Fumigation

Because it is rainy season, there is, as you might guess, a build-up of water in low-lying areas and certain areas just become saturated. This leads to the breeding of mosquitoes. There are several different types of mosquitoes in this area, including one type that carries the Dengue virus. We've been extra careful recently with bug spray and keeping the doors closed. Matt and Ronny have been working on building screen doors for both our front and back doors. There have been many cases of the virus in the area and surrounding areas, with one area near here closing school and business in an effort to keep people out because it had spread so rapidly.

Also, the city has been spraying the area to kill existing mosquitoes as well as possibly prevent eggs from hatching.

Today, a team of men came through our neighborhood looking somewhat like something out of the Ghost Buster movie and carrying a large sprayer that looked very much like what Bill Murray's character carried in the movie.

They wore gas masks and were spraying all the areas near the road, trees, bushes, anywhere where there was standing water. If you left your gate opened, they would come into your yard and spray into your home.

So, we gathered the dogs and waited for him to come our way. We walked over to our neighbors as he came and sprayed this thick cloud of mosquito poison into our home...sounds really safe, huh?

Clouds rolled out of the house for minutes after he was gone. Matt grabbed the camera and took a few pictures for you to see. I wish we had one of the guy doing the spraying...it was sure s sight! The cloud has cleared some when he took these, so if you can imagine it about 5 times thicker...you literally could not see through it!

New brothers in Christ

Tonight, Matt started discipleship with Wilmer from Santa Rosa, who we met through the VBS that East Hill team did the first of the month. Wilmer asked if his cousin Kevin, could also be part of the study and he started tonight as well. Wilmer's mom and grandma were both listening during different parts of the lesson.

God moved, God prepared, God opened the hearts of Wilmer and Kevin and both of them accepted Christ with Matt tonight! Praise God!!!

Their eternity has been forever changed and now they are truly beginning New Life in Christ! Please pray for these new brothers in Christ!

Also: an update on Dinora's family: her brother Marlin has completely stopped drinking, since the first day her and I visited with her mom. He now has 22 days sober. He has also started to attend a church in a nearby town. Please continue to pray for this family and their salvation.

Pray also against the enemy's tactics to oppress the disciples God has risen up here. Specifically against spiritual attacks in the form of nightmares or insomnia or feelings of low-self worth. pray that those like Elvita will be strengthened and filled with joy, knowing that Christ lives in them and it is through HIM that they are able to do all things.

Wisdom from the Web

We've been reading Charlotte's Web as our read-aloud and we all love it! I have enjoyed reliving the story that I loved as a girl. (I remember fondly the boxed set I had of Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and the Trumpet of the Swans).

I love using great works of literature as the basis for our studies and here is a wondeful example of why. In this book, we have learned many new vocabulary words, but what has been especially exciting has been our study on spiders that has stemmed from the information in the book about spiders. As we get to know Charlotte more, we learn about her fascinating body and abilities. Last week, we studied about spiders legs and drew on our notebooks the 7 parts of a spider's leg.

This week, we have been studying their webs and their ability to spin and trap. We found a cool demonstration on the internet about building a web, watched it and studied it. Then we learned about spider facts, types, and body structure and also the differences between insects and spiders. Then we went looking for them outside in the world around us. We found a GIANT spider web strung from one tree to the next in the back field. We also learned that there are tarantulas here, a fact that I was EXTREMELY happy to be oblivious to before Wednesday!

It has been a wonderful week of science study and today we concluded with a Moody science video that focused on the trap door spider as well as a water spider that creates a bubble around its body that allows it to breathe while it moves about looking for its prey.

Ethan's conclusion to the study of spiders is that no one can argue the existence of the Creator when you look at all the spider can do. I'd have to agree with him.

Today I wanted to share a section from chapter 14. Fern's mom has become worried about her because she spends so much time at the farm "talking" with the animals and so she goes to see the family doctor, Dr. Dorian. He assures Mrs. Arable that Fern is in fact fine. Mrs. Arable questions him about the writing in the spider web. The doctor responds his wonder and amazement more at the spider itself than the writing in the web. Here is the following exchange between the two:

Mrs. A: "What's so miraculous about a spider's web? I don't see why you say a web is a miracle- it's just a web."
Dr. D: "Ever try to spin one?"
Mrs A: "No, but I can crochet a doily and knit a sock."
Dr. : "Sure, but somebody taught you, didn't they?"
Mrs A: "My mother taught me."
Dr. D: "Well, who taught the spider? A young spider knows how to spin a web without any instructions from anybody. Don't you regard that as a miracle?"
Mrs. A: "I suppose so. I never looked at it that way before. Still, I don't understand how those word got into the web. I don't understand it, and I don't like what I can't understand."
Dr. D: "None of us do, I'm a doctor. Doctors are supposed to understand everything. But I don't understand everything, and I don't intend to let it worry me."

