HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

To all our loved ones - all our family and friends back home...and those of you we may not know that read our blog. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We hope you have a very special day.

If you're worried about us missing out, don't worry - looks like we'll have at least two Thanksgiving dinners here in Costa Rica. I'm making pies tonight. The pumpkin smells and looks awesome but the pecan pie...how do you say "flop" in Spanish?!?! Oh well. Since I still have a hankering for a pecan pie I'll try a different recipe tomorrow. I'm struggling to get used to our oven here, plus a different altitude and ingredients that are just different enough to completely destroy my time-tried favorite recipes! (Not to mention the fact that I packed all my cookbooks and recipes in our shipment for Ecuador...which is sitting in a hangar in Colorado waiting to be shipped.)

We have school in the morning and then are heading over to some friends house to watch American football (YIPEE!) and eat and eat some more. I was surprised tonight (and so was Sean!) when I completely fell apart thinking about not being with family or enjoying the usual traditions - I don't like being so far away sometimes. It doesn't help that we've hit the 6 month mark (when it is normal to have another bout with culture shock) during the holiday season!

I keep coming back to something a fellow student spoke about in chapel on Tuesday. GOD'S GRACE IS SUFFICIENT. Wow. Here we are so far from family, far from what we know, far from good old-fashioned traditions that were a part of who we were. We don't have a car (which is really starting to get annoying!), our bed is killing our backs, our couch could seriously injure you if you sat in the wrong spot. We're struggling to learn a language, being corrected over and over again, we're still learning how many ways we've offended people with the Spanish we do have, we don't understand our church services.... BUT GOD'S GRACE IS SUFFICIENT. The wonderful thing about where we are in life - in a new country, learning a language, "camping out" for a year - is that it drives us that much closer to God. And we have discovered that in every trial, every situtation GOD'S GRACE IS SUFFICIENT. What am I thankful for this Thanksgiving season? God's grace.

That and the fact that Brooklyn is now potty trained. YES!

ThanksWHATing?

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this week. Call me crazy (or ignorant) but until we lived here I really never made the connection that Thanksgiving is really just a North American holiday. When we lived in Canada they had Thanksgiving, although it was on a different day. But here it's just another Thursday. We even have school that day - ohhh the humanity... We'll survive somehow. But I'm taking pumpkin pie to school anyway (thanks Mom for bringing down some canned pumpkin). Those of us that are gringos and feel we must stuff ourselves with turkey and ,well, stuffing will be getting together on Saturday to celebrate the big day. My sweet Mom brought down some little ceramic pilgrims so that I could remember that special day and so they have a prominent place on our bookshelf. They don't particularly stand out and they seem like a pretty sorry attempt at creating a fall-like Thanksgiving atmosphere in the tropics ...*sigh*. But I can really relate with the pilgrims that came to the New World to make a new life for themselves in a strange new land ...

Christmas, on the other hand, has already begun. Because there is no Thanksgiving here people started getting out the decorations at the beginning of November. Although there is Christmas stuff everywhere, it is very hard to believe that it isn't still July. We read in the news that it is
1 degree (F) with wind chill back home in Colorado while here it has been in the 80's. I relate Thanksgiving and the beginning of Christmas season with the first day of ski season ... not the beginning of summer! And that is what they call the season we are getting into here in Costa Rica - "summer" as opposed to "winter" which is the rainy season. On bright, sunny days our teachers say "Oh, it's beginning to feel like Christmas!" WHAT?!?

We went ahead and bought a cheap $9 plastic Christmas tree, a string of lights and some ornaments. Let me just say that the tree looks worth about $3. Somehow, that attempt at making it feel more "holiday-ish" only made me feel worse! I'll take a picture of the tree and post it later - I want to wait till it's at least dark and the tree doesn't look quite so ridiculous and pathetic! But, we have a beautiful HUGE poinsetta plant that somebody came by our house selling for about $4. It is beautiful - better than we usually get at Wal-Mart every year and we can plant it outside and have a tree!

