"The best"

Yesterday, we had wanted to go to San Jose to visit friends. We wanted to be a part of a very special lady's quincinera (15th birthday party).

However, car issues and finances forced us to stay home this weekend. It seems however, looking back, the Lord had planned for us to be here all along.

Thursday afternoon, the power went out in our house. Nothing terribly unusual about this since this is a daily occurence here during rainy season. However, as I looked around outside, I noticed that ours was the only house without power. THAT is unusual. I checked with our neighbors to see if they had power (I could see there lights on but that is just what we do- we ask each other these things) and she did. Last week, half the hosue was out of power and also in her house. That has happened several times over the past two years. But that day- it was just me.

"Did Matt pay the bill?" I wondered...

"Check the breaker," she told me. "Good idea. I'll do that!"

Inside I went to check the breaker box...but to no avail. Thanks to our good friend Doug, the box is neatly identified, but I still didn't know which switch to flip...so I waited. Matt and the kids were gone at the moment, so I waited.

Not too much longer, our landlord came through the gate asking what the problem was.

"I don't know." I said.

He checked it out and realized that it was only half the house that was out of power. So, began the testing and flipping of this switch and that one. In and out to the breaker bnox outside the house.

By this time, Matt had gotten home and was in on the problem-solving. Also our friends had gotten there who we had invited over earlier in the day to play Settlers. So, the house is full of people and kids but we can't do anything as the power keeps going on and off again.

*Smile* and remember this is life in Costa Rica...

Finally the guys determined which part of the house they could keep current flowing through 'safely' throughout the night and they left. We decided that we'd pack up and head to our friends house to play and eat- as it was now supper time and we had planned to play the game before supper...but, again, this is life...and flexibility is key.

So, we ended up having a great evening, although much later than we'd anticipated...it was fun and I am thankful.

Friday morning brought distraction after distraction- little issues that take precedence over the things you have planned to do. It seems the longer we live here the more common these things become in our everyday lives.

I read a commentary by Chuck Smith on Romans and he talks about the man who expects distractions in his life and who is willing and ready to accept them into his day. The man who gives his day over to the Lord each morning and gladly receives the 'distractions of the day' as blessings and opportunities of the day is the man who gains peace.

The man who grumbles and gets frustrated with the little distractions and things that keep him from his plan for his day is the man who is forever angry and bitter, grumpy and generally frustrated.

Life here, especially life in Guanacaste, is so slow paced, so laid-back. Life is so different than what we were used to in the city. There was always a measure of hurry and impatience in transactions and life, especially on the roads. That doesn't exist here. You simply cannot expect to run out and quickly do something. To leave the house to do one or two errands will take you no less than 2 hours, despite everything being within 10-15 minutes distance.

This fresh perspective from Pastor Chuck Smith gave us new insight into our days and the perceived 'distractions.'

So, when Matt was outside unclogging the pila sink drain (the outside wash sink that the dirty water from our washing machine drains into) - somehow a pencil and a pen had gotten lodged into the drain hole causing what could be a potentially major problem if they had gotten shoved farther down into the hole. He had to get that unclogged right then, as I was doing laundry that day.

So, anyway, as he was outside, the neighbor boy and Joel, a boy we have in PFK, were playing soccer in the field behind our house. Joel called over to Matt that Saturday was his birthday.

Although we've had Joel with us in PFK since we began the ministry over a year ago, we had never known his birthday. He never knew his birthday because no one had ever told him when it was. Although he has a very large extended family, no one in his family cares for him. They actually try to forget about him. He was unwanted and the circumstances around his birth and the story of how he came to be are things his family wants to forget. Therfore, they often look past him. There have been times when he has went without food for days, as no one thought about giving him any.

No one has ever celebrated his birthday before.

So, when Matt came in and told me what Joel had said, I wondered how he knew it was his brithday, but was thankful that at last he had found out.

I later went out to take clothes off the line and he then aske dme if I knew that tomorrow was his birthday. We had just had our intern update the birthday/phone list we keep but I had not yet had time to look it over or update the files in the computer. When I said I didn't know, he told me that the "new girl" had written it down, didn't I know that?  :)

I asked Joel if he was excited for his brithday and he said "kind of." I asked him if he was going to celebrate and he said no. I asked if he wanted to celebrate and he said yes, but that he wasn't going to.

When I got back inside, I asked Matt if we could take Joel with us to the beach on Saturday.

(Saturday is our family day and it is generally spent at the beach. (I know, life is sooo hard, right?)  :)

So, Matt went out and invited Joel to go with us.

We picked him up yesterday morning and he was all smiles. We had to stop at the grocery store to pick up things to make lunch on the beach and I wanted to get a small cake. (I was going to make him one, but realized I didn't have all the ingredients I needed...)

I had wrapped the cake up in a bag to take it out to the car where he and Ethan and Matt were waiting, but it was kind of obvious what it was...he smiled as I went to put it intothe cooler and asked what it was. I told him he'd have to wait and see :)

We had a wonderful day at the beach. Our intern, Katie came with us also and the day is always fun when she is around. She commented on how different Joel was hanging out with us then he is when he is in PFK. It is true, he was all smiles all day, polite and respectful, and considerate and calm.

He is not one of the trouble-maker kids, but he is one that will smart off from time to time or get angry. He is a child who doesn't know how to receive love easily because he isn't given love on a regular basis by those closest to him. He struggles showing love, also.

Not yesterday. Certainly the Spirit was with us as it was such a beautiful day and he fit right in as if he was part of our family. None of seemed to notice there was someone extra with us.

We ended up being at the beach until about 4 PM that day. (We had gotten there around 11:00 AM). As we were leaving, I asked Joel if he had had a good day.

With a smile on his face he said,

"The best."

If we had taken the trip we had wanted to take, we could not have shared the day with Joel yesterday. If our car had not needed some work, if it was not having this issue we cannot pinpoint, if we'd had a little more 'spending money'...etc...

If it were not for these little 'distractions' that kept us from doing what we had wanted to do, we'd not have been able to be a part of what the Lord had planned. I am so thankful for our day yesterday.

 Every moment was such a blessing.

From the seagulls 'fishing' in the water, to the sunshine all day, the quick shower that came and went, the yummy chocolate cake, the great fun in the crashing waves later in the day, Matt and all the kids exploring the rocks, great conversations with Katie, lunch on the beach, 'Smokey' the Flamingo Beach dog...and the wind in our hair on the way home...

Blessing after blessing.

Thank You Jesus, for such a great day...and for giving us the opportunities you gave us this weekend to be a blessing and for the blessings we received as well.
FYI: The Friday afternoon our landlord came back and after several hours was able to fix the problem. However, it is going to be necessary for the electric company to come out and make repairs to something in the near future. I now have full power in my house again and can use the stove to cook, thankfully! (The kitchen area and our bedroom were areas that were left without power Thursday evening.)