Night driving....swiss cheese...random cows

No pictures today...just a story...

I have never enjoyed driving in the rain, but I especially loathe driving in the rain at night...my vision is at its worst and even with anti-glare/anti-reflective (and anything else to prevent having problems with the combination of these two things while driving) put on my glasses, I still have terrible issues at night while driving and even more with the addition of rain.

Tonight, as I was driving to my disciple, Marcella's house, it was raining, but only slightly and it was still daylight. It takes about 15 minutes to get to her house in nearby Langosta. The road to her house is worse than horrible. At one point, there was no road to speak of, only a large expanse of holes about the size of my tire with small spaces between them. Think swiss cheese for a road. Nowhere to go but through the holes, slowly and gently. I manage just fine, arrive at the correct Tica hour of 5 minutes late and thoroughly enjoy our time together.

As I am heading home, night has fallen and it is a pleasantly cool evening. (I actually wore a sweatshirt out for the first time since we've lived here!). It as raining slightly as I set off for home.

As stated before, rain and night are not a good combination for driving for me. It begins to rain harder as I maneuver the road and traffic and people walking home after work. I manage to make it through Swiss Cheese Land and through the tourists caminando (walking) in Tamarindo. As I get out of Tamarindo and shift into third gear, I am trying hard to remember all the holes in this main road (there are plenty). The glare from the lights of the vehicle behind me is almost blinding. Oncoming traffic swerves randomly into my lane as they dodge the holes on their side; I hug the ever erroding shoulder of the road on my side.

Up ahead I see a sprinkling of people walking home from their jobs in tourist land. I try not to hit them, although they are walking in the middle of my driving lane and try not to hit the holes in the road and also try to avoid splashing the people as I go through the water on the road. (It is raining harder at this point in my journey).

Wait- what is that ahead? WHOA! Four cows in the road- I guess it is supper time for them too...I swerve slightly into the opposite lane to avoid the three on my side of the road. Oncoming traffic thankfully slows and stops to give me room and to avoid the one in their side of the road.

I pass by, laugh to myself and venture on. Glad to have remembered the huge hole that always gets me at this certain bend in the road just before entering Villareal, I make my way past the small bridge and favorite little pulperia before coming to the cruce (intersection) where I can head left to MegaSuper and on to Santa Rosa or right to Villareal. I go right and head home, wandering to myself the procedure that must happen if one is involved in a "choque" (accident)with a cow. I am sure there is a law about it here in this developing country I've come to love...Must both parties, that would be the car and the...err...vaca (cow) have to remain in the exact positions of the accident until the police arrive as in the case of two automobiles? What if the cow randomly wanders away...?

Does anyone know how to put a copyright on pictures? I want to put our name or some trademark to let people know the picture is mine on all the photos I post on the blog. Who knows how to do this?

PLEASE help :)

Thanks in advance!!! :)

Date with my girl, Audrey

Today, as we were studying, Audrey says to me, "Mommy, when we are done with this, I want to go on date just with you!"

Well, what do you say to that but "Well, ok!" :)

So, we finished up, took our nature walk, and I left instructions with Matt for Isabelle and Ethan on what they needed to do to finish up their work and off we went.

On the short drive into Tamarindo, I asked Audrey what she would like to do on our date. She said she would like to have juice and some ice cream from MegaSuper, the local chain grocery store we have here (think Hometown IGA).

I asked her if we could do something else, also and she said "Sure Mom, wherever you wanna go!"

So, we headed to the TCBY in town (yeah...there is actually a TCBY here) so she could get her chocolate ice cream with Oreo topping and then we walked over to the smoothie shop and I got my favorite mandarina, maracuya and mango smoothie. As we sat at the table closet to the street, on their little covered patio, with the high back, stool-like chairs, she said, "WOW! I've never sat in chairs like these! I'm bigger than everyone!" (the patio is about 8 feet or so higher than the sidewalk, so as people pass she towers above them as she leans over the railing, giving passersby her best smile). Then she says, "Well, I'm not bigger than God, no one is. Not even Dave (a good friend of ours) and he's pretty big! God is biggest of all!"

As we sat, it began to rain. She said she should have brought her sweater because she was cold. (It was hardly cold, but the rain on her arms had given her a chill). So, she decided it was time to head to MegaSuper for her "juice." As we got to leave, it began to pour, so we quickly got into the car and headed to MegaSuper.

