Stop everything and pray!!

Well, very soon I will be writing a blog about my recent trip to Shiroles, de Talamanca with the mens trip. I am just waiting to get the photos from one of the men. In the mean time we are requesting that everyone drops everything and pray with us. Right now we are in transition again. We ned to be out of our house, here in San Francisco de Dos rios, by the 20th of april. So far we haven't found a new house but we really need to find one... yesterday. After we find a house we need to find used appliances and purchase furniture. So we need God to come through for us very soon. 

Another prayer request is for our house in Visalia. We were advised by people at S.I. and our missionary training to keep our house as an investment and also as a place for our kids to call home. The problem is that we have been without renters for two months now. Needless to say, that puts a huge financial burden on us. We are praying that a nice family that wants to rent long term would find our house and love it...very soon. 

We thank all of you for your prayers and welcome any encouragement via e-mail. I always forget that when I ask God for something He takes me pretty serious. I have continually asked that He would put us in situations where we would see His faithfulness... Well this is one of them. We know he will never leave us or forsake us but now to see the practical application in our lives.

Thanks for everything... Praise report coming soon!! 

My Turn!

So now it's officially MY turn to watch the kids for a week without my other half. Jeremy left on Sunday for the jungle to help lead a team of men from the valley on a "vision" trip.  He'll be gone till next Sunday.  Sunday started out pretty good with Jeremy continuing his Sunday morning tradition of strawberry waffles.  Yes, even though he was planning on heading out, he still wanted us to have our waffles.  So great. After he left, the kids and I played at the park until we all officially needed bath #2 for the day.  We later received some gifts from my mom (Nana) and my sister (Auntie Antz) that made their way to Costa Rica c/o some men who were coming to the jungle.  The kids were extremely excited and immediately started playing and wearing their new gifts.  Thanks Nana and Auntie Antz! Later on I decide to make some pasta sauce that would be for spaghetti Sunday and pizza Monday.  I had a couple more tomatoes to chop and put in when I decided to check how big my dutch oven pot was.  I wanted an idea of about how much I already had in the pot.  So I lifted it up, the rim then somehow hit and got stuck on the hood above the stove, and it all came tumbling down.  You know that sick feeling you get when you're at a loss for words, that's how I felt.  If it was a jar of Prego, no problem. But the fact I just spent 30 min chopping and sauteing and was 3 tomatoes shy of a yummy sauce, wasn't okay.  I think I tried hard to hold it together until Ella asked what had happened since she was standing right there.  I just cried, just being frustrated and tired and now not knowing what to do for dinner.  Luckily, there was my daughter who tells me, "Mommy, I can make you feel happy." And she just held on to my leg and then gave me a hug while she swayed back and forth.  It was just what I needed and I told her so.  Luckily my teammate Tracey mentioned earlier in the day I was welcome over for dinner that night.  At this point I changed our plans and gave her a call.  I knew at this point I just needed to throw in the towel and not try anything else.  Thank goodness for friends and open invitations! 

Today we didn't have school.  Instead they had "culture day" and I decided to stay home with the kids.  I figured I don't get to see them enough anyway so I'd take the opportunity.  I'm hoping to stay on task this week and just enjoy time with the kids in the evening.  If you've made it this far in this blog, please pray for motivation for me.  I'm really feeling ready to be done with school and be with my kids more.  Behaviors they're displaying make me want to be with them more often to correct, and not being able to is tough sometimes.  So, yeah! Only 5 more weeks. Let's pray I (and Jeremy : ) make it through strong and learn everything we can. Although I'm not so sure how much more my brain can hold!  

We're also in the process of looking for our more permanent residence, a home to rent. Not being familiar with the areas makes it hard, so we're really believing God to help us find one. He knows our desires and our concerns, and knows what's best for us.  Please pray with us that His direction in this would be clear.  We want more than anything to be in His will. Thanks for reading!

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... : (