A Toddler

Brooklyn is an excellent kid. She is also a toddler and with that comes some unavoidable crises. Usually we're fighting over taking a nap - praise God we've worked that out and changed "nap-time" to "rest-time" where she can take a book to bed with her and just "rest" although she almost always falls asleep and takes a two hour nap anyway. Sometimes it's a matter of teaching her not to hit, throw or bite. Sometimes it's a simple matter of grabbing her before she defiantly steps out onto a busy street. Most times we're not amused but sometimes, it's just too hard not to chuckle.

Like yesterday, for instance. She was up and ready for her usual Saturday morning video. I got her all set up and she asked for juice - even said "please" - so I went to get her some. I picked the wrong kind, and unfortunately she saw the juice bottle, so she was quite upset with me. I kept telling her to just try the juice, which I knew she would like. But it wasn't to be. I even tried "tricking" her by pretending to put milk in the cup. YOU DON'T INSULT A TODDLER'S INTELLIGENCE LIKE THAT. Well, the cup went in the fridge still full of the dreaded juice.

Later in the day, she asked for juice. Yes, of course, I got out that same cup. But she's no dummy.... Sean and I both were trying to convince her that she wanted to try the juice. We both took several sips and swooned with exaggeration over it's excellent flavor. She was not impressed. Finally, it came down to "You take a drink of that juice right now or you are not getting anything for the rest of your life!" With big tears, she still refused. At this point, of course, Sean and I are convinced that we are not good parents and are abusive to ask her to try a silly juice. But pretty soon she disappeared. A look around the corner revealed her sucking away at the straw of her cup, loving this new juice. Then she was asking for more.

She's two and a half. I know a million stories similar to this one from parents all over the world. And yet, somehow, Sean and I expected our precious child to be different. Or at least, we expected our parenting techniques to be better. Who got the last laugh? Somehow, I still feel like Brooklyn won this one.

How's it goin'?

Yeah, I know, we don't write as often as we should. You have to understand that our lives are incredibly dull. We go to school, we come home, we study, we eat dinner, we go to bed, we get up, and we go to school. Why would anybody want to read about that?! But we know you care (or at least there are 4 of you with the word "grand" in your names who care) and that means a lot, so we keep writing.

What have we been doing? We go to school, we come home, we study, we eat....you get the idea. School is in full swing now. Sean and I are in classes together and we have great teachers. We already did a two-hour presentation in class on Ecuador. That was fun because we got to talk about our favorite themes - Ecuador and flying!

Do you realize that 3 months from yesterday we will graduate from language school?!?! April 25 is graduation and we'll leave for Ecuador just a few days after that. We are starting the visa process already. I know that the next three months will go by very quickly. We're ready and we're excited. And we're doing our best to concentrate on things we need to get done right now but I must confess, IT'S HARD! We've never been so close to actually being there before. You know, the place we've been headed for sooo long? Anyway, it is an exciting place to be.

Gotta laugh

Okay, I just thought this was a good story. For class we often have to find an article in the local paper (in Spanish, of course) and explain it to our classmates. Well, I found one that, although it didn't exactly fit the teacher's requirements, I just had to share with the class. You may have heard about it, but I was amazed that the story made it all the way down here!

A New Mexico man is now homeless...the result of a very unfortunate turn of events. After catching a mouse in his house, he threw the (still living) mouse into a pile of burning leaves. But the mouse had its final revenge when it ran, flaming, back into the house, catching the house on fire and burning it down.

Now, I'm accident prone but I must say this guy has me beat!

Go Broncos!

We have been enjoying a good weekend. We realized that it is the first "free" weekend we have had since the beginning of December. So we have been finding ourselves bored and not knowing how to handle it. We both have a 2 hour presentation that we are going to present this coming Wednesday in class and had talked of doing it this weekend, but their just is no substitute for last minute procrastination and inspiration. It is neat to look back at when we arrived at language school and we could barely tell you our name, and maybe our phone number (Becca still forgets our phone number, must be those Spanish numbers:) ); and now we are giving a very professional and long presentation for 2 hours and we aren't even worried about it. Time will tell if we should have been worried I guess. After church this morning we are going to a friends house to watch the Bronco game. There is going to be a big crowd there; a few families from Colorado, just some general groupies, and even a few Costa Ricans that want to figure out this other kind of "Football." We are looking forward to it, should be fun. And of course we are all bringing food...yeesss! We are all making things with a mexican type theme. It might be interesting, because most of the Mexican ingredients we are used to in Colorado don't even exist here. The Costa Rican's for the most part dont eat spicy food. The food really has a tendancy to be a little on the blandish side, not always, but most of the time.