Most importantly, we have lots of family coming to see us over the Christmas break. We feel blessed to be here and to be able to share such a different experience with our families. A weird thought is that Brooklyn's idea of Christmas will be very different from ours as she grows up in the mission field in tropical climates! She'll probably have a hard time adjusting to snow and cold at Christmastime when she's older. She'll be 5 the first time she sees real snow and remembers it, when we come home on furlough in 3 years. Wow. But she'll have some awesome experiences that your average, every day kid in the US may never experience. We figure it all balances out. We might miss seeing the snow but Brooklyn won't care at all.

The dog ate my homework

Yesterday when we came home I was looking out in our yard and saw something interesting other than dog scat. Oh yes, upon further inspection it was just as I thought. You see, here in Costa Rica, there are no addresses per se, and thus no mailboxes, well almost none. So any mail we recieve from the electric, water, and phone companies just gets stuck in our gate, and they hope it just stays there and the wind doesn't blow it away, that it doesn't get rained on ect. Well in our case yesterday, add a new one to the list, that your dog doesn't eat your bill. I was able to find out enough from what few remants were left to determine how much we owe, but I do not know when it is due. They sometimes get delivered late. You never know.

Last night Brooklyn just melted mommie and daddy's heart when we were putting her to bed. She told us for the first time in her own words that she loves us. Except to make it even sweeter, it was in Spanish. "Te amo" is the phrase in Spanish that she used. How sweet!!!

American Futbol

We had a chance this afternoon to watch the Denver Broncos play the much hated Raiders. I have not been able to watch much football here in Costa Rica for obvious reasons, we're not in Kansas anymore Toto! But there is a couple here at language school from Denver and they are Bronco's fans as well. So they found out that the Broncos were going to be aired this week down here and invited us over to watch and also eat dinner afterwards. It was a lot of fun just to see football and to be reminded of some of the things of home. The funny thing about watching this afternoon was this, the game was televised by CBS, but here FOX bought the rights and showed it on Spanish FOX. Because of this the commentating was also in Spanish. So in one corner of the TV screen was the CBS logo, the other corner was the FOX logo with the score, and then the commentating was in Spanish. But it was still fun and the Broncos even won. It is funny the things you take for granted like just watching a simple football game in your own language. For those of you that don't like commentators much anyway, I think you would prefer them in your own language anyhow.

On a side note, tommoro begins our last of 5 weeks for this trimester. It is going to go very fast as our schedule is already packed with various things and activities, and then it will be all over. Only one more trimester to go! We can't wait.

Survival of the Dumbest?

Yesterday on our way home from school we went with another MAF couple's to their house to pick up some things real quick. They basically live in a duplex, but it is a little more intimate than that. Their neighbor is a “taxista” or a taxi driver. So what this means to them is that Mr. Taxi man has a lot of other “companeros” or co-workers over at anytime of the day. It was reported to us that Thursday night was one of grand celebration for the taxista and his friends, girls, alcohol, you get the picture. Well, when we arrived yesterday (Friday) around 1:00 in the afternoon, the garage had turned into a repair shop. At our co-workers house they also “share” the garage. Like most garages here it is very nice and clean and even laid in tile. Anyway, all the taxistas were involved in this mechanical endeavor somehow. There were about 5-6 taxi cars in the street, and about that many drivers in the garage. Two of these were underneath the car being worked on while the rest stood around with their arms folded in approval. Then things got interesting. The garage has a slight pitch to it so that water will run out into the street, and you must remember that the floor is nice clean, slick, tile. You know those dinky little jacks that come with your car for changing tires? That is what they were using. All of a sudden, without warning, the jack came shooting out and the car went flying down, yep, on top of the two taxi drivers underneath. Immediately, my coworker and I were doing what we could to lift the front of the car up and get the two guys out. Praise the Lord that they came out just fine and were just slightly banged up. One had a pretty swollen nose, but that may just have been his normal looks. So afterwards, as everyone’s heart rate was slowing and we were all catching our breath by how close that had been, the Cannon’s were off to their house. But not before the Taxi drivers began to jack the car back up without doing anything different to prevent the same thing from happening again. SCARY! Now we know why there are warnings on everything and how to operate it. You cannot teach common sense. Last night we also watched our co-workers kids, 5 and 7 years old, while they went on a much-needed date. Tonight we are going over to have a casual dinner and we (the guys) are going to play flight simulator. But this is no ordinary way of playing a computer game. We run it through my co-worker's computer projector and display it on the wall. So our “screen” becomes about 8 feet by 8 feet. I think we will call this the “missionary wide-screen T.V.”

