¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas from Costa Rica!

The Word became flesh...

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning." - John 1:1

As part of my personal Advent celebration, I've been daily reading a chapter from "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus," a compilation of Advent readings, edited by Nancy Guthrie.

This quote from the second chapter immediately grabbed my attention, "When a person makes his home among people, he moves in with them.  He identifies with them.  The incarnation is the moving in of the eternal Word so that he utterly identifies with us in every way.  He took the whole nature of a human being, fully and totally identifying with all it means for us to be human..."  What first struck me was how amazing and how counter-intuitive the incarnation is!  Jesus is God, and He left His throne in heaven to become a human, humbling himself not only to man's body, but to a helpless baby's body, so that He could identify completely with us.  He chose to live a complete human life, from birth to childhood to adolescence to adulthood.  Jesus experienced everything we experience!  And, He came for us, to save us!

"He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.  He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.  Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." - John 1: 10-13

He lived a human life, in order to reveal Himself and His truth to us.  He lived a perfect life, so that His righteousness could be imputed to us.  He died for us so that our sin's penalty would be paid and we could be saved.  He conquered death, revealing His glory and giving us hope of eternity with Him.  God became man to give us the right to become His children, to His glory.

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14

This is the Christmas message.  It's so much bigger than a sweet baby boy born in a stable (and so, so much bigger than I can express)!  The truth of the incarnation is incredible, and provides such an important springboard for talking about the gospel.  And, that's why we are where are, doing what we are doing, right?  To quote the book I am reading again, "When a person makes his home among people, he moves in with them.  He identifies with them."  The author was talking about God becoming flesh, but it struck me that that sentence describes missionaries, too!  We move to a foreign place and work to make a home among a new people.  We work to identify with them.  We live among them in order to reveal the truth of the gospel to them, to God's glory.  While this change and adjustment is so tiny compared to Jesus', it was very special to me to identify with Christ in this small way. 

I pray that this Christmas, we can stay focused on the true awesomeness of the incarnation.  I pray that as our family does our daily Advent activities, plans and participates in Christmas events, celebrates with our church family, and prepares to move (two days after Christmas -- ahhh!) that we will keep in the forefront of our thoughts our purpose for being here - to live among the precious people God has called us to, so that they may join us in knowing Him and worshipping Him.  

"From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.  For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known." - John 1:16-18

our news

Bad news: the neighbors' smoking and very aggressive pit bull have not improved. The smell of marijuana (we think) has regularly been added to the scenario.

Good news: After months of looking, and after a house we pursued falling through, we are thankful for the provision of a new house. We signed the lease on this new rental last week, and we'll move right after Christmas.

Sad news: I love this house, and hate having to leave it for this reason.  It's going to be really hard!

Hopeful news: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him..."

We'll be saying good-bye to this beautiful home of ours at the end of the month!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying about this situation for us for the past six months! 

Giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Days like Thanksgiving can be hard for us living in another country, far away from our families and without all of the resources to make the traditional Thanksgiving meal we grew up with.  It helps me to remind myself of some of the unique blessings I have because of the life of ministry we are living here in Costa Rica.  Here are my top ten:

1. Surrounded by natural beauty

Seriously, I so often look around and think, "I can't believe I live here!"  While we live real life here (and not the resort life some may associate with Costa Rica), we are blessed with daily views of God's amazing creation.  Whether it's in the breathtaking views of mountains and volcanoes I see just driving around town, or in the intricate details of the tropical flowers and birds in my garden, the natural beauty I witness here is awe-striking.