When we got there, she wanted to pull the little basket (they have these cool little baskets on wheels here that are quite useful) and she also wanted to scan every item we picked up on the little price scanner machine they have in the store. She remembered that she wanted to look for this certain type of chip at the store that Isabelle had bought from the pupleria the other day in Santa Rosa. Well, she couldn't find them, but found her favorite cheese balls instead and her "juice" which actually ended up being 7Up.

She wanted me to park in a certain spot so that if it rained we while we were in the store we wouldn't get wet when we came out. that spot was taken as well as the one I usually park in so we parked in another one across from the building. Wouldn't you know, it poured while we were in there and we of course had not brought the umbrella in with us!

We got in the car and she said, "Well, now my hair's wet! That's good because I love it when my hair us wet!'

She is one-of-a-kind and I love her! I thank God for her.

I forgot to mention in the post about her falling asleep yesterday that she thinks it was the first or second time she had played the game Blokus. It is a pretty intense game and she did great at it. I ending up beating her, but only by 2 points! I actually thought she was going to win she had been doing so well! She is super smart, that girl!

FEPC family news

Watch this short clip of our good friend, Jim Milstead, from our FEPC family in Frankfort. This made us laugh (and made me cry a bit thinking of our time together with them last March). For those of you who have been to Guanacaste during dry season, you'll get the dirt in your shoes joke...

Enjoy!

Audrey wanted to play a game with me after supper tonight, so her and I were playing Blokus in our bedroom while Ethan and Isabelle were reading silently in the living room. When Audrey and I came out after finishing our game, we found this sleeping beauty...






This morning, she said that she just couldn't keep her eyes open. She wanted to finish one more chapter but her eyes kept closing. So she set her book down beside her and tried to open her eyes really wide so she wouldn't fall asleep, but eventually she did! :) So sweet...

She must have one tough teacher...

Today, we worked really hard in the morning, trying to get into our new routine of morning-only school days (because Matt and I are preparing for new ministry starting soon that will be in the afternoons!!!) and I guess Audrey apparently felt the extra-hard work atmosphere...I came back from putting something away in the school room and she had konked out on the sofa, pencil still in her hand. She reached up to scrath herself and her pencil fell out of her hand (I took it off of her- no worries!). So sweet!

We got so much done in just a couple hours today- and it was great both for them and for me! I LOVE homeschooling!!!

New disciples

Today I started discipleship with Clency and Maria Jose from Santa Rosa as well as Urania. They are sweet girls and we had a great time today.



Please pray for Wilmer, who Matt was supposed to start with last Friday. When Matt went to his house, he was not home. Matt tracked him down today and hopefully they will begin this Friday.

Kids here have a very strange school schedule. One week they will have morning classes all week, from about 7:00 - 11:00. Then the following week, their classes will begin at 11:00 and they will be dismissed at about 3:00, but sometimes later.

So that means, for discipleship purposes, we will meet at different times every other week. It will be a little difficult at first keeping this schedule, so if you wouldn't mind praying for us, that would be great! :) especially that I can remember what week we are on!

We now have discipleship every day of the week, Monday through Friday. Each day either one or both of us are in discipleship at some point during the day and we are praising God for the work He has given us here! Some of it is one on one and some of it is Matt's continued training with the leadership of both churches.

Please continue to pray for discipleship at Calvary Chapel as well as First Baptist churches. Also for Ronny and Dinora, Elvita and Ana and my disciple, Marcella, from Calvary Chapel. Please pray for Dinora's family as well. We were unable to go last week because I was very ill the day we were to go. (All better now, praise the Lord!)

Just hanging around...

The howler monkeys paid us a visit today. These guys were huge and literally right above our heads in these pictures!!!

Audrey's 6th birthday party

Today we had Audrey's 6th birthday party. She invited several girls from our neighborhood and chose a Hello Kitty pinata, thus, the theme became Hello Kitty.

The party started with Hello Kitty coloring pages the girls could do as they arrived. I downloaded them free from the internet. Then, the girls made Hello Kitty picture frames. I had downloaded the template off the internet and the girls cut them out and glued them to cardboard. Matt took pictures of each guest with our two girls and then printed them for me while the party was going on. The girls then glued their picture on to the frame. They turned out so cute, but I didn't get a picture. I will do that and get it on here soon.

Then, we played "Pin-the-flower-on-Hello-Kitty" which was super simple to make. I drew the Kitty face and the girls painted it for me and we already had the paper flowers from the girls room decorations.

Afterwards, Audrey opened the gifts the girls brought her (they were so sweet!) and then we did the pinata and had cake and ice cream.

It is generally customary here to invite the whole family to a birthday party and serve food as well as cake and the treat bags and such. We decided not to do that and we only invited girls due to the expense involved. Audrey really only wanted a girl-only party. She did concede, however, to allow our two neighbor boys, Alberto and Angel, and the little boy on our other side, Gabriel, to come over for the pinata and cake.