Tidbits

Tidbits on our surprisingly ordinary life as it stands today:

• Our puppy, Ana, is doing very well. She has a very sweet nature. Brooklyn has learned how to say "NO, Ana, NO!" and they get along much better. We've been making our own "homemade" dogfood and it seems to be working well...not to mention that it is sooo much cheaper. No Ol' Roy here!
• Brooklyn seems to be getting the hang of potty training. We might just be diaper-free by Christmas!!!
• School is going well. We're moving right along through our grammar book. I was encouraged today when I read an entire news article in Spanish and understood it all. Maybe we are getting somewhere! Just for fun, I bought a book (for ages 8-10) in Spanish and have been able to understand it. It is very rewarding to learn a new language. VERY. "Vale la pena." - "It's worth the pain!"
• Our househelper, Isabel, is busy as ever. She is looking forward to going to Mexico in 5-6 months or around the same time that we head off for Ecuador. Until then, (because she didn't have enough to do looking after us) she is taking on a soup kitchen for kids in a poverty-stricken area of the San Jose area. She will continue working for us so that she can feed herself and her own kids. I admire Isabel so much. She has so little but is always looking for ways to give what she does have to those that need it even more than she does. I have learned so much from this special lady and praise God everyday for providing such a wonderful person to help us adjust to this new culture, keep our tile floors shiny, help us with homework, feed us tasty, Costa Rican food, and allow us to practice our bad Spanish at any moment of the day.
• Sean is at the school right now installing the NEW SOUND SYSTEM in the chapel. This is a huge praise. The sound system was ordered from a company in the US, shipped to Texas, then driven to Mississippi, and from there, hand-carried to Costa Rica. And it all arrived in one piece without problems...well, except for the extra soundboard that was sent along with it. We'll have to contact the company and see what can be done about that! Anyway, PRAISE THE LORD. Now just pray that Sean and his buddy are able to get the thing installed!

What do we know?

Today during dinner Brooklyn noticed a moth that was flying around the outside of the dining room window. She was very fascinated with it and so we decided to use it as an opportunity to teach her a new animal name.

"That's an insect." says Dad.
"That's a moth, Brooklyn." says Mom.
"A moth is a kind of insect," we explain. "Can you say moth, Brooklyn?"
Brooklyn looked at us both and then back at the moth. "No, dat's a ducky."
Says Dad, "Yes, it flies like a ducky or a birdie but it is a moth."
With wide, knowing eyes and a rather superior tone, "NO, dat's a ducky."

End of discussion.

A new addition...

Well, we want to make the happy anouncement that there is a new Cannon in San Jose. She's blonde (of course), and has the sweetest eyes. She's got long legs and a tail that wags non-stop. Her name is Ana and we love her so much already! Ana is a 3 1/2 month old golden retriever puppy that we "adopted" on Saturday. Brooklyn is in heaven - she's always loved "puppeeees" It has taken some time for the two of them to get used to one another. Ana is all puppy and is, consequently, always anxious to play which makes Brooklyn a little worried. On the other hand, when Ana has played out all her energy and wants to sleep, Brooklyn has found she is even more fun to play with than her stuffed toy puppies. It has been fun to have a dog around, though somewhat tiring. We've always loved dogs and for years have talked about getting a golden retriever puppy. When the opportunity presented itself we just couldn't resist getting one and so...here we are! Granted, we hunted this opportunity down but...anyway. Ana will make the move to Ecuador with us when that time comes.

One thing is for sure. Our work is cut out for us. A puppy and a toddler. Here's what it sounds like to our neighbors: (Remember Ana is the dog.)

"No, Ana, NO. Give me my shoe." "Brooklyn, yuck, get that out of your mouth."
"Brooklyn, don't touch that." "Ana, NO! DOWN!"
"Fetch it, Ana." "Brooklyn bring Mommy that marker, RIGHT NOW!"
"Ana, drop it." "Brooklyn put that down."
"Brooklyn, next time you need to go peepee, tell mommy." "Ana, NOOO! Outside!" (praise the Lord for tile floors.)
"Sit, Stay." "Ana, you too."
"Atta girl!" "Such a big girl." "Such a good dog!"