Movies

We went to a movie last night (it's been a while) and saw "Chronicles of Narnia"...finally. Wow. It was so good! It was nice to have a night out too - we went with friends and shared a babysitter. Wednesdays are also 2 for 1 days at the theater...let's just say that for both of us to go was more than half the cost of one ticket in the U.S.

By the way, don't forget to go see "End of the Spear" in theaters Friday, Jan. 20, I think. It's about Ecuador!!! Many of you may already know this but it's also about an MAF pilot and 4 other men who wanted to reach a tribe in Ecuador that had never heard the Gospel. The base called Shell is where we'll be living. We've seen the trailers and it looks like a good one. Don't know if it will make it to theaters down here but you can be sure that we'll be excited to see it as soon as we can.

What's happening...

It's been a whirlwind weekend. I can't believe that it's already Tuesday evening! As things get spooled back up at school we've discovered that we are way too busy. Here's a quick update:

• Over the weekend we hosted some friends from MAF in our house. What a precious time! What an encouragement it was to hear news from Ecuador (where our visitors had just come from) and about MAF, in general. Once again we were reminded what we are doing here, why we're working so hard to learn this language.
• Things in Ecuador are looking better. We mentioned before that there were some issues about whether or not MAF could fly down there. Apparently, the problem is not with the government officials but they are responding to a complaint - they definately want to work with MAF so that we can stay. We'll be in the process of training and placing two new Ecuadorian pilots over the next few years in order to continue flying. This is something that we want to see happen anyway! Continue to pray for MAF as we work to make this happen.
• Last night we watched "The Cosby Show"! We have Season 1 on DVD and we finally had a night when we could sit down and enjoy watching a few episodes. My goodness has television changed since then! But "The Cosby Show" is a classic. We laughed pretty hard - I remember watching the show as a kid but now that I'm a parent I get much more of the jokes!
• I lead my first ever Bible Study today! It went really well. They even understood my Spanish. There were about 9 of us in all and they all participated. We had a great time in the Word and sharing about God's work in our lives. God certainly helped me out. To those of you that were praying for this, thank you - and please keep up your prayers. It was a fantastic time and we're all excited to see where God leads us in the coming weeks and months!
• Brooklyn is losing it so I'll close here. She didn't get her nap today and she's a little sick. We're gonna watch some Strawberry Shortcake and then take a bath and go to bed!

Pictures

Volcano Irazu 11,500 ft. Still very active.













Crop spraying the "Old fashioned" way.













Culivating potatoes with an oxen team. Very common.



















Check out the legs on that one!













Cuahita, Costa Rica. Caribean side
(How did the little one get so cute?! Must be the fella taking the picture.)













Brooklyn at the Catholic National Basilica.

The Ocean is for fish

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve always been a little afraid of the ocean. Now I’m deathly afraid of it. And I’m never going on a boat again.

Dad wanted to go deep-sea fishing. We were able to find a really good deal (note: cheap doesn’t mean better in this kind of thing but nobody told us that) Anyway, we even decided to take along Brooklyn so that we could all go. It was going to be a fun day out on a nice fishing boat (we didn’t realize that “good deal” does not mean “nice fishing boat”) We were sure we could handle Brooklyn between the four of us and thought it would be fun for her to see us catch fish. And we packed some toys to keep her entertained.

