The report

Well, here's a quick run down of our lives. Erin and the rest of our female staff here in Costa Rica has been in Guatemala for the last week which leaves me and Jeff home with the kids. It really hasn't been that bad but the dishes tend to pile up quick. 

So every day we've still gone to school (except I was a little sick thursday) And then the kids come home and take naps, then we play at the park, eat and play a little after dinner then it's off to bed. It's not so bad. Ella cries every night for about 10 minutes for her mom but other than that they've done great. I printed a few pictures of Erin and we taped them to the wall. tonight while putting Ella to sleep I jumped on her bed and laid against the wall. Ella immediately started crying cause she wanted to "lay next to mama". So cute... Then she got up like she has most nights and gave the silliest picture of mama a kiss. Erin will probably cry when she finds out. It was adorable. 

Well other than that there's not much to report. School is going well. We have a wonderful teacher who is very very gifted. I have a class in which I go out and just talk to people about whatever I want to learn. It's been good to learn not only language but culture as well. We have come a very long way in the last 7 weeks. I feel like I know so much more than I did at Christmas time. We now have 86 ways to use every verb!!! 86!! It's pretty hard to remember exactly how to use each different tense. Here's a quick example. feel free to skip it.

Present tense Caminar (to walk)

There are 6 "people" 

Camino                 Yo (1st person) 

Caminas               Tú (you informal)

Camina                 El/Ella/Usted (3rd person singular or 2nd person formal)

Caminamos          Nosotros (1st person plural)

Camináis               Vosotros (I don't really know cause I never use it plural something)

Caminan               Ellos/Ustedes (3rd person plural or 2nd person plural)

Then past has all the same "people" but I wont write them with the root "Camin" and endings 

Camin---é/aste/ó/amos/asteis/aron

so in those two forms, present and past there are 12 "uses" for one verb... Well then there are 12 more tenses... Each with 6 "uses" imperfect preterite, conditional, future, PPC, Plusc, perfect preterite, future perfect, conditional perfect, Present perfect subjunctive,  past perfect subjunctive, future perfect subjunctive. I dont know if I got them all or what.... Horrible, But we're learning.

So besides that... We're here. We've never doubted that we're supposed to be here, never wanted 

to leave. We're just trying to live life and really figure out how Gods gonna do what we think He wants 

to.

I leave you with a little video love Ella and Judah.

Sorry It's been so long... (this one's kinda just to get it all out there)

Well to be honest, I've been a little under the weather.  Physically, emotionally and spiritually (if you even can be). I think that God has been exposing a lot in me that I have never seen before and I am realizing that I am really not such a great person. (Not a new revelation but just expanded in recent weeks)  Also I've been pretty lonely. It's really hard to make friends when there's a language barrier of any kind. I can speak and understand 95% of what I need but wow... that 5% really puts stress on a relationship. 

Twice now I've had to talk about when my friend Rich left after the last trimester, and twice, in the middle of class, I've choked up and had to stop. Really, we weren't like best friends or anything. True I will always remember him, and always consider him a friend, but really... Choking up in class, I didn't cry much when leaving California. (only a little but not as much as one would have thought) 

I think that we are still adjusting to life here in Costa Rica. It's rough some times, and we expect it, but walking it out is still hard. 

All of this to say two things: 1) Please pray for us! We are always in need of your prayers but right now I would really appreciate them. 2) When I feel like this it's really hard to write about life here. For those of you who don't know me well, this is me... I wear it all on my sleeve. I don't really mind if you see me in my weakness cause I'm just like you... 

So anyways... Actually I'll write another blog to split it up a little

Judah is 2

So Judah turned 2 on the 13th of feb. He got a small piece of cake with some whipped cream for breakfast and... well you can just watch the first few moments of him being 2. If we're counting hours too he was actually 1 hour shy of two in this video. We had a birthday party for him with the rest of our team and then the next day had some fun with the decorations. I forgot to put a picture of the cake Erin made in the video so I'll add that later. We miss all of you and wish we could have shared this experience with you in person. Also...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER JENNIFER. WE LOVE YOU!!! 

Here's A video I made for Bethel... And you too!!

¡Demasiado Español!

Okay, we've had family asking for an updated blog... and to sum up how we're feeling right now... overloaded!  Jeremy and I were talking last night about our grammar class and all the tenses and conjugations we're learning right now.  We did the math, and by the time we learn all 14 tenses in Spanish, we'll be able to conjugate a verb around 84 times, mas o menos.  This is ridiculous, we said!  For some crazy reason I enjoy the challenge in class when our teacher says "Erin, give me the verb "oir", in "tú" form, all nine tenses." (I am translating it for you :)  I think this is as many as we have had to recall at one time so far, but tomorrow, we add 4 more tenses!  Something in me strives to get every one right.  I told Jeremy, by the end of this trimester, I want to be able to conjugate a verb in every form and every tense.  I think he just rolled his eyes at me. So our brain is full.  Sometimes we can't sleep at night because we have conjugations dancing around in our head! So please keep us in prayer that we'd keep our sanity and that we'd sleep too.  

Outside of Spanish, we're branching out in relationships with neighbors around us, and I've finally gotten enough Spanish under my belt to step out and invite some locals over for dinner. This is a HUGE step for me.  This and driving around San Jose.  One more milestone for me!  I finally conquered the dreaded Costa Rican rotundas (at least they are in my mind), this past Sunday.  My husband made me, yes, made me, go to Hipermas (kind of like a Wal-Mart) and get over my fear.  I've been dreading driving there because I'd have to go through 3 rotundas. We set a time for me to be home, since we have no cell phones to call, so he'd know I was alright.  Well...I was 30 min. late and when I got home he told me he pictured me driving around and around the rotunda, crying hysterically not knowing which exit to take.  On the contrary I told him.  I conquered them like a pro and was quite giddy when I got home because of it, but had lost track of the time! He just thought I was strange.  So I am quite proud of myself for the new-found freedom of being to get myself around.  Now to tackle downtown rush hour traffic... : (