Ana




















Brooklyn reading Ana to sleep...

Cold in Costa Rica

Yes, cold. It has been rainy, windy and crisp here the past few days...at least we think so, those of you in Colorado where it has already SNOWED might think we've gone bonkers to think we are cold here. But really, San Jose is much cooler than you might think due to our higher elevation here. It's hard to imagine that anywhere south of the border could possibly be anything other than hot, humid and tropical but we're here to tell you COLD still exists down here. Of course, we're just putting on long pants and a long-sleeved shirt, not heavy winter coats. We both had to laugh and give our street guard a hard time - he wore a thick down coat all day yesterday.

We don't have heaters, just fans, so I turned the oven on high to try to get some warmer air circulating. Sean thought I was being ridiculous.

Chili for dinner tonight! (Thanks to Mom for bringing some chili seasoning down for us.)

A Trip to the Hospital

Don't panic, we're all fine. But we did have a rough weekend. Brooklyn was running a fever all weekend. She was a real trooper - in fact, other than the fever and loss of appetite we couldn't figure out was going on. Finally on Sunday we decided it would be best to take Brooklyn in to an urgent care clinic located in downtown San Jose. The hospital is a private, Christian hospital that was started way back in 1929 by missionaries. So, at about 6:30 pm we got a taxi and headed out. We were able to see a peditrician. He was excellent with Brooklyn. He only spoke Spanish so it was a good test of where we are with the language after 6 months of study. We did fine, between the two of us - with four ears, four eyes, and two brains we were able to understand it all just fine. Well, the important stuff anyway. We think.
As we were waiting in the waiting room, our poor, sick little baby was bouncing off the walls, jumping, running, laughing and singing. Then when the doctor was asking us questions she was being just as friendly as could be. I could tell the doctor was thinking, "so, she's been pretty sick, huh? whatever you say, gringos!" Brooklyn was perfectly comfortable as the doctor poked and prodded her. It was funny to see her respond so readily to Spanish. When the doctor asked her if she was ready for an examination she nodded her head yes in all seriousness. Not only was this doctor an excellent physician but he has great kid skills - he got Brooklyn to agree to something. Not even her parents can do that! We didn't even know that "si" or "yes" was in her vocabulary. By the way, we haven't heard it since. *sigh*
Anyway, turns out Brooklyn had an ear infection and a horrible looking infection in her throat. We honestly never even suspected it was so bad! She apparently has a very high pain tolerance. The same thing happened the last time she had an ear infection just before we left the US. We got the same "yeah, right" look from the doctor and then he exclaimed, "She does have an ear infection....and it's a really bad one, actually." Guess we'd better be careful, she is so tough that it's hard to know when something really is wrong. Well, she's doing much better today. We got some antibiotics and she no longer has a fever. By the way, our trip to the hospital was relatively painless, even when we went to pay.
Well, except that the cashier was so hard for Sean and I both to understand. The cashier kept saying something and we'd keep looking at each other trying to guess what he'd said. Then we'd look back at him with probably the most confused, "duh" faces he'd ever seen so he'd repeat himself. Sean and I just kept looking at each other. Sean was thinking "surely Becca understood that" and I kept thinking "Sean must have understood and I should be coming up with an answer". Finally, we got it - he wanted us to pay! Well, the whole thing - medicines and doctor visit plus an extra fee for a visit with the pediatrician, cost less than $50.

