more pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the latter part of our trip to Indiana:


Audrey singing songs from Bible school at FEPC. The kids were able to get a few nights of VBS in and LOVED it!


Smore's, swimming and hanging out with the McCarty's

We were able to stay at the McCarty's for an evening and on into the next day and it was a real joy to have that uninterrupted time with them.




























The next few are of the Canadian geese on the lake and the fog rolling off the lake in the morning, our visit with the Whitcomb family, and some of our trip to the Indiana State Fair, a family tradition. Ethan had waited and waited to get to see his best friend, Rob, and he was so excited when they finally saw each other. I thank God that Ethan got to see so many of his friends and get reconnected with them.






















































Our date with Samantha. We thought it would be cool and a great memory to take Samantha out for dinner- just her. I have fond memories of time spent alone with my aunts and uncles and I wanted to give this same gift to Samantha. We went to El Jaripeo, our favorite Mexican restaurant, more to practice our Spanish than for the food, to be perfectly honest! We taught Samantha some simple words in Spanish and she was using them with the waiter. She said at one point, "You guys sure do know alot about SpanishIt was a night to remember!


Uncle Mac and Tater Tot


Samantha and Aunt Brooke


I was able to visit with my sweet friend, Denise, and her three beautiful children. Her son Jacob and Ethan have been best buds since forever and it was good to catch up with them.


Ashlynn and Isabelle


Brooke and Denise- what a blessing to be able to have visited :)


Well, that is enough for now...more to come soon :)

I'm coming back to the heart of worship

What is the heart of worship?

Is it our desire to feel good after we've sat through 2 hours of "church?"

Is it singing 3-5 songs?"

Is it being in the building called the "church" with other people who call themselves "Christians?"

Well, for some time God has been teaching me what it means to worship Him...I'm still learning...but I have learned that it is none of the above.

I've learned that my deepest, most intimate and most intense moments of worshiping my Great King have come at the moments where I have come before Him, barren, broken and completely dependent on Him. Not waiting for what I'll get from the next few moments, but arriving before my God as a living sacrifice, seeking to praise Him, honor Him and glorify Him. Making it ALL about HIM.

One of the areas where I struggle most as a servant of the Most High God in a country that is not my own, is giving all of myself in this way and truly worshiping my King in the corporate worship setting. We've not hidden this fact throughout the two years of service here. It is not something that has not come easy for any member of our family, to worship corporately in Spanish. I've prayed countless times for the day to come when the praise flows easily with ease and without thinking from my lips in Spanish, but I'll admit it has been rare to fell the free-ness the same way I feel when worshiping in English. Church on Sunday mornings has often felt like part of our "job" rather than an opportunity to corporately worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. I do, however, believe and trust God that the day will come when the language will no longer be a barrier.

One of the the greatest joys of our time in the states was worshiping corporately in our heart language with three different churches. I also had the opportunity to be part of a woman's Bible Study while I was back and it was a great encouragement to me.

This Sunday, we chose to go against the grain, if you will and we stayed home from the normal church service to worship God together uninterrupted as a family. It was one of the best mornings services we've ever experienced, quite honestly. (No offense ,Pastor Tom ;] ) The discussion we had after with all three of our children was beyond compare- absolutely priceless.

So, this morning, I ask you to get back to the heart of worship- find your God, enter into quite solace with Him, offer yourself to Him, die to yourself and live for Him.

Pray for us as we seek to do the same. Pray for us as we go to whatever lengths necessary to maintain the spiritual health of out family while serving our King in Costa Rica.

picture post

well, as promised, here are some pictures of our trip to the states...much sooner than you may have expected ;)

Enjoy!


Wii on the big screen...this one's for you, Marcos!



Airplane excitement!





Learnin' to fish











I had the wonderful blessing of being able to visit with old high school friends at the baby shower of one, Lindsey. It was a wonderful few hours of reminiscing, catching up and rejoicing.

Dana (Frey) Crum, Lindsey (Slipher) Thomas and Brooke (White) McClain


Tanner came to visit one night and spent the night with us. He drove by himself!!! How can he be that old? The kids had a blast with him.





