She's 4!

I want to celebrate the life of our sweet Anna Grace.  We are so proud of her.  She is a great big sister to Eliza and Caleb.  She is also very thoughtful, making special gifts or surprises to deliver to other people (almost every day!)  AG loves to sing (in English & Spanish), dance around the house in swirly skirts, play kitchen, read books, watch movies (especially Princess, Tinkerbell, Dora & Strawberry Shortcake!), and help mommy and daddy.  Although she may not be the first to volunteer, she likes to try new, brave things.  School has been so much fun for her- she consistently talks about her friends, Teacher Pa-ME-la (said in a Spanish accent, of course) and brings home fun crafts and projects with the letter "A" written on them by her sweet, little hand.
We love you, Anna Grace and thank God for you beautiful life!

For the Love of Ibuprofen and Spanish Subtitles

The last week has been really long and super fast at the same time.  How does that happen?

Celebrating David's Birthday- the girls started the "Happy Birthday" song in English and finished in Spanish!

David's family came to visit us, and that evening, David began a high fever.  The next day, I began to have a sore throat... but we kept on, finishing classes and spending time with our family.
Such was life for the next week- we've been through at least a bottle of ibuprofen, but our time with family was sweet and encouraging- at least what I remember of it!
Here are a few photos from our time together:

The cousins had a slumber party!

The cousins- except the babies Reide and Caleb

Emmie and AG- water ballet

Eliza & Abe- always up to something...

And now that we are home... this is a normal scene- especially when both parents are still not feeling 100%.  Now before you think how detrimental all this TV watching is for our children, it helps to focus on the positive- they are getting extra Spanish learning time by watching Spanish cartoons and movies!  Actually, we have found that watching Spanish cartoons and movies (which is our comprehension level of Spanish) and reading subtitles has been a good way to continue to grow in language learning.

Classes resume tomorrow (the Institute allows short breaks for students to travel to renew their Costa Rican visas), and hopefully my mind and body will be functioning well enough to concentrate.

Thanks for praying for our family!  And praise to Him who has kept our little ones healthy!

Caleb's favorite toy- he carries it with him everywhere.

Family Day

Family Day at ILE

The language school in Costa Rica has been such a blessing, not only for learning Spanish, but for our family. They have really thought well for our family, marriage and especially our children.

The girls' teachers have been excellent, and this has freed us to study Spanish without concerns of if our children are being loved and engaged both spiritually and educationally.

The other week, the school planned a "Family Day" in which the children sang a song, the school principle encouraged us as parents with scripture, and then we sat together as a family to do a craft. It was a sweet time, and a great remembrance of the blessed call of parenthood.

Don't want to leave out little Caleb!
He is into everything and is completely boy (which I love!) Though I am glad I have this picture of his sweet little front teeth, because yesterday he chipped off a little bit of one while crawling at a reckless, high speed down the hallway... Hope this is not a foreshadowing of things to come with our only boy!

Celebrating Jesus!

In a discussion between Anna Grace and David, it was decided that we should throw a Jesus Party- to celebrate Jesus- of course!  The guest list included all of the "big kids, babies and adults" of the MCO Cusco team, according to the hostess, Anna Grace.

We met at the park (yes, the mud puddle park) on Saturday, and we not only celebrated Jesus, but the newest member of our team as well- Rachel Reide Daniel.  She made her appearance at the party at less than 3 days old- what dedication!

It was really sweet to hear the children share reasons to celebrate Jesus and reminded me of my need to be quick to share thanksgivings, because God is good, He is faithful, and He has blessed us in countless ways.

No party is complete without grilled hotdogs and balloon rockets (Thanks Aunt Debbie- they were a huge hit with the kiddos- and maybe some of the adults as well!)

And while I'm in the "celebrating Jesus" mood, I just want to celebrate His faithfulness to our family through so many of you!  Through your prayers, financial support, gifts and encouragement, we are less than 4 months away from landing in Cusco, Peru with enough Spanish to begin celebrating Jesus with the people there!

What a week!

We are back into the swing of things at school! Lots of studying, lots of Spanish and lots of "aha" moments. By "aha" moments, I mean finally understanding the structure; therefore, the true meaning of something I've heard a million times here. "Aha" could also be those humbling moments of realizing that you have been so wrong in the way you've been trying to communicate a certain thought or idea.

For example: I've been using "por otra mano" for months now- directly translated to "for other hand" for expressing "on the other hand." Wrong! The correct phrasing is "por otro lado" or "por otra parte" (translated "for other side" or "for other part"). The more I have learned of Spanish, the more I have realized how little I actually know! This realization can be a little overwhelming at times, but also sweet, as I have learned to place my trust and significance in God and his provisions (even in learning a new language).

Besides having a full week in classes, we also had a great mid-week visit from some dear friends from Augusta. Thank you Aaron and Anna for spending some of your vacation with us! We all had such a great time with you, so much so, that Friday morning little Eliza asked me, "Where are my friends?"

Anna Grace story:
The other morning Caleb had a stinky surprise for me, and Anna Grace came in the room to help me out, but.... she started gagging from the smell and buried her nose in a blanket. I proceeded to ask her if she will be able to change her baby's diaper when she is mommy. She responded "Do you think you could come help me with the stinky ones?" with such sincerity that I had to answer "Of course I will!"

We also had an earthquake yesterday afternoon in San Jose. We often have small tremors (sometimes you don't even notice them), but this was our 2nd "real" earthquake since arriving in August. Quite exciting, a little bit scary, and thankfully only a 6.0; therefore, no damage, only lots of shaking and a few things falling off the top of our refrigerator.

Finally, I wanted to share a great photo of Caleb, though I must admit I am a bit jealous- if only I could sleep in any position, too!

Just "Monkeying Around" Between Trimesters

Our final trimester of language school is going to begin this Wednesday.  It is hard to believe that we have lived in San Jose for over 8 months!

Monkey Anna Grace

Monkey Eliza

We were fortunate to have a brief break between trimesters to rest our brains from Spanish.  We have been able to relax and spend sweet time together as a family.

We were even more fortunate to have some wonderful visitors!
My parents came for a visit, and we really enjoyed our time celebrating Easter with them.

Also, David's good friend Brandon came for a long weekend to encourage us and spend time with our family.  With Brandon, we had the opportunity to visit an animal rescue center and learn about many of the different wildlife found in Costa Rica.

AG and Brandon with howler monkey

Thank you for your continued prayers and support of our family as we continue to trust God for learning Spanish so that we can bring the hope of the Gospel to Peru!

Past the Midpoint

We have adjusted to the routine of life in Costa Rica- parenting 3 young children, worshipping the Lord, studying Spanish, MCO team time and then just life maintenance (groceries, baths, bills, haircuts, doctor's visit.... fill in the blank).  Life seems "normal" or at least very close to it.

We've passed the half-way point of our time in language school. This is exciting in many ways- the greatest being that we are much closer to arriving in Cusco to begin ministry there, which is what we have been praying for over the past 5 years!

But, we are also overwhelmed at times but how much we have yet to learn of the Spanish language.  Even today, we were talking about how we have to think through the simplest sentence structures or "mentally prepare" ourselves for speaking in Spanish.  Eliza, on the other hand, just breaks out with Spanish words in the middle of her sentences!  It's funny, she isn't "mentally preparing" herself for speaking in Spanish, the words just flow.

Reminds me a lot of how faith like a child is strongly encouraged in the Bible. This type of faith is not something you "prepare" for, but it's just there- real, honest and raw.  I pray that God would continue to draw and transform my heart to this child-like faith; faith that just flows out of a heart in love with its Savior.