Volcanos and Mid-terms

This morning we were off to the airport once again to take Becca’s mom, sister and niece so they could fly back to Colorado. We have had a whirlwind week! What a time we had – it was great to see loved ones and show them around this beautiful country that we have called “home” for the past few months. Over the weekend we went to see a volcano called Volcan Arenal in the northcentral part of Costa Rica. It was a stunning sight. This volcano is active and has lava and smoke continuously coming out of it, as well as audible eruptions. It was a very surreal experience to see such power and realize that if the volcano decided to really get serious, we would be history. Such is the power of God’s creation. It actually is a miracle that we even saw the volcano. October here in Costa Rica is the rainiest month of the year. The entire weekend was perfectly clear at the volcano, but we heard it rained all weekend here in San Jose. So I guess we picked a great weekend to go. The hotel we stayed at had three pools and 3 water slides. It was a blast and really fun to see Brooklyn get a huge kick out of the swimming. Even Grandma Vicki went down two of the slides - at night, but we do have a video that recorded all her screams, just in case you need proof that she did it! Last night we ate our last dinner together at a nice restaurant that has a special “show” every Wednesday. The show followed a buffet of typical Costa Rican food, which we thought was good (I don’t know if our visitors thought the same). The food is definately different, and it is NOT Mexican for those of you who think nothing exists except tortillas, tacos, and burritos south of the border. The show was very entertaining. The first part consisted of traditional music and dancing with beautiful garb worn by both the men and women. The second part was dancing again but this time with people wearing really unusual masks. Becca’s niece Catie was dragged out to dance – she was horrified but was a really good sport! Finally the night was finished up with fireworks. All in all, a neat experience to see this side of the Costa Rican culture. Tommorow we have “mid-terms” at school. It is hard to believe that we are already half way through this trimester, which also marks halfway through school for us. Six months down, six to go. Man has the time flown. We did find out this week that we now have a house in Ecuador. It is exciting to see that come together, although Becca and I both won’t be able to believe it until we are actually setting foot in Ecuador.













Volcan Arenal















Costa Rican Wildlife

Update on Isabel, Company coming, and thoughts on Language school

• First, an update on our househelper, Isabel. She is doing very well now. Feeling fine and back to her normal self. She really scared us there for a while. Praise the Lord, she is fine and still pursuing God and His will for her life with all her strength!

• Well, today we receive our first visitors! We're so excited we can hardly stand it. My (Rebecca's) mom, sister, and niece are flying in tonight at 8:30. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to see loved ones and can't wait to show them where we live and what we do! We are planning a trip to a volcano this weekend and hope to take them to see the sights around San Jose. We feel very blessed that over the next several months both Sean's family, and mine, plus a few friends will be able to come see us here in Costa Rica. It helps take the bite out of being so far away from family when we know they'll come see us! Yeah, we know they aren't coming to see us, they're coming to see Brooklyn.....

• We're both feeling very tired lately. Somebody mentioned that our blogs sound tired. Well, we're not sure how that came through but it's the truth! Gee, learning a language takes much more energy and work than we ever imagined. Our classes are very challenging this trimester. Suffice it to say, we doubt we'll be bragging so easily about our grades at the end of this trimester! But, while we are tired and almost overwhelmed, God has strengthened us and has been our strong tower in time of need! We're still having fun, still loving our life as missionaries, still learning Spanish (somehow) and still enjoying the process!!! We appreciate your prayers for continued strength, energy, and grace to learn Spanish well. We want to wring out our year in Costa Rica for all its worth!

Bugs and Futbol

Phew…! What a week, once again. We had “Spiritual Emphasis Week” last week. It was really good. It is a week that the school designates as one to be refreshing and encouraging to the student body. The teachers are not allowed to assign homework and tests, and a special speaker comes in to minister to us twice daily. The couple that were our speakers were from Tennessee. They had been missionaries to the American Indians in Arizona and New Mexico, and then to the Spaniards of Spain. He and his wife had some great wisdom and experience to lavish on everyone. Becca and I were also greatly involved in the worship aspect of the services. Of the 9 total services we were involved in 5, which began to tire us out by the end of the week, but it was still good, all to God’s glory. I also started a tutor last week, two times a week. Jumping up to Becca’s class has been bittersweet. While we are going over some useful things, I incurred some gaps in my foundation from making such a big jump. Therefore I have a tutor twice a week after school for an hour. It has already been helpful, but that extra hour can sure drain whatever brain capacity I may have left.

