Saturday, November 8, 2008

I have Been Humbled...

Last night I grabbed one of the "free" tico newspapers around here, flipped through the pages and was stunned by a photograph.

It was a picture of a little girl about the age of my little girl, sick and miserable in a petite dirt floored hut. What got me was her younger brother, maybe 5, holding a cloth to her head taking care of her. I don't know where their mother was. The desperation in his face was not a trait a 5 year old should even know how to portray.

I was emotionally humbled and glad that I couldn't read the words depicting more of their situation. The 1,000 {words} the photograph released was all I could bear.

It categorized my previous {whinny} post, irrelevant!

My friend Costa Rica has painfully schooled me again. I do have it all. Our living conditions are bearable and even if we complete our entire stay here, I will be FINE.

Last night during prayers, I scratched off my once important desire for a bigger place, and replaced it with a simple plea for these 2 children battling the world.

I wonder what God thinks when he hears our prayers sometimes.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I'm Trying to Be Patient...

but sometimes it's so hard! We have been living in a "very appreciated" but tiny place for the last 3 months. {actually 94 days, 17 hours and 32 no, 38 seconds} But who's counting?

In fact I told my sweetheart not to tell me the actual square feet we were living in, I knew it would make it more tough. My theory is similar for the birthing process, "No I don't want to "see" are you crazy? Then I'll really be in pain!!!"

So for these 90 days I've managed the niceties that are attached to living here. I won't go in to them or you have no option but to either consider me not tough enough or shutter in utter sympathy to my plight. Let's leave it as life has been interesting. So interesting that the internal timer inside me went off and I announced to the love of my life that our time here {in this house} is done!!!

Now when I'm ready to move along, I'm ready. I get things done! Now. That's just how I work. Costa Rica however has a different plan. She continues to teach me qualities like PATIENCE.


This is the house we almost rented. That is until they found out we have 5 children. What a let down!! Not that I have 5 kids, I've known that for awhile. :) But to have DENIED stamped on our parental foreheads, yeah, that was tough. I've been dreaming of the dishwasher, large fridge, nice bathrooms, space, cupboards, closets {yes a closet!!!} space, bathroom cabinets, washer and dryer, ohhh, somebody stop me!!!!

Well, that was last month. Now we have been set back on yet another moving opportunity. We were so close too. I've learned not to get my hopes up until I have moved in the first blue bin of clothes.

So this is my mission now, to quickly learn whatever it is I need to learn from this house, then get mine, my kid's and my honey's rear ends out of here as quickly as possible!!!

For me it's a gringo house or BUST!!! {literally}

Monday, November 3, 2008

Last Sunday...

was a memorable day for our family. Our oldest received the priesthood. {Love the "corny" pose he did for me!}
Boy 12 years have flown by {even though at times, the minutes seemed to take hours}. I have been so impressed with this child of mine. He has many leadership qualities already built in to who he is. It has been difficult yet exciting to watch him become more independent from Wes and I.

Here is a shot of Wes, Troy and Dallin. {Hey Dallin, what's going on with your shirt buddy? }




We grabbed a quick photo of all of us after church.


Here is really how the photo went.
I had to post this. We all have these, right? Paige is having a little temper tantrum, Wes is saying something to the effect of, "you better smile right now missy!" {yeah, that always works!} and Landon is planning his escape. But we are a FAMILY and this is the best we can do sometimes.

I need to apologize here for my lack of substantial posts lately. I can blame it on the Internet being out for a week, my new (part time job) or the funk I've been in. I haven't decided yet. I'll let you know.

Last Sunday we also had our primary program. For those of you who don't know it's when the young kids age 3-11 speak and sing during our main meeting and let the congregation know what they've been learning all year.
{Here is our little CREW, aren't they just the cutest?}
I mentioned earlier that I was the music leader. Let's talk about that a little. Me, the one who just learned {sorta} how to lead music by opening the back of the hymnal and trying to follow the tutorial. Me, the one who doesn't really know ANY Spanish. Me, the one who just came in to the primary presidency and hasn't been around as the kids have been learning the songs.

Well I had two other options, 1 to play the piano {peter peter pumpkin eater is all I know} or 2, to help the children read their parts, in Spanish.

So that is how I became the music leader. Everything went off without a hitch, pretty much.

Paige decided to act like she had stage fright when it was her turn to speak and boy did she ham it up! She batted her eyes nervously, looked around like she was scared, moved the microphone away from her and got tears to well up in her eyes. It was a show stopper folks. She was amazing. It surely was an award winning performance. She stayed up there enjoying her time in the spotlight for about 3 {very long} minutes, before I had to go up and relieve the situation. {So much fun for me}


Here is a pic I took facing the back of our {vomit comet} bus. We still had a few more patrons to fit in, usually we have standing room only by the time we pull up to our beautiful chapel.

I do love you BUS, even though I tease you often. I promise to be a better friend from now on.