It was the craziest thing, though. And I guess you just get this sometimes....there was a mom that came by that we know who lives down the road from us. Well she stopped at our gate, along with three boys and her two boys and nephew and another girl that we do not know very well and they just stood and watched as we did the pinata. That in itself was not so bad, just awkward. But then they opened our gate and let the three little boys come in. We could hear them telling the kids to go by the pinata.

Part of being here means seeing people who live in extreme poverty. Sometimes that poverty drives people to do really weird things (like push your kid into someone's yard to crash a party). We know this family and know that they live in poverty. We know the husband does not work. And we know that has caused this woman to do some really weird things...and some dishonest things.

So, while in my flesh, I wanted to explain the necessity of being invited to come into someone's yard and to a birthday party, I simply refrained and allowed the little boys to come in. After the pinata had been opened and the candy spilled, I allowed the older boys to come in and gave them bags (There was plenty of candy to go around). (I tried to ignore the screams of the mom for her son to get all the candy he could...)

It is something so simple, but can make a person go nuts. Candy. We've seen it before though, several times. Pinatas make people go a little crazy in this country.

Then we served them all cake and ice cream, even the mom who remained outside the gate. It was a good lesson tonight as we sat down to dinner about how we react to things in the community. How do we be like Jesus to each and every person in this neighborhood?

If we (I) had not allowed this family to be a part of this fiesta, we certainly would have been "within our rights." However, we also would have been acting in our flesh. Despite not being right what the mom did, we felt an example needed to be made to our kids and we just hope they can remember to be selfless and kind and offer grace in the future.

Both Matt and I admitted to our kids that we really didn't know how to handle the situation. We would not expect our kids to enter someone else's yard or go into a party uninvited. However, most of our experiences in this life are about taking what we see, what we experience, what happens all around us and relating it to the example of Jesus Christ. I'd rather err on the side of grace than act out of judgement.

These are the people God has asked us to love as He loves us; in all the good, the bad, and the ugly. And so it is to obey that command that we daily strive.

Enjoy the pictures :)

The cake:

I know I am NO professional...but the smile on the girls faces when they saw this cake was well worth the sweat it took to get this baby to come out today!

more pictures of country living...

Just a few pictures of the recent rains. As I posted in the last post, we woke up Wednesday morning to about 1/8 inch of water throughout our kitchen and living room. It had rained all day Tuesday and stormed with heavy rains all night Tuesday. The rain was heavier than any we'd experienced here in Guanacaste. What we believe happened was the field behind our house, which sets a few feet above the land our home is on, became saturated and the ater began to run off into our yard, then saturated our yard and seeped into our house through the back door. How it filled our kitchen and living room we really do not know, but it did. It wasn't quite how we pictured the day starting but we made the best of it.

Then, as I went to start the washer to wash the towels we had used to sop up the water, I realized we had no water. As I we sat down to eat, the power went out! I then realized that there had been an announcement last week by a car that goes through the town with a megaphone, that the power would be out all day today but we had not heard it...

In the midst of figuring out what to so with the standing water we had in the yard, Dinora's dog got through our fence and into our yard and took off after our cat, which got Reina going after her. They both took off tearing around the house and Audrey took off after them, trying to save the cat. As she neared the corner of the house, she wiped out in a huge section of mud and fell flat on her bum. Of course, she was sore and crying...and covered in mud. I'm trying to console her and make sure she is ok (she went down hard), the dogs go chasing around the yard for the um-teenth time (although I think the cat had made it safely in the house by now but now a chicken had wondered in the yard and they were after it!). Ethan was running after them, Isabelle hollering at Reina, and into the yard comes Dinora after her dog, Nici (Nee-cee). Finally the dogs get settled, Nici back in her yard and tied up, chickens safe, cat safe and Audrey in the shower with a trickle of water trying to clean up. With the little bit of water left in the pipes, I got her clothes cleaned up, thankfully.


So, no water and no power all day today. Matt spent the day digging a trench half-way around our house to allow the water to run out of our yard and away from the house to the side road.


As I was talking to Dona Elvita this morning, I said "It is always something, isn't it?"

She said, "Always something new, huh?"

We chuckled together and I realized that it is not just us North Americans sometimes living here that laugh and wonder about the strange things that happen living here in Costa Rica. Even the nationals understand.

This is the day...

Six years ago, God delivered us the blessing of Audrey Ann and life hasn't been the same since! :)

Happy Birthday, my little girl!!!

By the way, she asked for french toast for breakfast and pancakes for supper! She truly is one of a kind!!!