Audrey Ann








Reuniting with the Huddleston's included a wonderful reunion, great food, fun with ferrets, and sweet times with Tucker!














Dean and Ethan-Ethan


Wedding rehearsal and flower girl bliss :)
























































I'll post more as time permits...but that about sums up the first two weeks :)

Home again

To update you:
We are back home again in Costa Rica...we arrived late Tuesday night and found Gatita (our cat) and Wally (our hamster) both alive and well and the all well with the house (gracias Coco!).

Our time in the states was really indescribable, honestly. We experienced so much in such a short time: so much love, so much food, so much peace, so much time with family and loved ones, so much food, so many blessings, so many hugs, so much food, so much wonderful worship (in English!), so many good, deep and challenging conversations (in English!) and, oh yeah, SO MUCH FOOD!!! (Did I mention that?) It is a good thing airlines don't charge you by your weight difference from arrival to departure because Matt and I would have been in trouble! Let's just say for one of us there was a double digit amount of pounds added!!! (Ay jay Jay!!!) We seriously ate so much I am still full today!

We were able to reconnect with many supporters, spend countless hours watching and enjoying the lake, spend priceless time with family, bask in the goodness of our God, were greatly encouraged by special friends and family members and also challenged by what God is teaching us, and also able to make official our relationship with our long time friends at First Evangelical Presbyterian by becoming members (even if we are destined to be long-distant). We shared some precious time with Pastor Tom sharing our hearts, struggles, needs, and prayers. We shared two Sundays with our church family in worship and even got to hear a missionary from Africa speak one of those weeks! We formed a stronger bond with our brothers and sisters from Hickory Grove church and were so blown away for their love for us! Thank you for letting us visit and share about what God is doing with you!

There is no way we could ever thank our friends, Tim and Sue, for their unbelievable kindness and hospitality. They graciously opened their home to us- all 5 of us!!!- for our month-long stay and never once complained or seemed irritated or looked as if they longed for their peace and quiet back during the whole time. They even opened their home to our family and friends- complete strangers to them, but loved ones to us, and that is all that mattered to them- making sure we were able to be loved and to love on those we loved. We had visitors all the way from Michigan- THANK YOU Doug and Karen!!- for your visit and for sharing some really special moments with us! God is so good to have allowed us sweet moments with our special friends. Then, on our last full day, we were surprised with a visit with Alex, aka: Uncle Peanut- all the way from Guatemala! His grandma went to be with Jesus and so he came back to be with family. He had a couple of days in between family things, so he came down to spend the evening and night with us and then helped take us (and all of our stuff) to the airport in Chicago. We had just enough time to catch lunch at Panera (YYUUUUUMMMMM!!) with his mom before heading to O'Hare!

We faced some tough stuff while back with family and I ask that as we re-adjust life in Costa Rica, you pray for us as we think and pray for specific family members. Also, you can pray for us as we look forward to what God has in store for us and some changes that we see Him leading us to as we look ahead. Pray also as the kids and I prepare to begin the new school year. Pray for it to be exciting, productive and most of all- FUN!! I am going a new, uncharted route this year- more of an "unschooling" way of looking at things, if you will and I am so excited! We brought home at two suitcases (plus) of books DVD's and other material for the year. Pray as we get organized. Pray that this year will be much more smooth than last and that I will be committed to the ministry of raising, caring for, building up, discipling and schooling our three blessings. Pray for Matt and I as we look at each other in new, more loving ways. Pray as we re-connect with each other and study each other. Pray that we might grow closer than ever before, that our relationship blossom and grow as God desires it to do, with Him at the center and more apart of our lives than ever before. Pray as we step out in obedience to him, Our Creator, Our King, Our Savior and follow Him wherever He leads us. Pray for us as we seek to make our marriage, our roles as parents, our daily lives, our most intimate moments with Jesus, our roles as missionaries, our quiet private moments that no one sees- all of things- pray that all would match up to what God desires for each of us- that each one- that all- bring glory to His name.