one of our favorite views in our Costa Rican hometown

2.   Good coffee and fresh produce

I was not a coffee drinker before moving to Costa Rica.  But, we live in a coffee town now; the coffee we drink is grown, harvested, dried and roasted here in our little town.  It's really, really good... and has converted me into a coffee lover.  We are also spoiled year-round with wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables from our farmer's market.  We might not have easy access to cranberries or pecans for today's Thanksgiving dinner, but the local fruit here always tastes so much more real (does that make sense?).  One time after taking a bite of pineapple in the States, Timmy scrunched up his face and said, "That is NOT piña!" (piña = pineapple)

our kids watching a local farmer dry his coffee beans

3.  Small town living

While it took some adjusting, I love living in a small, Costa Rican town.  I love that whenever I'm out running errands, I almost always run into someone I know.  I love that our kids (along with pretty much every other school kid in the whole town!) are in the Independence Day parade and that our son has been part of the town's yearly musical festival.  I love being able to walk to the stores, and I love sitting in our central park and people watching.  Life in a big city appeals to me, too, but I am thankful for our little town during this stage in our lives.

Tabitha in our town's Independence Day parade

4.   Worshipping in a second language

One of my dreams when we moved here was that my Spanish would improve to a point where I could truly worship and commune with God in Spanish.  It's been a long process that included a lot of Sundays of standing outside the church building in the intense tropical sun, bouncing my crying baby in a sling (can you mamas relate?), or arriving home from church completely exhausted from the mental work of staying engaged in Spanish during the worship, sermon, and conversations.  But, now I feel that I can truly worship God in Spanish, and it gives such a precious glimpse of eternity worshipping Him with people from every nation and language.

worshipping with our church here

5.  Women's ministry

I love working together with some other women from our church to build up our women's ministry and to reach out to other women in our community.  I am blessed and challenged each week as I facilitate a women's Bible study and work to encourage and strengthen other women.  This ministry strongly pulls at my heart, and sharing my heart and life with these women is one of my main highlights of our life here in Costa Rica.

this year's women's conference - an outreach event to our community

6.  Life of adventure

Choosing to live in another country has opened us up to a life of adventure.  Whether it's going after a snake with a machete, or maintaining the constant battle with the ants, or tackling the red tape adventures of the immigration department, life is never without a new adventure here.  We also get to enjoy the adventure of exploring new places, learning a new language, and meeting new people. 

one of our favorite Costa Rican adventures - a hike to this turquoise river

7.  Kid-loving culture

One of my first impressions when we moved here with a baby was that Costa Ricans absolutely adore children!  Babies and children are usually the recipient of admiration and love wherever they go.  Especially during this stage of parenting little children, it is such a blessing to live in a culture where kids are so highly valued and loved.  Our kids are growing up far away from our families, but they have many Costa Rican "grandparents," "aunts," and "uncles."



 having fun with our pastor - one of their Costa Rican "uncles"

8.  Closeness as a family

Sharing in this adventure (with both its highs and lows!) together has made us grow closer as a couple and as a family.  Building a new life in a new country has strengthened us in ways that I don't think we would have experienced elsewhere.  Our kids have a very close relationship, maybe because, as third culture kids, there are few other kids their age that understand them as fully as their sibling does.

our little family in front of our home sweet Costa Rican home

9.  Changed perspective

My perspective has changed throughout our years living here.  I find myself being thankful more often for things that I used to take for granted.  Hearing the pelting rain on our metal roof six months of the year has led me to thank God for simply the roof over our heads more than I ever did before (even if there are several persistent leaks!).  The reality of frequent power outages and having water coming into our house from the street only certain hours of the day makes me so thankful when the light does turn on with the flip of a switch, or when water pours out of the faucet in more than a trickle.  Additionally, living in a more event-focused culture, rather than my native time-oriented culture, has taught me to slow down and invest more in what is truly important: relationships.

