GRADUATES!!!!!!

Today we officially graduated language school!!! WOHOO!!!!

After a long year of classes, tutoring, homework, endless notecards and exams...we are finally done with language school.

While we are no where near fluent, we have a great base to build on and we'll have the rest of our lives to perfect what we've learned the past year...

What have we learned? you might be wondering.

We've learned 15 different verb tenses and how to conjugate any verb into these 15 tenses. We've leaned 14 rules to the subjunctive verb tense. We've taken both oral and written exams; prepared, presented and moderated Bible Studies in Spanish; written countless papers on various topics and even debated some "hot topics" like death penalty, abortion and stem cell research both orally and through written papers.

It has been a great year and the teachers and staff at the Institue are really top of the line. We've grown to trsut and love many of them and it is great for us to have them here to lend us an ear and share life here with.

The fellow students we've met this past year will, in just a matter of days, be scattered all over Latin America as well as back in the states and other parts of the world as well. Countries like Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Mexico, Columbia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Argentina just to name a few. For us, in part, today was a little sad. I, of course, shed a few tears. I have made some dear friends this past year who I will miss terribly. However, I have great joy because I know they will be taking the life-saving message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations! My sadness was momentary today because I know this is part of the plan God has for them and if they don't go, how will the people in those countries hear the good news of Jesus Christ?

Today, if for nothing else, was a reassurance of the good things God has done this past year. He has brought us so far in such a short time. He first created us, molded us over the early years of our lives, called us here, provided for us to be come here and remain here, and has created us for the purpose of being here. Today was the end of a great chapter in our lives. We now begin a new chapter sure to be full of things unimaginable to us now. We thank God for giving us the stregth to get to today and we petition Him for all we need for the days ahead.

Here are a few pictures from today...ENJOY!!


Matt and Brooke carrying the Costa Rican flag


Our family with the Costa Rican flag. Don't the girls look ADORABLE??? They have on their traditional Costa Rican dresses.


Some dear friends who will be returning to the states to start a Hispanic church plant in their city. Brian and Rebecca Harrison and their kids, Katie and Nick.


Our son, Ethan Matthew


Our Iz (or Isa, if we are speaking in Spanish)


The one and only Audrey Ann (with her "popi" or sucker)