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!