The Month of November!

Get used to this picture...only with my baby.


Thanksgiving at the School! Hope and I were
extremely excited about this evening!



The Biggest Costa Rican flag I've
ever seen!




Me, Kevin, and Mauricio at the
Costa Rica v. Uruguay game!

So November has pretty much come and gone, but that's not to say that nothing happened. Au contra (no idea how to write in French) so much happened that I probably will leave some things out...which Hope will let me know about later (love ya Hope).

Where to start...well on Saturday, November 14, my good friend Mauricio invited me to a soccer game...but not just any game my friends. I had the privilege of donning Costa Ricas red, white, and blue to watch them play Uruguay in the "most important game in Costa Rican history." Unfortunately, I wasn't a good luck charm. Uruguay scored in the first half, giving them a 1-0 lead, and the more important and elusive away goal. Costa Rica would lose the game, but the experience was incredible. Even though the stadium holds just under 25,000 it was one of the loudest venues I'd ever been too. The stadium would but a lot of SEC stadiums to shame (not Williams Brice of course).

We also had the unique opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving here in Costa Rica. Even though it is not celebrated here (who knew only gringos celebrated it) our friends made sure we still had the opportunity to be thankful...and eat! On Wednesday, the school teachers and staff celebrated all together. About 20 people came, bringing their favorite Thanksgiving dish/what I told them they should bring, and we had a feast. Hope shared the story of Thanksgiving, which I translated, and we all shared what we were thankful for. It was truly a special time for all of us, not just the North Americans. On Thursday, Hope and I went to our friend Mauricio and Anita's in San Jose' where they also prepared and awesome meal for us. One thing I know for sure, the Lord has provided for us some incredible friends here in Costa Rica, we love them all very much.

What else happened...oh yeah...we had our first ULTRA SOUND!!! Talk about a breathtaking experience! I can't describe to you the feeling of seeing your baby for the first time. I think the only thing better then seeing it, was hearing the doctor tell us we had a perfectly healthy fetus. Don't believe me? I'll show the DVD. Amigos, I can't begin to tell you how excited and extremely blessed Hope and I feel. This baby is changing our lives, but in the best way possible. One of the things that excites us most is that we get to raise this kid amongst incredible family and friends.

I'm sorry this blog is so long, but Hope and I have a lot to share, and a lot to be thankful for. We love you all and are so grateful for your love and support. God Bless!

LONG OVERDUE

So I am so sorry it's been over 1 month since you have heard from us. Things have been crazy down here in Central America. We came home back in October for a few days and got to see some of you. We will be back in December and hopefully get to see everyone else. We have stayed so busy that I did not even realize it's been so long since I've updated the blog. In many ways things have been pretty normal. However, on Saturday night Emilio took me on a date to this really nice restaurant and even bought me flowers. Of course the other missionaries came too and it was exactly what we needed. Here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy. Know that we are thinking of you and miss you bunches!

Manuel Antonio!!!

This past weekend Hope, all the missionaries, and I took the weekend to visit one of Costa Rica's great treasures...MANUEL ANTONIO! This town/beach/monkey paradise is located on the Pacific and is the most incredible place i've ever been too. Sure...I got a little burned...and no I didn't learn how to surf(though I will) but it was still easily the best weekend we've had here in this country.

We rented a car at the crack of dawn and drove through some beautiful scenary on our way to the beach. You'll never guess what we did when we arrived...maybe you will...WE WENT TO THE BEACH! It was my first time in the Pacific and I learned quickly that the waves are a wiiii bit stronger then our friendly Atlantic ones. But I still like to think I won the battle. After we spent the afternoon at the beach, we got ready for the evening activities...mainly eating. We ate at this beautiful restaurant called Agua Azul with an incredible view of the ocean...we think (it was already dark by the time we got there). Afterwards we walked some, and then went to bed because of what was in store the next day.

