Dan's upcoming project trip to Haiti

I (Dan) don't get many opportunities to write on our blog. Sarah is very good at it, and I usually leave it to her, but now it is my turn. I want to write a bit about my upcoming project trip to Haiti. I will be leaving Saturday May 23rd and returning the 27th. As I go on project trips, I would like to try to post a blog about each trip before I go and an update after I get back. That way you can know more about the trips that are such a big part of our ministry with EMI. Now, I also know that blog posts without pictures are boring, but I hope you'll bear with me on this one and I'll have pictures for you when I get back.

I did some research about Haiti as I prepared for this trip. Here is a quick summary of some of the facts I found:

• Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. 80% of the country's population live under the poverty line.


• A large percentage of the population is actively involved in Voodoo, a satanic religion developed from West African spiritism and witchcraft.


• Crime, corruption, and political unrest are rampant there.


• The literacy rate is below 50%, with functional literacy possibly as low as 20%.


• Many ministries have been working in Haiti, with a vision of building up and maturing the local church and the next generation. The hope for the country truly is in the next generation, which is why it is so exciting to be involved in an orphanage ministry whose vision is to raise children into godly adults who will remain in Haiti.

On this trip, we will be developing a master plan for a new site for an orphanage called Haitian Children's Home or HCH. HCH has put together their own video that sums up their ministry and their plans for the new site. The beginning of the video does speak to the current dark spiritual climate in Haiti so it may not be suitable for little ones, but if you would like to watch it, you can see it on you tube by clicking here.

We will be providing a master plan for their 20+ acre site that will include homes for the children, a clinic, and a church. Their desire is to serve the entire community of Raymond, Haiti which does not have a church or medical care. In addition to the master plan, we will also be providing more detailed designs for homes for the children so that they can begin construction on them as soon as possible.

Please pray for me and for our entire design team as we work together:

• Please pray that God would continue to work mightly in the country of Haiti. Pray that he would raise up a godly generation of leaders in that country.


• Please pray that we would be able to provide HCH with an appropriate design that meets their needs.


• Pray that God would reveal Himself among the team members so that this might be a spiritually impactful time for all of us.


• Please pray for our safety, both physically and spiritually as we travel and as we are working in Haiti.


• Pray that the ministry of HCH would continue to be fruitful and effective.


• Pray also for Sarah while we are apart. Pray for her as she cares for Timmy and our home by herself. Pray for their protection and endurance. Pray also that she won't miss me too much.

Going to Cartago

Tomorrow we plan to give our interns a perspective on Catholicism in Costa Rica by taking them to the city of Cartago, the capital city of the province with the same name. It is most famous for being the home of the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles (the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels), which I believe is one of the largest in Central America. It is very special place for the majority of the population here, because it is very important to Costa Rican Catholics. Dan, Timmy, and I took our own little field trip there back in November. The photos in this post are from that visit.

This basilica is the "home" of the patron saint of Costa Rica, La Negrita, which is a small, doll-sized icon of the Virgin Mary. The legend behind La Negrita is well known here. Here it is:

The image was found in the 17th century by a young girl from Cartago. The girl found the dark stone statue on a rock in the forest while she was collecting firewood. She carried the statue home, but in the morning, the statue was gone. The girl found it again on the same rock in the woods, and again took it home, this time locking it in box. But, the next day, the statue was back on the rock again. Confused, the girl took it to the priest and told him what had been happening. He was skeptical at first, but he took the statue home, too, and discovered that day after day, the statue would return to the rock in the forest. He was convinced that it was truly an image of the Virgin Mary, that a miracle was taking place, and that a church should be built on that rock in her honor.

La Negrita was declared the patron saint of Costa Rica in 1824. Every year on August 2nd, thousands and thousands of people pilgrimage to the basilica in Cartago to visit the icon and to pray to the Virgin Mary. I will write more about that pilgrimage in a separate post!

Please think of us and pray for us tomorrow as we travel to Cartago and visit the basilica. We are excited to spend a whole day with our four interns and we are looking forward to the discussion that this visit to La Negrita will generate. When we went in November, we found it a very interesting, but sobering, place. We were struck by the fervency with which the people kneeling in front of the icon were essentially worshipping the Virgin Mary. It was a new experience for me, and will be for at least three of our interns. The great benefit of our first visit was a better vision of Catholicism here, and an increased knowledge of how to pray for the people of this country. I'm excited to write more about it soon!

