack for Costa Rica" stack."

Yard sale/Trash/Goodwill stacks.

And 14 duffel bags just waiting to be filled plus my vacuum cleaner for the absolutely amazing!! vac-u-seal bags. Thank you very much to the grandparents (and a few friends) who have enabled the progress. Cabinets are cleaned out, belongings are sold and bittersweet feelings abound.