O.K., ready for another weird experience? Yesterday as I was sitting on my couch I looked across the living room (its not that far) to one of our houseplants and thought I saw a spider, or at least something caught in a web. It was in a palm tree type plant that we have inside our house. So I went over to investigate and saw a very weird looking spider underneath one of the palm branches. As I looked a second time, a little closer I about fell over backwards with that creepy crawly feeling only bugs can give you. Not to mention I was leaning sideways practically upside down to see the underside of the palm leaf. Of course this provoked Becca’s interest and I let her run her own investigation. It was the same as mine. She thought she saw the same “spider” I did and didn’t think much of it. I told her to look again, just as I had, and her reaction was just like mine, she just about fell over backwards with that creepy crawly feeling only bugs can give you. Now that you are all wondering what it was, it was a caterpillar. But this wasn’t your ordinary bug. It’s head (which we thought originally was the spider) was about the size of a small thumbtack, and disguised in such a way and to make the back part of its head look like a slug or snail, with those two creepy little eyeball things. The color of the head was tan/reddish. Now, upon further investigation, there were a few more inches to this thing. The rest of its body was completely camouflaged with the rest of the palm leaf, green mostly, but at its tail end were again those funny things that looked like the eyes of a snail. I am assuming that these are defense mechanisms to confuse prey as to which end to bite. So Becca and I cut that particular leaf off and took Mr. Scarylookinguglything outside to investigate more. As I tried to coax him off the leaf, not only was he weird looking, he was downright aggressive. He did not like to be disturbed, and let me know about it. We finally got over our “willeys” and got him off of the leaf and took some pictures of him. Upon further investigation, we found a LOT of caterpillar droppings in and around our palm plant, and of course many leaves that were all chewed up. Looking back we had both been hearing something occasionally falling (yep, it was his droppings hitting the floor) or had seen the plant move out of the corner of our eyes. I never thought such a little thing could give such fear, but that is usually the way life is huh? The things we fear tend to give us the “willeys” and make us want to run and go back to our comfort zone. So whether it is a caterpillar displaying all of God’s greatness, or a language and culture that is different, fear comes in many different packages when we don’t understand something.


"Mr. Scarylookinguglything"



Leaf or Grasshopper? (taken by Becca)

On to other news, last night (Saturday) I had the chance to go to the World Cup Soccer game between Costa Rica and the USA. In a word, AWESOME! The Latin’s, and the world for that matter, have a reputation for being crazy about their soccer, or “futbol”. I wasn’t disappointed. Luckily, for my own personal safety, the USA got beat soundly, 3-0. But to see all of these people, going this nuts for this long, in the POURING rain, was amazing! Half of the entertainment was the people. For those of you into soccer, you no doubt saw the game stateside on ESPN or some other network. But it is very likely that most of you did not even know that the USA had a National team and they played Costa Rica last night. Last night confirmed for C.R. that they are now going to the World Cup, held next summer in Germany. The USA had already secured their slot, as well as Mexico, from our region. Since the USA had already secured their slot, they basically sent down their Junior Varsity. Which was a smart move, but we didn’t see all their star players who previously had beat C.R. the last 2 times they played each other. So today, Sunday, we are definitely making a day of rest. We both have studying to do, and various other projects to get caught up on. We have been running so busy and loving every minute of it. It is amazing how fast time is flying, especially that we are quickly approaching our half way mark here at language school

When did October Start?

I missed it. When did we start another new month? Yes, I realize we are already a few days into October but, well, I missed it. Maybe my brain has a short somewhere...yup, there is strong possibility...

We had a nice but quick weekend. I went to a ladies retreat put on by our school. It was a nice time and my first night away from Brooklyn. For the first night in two years I slept all through the night! I mean I didn't even move! I woke up on my own without a cold little hand patting my cheek...but then again I missed that pudgy little hand. Sean did great without me. Such a good Daddy. In fact, according to Sean - and I say "according to" because I don't really believe him - Brooklyn did better without me around. She never got into things or did anything bad in the whole 25 hours that I was gone. If that's true, I guess I'd better get away more often....hmmm, I've heard there are some pretty nice spas here. Suppose I could get a special missionary deal (i.e. free)?! Probably not.

This is Spiritual Emphasis Week at school. No tests or homework...praise the Lord! We have a guest speaker and his wife here from the U.S. We are really enjoying their messages. There are two meetings each day - in the mornings between classes as well as in the evenings. It means Sean is especially busy with worship leading and playing and organizing but it is going very well and we are both being refreshed.

Please Pray

We would really appreciate your prayers for our househelper, Isabel. Last week she had an episode very similar to a heart attack. At this point she doesn't believe it was a heart attack but is instead some sort of virus. The medical system here is socialized and she hasn't really had the quality of care that we feel she needs. The doctors that she has seen can't seem to pinpoint the problem and she has to wait ten days before she can get in to have any tests done. She has been extremely tired and has been feeling just awful. We've given her some time off to rest and recuperate. Please pray for Isabel that she would be healed and return to her normal energetic self!