This is the day! This is the day! This is the day that the Lord has made! We will rejoice! We will rejoice! And be glad in it! And be glad in it! This is the day that the Lord has made! We will rejoice and be glad in it! This is the day! This is the day! That the Lord has made!














Despite a strange start to the day (and 1/8th inch of water through the length of our house in the living room and kitchen) and no power or water all day, we still had a good day! We were not able to go to the beach like she wanted, but we will make up for that another day! She is such a happy and content girl she didn't even mind that I couldn't make her a cake today because we had no power. She is looking forward to having a few of her friends over Saturday for a small party. :)

Weekly Prayer Requests

The following is an email sent this afternoon to our email prayer partners asking for prayer this week in three specific areas. thank you for praying with us!

Dear family and friends,
Hello! We hope this update finds you well. We've had a busy few weeks
and although we have loved every minute of it, we are looking forward
to a little bit more of a normal routine.

We have several things that you can pray for this week:

First, please pray for the new discipleship groups we will start this
week in Santa Rosa. Also, please continue to pray as we contuinue to
follow-up with many more kids from the VBS as we seek to make new
disciples in this small village with now Evangelical presence.

Secondly, please pray as Brooke accompanies Dinroa each week as she
disciples her mother, Judith, her father, Ruben, her brother. Marlin,
and her sister, Sandra. Please pray for Ruben to accept the Lord as
his Savior. Pray for Dinora as she grows in her faith, and makes this
important display of obedience to make disciples. This little village
has no Catholic church or Evangelical church, as do several others in
the area. Please pray for wisdom and guidance as we see disciples
making disciples in dark areas of Guanacaste. Pray first, that the
Holy Spirit be the source of our strength, wisdom and our guide. Pray
also for long lasting fruit.

Thirdly, we ask you to humbly pray with us as we begin yet another
adventure of total and utter dependence on Jesus. We've spent much
time in prayer, studying God's Word and in fasting about a new
ministry opportunity with which we were presented. We can clearly see
God's hand upon this opportunity and eagerly begin preparations for
its beginning. We will be sharing more as we ourselves gain more
details and information, meet with our new teammate and the pastor,
and develop a ministry plan. We've eagerly agreed to partner with the
Calvary Chapel church in implementing an after-school program which
will be primarily discipleship based, as well as provide tutoring, at
least a snack in the beginning (which will hopefully soon be a full
meal), English classes and opportunities for recreational sports all
in a safe Christ-centered environment. the program will be every day
after school five days a week. We have much to decide in these
beginning stages, much prayer still needed, and many things to discuss
and determine. But our priority now is determining what God's best is
and asking Him to match up our dreams with His. We ask that you pray
that we be filled, strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit as we
move forward in this. We will provide more details in our next
newsletter and upcoming prayer request emails. You cn check out the
following website for Potter's Field Ministries to get an idea of the
organization we will be working with:
http://www.pottersfieldglobal.org/

Thank you for partnering with us in making disciples in Costa Rica!

--
Serving Christ til He comes back,
Brooke :)

Check out our family:
www.mcclainfamily4him.org

Check out my blog:
www.costaricamcclains.blogspot.org

Check out our San Jose teammates:
www.clfcostarica.com

Check out our sending agency:
www.christianlightfoundation.com

San Jose

We took a quick trip to San Jose over the weekend. We had several purposes for our trip.

About three weeks ago we began praying about being part of a ministry here in Villareal. God clearly directed this path. To have the opportunity to be a part of this type of ministry was something Matt and I had once believed was 'in the plans' for us, but then God moved us here. We had somewhat laid that dream to rest and then God blew open a door that only He could have planned. MORE ON THAT COMING SOON!!! :)

So part of our purpose was to joyfully share this news with Mark and Meg and get a visit in with the Los Guido church. We were able to be a part of the Sunday afternoon service as well as a church talent show. It was so much fun and, per the prompting of Mark, our family even participated! :)

We were able to re-connect with the summer interns we had previously met in years past, as well as meet the new one. We also were pleasantly surprised that the current team was one we had worked with two years before. It was great to see their familiar faces!

And, of course, it was awesome to see our old buddies. I got caught up with several of the girls I've had connections with for years- it is always so good to see them. I was reflecting on how they've grown an changed over the four years we've been a part of this ministry (one year as a mission team member, then prayer partner; the rest on the field). I remember how when I first met some of them, they didn't really know what they wanted to be when they grew up. One girl, Fabi, is in her final semester of high school, has been preparing to go to the University and is going to go to school to be a doctor. When I first met her, she lived in a small tin shack on the side of the road on the main bus route through Los Guido. She graduates high school in December. Praise God for His work in this girl's life!