10.  New home

Something clicked after about two years living in Costa Rica, pretty soon after our daughter was born here.  This started to feel like home.  Now, four years later, this definitely feels like home... to the extent that I feel a little strange and out of place when we are visiting the States.  I don't quite "fit" there any more, but, at the same time, I don't completely "fit" here either.  I'm kind of a foreigner in either place!  This has led me to a greater understanding that my true home is in Christ, with the hope and promise of an eternal home with Him.

with the flag of our adopted earthly home

This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving a couple of days early because today needs to be a normal day.  Timmy has school and art class, Dan teaches class tonight, and I have Bible study to prepare for, so we'll be having a meal of black bean soup, corn bread, and roasted zucchini... and we'll be counting our blessings.  

piñatas and cakes

We celebrated Tabitha's 4th birthday a couple of weeks ago.  This is her first year in preschool, so it was her first time to celebrate at school.  As I prepared for her birthday, I remembered our experience celebrating Timmy's birthday at school last year.  I had come prepared with my idea of what a good, little school celebration should look like - short and simple.  Timmy's birthday is at the beginning of the school year, so I only had my childhood experience of cupcakes for a school celebration to go on.  Timmy was enjoying soccer, so we had homemade cupcakes (because cupcakes are what you have at school for birthdays, right?) arranged to look like a soccer ball (and that's culturally appropriate, right?  Everyone loves fútbol here!). 

 

We arrived at the school, and I quickly realized that my cupcake soccer ball was not so easily recognizable by the kids.  They swarmed the table to look at it, scaring Tabitha, who started to cry, and, overwhelming Timmy as he was bombarded with questions of "what is THAT!?" in Spanish.  (And, I got overwhelmed by the little girl whose curiosity about the cupcakes led her to start poking her finger deep into every.single.one while we were singing "feliz cumpleaños.")

 

As the kids were finishing up their cupcakes (which, thanks to my moist cake and melting frosting, produced a GIANT mess), I started hearing murmurings in Spanish, "¿Dónde está la piñata?"  I froze. A piñata for a school celebration!?  The teacher explained that usually if a kid celebrates their birthday at school, the parents bring a piñata.  Oops!  While we'd had a piñata for him at a party with friends, it had never occurred to me to bring one to school! 

 

As the school year went on, Timmy frequently came home with bags of candy from his friends' piñatas.  There is so much candy coming home from school that we have started giving it away!  I was also surprised by the invitations sent out for the celebrations that would be at school, and the party favors that were sent home in addition to the piñata candy.  Once Timmy even brought home a washcloth embroidered with his name! 

 

A couple of weeks before her birthday, Tabitha started practicing swinging a broom stick to prepare for her piñata!  And, since I'm a nutritionist's daughter who didn't know what candy was until I was five, I struggled with sending even more candy home to these kids, but we decided to go ahead with a piñata... and the store-bought decorated, dry cake with dulce de leche filling that seems to be the standard for birthday cakes here.  Tabitha was thrilled when Dan came home with her Tinkerbell piñata.  And, the party was a success... even if the kids had way too much sugar.  No messy cupcakes, lots of fun swinging at the piñata.



 

 

We still had our family celebration and homemade cake at home, but we had so much fun celebrating with Tabitha's friends and teachers at school.  So, from now on, I guess I'll be the mom that brings a piñata, rather than cupcakes, to school... I'll draw the line at the embroidered washclothes, though!  

 

My whole experience as a mom has been here in Costa Rica.  So, I'm curious -- what is normal these days for school birthday celebrations in the States?  What about for those of you living in other countries?  I'd love to hear from you!

living close

You know you live in close quarters with your neighbors when...

... you're in your bedroom and you can hear the man next door clipping his fingernails in his house.

... you're in your living room and you know which movie the teenager across the street is watching in his living room.

... your friend in your house thinks there was a car accident out in the street, but you know it's just that same teenager watching another movie way too loudly.

... your exercise routine's momentum slows down when your neighbor turns off her radio... and you realize you've been exercising to the beat of her salsa music.

... you always know when your neighbor is doing laundry or cooking a meal (because you can hear and smell everything).

... you could, if you wanted to, know quite a lot about your neighbors just by paying attention to all of their phone conversations.

... you know, if they spoke English, that your neighbors could know quite a lot about you because they definitely hear your Skype conversations with faraway friends and family.

... you're pretty glad that they don't speak English so they can't understand everything going on your house! 

