After 7.5 miles and 45 flights of stairs our first week of orientation is finished.  Our walk to school begins at about 7 in the morning and is about half a mile. If your thinking this does not seem far then you have never walked it with two children. Really they did ok but definitely are in the Costa Rica time zone (very slow).  This is something God has been teaching us, to slow down and look around at his Glory.  When we walk slower we enjoy people’s company more, notice things around you and see God’s creation in the little things.  For example, Tyler was most excited at the end of the school day to show me a lemon tree he had found.  I however, just wanted to continue the trek home. God is teaching me to slow down and smell the roses (or lemon trees in our case) and to see the little things as a gift from Him.  We picked a lemon and tasted it at supper that night.  The kids loved finding fruit in a random tree.

In the past week there have been many things we have observed that are funny to us.  For example, we may be walking along and come to a “gringo trap” or a huge hole in the ground that is uncovered.  McDonald’s offers corn instead of apple slices, and at one park you can rent pieces of plastic to “snow” sled down a hill. One of the oddest things to me is there are no street signs here, everything is in proximity of the nearest park.  For example, we would tell a taxi driver the community we live in, then near which park and then how many meters and blocks from the park.  Today, after a week of being here, we were able to tell the taxi driver which area we lived in.  Our Texas accents have made it previously impossible to say our park name but a taxi driver last night took pity on us and worked with us until we now have it down.  This has been humbling in some regards,  to not be able to give our address correctly.

There have also been practical lessons we have learned.  We have now mastered how to get to the grocery store although shopping is still pretty hard.  Emma needed tennis shoes for gym, so she and I looked for them today.  As if shopping for anything with my daughter was easy to begin with I now have to figure out the exchange rate from mil to dollars and the shoes are sized differently as well.

I have seen lots of little praises.  Our house is a huge praise for me.  Our landlady, Cecilia, has made sure everything in our house is working well.  It has taken over a week but we have a dryer, Internet, a brand new refrigerator and our stove is getting fixed.  She is really sweet and wants us to be happy.  Right across the street from us is an orange cat that follows Emma. This may not seem like much but it means a lot to Emma to have a pet (especially one we don’t have to feed).  Also, the mission friends brought money all semester to help with uniforms for our kids.  They raised $50 which is not only a lot for 3, 4, and 5 year olds but was the exact amount we needed for the uniforms.

School starts officially for the kids on Monday. Please pray that they make friends quickly and adjust to the Spanish classes.  Continue to pray for all of us as we learn to adapt to the new culture and begin the frustrating and slow process of learning a new language.  Please also pray for encouragement for us and that we will continue to see God working.

-Kristi

We have finally arrived. For over two years we have been anticipating this day. Only a few days ago we could only imagine what it would be like here, and now we know. We left this past Wednesday bound for the airport at 8:25am. We arrived at IAH in Houston with a caravan of vehicles. Our parents had come to see us off. We unloaded our eight bags to be checked, our four carryons, Emma’s dollhouse, and Tyler’s guitar. To be honest I felt like we were bringing quite a bit. We finally made it through security and discovered that our plane had been delayed for over an hour. So we grabbed some breakfast, exchanged some money, and began to wait. We made it on the plane a little after 12:30pm for the three hour flight to Costa Rica. When we arrived, the plane stopped out on the tarmac where a line of buses arrived to transport all the passengers to the terminal. Luckily all our bags made it to the baggage claim and we made it through security and customs with no problems. We were feeling a little stressed after we found all our bags because we were not more than two hours behind the arrival time we had given our Big Brother Couple. When we applied for the language school we were assigned a Big Brother to help us with the move and answer any questions we might have. Our Big Brother’s are the Daniels. They have been great in helping us get to Costa Rica.