It was such a blessing to be on the Finca and see all that God has done. We had to take a detour from the normal route and came up on a parallel side street. As we came through, we could see the building. It is an awesome site!

We stayed with our good friends, Bob and B, in San Francisco, whom we met in language school. It was fun catching up with them late into the night and sharing stories and laughs. :)

Monday brought a full day of errands around the city. We started out with ordering Bibles with the generous offering we received while in the States. Thank you Hickory Grove!!) Then we headed to the Costa Rican Sam's Club to purchase family supplies (ie: peanut butter and Blue Bonnet sticks of margarine and other things like that! Two sticks of butter here are about the same cost as a box of 8 Blue Bonnet sticks at that store!)

We then went on to Clinica Biblica for Izzy's yearly asthma check. She checks out great1 Audrey had developed a fever Sunday night and had been coughing for several days and by this point in our trip was asking to go to the doctor herself, so we had Dr. Martinez check her out to. I'm sure glad we did because she has a throat infection and he prescribed Zithromax for her.

We then headed out of town to meet the man from whom we buy discipleship material. We were able to stock up because of the generous donations of the FEPC Vacation Bible School kids who raised money for the discipleship ministry here. THANK YOU Bible School kids!!

We met at a mall to pick up the books and while I was feeding the kids lunch, we realized there was a movie theatre in the mall. Audrey's birthday is tomorrow (She turns 6!!!). So, we decided to see if Toy Story 3 was playing and take the kids if it was as a special activity for Audrey's birthday. I ran in and found out that it was starting in about 45 minutes, so we finished up and went in to buy tickets. We haven't seen a movie in over a year so this was a real treat! It is just not something we do anymore. As we walked into the mall, all three of them were trying to guess what the surprise was. Then, Isabelle saw the theatre sign and with a huge gasp she screamed "Toy Story 3! Do we get to see Toy Story 3?" It was a priceless moment! The movie, by the way, is really good and we were pleasantly surprised! It made us all laugh. Audrey was a little impatient with all of the previews beforehand and kept saying "Is there ever gonna be the movie, Mom? I don't think there is gonna be a movie!" When I asked her if she was excited to see Toy Story 3 for her birthday, she kept saying that it wasn't her birthday yet so this wasn't for her birthday because her birthday was Wednesday!

Seeing the movie pushed our arrival home time way back, but it was worth it. The whole movie plush popcorn and drinks for all of us only cost $25!

After a slightly scary drive and lots of rain, we arrived home around 11 PM, laid down three sleepy kids and got most of the car unloaded, then went to bed ourselves.

Today, we've been catching up on laundry and cleaning around the house and tomorrow we will return back to normal. Costa Rican kids have been on their winter vacation for the last two weeks. We hosted the East Hill team two weeks ago and had the VBS in Santa Rosa. The rest of that week was spent in serious, focused prayer about this new ministry opportunity. We also began the follow-up from Janene's team. As posted before, we have three new discipleship group's there, with many more kids to follow-up with and several moms. We spent one day last week in getting to know a couple towns about an hour away from us. We had planned to meet some friends from language school that are serving in Nicaragua, but were leading a team here in Costa Rica. The team was ministering in a small village near Santa Cruz. We got a good feel of the layout of these to towns, finally had time to go and find the nearest major hospital (about time after living here for 8 months!) and also found a few places where we will be able to buy ministry supplies. It was wonderful to see these old friends, even if just for a couple hours. Then, Calvary Chapel held there annual VBS last week with a team from Reno, Nevada. Matt and I helped out with that and it was great fun. We look forward to working with Calvary Chapel in a greater capacity. The VBS ended Saturday and Sunday we left for San Jose. So, our kids had a little break form school, but now it is back to the grind.

A side note related to school: I met two people over the last two weeks that were extremely encouraging to me about homeschooling. One was on the team our language school friends lead in Santa Cruz. The other was a man serving on the St. John's mission team in San Jose. They both homeschooled (in the case of the man in San Jose, it was his wife who schooled) using very similar methods to that which I use and their "success" stories were very helpful in keeping me going. Sometimes I wonder if it will all be worth it one day...they helped me to remember that fruit begins to grow and it all matures in different time frames. I look forward to the day when my fruit has fully matured.

Here is a picture of our family participating in the Los Guido talent show. We sang a song the kids learned in VBS days before. :)

Audrey Ann

Ethan and I read the book Old Yeller last year and then we purchased the movie and it has quickly become a family favorite. I have always told Audrey that she reminds me of Arliss, the little brother in the story.

Here's why...






That's my girl!!! :)

New disciples

Please praise God with us for new disciples...

