Counting Blessings on a Monday

198.  A relatively successful church attendance for the family.
199.  The way Kai takes charge and organizes his day, filling it with fun and productive activities.
200.  Play-fighting with lots of laughter.
201.  The silliness of these boys.
202.  Prayers and advice at women's Bible study.
203.  Hide and go seek at the park.
204.  Writing in my journal consistently again.
205.  Your powerful majestic lightning and thunder.
206.  bookshelves
207.  re-arranging furniture.
209.  benadryl
210.  Walking with my neighbor.
212.  My neighbor starting to homeschool.
214.  Provision
215.  rain, rain and more rain.
217.  Our awesome backyard.
219.  Getting our brakes fixed on the car so quickly.
221.  Christians in Jaco.
222.  Our amazing hermit crabs that are somehow still alive.
223.  Never having to even think about trash or stress about dishes because my husband is so on top of it.
225.  Feeling a flow with homeschool.
226.  Finally, a flexible schedule that Kai likes and sticks to.
227.  Little boys washing dishes.
228.  Koa learning to swim.
229.  Finding a little soccer club for Kai and he loves it.
230.  One-on-one time with Jude.

Cheap Thrills

My trip home

This month I got to take a trip back to my hometown of Falls Church, Virginia. It's been almost 3 years since my last visit, I can't even believe that. It was such a special trip. It was so fun to just have Koa and enjoy time with him, my last baby. I got to see family, friends and enjoy the goodness of life in the U.S. of A.

It's funny because living in Costa Rica, I kind of tell myself that it's really not that different. I mean, we have a KFC right down the street. McDonald's is only about 2 hours away. We have grocery stores, we have paved roads, we even have sidewalks.

But you know, the truth is, it is really different. It is totally different. I love living in Costa Rica, don't get me wrong, it is such a blessed life that we live. But at the same time, it is really fun to go home and enjoy my home culture and those things that we don't have here.

I especially enjoyed eating. I think I probably gained about ten pounds. My family kept commenting that I was eating like I had never eaten before in my life! My favorite eats included:

tomato Basil soup at La Madeleine
bagels and broccoli cheddar soup at Panera Bread
pita chips and rye tricuits with hummus and spinach dip
freshly grilled hamburger cookout at my Pop Pop's house
deep fried pickles on my mom's birthday
blueberries and rasperries
fresh tomatoes from my Pop Pop's garden
toasted english muffins with real butter
cinnamon bun flavored coffee creamer
chili cheese fritos
7 eleven iced coffee
swiss cheese on a sandwich
salmon

I also enjoyed some shopping. My mom and I hit up thrift stores. I about cried walking into Unique thrift store. Furniture, children's desks, chairs, strollers, you name it all for dollars. I couldn't even look at that section, knowing that I couldn't take anything that big home with me and knowing that I don't have access to anything like that here. I feel utterly convinced that I could live off of the excesses of American culture. That kind of excess just does not exist here. I did enjoy the toy section and book section of the thrift stores and found some awesome stuff for homeschool, including some great books, board games and toys.

I also cleaned out a bunch of stuff I have in mom's attic.  Wow, boxes of photos, letters, journals (I've kept a journal consistently since I was 10 - that equals a lot of journals), an extensive china doll and rag doll collection, which will now never be passed on to a daughter, but I was able to give them to my niece.  I wish I had more time to look through all the memories.  All I did was condense everything down to a few boxes and put them back in the attic for now.

But all of the fun of eating, shopping and digging through memories aside, the best part by far of my trip was spending time with the people I love that I do not get to see nearly often enough. And there were so many more people I would have loved to see, too.

Seeing Ellen, such an important person in my life, and meeting her son Charlie was extra-special!

Old friends are the best friends.  These ladies and I have known each other since before I even can remember.  Seeing them just feels like coming home.

At Panera Bread with one of my favorite families!

Hanging out with Laura, and meeting my precious godson, Jackson meant so much to me!  This is one of those friendships that stands the test of time and when we see each other it feels like no time has passed - I love that!

Sister time is the best!  Especially hanging out in mom's tent in her backyard!

My Pop-Pop and cousins.  What a special day to have all his grandchildren together in the same place at the same time.

My adorable niece, Sadie.  Just wanna squeeze her!

 Koa and Sadie enjoying their breakfast on mom's beautiful backporch.  Koa was one happy baby on this trip, being held constantly and getting so much attention!

My momma's birthday.  I love my family!!!!

Homecoming - lots of love!

Coming home has been harder than expected.  I've been getting some "payback" this week from the boys I left behind, especially from Jude.  Emotions running high, it's taken us all a little time to settle back into our normal patterns of relating and functioning as a family.   But we're getting there.  And Scott did so great taking care of three boys by himself.  He's such a superdad!   

Happy Birthday, Baby!

I'm a little bit behind, but here's my journal entry from the night of July 26 and July 27, the day Jude turned three.

The sweetest family moments always seem to happen when everyone is piled in our bed.  That's where we were last night when we started sharing funny stories about Jude, remembering his life and thinking about his Birthday, how he's turning 3.  Here are some memories we shared.

Ezzy remembered standing on the sidewalk with Jude at our house in Granadilla, waving at cars and shouting, "HONGA!" because Jude couldn't make an "L" sound, so that's what he said instead of "hola!"  silly!