As I loaded the last bag onto a cart a sky cap came with a sign with our last name on it. He was a sight for exhausted eyes. The young man lead us through the rest of the airport to the parking garage where we met a man named Ronnie. Ronnie had been sent by the Daniels to pick us up. He told us he know our plan was delayed and had just returned from transporting another family to their new home. Ronnie said that this family had brought fifteen bags with them and 12 carryons. That made us feel a little better, but we did realize that the couple was probably staying for more than four months like us, so we are not judging.We left the airport and picked up the Daniels on our way to our new home for the next four months. When we arrived the Daniels had bought us groceries and a pizza for dinner. The kids were starving and so the food was a great thing to have in the house. Our new house is located in a community called San Francisco de Dos Rios. It is a two bedroom apartment with one bathroom. The kitchen is nice as well as the living room. We have internet and cable television with about 7-9 channels in English. We finished out the evening unpacking a few bags.

The next morning we woke up early to meet the Daniels. They took us on a short tour of the community. We learned where the Sauces Park is located, where the school is, how to get money from the bank, and where a few of the bakeries are located. We returned to the apartment and unpacked some more. After lunch we met another family for another adventure. This time we were going to learn how to go to Hypermas, which is Wal-Mart in Costa Rica. We caught a bus for a total of 1200 Colones (about $2.00) and got off a few blocks from Hypermas. We spent the next couple of hours trying to learn where and what everything is. I mainly watched the children while K shopped. You know to be honest buying groceries and setting up a new apartment is probably the one thing I underestimated the most. We managed to make it through and caught a taxi (about $4.00) back to our home. We spent the rest of the evening equipping the house and unpacking. The showers are equipped with a “widow maker”, which heats water right before it comes out of the shower head. We have had some experience with these “widow makers” and were concerned the kids would not adjust well taking lukewarm at best showers. So while I was at Hypermas, I bought a small swimming pool to sit inside the shower. Our plan was to fill it with the shower head and then boil warm water so the kids could have a bath. To much surprise it is not half bad, or at least the kids did not complain. We finished out the night with a game a farkel and put the kids in bed. One thing we are learning quickly here is that we are going to be going to be early. Everyone seems to go into at dusk and we have been told not to go out past 8pm. So by 9pm we were in bed.

We woke up early on Friday to meet one of our new friends to go to the Ferria, which is a market selling fresh fruits and vegetables. By the time we got ready to go the family met us at our apartment gate and told us the market was closed today. So we made plans to met at the park later that morning. One of the things I have enjoyed the most about being here is the start to each day. For the last two days I have been able to get up and have breakfast with my children and while eating we have had a bible study. We meet our new friends at the park around mid-morning and played a friendly game of soccer. It was a really great time. When we returned back to our apartment, we decided to try to get to Hypermas by ourselves and get a few more groceries.

Right before we left the kids were playing on the front porch and yelled to us that someone was at our gate. We have been instructed to not open the gate for anyone we do not know. Kristi went to the door and the man at the gate asked for her “esposa”. I went to talk to the man and soon realized he was asking for something and I had not idea for what. Our landlady came out about that time and I told her I did not know what the man was saying. They exchanged a few words and the man left angry. A few moments later our landlady came up with her daughter to tell us that the man had threatened us and her. She had called the police. She reminded me to be be careful about who we talk to at the gate, to always lock the gate behind us, and to be especially careful for the next couple of days. She said this was the first time someone had threatened her or her residents.

We left  after lunch for Hypermas. We caught the bus and arrived there successfully. Once there K gave me half the grocery list and T and me went to get our half. To be honest it was a great experience for me. It helped me realize how hard it was for K to get groceries and that I am going to have to be patient in the future. T and I spent about an hour and returned with less than 10 items. We met with K and helped finish off the list before waiting another hour in the line to check out. After checking out we successfully caught a taxi and made it back home. On the way home our taxi driver was a little confused about where we lived, but thankfully we were about to point him, literally, in the right direction. We unpacked everything and spent the afternoon relaxing before dinner. After dinner we pulled off another swimming pool bath and squared off in a game of clue and scrabble slam. We were told there is going to be a lot fireworks tonight. Right as the kids got into bed some of our neighbors began shooting off some small fireworks, which was perfect for the kids.