About two weeks ago, Dinora asked me if I would consider going with her to her mother's house to begin discipleship with her. She had spoken with her father on Father's Day and her told her he was tired of drinking, tired of the way his living his life one drunken day to the next. He wanted a change. Her mom had recently told her basically the same thing and her mom had given up drinking. But they were both missing something in their lives. Dinora, who has been praying for her parents since February of this year, began praying to God one day, as she sat in her house alone. She believes called her to disciple them. Terribly nervous of their reaction, she asked me if I would mind coming with her for moral support. Of course, I agreed. Her parents live about 15 minutes from us, in a little village that is so small there is no school, no Catholic church (which you know must mean it is small if it is in Latin America and there is no Catholic church) nor is there an evangelical church. Most of these people profess to be Catholic as their religion, but, as Dinora explained to me, do so with the stench of beer on their breath and a the empty beer bottle in their hand. Her mom agreed to meet with us and begin studying the Bible. It was an amazing couple hours with her that day last week. This week, her dad came as well as her brother and her sister. All four committed to doing the lessons together and our first week will be next week. Dinora is on fire, sharing her faith, what God has done in her life, sharing what Christ has done for each of them...courageously and boldly, believing in faith that God will work a miracle in their lives and reunite them, heal them, and save them, as He has done for her.

Praise God with us for disciples who make disciples...

Dinora with her sister and mother. Her father and brother will begin next week. Her father has never accepted the Lord and says he is not yet ready, but committed to begin discipleship next week.




Clency (Klensee) (in the yellow shirt)and Maria (in the blue shirt next to Clency)who will begin with me next week.



Wilmer, who is tossing the bean bag, who will begin with Matt next week as well.


Please pray for the many more names we have that said they'd like to be discipled as a result of the East Hill team's one day VBS. We have bits and pieces of addresses and it is slow going tracking them down.

Please pray with us for a special family we met who helped us track down some of the kids. their names are Alejandro and Reina and they have two small children.

In a small little town without an evangelistic presence, God has clearly given us people of peace. Praise Him with us for that!

Hasta luego...

Today we said 'see you later' to some great friends we've met here in Villareal. We've studied the Word together, shared life with them, worshipped together, prayed together (ALOT!), ministered together, grown together, and even went to Nicaragua with them last February! God has blessed us richly with their friendship this past 8 months and we are thankful for every day we've shared together.

Dave and Tamra are off to study Spanish in a little town in Nicaragua, where living is cheap, the school fits them and ultimately and most importantly, that God has called them too, for this next season of their life.

We will miss them terribly, but in some way, we've grown somewhat accustomed to this life of perpetual 'see you later.' We've long since accepted and understood that this life is not our home...Our home is heaven where we will be for eternity with our great King Jesus Christ. That is why in the Body of Christ, it is never 'goodbye' but always 'see you later.' Because we have the hope of eternity together.

Do you know today, with great certainty, where you will spend eternity?

If not, leave me a comment. I'd love to share with you how you can know for sure.

Have a blessed day!

Learning to dance...

We are in the beginning of rainy season here, which means rain for at least part of the day, every day, sometimes all day or all night...It is so different here in Guanacaste than it was in the city in terms of vegetation and growth and color...In the city, even during dry season there was a measure of green around us all the time. The patch of grass outside the walls and gates of our home stayed green all year round and needed cut all year round. But here, when it is dry it is brown and in the final months of dry season, it is really brown. We honestly didn't realize the amount of grass that could grow in our yard here. It is almost uncontrollable! When we arrived here last year, it has already stopped raining, albeit a month early, but things ha already started drying out and we had a mostly dirt front yard. Now it resembles a semi-jungla- or jungle!

Here are some pictures of the rain...

This is our river...I mean road...when it rains (sorry for the poor quality)




And these are of around our home...









The rainy season is Costa Rica's winter season. We were told there is not much of a temperature change between the winter and the summer seasons so we were prepared for more of the same old heat...But we have been remarkably surprised in the many days where the temperature has dropped into the 80's and the humidity has dropped as well. It has been a welcome relief from the 100 plus degree days we were having before we left for the states.

The rain or the change in temperature or maybe both has brought new visitors to our humble abode...some of whom have been welcome, others, well, not so much...

This cute lizard iguana was watching me hang the laundry this morning...







This mama spider had made her nest and her babies were born on the cord of my dryer. I grabbed the cord to plug it in and broke the nest, therefore releasing all the babies and the mama...eeewww...But check out the crazy design on her back- yeah- it's a cross...