Then I remembered how he would stand on the balcony at our house in San Francisco de dos rios and shout at the guard, "GORDITO!" because that's what the guard called him everyday as he rolled by in his stroller.  And also how he would hear the lottery man coming down the street and would echo his call shouting, "LOTERIA!" in a funny, deep voice just like the loteria man!  And the way he would zip down the stairs on his belly so fast!

Everyone cracked up laughing remembering these moments.

Jude's First Birthday

Jude's 2nd Birthday

Today he's turning 3 and Kai says, "Now he can talk good when he plays.  And he doesn't destroy everything anymore."  He's learned how to play with his brothers. 

This morning I woke up and Jude had snuck in the bed in the middle of the night.  He was right behind me hugging my back.  I woke up before him with Koa and we watched him sleep.  So peaceful.  When he opened his eyes I said, "Happy Birthday, Jude.  You're three years old now." 

He looked back at me and said, "But I'm still a boy."

"Yes.  You're still a boy."

Then he rolled off the bed to go find his brothers to make sure he's not missing any fun that might have started without him.

...Singing happy birthday, three candles sparkling atop a Mickey Mouse pancake.  Blow the candles, Jude!  Jude attempts to blow, but Ezzy blows them out.  Ezzy and Kai have hardly been able to contain their excitement all morning.  When can Jude open his presents???  After his pancakes... it's so hard to wait, it's just so exciting! 

"How old are you Jude?"

"I'm 6!" 

"No, he's three," says Ezzy.

"I'm 3!"  Big smile! 

For his birthday Jude received a xylophone, a Mr. Potato Head and a kickboard that he calls his "sufboard."  He opened his presents this morning after his pancake breakfast and it touched my heart how he immediately shared with his brothers without a thought or a fuss. 

Jude....

Your name means "praise" and your life does bring praise to God.  You are so joyful, silly, friendly.  Your smile lights up a room.  You love people, you're outgoing.  You love to play and you love to make people laugh.  You love your brothers so much.  Your smile, hugs, kisses and love fill my heart with warmth.  You are a joy.  You're a treasure.  I'm so glad you were born 3 years ago today, my little gordito.  You radiate love.

Our new place... i LOVE it!

Homeschool in Jaco

Our first day back to homeschool in our new home...

...with our new neighbors!

Getting there...

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good." Genesis 50:20

Getting to Jaco has not been easy. In fact it was one of the hardest things we've ever gone through as a family.

There was so much confusion, miscommunication and misunderstanding in finding the right home - even to the point of almost damaging important relationships in Jaco.

Then we struggled with our landlord to be released 15 days early from our contract so we wouldn't have to pay rent in two places. The stress of waiting to find out and not knowing what to do was overwhelming. We finally heard from our landlord the night of the 31st that we would have to be out by the morning.

We had to remain in San Jose for another week to finish up the children at risk school, but had no where to stay.

Scott severely injured his knee.

We all got hit - the WHOLE family - with a major stomach bug involving vomitting and diarrhea and sleepless nights going through that with all the children.

"...but God intended it all for good."

Yes, you could say it's been a rough few weeks. But in all these hardships and what feels like a spiritual battle, we have not been defeated. We win. And this is why.

In the midst of the confusion of finding the right home, God gave us peace and showed us clearly the house He has for us. He gave us a price that is unheard of in this area. All relationships are intact.

Even though we found out that we had to move at the last minute, we called friends from YWAM and over 10 people showed up the night of the 31st and packed our whole house up. They stayed til the job was done. A friend had a friend who has a moving truck and it all worked out. While Scott was with the moving truck in Jaco, other friends had the boys over to play. 7 more people showed up to help me scrub and clean the house so we could get our deposit back. We were never alone.

At the same time, a family welcomed us into their home and asked us to stay as long as we needed to. They cared for us when Scott injured his knee so I wasn't on my own taking care of everyone. They cared for us when everyone was sick. They loved us and our children and treated us like their own family.

Two friends volunteered to go with me to Jaco and help me set up the house ahead of time so it would be ready when we arrived with our boys. When I got sick in Jaco and passed out on the bathroom floor, they unpacked for me and when we couldn't finish, they even made the trip with me a second time so we could finish up.

I think the enemy was really trying to discourage us in any way possible, but God, using His body, the body of Christ, showed us love through these friends that were there for us in our time of need. It's humbling to be in such a place of need. But I am left completely amazed and overwhelmed and thankful. God used these trying circumstances to show us His love and power in an amazing way - through the love and care of those around us. We're home now and we're settling in and we're at peace.

Gratitude - today more than ever

I need to do my gratitude post today. While inside I'm in turmoil and freaking out, I need to take time to get back to a place of thankfulness.

56. my husband being the strong one for me when I need it.
57. so many people offering to help.
58. details being worked out beneath the surface by the hand of our mighty God.
59. small victories day by day.
60. patience to wait, trust and move in faith.
61. roasting hot dogs over a fire at a friends' house last night.
62. a "sleepover" in mommy's room while scott was away this weekend - complete with sleeping bags, popcorn, some wrestling and a movie.
63. a new home to move in to at the price we asked for.
64. a new adventure waiting on the horizon - so many unknowns and so many possibilities.
65. living a life of faith - without a salary - we have to trust God for our every need, we are so dependent on Him. It's scary, but the reality is, it's a blessing.
66. Scott, before heading out the door, just grabbing me and breathing a prayer over me. I love him.
67. Knowing that God is good.

Multitude Monday at Holy Experience.