What I long for...

I'd love to have an intelligent conversation in Spanish. Would you believe that all of a sudden I can't pronounce words that I never had trouble with before? Isn't it supposed to go the other way? Aren't I supposed to speak better with more time and practice? And I can't seem to say one sentance without getting either a gentle correction or a funny look. I really wouldn't mind so much if a few people would just smile and nod and act like I'm not sounding ridiculous.

On the upside, I'm learning humility. Like never before. They say that is the upside anyway...

I'm also learning how to keep my mouth shut or at least I'm learning that I need to keep my mouth shut...whether or not I have learned this lesson is still very questionable. I realized today that I am always arguing with one of my classmates just for the sake of arguing. (By the way, this classmate is not Sean, although we won't go into how much I argue with him just to hear myself talk.) I suddenly realized how bad it is today when this classmate was just innocently trying to do an oral description about contact lenses and I kept piping up with my two cents that he wasn't right. My mom and my husband know better than anyone that I can get very argumenative at times. I've been in class with these people far too long when I start picking a fight with them over gas-permeable contact lenses!!!

Long Time NO Write!

Phew…what a week. For those of you who regularly follow our blog, sorry for the gap of information and news left over the past week. I am sure you all had an intense longing for great and big news from our lives that we have left you without, sorry! This past week has been crazy. With my increased workload from moving into Rebecca’s class I had tons of homework and studying to do. In fact I still do, but it is a little more manageable now. We had a lot to cover in my tutoring sessions last week, which consisted of about an hour after lunch (a great time for a nap) with a tutor going over an amount of material that probably would have taken 1-2 months in the normal classroom setting. So needless to say I am still recovering from having my brain fried repeatedly last week. I can’t think of anytime in the past when my brain literally hurt like this and caused me headaches. Not even in all my flight training, maintenance training, college, high school, ect, had my brain hurt like this. There is nothing to compare learning a language with any of my past experiences. The greatest thing and perhaps the weirdest as well is that I am loving learning Spanish, we both are. It is a joy daily to learn more and more Spanish and the different ways to say things, and then try and use it in real life and make a complete fool of yourself. Oh well, you have to crawl before you can walk, and at times I feel like I am even far from crawling. Life outside of the USA is really getting easy for us as well. Not that is was ever extremely hard, but we are slowly becoming attached to the Latin culture and their language. An answer to our prayers indeed, and I am sure some of yours as well. This week has no great things happening out of the ordinary. I am parenting solo this coming Friday-Saturday while Becca goes to a women’s retreat. That should be fun for her. It will be Brooklyn’s and my first time “alone” without mommy, prayers are accepted…please. Next week is Spiritual Emphasis week. What this means is we have a special speaker for 2 services a day, every day. As the worship coordinator it means a high workload for me and my 4 teams, but it should be fun. I am in the beginning stages of gearing up for that. I should actually be studying right now, and even desire to, but there is a point in my brain that I have been reaching a lot lately, that the brain cannot handle any more information. It is kinda like when you are running a lot of programs on your computer and all of a sudden…nothing but a frozen screen and locked up processor. Well that is what would happen if I studied right now, nothing but brain freeze. Sometimes I wish I could get my processor updated for a newer, faster one, but there is nothing wrong, or for that matter unspiritual, with relaxing until my current one can catch up with all the new Spanish words and grammatical concepts. Therefore, I think a bowl of ice cream is needed. (By the way, it is better here that in the USA.)