... you know when to say an extra little prayer for the mama next door when her kid is having a rough day because you hear all the crying and correcting.

... your neighbor's pitt bull-like dog doubles as a watchdog for your house, too... but, unfortunately, even after seeing you day after day, he still doesn't understand that he doesn't need to protect your house from you. 

... you wonder if your neighbors are paying attention to the Bible studies and classes on your front porch throughout the week... without a doubt, they hear everything.

... your kids don't have to go over to their friend's house to play... they can just pass toys through the fence and play together while staying in their own front yard.

... you're pretty much always guaranteed to find someone to talk to just by walking to your front gate.

This list could go on and on.  This is normal life for us now, and there is a lot of good in this close living.  Unfortunately, though, some of the bad is still a pretty big problem for us right now.  God's been narrowing us down to what our next step may need to be... and we're continuing to pray for His wisdom and strength in this situation.  In the meantime, the smell of my neighbor's cooking is making me hungry...

Celebrating Mother's Day, part 2

Our church celebrated the mothers of our congregation with serenades and gifts, and also a wonderful evening out!  A restaurant near our church opened just for us, and we were able to enjoy a private banquet together.  We had a time of praise and worship, a devotional, a delicious dinner, and tiramisu for dessert (a first for most of the women!).  While we were eating, we were surprised with another serenade, this time from a professional group hired for the event! 

It was a very special evening for everyone.  For me personally, it was a reminder of what God has called me to here -- to the women's ministry of our church.  And, I was reminded of the sweet friendships I've been blessed with after 6 years of building relationships here in Atenas.  As you look at these photos, as you see the faces of these precious women, will you please say a prayer for each one?  Please pray that they would find their worth in who they are in Christ, that they would hunger to grow in their walk with Him, that they would be encouraged in their faith, that they would be strengthened in their ministry to their children and to our church. 

...when we realized we were being serenaded!

with my sweet "kindred spirit," Iveth

 

the women of Templo Bautista de Atenas

Can you spot that one lone (very white) gringa there in the middle?  I am so blessed to be able to share life with these sweet ladies, in spite of language and cultural barriers! 

Celebrating Mother's Day, part 1

El Día de la madre, 2014

August 15th is el Día de la madre here, and it is a very special day in Costa Rica.  Mothers are really revered in this culture and are treated to a big celebration for Mother's Day.  The usual scene walking through town on August 15th will include many people carrying flower bouquets, balloons, and gifts, and you will see many extended families gathered on their front porches for a huge party.  The cemeteries are brimming with flowers as people remember their mothers and grandmothers who have passed away.  Women who are mothers are greeted with "Feliz día!" ("happy day") by everyone.

Even though our family is far away, our church has always made me, and all of the mamás in our church, feel so special on Mother's Day each year.  In the middle of the night the night before Mother's Day, I woke up to the sweet voices of our church's jovenes (the youth group) singing.  They were serenading me!  There were a lot of them, and they woke our neighbors up; one guy across the street came out on his balcony and listened to all of the songs!  These precious youth were up almost all night going around to the homes of each mother in our church to celebrate her with a special serenata. 

 

On Sunday, the mothers at church were celebrated with songs from the kids, gifts and desserts.  It was a sweet time! 

 





Timmy and his class wishing their moms "Feliz día!"

protective big brother taking care of his sister among all those boys!



some of the mothers of our church

 

In the video below, you can hear our youth group singing one of the songs they sang for the serenata.  They treated us to it again at church on Sunday.  I love them.

 



 

 

 

I'm so thankful for these two precious children that have made me Mommy!



 

six years!

 

We celebrated six years of living in Costa Rica on June 3!  After six years, this definitely feels like home and in many ways, it's hard to even imagine life somewhere else.  Our kids have both grown up here their whole lives, so our entire experience as parents has been in Costa Rica.  We've grown through many challenges, had quite a few adventures, learned important lessons, gone through hardships and experienced many joys. 