Mom and I worried the instant we saw the boat. No bathroom. This was an 8-hour trip and there was no bathroom? Not only was it not a “nice fishing boat” it was not a very big boat. There were already three “guides” plus three other tourists that joined our little trip and the five of us. But they had brought the “big” boat. As we loaded into the boat (not easy for us land-lubbers) I realized that the only way to get around to the front of the boat was by climbing outside the cabin along a narrow ledge. No thank you. So mom and I settled in on the only bench in the boat facing the rear of the boat right behind the “captain” in the cabin.

As we moved away from shore I could see it would be hard to hold Brooklyn but I figured once we stopped to put in our lines that we could figure something else out. As we moved further out to sea the waves got a little bigger. Pretty soon the boat was slowing down so that Sean and Dad could climb back to the cabin. Mom and I were shocked to see that they were absolutely drenched! They had been sitting in the perfect spot to get splashed by every wave that the boat slapped over. They were cold and wet but we were all still excited to go catch us some fish.

I was holding Brooklyn and trying to balance myself on a tall bench when suddenly my feet were not under me anymore and I was landing hard on the floor of the boat. (Not that my falling is such a rare occurrence but it adds to the adventure of this story!) Brooklyn didn’t like that so Sean took over my seat holding her. I must admit I was glad, because I was starting to feel a little nauseous.

At some point, as I was barely holding on, somebody mentioned we were about an hour out from where we would stop to fish. In the back of my mind I was wondering how I would survive just the next hour (remember: 8 hour trip). Then Brooklyn started throwing up. She’s always been pretty sensitive to motion. Poor thing hadn’t even had breakfast yet but I had a bag ready for her and she let me know whenever she was going to need the bag, which was often.

Then one of the men that came along with us lost his hat. Why in the world they thought it was worth fishing back out of the sea, I don’t know but they did and so they stopped the engines and were going in reverse and bobbing around in the sea trying to get the hat back. At this point I could see mom wasn’t doing so well and neither was I. Actually, Sean and Dad looked a little green themselves. The men that were in the front of the boat also moved back to the cabin where they could warm up. (I’m not talking about a big cabin here.) We got the hat but next thing I knew Mom was leaning over the side of the boat. Yes, she was sick. And then (no joke) the man next to me breathed on me. And his breath was bad. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was a good thing I had Brooklyn’s sick sack in my hands at that moment.

By then it was pretty obvious to everybody that this wasn’t going to work. We did end up turning back around, PRAISE THE LORD! The other men decided to go back out and get their money’s worth (they weren’t ready to “count their losses” yet). They ended up finding even rougher seas and not much else. Not a good day to fish. Dad, why did you think that was going to be fun, anyway?

I’m never getting into a boat again.

And back to school we go...

• Well, that was a quick break. Here we are already back in classes. We had a great vacation time. We just finished our last extended vacation time in the foreseeable future.
• We said goodbye to my folks yesterday. We had a special time together visiting the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and also going to the tallest volcano in Costa Rica. Nevermind that we all were miserable sick in a boat on rough seas or that winds at the volcano were so strong we were nearly blown into the crater!
• I’m going into mourning. Brooklyn is apparently done with afternoon naps. Short of drugging her, I can’t think of any way to keep the naps going.
• Brooklyn’s teacher was telling us today that Brooklyn is a little on the bossy side. She tells her classmates to eat (in Spanish) and if they don’t do it she gets in their face and says “TIME OUT!” At least she isn’t giving spankings…yet.

Pray

Please be in prayer for a meeting between MAF officials and the Ecuadorian government tomorrow. We're hoping to get things ironed out so that our pilots can fly again.