I am not sure I knew what to expect. We are about to finish our second full day. So far there have been moments of missing home. Like for instance today we saw a dog that looked like our weimeriner, Lucy and really thought about home. There have been short moments where I have thought about how long four months is going to be away, but they have only been short moments so far. We are so excited about being here and tonight we get to bring in the New Year in Costa Rica. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are glad we are here!!

Well it is finally here. We have dreamed for almost two years of what this night would be like. Tomorrow we fly out at 11:30am from Houston. The last few weeks have been crazy. We have watched almost all of our possessions sell or be given away. We have with great sadness said goodbye to our closest family and friends. Our have had our final Christmas in the States for a while. We have packed the final boxes and our bags for Costa Rica. And now I sit in Houston, 11 hours away from our flights.

Selling our possessions was tough. Some of the things that have been seemed so important to us went for such a cheap price. It was truly a humbling experience. We tend to think we are worth more than what we truly are. But, as I watched them walk away I realized just how valuable earthly possessions are. Ironically I honestly do not miss my playstation or iPhone as much as I thought I was going to. In many ways it is quite freeing to be without. I have come to realize how much my family means to me compared to my earthly possessions.

Saying farewell to our family and friends was much more difficult than selling our possessions. This past week we spent our final Christmas with family and said goodbye. I think one of the hardest people to say goodbye to was my grandfather. He has meant so much to me. As I walked out the door the thought that this might be the last time I see him was more real than ever. It was extremely hard to hug my aunts, uncles, grandfather, and mother and goodbye. My father is here with me in Houston, and I will have to say goodbye tomorrow. I know that these are not final goodbyes, especially with technology today. I find it interesting that the flight to Costa Rica is only 30 minutes more than a drive home from Teague, yet it seems so much farther away. Saying goodbye to the church we even harder. We all knew this day was coming, but this Sunday morning reality hit us hard. I am so grateful for the hugs and love they expressed to us at the end of the church service. I am so grateful for the final in home visits we made Sunday night. Several of the students came by more than once on Sunday and Monday to say goodbye. Each time it was harder to say goodbye. We feel so blessed and honored to be a part of their lives. I hope this is not a final goodbye. We fully intend to keep in touch with them. Only time will tell. FBC Teague has been more than a congregation and a minister relationship to us, they truly have been family. We know that we are have so many friends, which we are not saying goodbye to, because our move is not the end of our relationships.

Packing our final bags and boxes was one of the greatest challenges of the past few weeks. Sunday night we were up midnight packing and repacking. Trying to decide what is necessary is more difficult than it seems. But after much discussion we are officially packed. We have a total of 8 bags that we are checking and about 6 we are carrying on.

Tomorrow is the day!! I am so excited. I am so nervous!!! Can’t wait to tell everyone how it goes!!!

We are entering our final week of preparation before we leave for Coast Rica. We will actually fly out next Wednesday. We will be spending 4 months in language school. We are experiencing a mixture of emotions. In many ways we are saddened. For the last six and a half years we have had the honor of serving at FBC Teague as student ministers. The students and people of Teague are amazing. We recently have called a new pastor and after working with him for the last month, I can see so much potential. There is a new spirit in our church and we would love to be a part of what God is going to do here in Teague. At the same time we have this very strong calling to serve in Honduras as missionaries. We know going to Honduras is where we are suppose to be. We are very excited about our future in Honduras.

But first we must go to San Jose, Costa Rica. We are packing the final things in our home under the pressure of our departure deadline. The thought of what language school is going to be like is always in the back of our minds. Our children are restless, because they are not real excited about moving. Who would after spending your whole life in one place and with no idea of what it is going to be like in 10 days. We are excited about more time with our children, learning a new language, and embarking on a once in a lifetime adventure.