We celebrated this year's "Costa Rica anniversary" by going out for a dinner of batidos, casados (for me and Dan) and gallo pinto (for the kids).  Those meals were foreign to us when we arrived six years ago; now they are some of our favorites and ones we make at home, too!

 

It seemed fitting that the week of this year's "Costa Rica anniversary" was also the week that we began our first trimester of our new Bible Center classes.  It's hard to believe that it's already twelve weeks later, and Dan's students are studying for their final exam, which will be tomorrow night! 

 

clase de Principales y Esenciales

We have been blessed by this new season and are excited about the new thing that God has called us to.  We are still in the learning and developing stages of this new ministry, and it is exciting to see the interest the people coming to the classes have to learn and to grow in their relationship with God.  We have some exciting things coming up in the next several months, and I will try to post more about each of them soon. 

 

Thank you to each of you who have supported us and encouraged us for the past six years.  We couldn't be here without you, and we look forward to continuing this journey with you in the years to come. 





please pray

We normally put our prayer requests in our newsletters or on facebook, but today, we are asking for prayer here on the blog for a difficult situation we are in with our house.  We love our house, feel completely at home in it, and have been greatly blessed by it during our almost three and a half years of living in it.  We have a wonderful landlady who wants us to stay in the house for all of our time in Costa Rica as much as we do. 

But,

... new neighbors moved in while we were in the States for the winter, and it's made our living situation difficult, for a variety of reasons, but, mainly, because they smoke... a lot.  The houses here are very close together and everyone always has their windows open to get some relief from the tropical heat.  We've gotten used to hearing every thing going on in our neighbor's houses -- their movies, music, conversations, burps (not kidding).  We've also become used to smelling everything coming from our neighbor's house -- delicious tico cuisine, their baby's dirty diaper (again, not kidding), their trash, etc. 

While the close proximity took awhile to get used to, we really have gotten to be ok with it... until now.  The cigarette smoke coming from our new neighbor's house aggravates our allergies and asthma and permeates our whole house unless we close all the windows and deal with the heat.  Even then, some still gets in our home because we have a couple of windows that only have screens (no glass).  We have our Bible Center classes, church meetings, and ladies' Bible studies all on our front porch, where is no way to escape from the smoke. 

We've talked to our neighbors and they have tried to smoke in their yard less, but even when they are in their house, it fills our house, too.  We are praying for a solution.  Please join us in praying?  We feel like this is the house God has given us to carry out our ministry.  It is within easy walking distance to the center of town, so it is easy for people to walk here (which is important since very few people from our church have cars).  This house has a huge front porch which is perfect for our ministry events, and it also has a small extra space that we have made into an office for Dan.  We searched, prayed for, and waited for a house for over a year, and then God provided this one when it seemed impossible.  The house was never even officially up for rent, but the landlady called us and offered it to us for the price we could pay (which was significantly less than she could rent it for).  It seems unlikely (but obviously possible with God) that we could find a house that suits our family's and ministry's needs as well as this one does. 

So, we're asking for prayer for a solution to the problem we are facing.  We're asking that we could stay in this house, but without smelling cigarette smoke every day.  And, if God has in His plans for us to move, we'll be praying for a house that is just as perfect for us and our ministry as this one.  Thank you, friends!

sounds of home

rain on our metal roof
children's giggles echoing off our concrete walls
roosters crowing as the day dawns
cows mooing as they walk past our backyard
"upe!" at our gate as a friend stops by to visit
pitter pattering of little feet on our tile floors
whirring of our pump bringing water into our house from the reserve tanks
tropical birds' songs from the orange tree in our garden
a 6 year old's voice reciting the Spanish syllables he's learning to read in school
a 3 year's old's voice singing a Spanish worship song
scrapping of an iguana's claws making its way across our roof
thump-thumping of the iguana who's found its way into our attic
motorbikes without mufflers speeding past our house
tea kettle whistling in the kitchen
a gecko chirping from its perch on the wall above our bed
metal gates clanging as neighbors come and go
taxis honking in the street
a friend's machete hacking at dead branches in our yard
announcements from the loudspeakers driving by selling everything imaginable
the gentle, flowing sound of Spanish on our porch during Bible studies and classes

These once unfamiliar noises have become the (mostly) sweet sounds of home.