Thoughts

• We welcomed the Dickson family to Costa Rica yesterday. They are here to learn Spanish before Rick takes over as Latin America Regional Director. They have been in Africa with MAF for several years. That makes 3 MAF families in Costa Rica again.
• I'm ready to go to Ecuador. It feels weird knowing that we'll be going in only four months. In many ways, I've already said good-bye to Costa Rica and I'm skipping ahead to the next phase. But I know that isn't how God wants it. We still have lots to do here in Costa Rica and we can't be missing out on what God has for us in the next 4 months. But our house has taken on a more temporary feel again, knowing we need to be getting rid of the extra stuff again before we leave.
• How weird. School begins in a week. And we're the "big kids" now. 3rd Trimester. Seniors. Wow. And we're supposed to be the smart ones! This should be a fun trimester of practicing what we've learned and digging a little deeper into the heart of the language. I would definately say that Sean and I know Spanish now. That doesn't mean everything comes out as it should or that we are totally clear on some of the rules - that's what this third trimester will hopefully help us with. Pray for good teachers for us!
• I'm getting anxious about the maid's Bible Study. I'll probably start it in 2 weeks. Yikes! God gave me an excellent outline for the study. We'll be studying on Christlikeness and what that means. I'm looking forward to it but I really don't feel ready and I feel a lot like Moses must have - "but Lord, I can't talk!" Please pray with me for these ladies. I don't want this to be a mediocre study or one of those things that doesn't "stick". I want God to use this study to change our habits, our attitudes, and our lives for the better. And I know that is what He wants too. Let's pray against the enemy's tactics to stop our progress!
• Sean just got home. He was downtown most of the afternoon working on getting his Costa Rican Driver License. He's official now. And only after standing in 3 differnent lines for one hour each!!

She's just so cute

Brooklyn is getting really talkative. We can't understand much of what she says but she's very expressive. Occasionally we catch words like "moo" or "puppy" but the majority is still blabber. (unless, of course, it's Spanish!) I can tell she's going to be quite a talkative young lady. She's also been singing a lot. She makes up her own songs and sings a combo rendition of "Twinkle Little Star" and the "Alphabet Song".

And she loves animals...can't leave them alone. She was funny with the beagle last night. She carried the dog's food bowl all over the house so he would follow her. Pretty soon she was feeding the poor dog one kibble at a time - but not before she tasted it first to be sure it was okay. That's what we call "GUACALA!" in Spanish. It is a combo of "yuck, gross, and icky" and says it better than any English word I know.

Brooklyn is still convinced that everything that flies is a "ducky". We have a hummingbird feeder that Sean fills with sugar water and the other day Brooklyn was outside playing near it. A hummingbird came and was drinking the water (agua in Spanish) and Brooklyn yelled very loudly, "NO, Ducky, dat's Dada's agua!"

Happy 2006

Is it really possible? Wow. A whole new year already. We're amazed when we look back at 2005 - we sold and moved out of our house, finished packing all our earthly belongings, finished raising our support,"moved" to California to MAF headquarters for training for a few months, and came to Costa Rica. And now our time in Costa Rica is over two-thirds complete. What a year. God has been good.

Well, last night we got a bit of a feeling of what "shock and awe" must feel like. Fireworks. Loud, big fireworks. They were going off in spurts throughout the night but we definately knew when Midnight hit (yes, we were in bed and I don't see anything shameful in that). A lot of U.S. cities have fireworks shows. San Jose doesn't have its own show but every citizen of San Jose sets off his own little fireworks show. You can probably imagine. We could hear the whole city shouting and yelling, sirens, and fireworks going off right beside our house and all across the city. It was actually a bit unsettling, considering we had been sleeping peacefully for a couple of hours already! We might have been running for cover if we didn't remember that it was the New Year. Surprisingly, Brooklyn slept through the whole thing. I don't know how. It was pretty cool at first but it went on and on and pretty soon I was kinda mad at these people disturbing my sleep. "All right all ready, so it's a New Year. Now go to bed!" If we could have had a nice view of the city, I'm sure it would have been amazing. As it was, we couldn't see much from our little house.

Don't get me wrong, we did celebrate the new year. We ended up going to the house of some missionaries from White Rock, British Columbia. We went to school near White Rock for a year and used to love taking a drive to White Rock, which is on the coast. Anyway, we just happened to meet this family at a Chinese restuarant on Friday night and were invited to their house for New Years! They have a couple of acres (totally unheard of in this city) and so it was nice to have a little space. They also have a kitten, a beagle dog, fish, and a hamster. Brooklyn was in heaven. The girl could hardly contain herself. At one point she walked into the room carrying the kitten.... with hands wrapped tightly around its little neck. It's eyes were bulging a bit. We hope it recovers okay. We set off a few fireworks ourselves. It was a great time.