For one day, Izzy had her dream come true of having a horse...at least she could pretend :)





And one day she caught this brown lizard and kept him and fed him, but she let him go at the end of the day...She named him Brownie :)


Because it is winter, life is a little different here now. I've noticed that sicknesses have set in, colds are being spread around, not as much outside work gets done (because it is wet and raining most of the time) and people sleep later in the morning. One morning, while the East Hill team was here, I needed my electric skillet to make pancakes and I had left it next door the night before because Dinora had used it in cooking the supper for the team. Dona Elvita is always awake at 5:30 and usually out working or cooking or doing laundry so I wasn't worried ab out getting it back. But that morning they all had slept in - no one was out and it seemed no one was stirring in the house. I felt horrible calling and I know I woke up Ana, but they graciously brought it over to me. Later they talked about how they just don't want to get up especially when it is rainy or the sun isn't out first thing in the morning. Despite being a tropical climate and it still being warm, it is funny to me the similarities in winter-time living no matte where you are.

Even the ever-present howler monkeys had been on what seemed to be a period of hibernation. The East Hill team saw some of them though while they were here, which was cool for them. this morning it was incredibly sunny and the temperature was up surely near 95....and they were out. They'd come by to hang out, it appeared. I even caught a couple glimpses of a baby hanging around :)









We, too, have felt the effects of the rain in our family. The kids, who have grown so accustomed to being outside ALL day long don't so much like being inside when it rains. The girls came up with a creative way to sit outside and catch some QT with the dogs and the neighbor boy...





Mostly, we are in a season of change in many things. Change in 'grades' (if we actually kept track of that :) ) but also some changes in ministry. We are seeing the church leaders take hold of discipleship and begin reproducing, which is totally the Lord and totally awesome. And so, in that, we seek the Lord again, as to His will for our lives. We feel the Holy Spirit working and in no way feel Him leading us elsewhere, yet we feel a change in direction coming. As we seek His face, He changes us and molds us, teaches us and draws us to him. It is a completely uncomfortable thing at times, to be made into something you previously were not...but exhilarating at the same time. It feels so wonderful to abide in Him, to be taught by Him. Yet, even in the midst of intimate time with my Creator, the enemy's whispers can be heard. The doubt and fear surface, the inadequacies and weaknesses begin bubbling up and excuses form.

But then, He that is within me, He that is stronger than he that is in this world, strengthens me with His word, reminds me that where HE needs me to be is in that very spot of weakness so He can shine, so the Glory can be His, so His power may be made known and His Spirit allowed to work.

I am encouraged by His word, strengthened through prayer, renewed as I listen for His voice, transformed as I wait on Him.

When we were in the states and had the pleasure of staying at Conehaven in southern Georgia, there was a little plaque on the cabin wall that said, "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." Isabelle liked it so much, she copied it down in her journal. I thought about that today as it rained. It was more than just a rain, as thunder and lightening accompanied the heavy downfall. Lucy, our Labrador, is terrified of storms and loud noises in general. Before we adopted her, the vet told us that we'd most likely need to buy her some pills to give to her when it stormed. I tried some natural remedy when we got her, but it did nothing for her. But what does calm her is allowing her to be inside with us. She simply comes in, sits on the floor beside one of us, generally near me, and falls asleep. It is as if there is nothing in the world happening around her, if only she can be near us as it storms. And then I thought about when Jesus and the disciples were on the boat (Thanks Janene for that book - amazingly great timing for giving it to us!) and how He slept in the midst of a horrendous storm. And the disciples quivered in fear. They were right there with him as He slept, their Savior their King, yet they were full of fear.

We can hover and cower in fear during the difficult times of life; we can become paralyzed with fear when a decision needs to be made; we can simply shut down when it all just gets too tough...OR we can bask in the glory of our LORD Jesus, rest in the safety of His arms and trust in Him to lift us and carry us and lead us through life.

I love the scene in the movie The Notebook (not an endorsement for the movie in any way...just a chick flick I happen to like), where Noah and Ally are on the lake in his boat and it is so peaceful and serene and all the geese are around them. then out of nowhere the rain starts and then the storm. Ally tries to keep dry but her efforts are worthless. Then she just gives up, throws her head back and laughs.

Isn't that the way we should be with Christ. Shouldn't we just let go and throw our head back and let Him lead, whether it is raining, pouring, storming or a bright sun-shiney day?

And also, shouldn't we learn to come close to him, to lay at His feet, and rest, without a care or a worry, as our dog Lucy does when she is scared. Isn't that what He asks us to do,

"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

I wanna learn to dance with my Savior. I love the rain. The sound it makes on the tin roof. The way it makes all things grow. The way it makes things green.

I'm tired of waiting for the storms to pass, hiding out. I wanna make the most of it...put on my rain boots, take my chair out, carry the umbrella and BE...just like my two sweet girls showed me today!

Won't you join me?