I have so many pictures to download to the computer and then post...give me time and please be patient with me :)

Today we spent the day cleaning (we've been gone for a month, six-weeks of teams before that and a bachelor lived here for a month - you can only imagine how badly this poor house needed cleaned!), sorting, unpacking and organizing today. Had to get a few groceries to get us by until I can get away to actually stock the fridge and cabinets, and fianlly sat down all together tonight and watched Robin Hood together (the Disney cartoon version). Now I'm off to bed! Sweet dreams!

What have we been up to?

Our time in the States is flying by quite fast...
I thought I'd update about our time here. This might be a long post...

We are staying with fiends who have a beautiful home on a man-made, stocked lake. One of the most fun things we have done is to fish on the lake. Mimi brought out fishing poles and worms one day and taught the kids to fish. Isabelle LOVES fishing! She caught on real quick and caught a fish very quickly! Over the course of that first day, she caught 6-7 little ones, that we threw back in. Ethan caught two or three himself and Matt caught a few also. But Iz really impressed me. By the end of the day she was baiting her own hook and releasing the fish from the hook on her own! She has sent several days out at the dock fishing and can't wait to go back! Audrey didn't have much patience with the whole fishing thing...but maybe one day. We hope to get a chance to fish with my brother and my dad and are eagerly waiting for them to come out one day. I have really great memories of fishing/camping trips with my family.

We've also spent time with family and friends. We shared meals with our both families as well as a slew of friends, long-time and some fairly new. Either way, the tapestry that God has weaved of our lives still amazes me and I am so very thankful for those He has made part of our lives.

The kids have enjoyed having their friends the Kelly kids as neighbors and have been together most days hanging out, riding bikes, and just playing. They were able to participate in VBS at one our supporting churches and soon to be home church (more to come on that later!) They really enjoyed it and had a blast! Iz was nervous about going the first night because she didn't know any of the kids. She made her way into the row and sat down next to little Hispanic girl. By the end of the night, Iz called me over telling me all about her new little friend. She said, "Mom, she speaks Spanish and English and we were talking in Spanish!"

Also, we have reconnected with our old neighbors, the Alquezad. We saw them the first time at the first night of VBS and it was a wonderful reunion! I saw Marta and could hardly contain myself as I made my way to her. Ariel, her youngest, looked up at me with her big brown eyes and smiled timidly. I asked her , in Spanish, if she remembered me but she just looked at me. Then I asked her in English, which is what she is used to hearing me speak, and she looked up at me with this big smile and said, "Yes, you are Brooke!" and then gave me a big hug! What a precious moment!

We saw Jennifer and Enrique later in the evening. Ethan and Enrique were in the same group, which was nice. They've grown up so much and speak English almost all t he time now. Jennifer actually did not want to speak Spanish with me because she said she forgot how. But I made her! :) (I needed to keep it up here as much as I can!) So she did. Marta commented on how much our Spanish has improved since we were back the last time. We spent an evening with them this week and ate supper together, which was really fun! We will see them at church this week also :)

Today is Courtney and Daniel's wedding. We had the rehearsal dinner last night and it was really fun. Isabelle had a little stage fright, but I think we've made it past it! Her and Audrey looked so cute! I practiced with their hair last night and I think I found a style that will work. Today, we've got the full beauty shop planned, including nails! I bought a great little nail kit for a $1.00 at the Dollar tree (I REALLY miss that store!) and so today I am going to give them pedicures and manicures! :) I also found shimmery lotion (for $1.00!!!) that I'll let them put on their arms! :) Courtney gave them each pretty tiara's that they LOVE! So, it should be a great day!

My mom and I have had some wonderful opportunities to shop and just be together, just the two of us, which I have really appreciated, thanks to my great husband! It has really been great seeing her!

Matt's mom and I are going to spend an afternoon at the spa next week ,which will be fun also! I just have to decide what to get done! Oh the choices!

We've got some fun things planned for our time left...I'll update more later!

Prayer for Mark and Meg

Please pray today for Mark and Meg, Valeria and Mariana.
Pray as they await the court date and decision about the adaption.