First Day of School for 6!

The kids were excited as they packed Mommies lunch today and wrote her little notes. They reminded us there is to be no TV or internet until our homework is done. We get to walk to school together...about 1/2 mile, but Jeff and Deanne get out of class 1.5 hours before the kids (just enough time to recuperate from our brain hurting from thinking in a foreign tongue!)

SET YOUR CLOCKS BY THE RAIN!

Yes, it rains every day! But that way you don't need to wonder what the weather is going to be this afternoon! For a fun look at our daily weather, visit the following link!

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/78762.html

Life in Costa Rica has been a whirlwind for our children -- They have been so busy since our arrival with meeting many missionary friends, other language student family like ours, and Costa Rican friends too. They have enjoyed attending a youth group on Saturday night that runs over between 40 teens and has a Bible study, song time, and game time. They are really enjoying getting together with these Christian friends. They have been getting the teens together to play soccer or basketball in the park near school. Today they had about thirteen friends out to play before till the afternoon rains came. (It is rainy season-- so it's not "if" it rains, it is when it rains, and how hard. Today, the all of us got caught in the downpour rains! Welcome to Costa Rica! It is a literal statement here, "When it rains, it pours!")

Dia de la Madre

Last week we celebrated mothers day in Costa Rica, 15 agosto 08. That's right, Deanne got two mother's day in ONE year! It was a very big day for our family. It was MOVING DAY into our new Costa Rican home. For our first full week in the country, we lived in the AMCA Christian hostel facility which was a blessing as it was close to the school, our new house, the grocery store, the bus route and provided a place for all six of us. Now, it was time to move into our own house for the year, we were all looking forward to it. After all there is no place like home, and our home for this next year is in this lovely home God has provided in San Jose, Costa Rica. Thank you, Lord for what you have done on our behalf. What a great mother's day present-- a roof over my head (and a coffee pot too!)

Our last American $

We we figured we would not use our American change here in Costa Rica, so...while waiting at JFK we made "good use" of our last American $. It was sooo good!

Lukas on the loose in JFK
Waiting for anything is a challenge. Waiting for 2 hours to board an airplane is...excruciating when you are 11 years old. What is left after exploring the terminal, reading all the signs, counting all the airplanes, and being an 11 year old little brother? Only thing left to do is make faces at the camera!

Always room for more catchup!

Lukas loves his ketchup. It does not matter how fancy the meal or how great the food, there is always a little more room for some ketchup.

Go ahead, smile for the Camera!

I'm planning to eat your crab cakes while you are not looking! A dear family provided a night in the Crowne Plaza Hotel and a wonderful meal in the dining room prior to our departure for Costa Rica. We are fed up and ready for the next step of God's great adventure.

Banana boxes TO the largest exporter of bananas in the world...Ecuador! We are praising the Lord for the provision of storage of our belongings with one of our supporting churches while we are in language school. Everything we own was packed into 83 bannana boxes and 8 - 24 gallon Rubbermaid Actionpackers. It fit well in a Uhaul trailer 5'x6'x9'. It was a sweet moment as we drove away knowing it was packed, secure, and that phase of our adventure was over. I never knew it could take so long to weed through pictures, desk junk and clothes that fit well...at one time.

One of the kids broke out in laughter as we were driving our stuff to Mountainside Bible Chapel to be stored for 1 year. They just realized that "Uhaul" meant that it was you that would haul it, not someone else. Deanne and I began to laugh as we realized that 18 years ago we drove away from Schroon Lake in the smallest Uhaul truck as we began our ministry in New Jersey. Now, 18 year and 4 kids later, we were returning our goods to Schroon Lake in a trailer. After getting rid of so much, we have deteremined not to buy another thing unless it is edible....unless it is for fishing...or hunting...or camping...ok! Enough! We just thank the Lord for all of His blessings, evening getting rid of stuff! By the way, we did not store the kids. They came with us.