It's good to be home.

first day of school: lessons learned

 

After homeschooling for the first trimester of the school year (which goes from mid-February to mid-December here), the kids started going to school when we returned to Costa Rica last month.  They now both go to a private bilingual school that Timmy started going to a couple of years ago.  This year, Timmy started prepatoria (Costa Rican kindergarten) and Tabitha started pre-kinder (preschool) for the first time.  The only one who cried on the first day of school was Mommy! 
And, it turns out, Mommy had the biggest lesson to learn that day.

Such a big boy now!

My baby is going to school!?

Ready to do this new adventure... together!

When we were walking up to Timmy's classroom, his classmates saw him and started cheering and clapping, calling out, "Timo! Timo! Timo!"  It did my heart good to see how loved he is by the kids in his class.  Tabitha's class meets every day, but we made the decision to only send her three days a week this year, and we're both enjoying having special Mommy-daughter time on the mornings that Timmy goes to school without her.

I have to admit -- I did more than just a little crying after dropping the kids off.  I did a.lot.of.crying.  Like go home and completely lose it and sob and sob and sob.  Looking back, I'm embarrassed (sorry, Dan!), but I also understand that the emotions had as much to do with all of the emotions of returning to life in Costa Rica as it did with the kids going to school.  Sending them to school was just a reminder of how our decision to live and minister in Costa Rica changes so many of our life's decisions.  I really loved homeschooling Timmy for the first part of kindergarten, and I think it's likely we would homeschool if we lived in the States.  Here, though, we feel strongly that our kids need to gain fluency in Spanish to be able to be fully part of our community and that the best way to do that, for now and for our family, is for them to attend a local school.  We have seen Timmy's Spanish progress so well from going to school and we are excited to see that continue and for Tabitha to follow.  Homeschooling may still be in our future, but, for now, (which is really all I need to know right now!), they are attending school to learn Spanish.  We are grateful to have such a great school to send them to here.  But, still, it was hard for me as I wrestled with how our decision to live here affects our decision on how to educate our kids.  And, as I got more and more emotional (i.e. not thinking rationally), I even got to the point of crying because maybe if we lived in the States, we could more easily have another baby.  Like I said, it was definitely a low point...

walking into school: when I started tearing up

As I calmed down on that first day of school, I was reminded of something I've had to learn over and over again as a missionary wife and mom... I cannot compare my life here to what I think my life would be if we lived in the States.  That's not our life.  This - living and working in Costa Rica - is our life, for now and for as long as God wants us here.  So, we make the decisions that work best for our family and for the life and ministry God has placed us in.  Comparing and contrasting with what life in States looks like (or, really, what I think it might look like!) does nothing but make me lose the joy that I can have in this amazing life God has given us in Costa Rica.  And, I love this life!  How cool is it that our kids get to grow up learning a second language and being part of this beautiful culture? 

The kids may have learned some new Spanish words and some new letters on the first day of school, but it was Mommy who learned the most important lesson of the day.

Easter flowers

 

We moved into our current house in January 2011.  We love the front garden and throughout our first year here, we were surprised by different flowers that bloomed at different times.  Our favorites have always been what the kids call the "Easter flowers."  They bloom every year around Easter time, so it's become a tradition to take photos of the kids in their Easter outfits with these flowers every year.  This Easter, we were in the States and I was sad thinking about our special flowers blooming without us.  But, when we returned to Costa Rica, they hadn't bloomed yet!  They waited for us!

So, while it's not in their Easter outfits, we still have 2014 photos of the kids with our favorite flowers!  I was so grateful for this special little blessing.  And, even though their bloom is gone for this year, sweet Tabitha is still thanking God for the Easter flowers every night during our family devotion time.