Quick Update

• Friday - Yes, last Friday was my birthday. It was a very nice day. I have the most wonderful, thoughtful husband in all the world. He bought me roses, had our neighbor make a cake for me (she has her own catering/bakery business) and then surprised me by getting a babysitter and sweeping me away (with the help of a mini-bus and driver) to a favorite restaurant of ours that overlooks the city. It was a great evening. The waiters really enjoyed talking with us. They kept coming back to our table asking for help with their English... Waiter: "Que es esleeeepeeeng?" (Accompanied by funny motions of falling) We answer: "Slipping!" He walks away saying: "Esleeepeeng. Esleeepeeeeng. Esleepeeeng." Then he comes back with a little piece of paper that he must have copied from the English side of a milk carton that says: "Partially skimmed.....breast milk is best for ....nursing" Why he chose those words of all the words on that milk carton I don't know but we did our best to explain it and pretty soon he was blushing realizing what he had asked us!
• Saturday - I like to stretch my birthdays out. A fellow MAF wife and I went out together. We ate at Outback Steakhouse (yes, free refills, American style hamburgers and french fries so good you don't even need ketchup) and then headed to a scrapbooking store so I could buy some things to start a scrapbook. I'm just getting into this whole scrapbooking thing but the other two MAF wives here at language school are both really into scrapbooking and making handmade cards so I have them to point me in the right direction. I don't consider myself artistic or creative but I'm ready to give it a try! I think this will be something fun to do with all that spare time I have...when Brooklyn is sleeping. So, in other words, between Midnight and 4 am...
• Sunday - Another attempt at going to church. Brooklyn hasn't been too excited about going to Sunday School for some reason...actually she's terrified and that just isn't like her at all. We're guessing she might have had a bad day with one of the other kids a few weeks ago. The teachers are great and she's always loved going until recently.... Anyway, it is next to impossible to keep her still and quiet in church so we ended up leaving after worship. Looks like we might have to go to church in shifts (one of us first service, the other for second service) until Brooklyn warms back up to the Sunday School idea. At this point we don't feel we need to push the whole church thing. We really hate to see her have such a terrified reaction to church when she should be looking forward to it. We'll wait a few weeks for whatever it is to blow over and try again. We spent the rest of the day "re-confirming" boundaries with our precious two-year old. Some days (and usually on the weekends) she likes to test us to see what she can get away with. Days like these make us very happy with just the one child!

The Rest of the Story...

Rebecca did clarify clearly that I am being moved into her class, beginning tomorrow (today is a national holiday, no school). What she failed to tell you is this. I have to jump up about 6 levels. She has been in the class where only the gods come to learn, there is no higher class. They are up there in the clouds. On the other hand, I was in a class with more normal people, commoners. So to be elevated to this level is quite an honor, no doubt. Rebecca also failed to mention that I can make some mean pancakes as well.

It's happening

Well, a while ago I expressed my worry that Sean would pass me up in Spanish. It's happening. He's just been bumped up to my grammar class. The Academic Director made the decision to move up Sean and one other classmate who were ready for a bit more of a challenge. They will take a crash course to catch up to where our class is in the book (they will have a tutor for an hour everyday till they are caught up).

This is a sad day for me... when we used to have arguments I would turn things in my favor by saying "you just wouldn't understand, you aren't as advanced as I am. I'd explain it to you but I don't want to confuse you." What now?! Okay, I'm a bit competitive and, although my Spanish was only .000012% better than Sean's to begin with, it was one thing I could actually beat him at. Those days are gone. *Sniff*

Not only do I have to share my classroom (okay, glory) with my husband but I also have to learn to keep my mouth shut. This is the conversation we had when I found out he was coming to my class:

Becca: "Wow, honey, congratulations! They're really moving you up?" To MY class?!?!

Sean: "Yeah, I can't believe it. I just hope I'll be able to catch up and stay on top of everything." Just please don't try to -

Becca: "I'll help you!" Hmmm, this could be fun. On second thought, maybe that wouldn't be so great for our relationship.... "Or maybe you'd rather -"

Sean: "I'll let you know if I need your help." Too advanced for me, are you? We shall see. We shall see.

That's about how it went. The best advice we ever received about language learning and marriage was to never, not ever, correct each other. Sean is great at keeping his "help" to himself but I, on the other hand... well, we'll need your prayers!

This is a great thing. Sean has been needing more of a challenge for some time now. And, believe it or not, I think its awesome that I get to have my husband in class with me. We're going to have so much fun! He belongs in this class. I have no doubt that he'll do great. He has that "language gift" - he's improved SO FAST in the four and a half months that we've been here. And considering that his life could depend on his Spanish skills someday I'm especially happy to see him in a class where he'll learn more...even if he will pass me up. I should have known it wouldn't last for long. Hey, at least I can still cook better than he can...although he can make a mean macaroni and cheese...

Yes, I know marriage isn't about competition....
I'll bet he'll never take up scrapbooking, so I might have him beat there!