First haircut, finally

Timmy finally received his first haircut last month. It was long overdue; we'd been saying for several months that he really needed a haircut. When it got to the point when I was constantly brushing the hair out of his eyes, or tucking it behind his ears, we knew it was time. The final straw for me was the reaction of a Tico (Costa Rican man) when I took Timmy's hat off in front of him. He said, "Wow. A hippy!" in a somewhat disapproving voice. Now, if a total stranger thought it was worth commenting on, it was time to cut the hair! He was pretty cute with his long, hippy hair, though. Here is a photo taken before the haircut (he's holding a mango that our neighbor gave him...).

Neither Dan nor I had a clue how to go about cutting hair (especially a wiggling baby's hair!), so it was somewhat of an adventure. Eventually, the only way it worked was for Dan to cut while I read a book or danced (yes, danced) in front of Timmy. Here are some photos of the event:

And, here was the end result. Unfortunately, Timmy already needs another haircut. I'd better get ready to sing and dance again, or he'll be a little hippy once again!

crazy hair

After spending a couple hours on the beach, Timmy's crazy hair (which is normally straight) can testify to the humidity that we have here:

The dry season is coming to an end, and we are eagerly waiting for the rainy season (el invierno, literally, the winter). Until January, we had only ever experienced Costa Rica in el invierno. We got used to daily rain, and enjoyed the normal routine of afternoon rain showers, carrying umbrellas, and falling to sleep at night to the sound of rainfall on the roof. We loved how lush and green everything was.

From the beginning of January until just several weeks ago, we hardly saw any rain. It was like we were living in a completely different country - so dry, so hot, so brown as the grass died and leaves fell off the trees! Now, as el invierno gets nearer, it is very humid and hot, and we welcome the relief of the afternoon showers that we are getting more regularly. I'm looking forward to seeing green again! In the meantime, we'll just enjoy crazy hair...

1 year + 2 months

Timmy is now 14 months old! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. I watch him running around the house and I feel like I can barely remember when he could only crawl, much less when he wasn't mobile at all! I feel like he just turned one, but his birthday was already two months ago!

In honor of his first birthday, here is a series of my favorite photos of Timothy from 7 months to 12 months. For his first six months, go back to my half a year ago post...

7 months old and delighting us with his smiles:

8 months old and super cute:

9 months old and crawling:

10 months old and getting ready to walk on his own:

11 months old and loving the beach:

One year old, on March 3, 2009:

We praise God for the amazing gift of our son, and we are looking forward to all that we are going to experience during his second year!

Excuses, excuses

Some of you may have been wondering lately, “Where in the world are Dan and Sarah?” Well, we’re still in Costa Rica… quite busy with ministry and life, feeling much more settled, but still looking ahead to lots of settling yet to do, and still not having much time to catch up with emails or our blog…

We really do have quite a few excuses for our lack of communication. My first and main one is this little guy:

He’s one year old, he’s walking, and he is so much fun! Nothing brings a smile to our faces faster than seeing him toddle around with a look of pride on his face or seeing him walk towards us with a hopeful smile and one hand holding out a book. He dances to music and it’s absolutely adorable. He seems to be learning new things every day, and I feel like I need to write everything down so that I won’t forget anything! Just today, he very deliberately took his sippy cup out of his mouth, held it up to me, and said clearly, “All done.” Needless to say, Timothy is taking up the majority of my time these days and that’s a good thing.

Anyway, on to why our blog is not being updated much… The other big reason is that we are still waiting on an internet connection at home. All ways of communication (phone lines, cell phones, internet, etc.) are run by the Costa Rican government, so even though we requested a DSL connection months ago, we are waiting for the government to decide when they would like to allow more connections to be available in Atenas. When will that be? We have no idea. I can use the internet at the eMi office, but because of Excuse #1, I don’t have much extended time there!
What else? Hmmm… our house has flooded twice and we’ve had two earthquakes this month (I just thought I’d throw the earthquakes in, but they really didn’t have any effect on our ability to blog!), I’m getting used to housekeeping here in Atenas (which is worthy of its own blog post), and, as I mentioned in the last entry, progress on settling into our house has gone much slower than we expected.

In the midst of all that, we have been busy with what we came here to do, which is so good. Dan works full days each week day at the eMi office, doing structural review and design for existing projects, preparing for this summer’s project to Haiti, coordinating the intern program, and often being the tech support guy for the office. We are really enjoying spending time with our interns and are learning how to make our home a place that’s open for ministry, whether it’s for Bible study, prayer group, movie night with the interns, dinner with the neighbors, or a place for visiting eMi staff to stay.

We are excited to see what the months ahead hold for us… maybe more blog posts? We’ll certainly try! Dan and I have decided that I could type up what I’d like to say in a blog post, choose the photos, and then he would post it at work. If this plan works, I hope to do some catching up on the blog, and also keep you all better informed on what our daily life looks like these days!