Speaking of the next day...we went to the National Park of Manuel Antonio. While we were there we saw a huge snake, a deer, iguanas galore, "cool" fungus (says Hope), sloths, and MONKEYS! Oh, and did I mention it had the most beautiful, peaceful, and overall awesome beach in the world??? We spent the afternoon swimming, body surfing, reading, sun bathing, and talking about ways we could move there (just kidding Pastor). We had an incredible time there needless to say, and the hardest part was saying goodbye. But we know that we'll be back one day, maybe with you! So get your gringo butts down here to visit!!!

Hey it's Hope...you know I had to add my thoughts :) I just wanted to say it was so great to go on vacation. It really helped me to realize how incredibly blessed we are to be serving in such an amazing country. This is truely living..and I consider myself ridiculously lucky to be experiencing all of this. Come experience it with us! We miss you!

We look good, real good


She just can't keep her hands off me


....I mean really good


I wanted to punch the monkey, but Hope said
that would be a bad idea. So I had a staring
contest...I win, I always do.


Pictures usually can't capture it all...see for yourself!

Dia de Independencia

So yesterday we had our first day off from school. The festivities started on Monday when we got out of school at 12. Katie and I had to be back at 5 in order to "run with the torch." So when Central America first got its independence there was no way to communicate so people set out to spread the good news. To more efficient the travelers used laterns so they could keep going even when it got dark. So now to celebrate on Sept. 14th the "light"comes from Guatemala to Costa Rica. The school had a torch and we went to the nearest muncipal in Barva where they had the light that had been passed down through Central America. We lit our torch and then we ran to the school...just like in the Olympics. It was so cool. People were honking and cheering and it was a really neat thing to experience with some of the other kids. I'm the one running on the sidewalk. I don't really know why.

When we arrived at the school a lot of the students were dressed in traditional garb and it was so precious!!! A lot of the kids make their own laterns. It's incredible how creative they are.

On Tuesday the 5 missionaries went to a hotel to relax and play in a waterfall. We got caught in a huge downpour on the way home and all I could do was laugh although in the picture I'm really cold and sad. Enjoy!

Tica Laura

So this past weekend we had our first visitor. It was so incredible to see a familar face. She came on Thursday and left way too quickly on Sunday. Friday she spoke at chapel and did amazing. Saturday we went to a hotel, layed by the pool, and hiked to a waterfall. However, my favorite part of Saturday was teaching her to cook a typical Costa Rican meal. She couldn't believe that I could cook. ;) I didn't take a ton of pictures but you should check out Laura's facebook album because she got a lot of really great ones.

This is the sign I made to welcome her but of course Emilio forgot it so I had to hold it up when she got to school.

We baked an incredible cake. It was pineapple carrot and not quite done...just the way me and Laura like it! She cut up the pineapple like a pro!

Taught Laura to make Platanos Maduros and she did so well...who says Laura doesn't have a little latina in her?

Gallo Pinto....Laura is adding the cilantro. Again she did a great job and you would never know it was her first time.

This was our little dinner party group. I had to use the self timer on the camera so excuse the weird frame. Emilio had changed out of his Gamecock shirt at this point because it wasn't going so well. I always knew he was a bulldawg at heart (notice he's wearing red and black).

This is us after church. We had to take her to the airport right after :(

Update

Things have been going well but we are staying busy. A few weekends ago the church staff when on a retreat which was really great. It was wonderful to get to know everyone better but I was a "little"under the weather. I think I may have eaten some fruit I didn't wash well and that did not go so good with my intestines but I'm better now. Last Friday we had open house where we got to meet some parents and the kids performed songs in English. This weekend is super exciting because Laura is coming to visit and we are so excited! I will post pictures soon from this weekend. Let us hear from you..it really helps! Much love and we miss you.
Emilio practicing with 2 of my high school boys for Open House.
I know...exactly what you would expect Emilio to look like as a teacher but he actually is very serious. Don't let this picture deceive you.

On the way to the retreat we stopped at this park with really cool shrubbery. It was very beautiful. This is Pastor, Jaime (worship director), and of course Emilio

Emilio and I playing in the bushes. We were up in the mountains and it was very cold.

So again it's been awhile since I've posted but here are some pictures to update you. Things have been going pretty well....finally started to get a little homesick but I know time will go by fast because it's already September! Let us hear from you...it makes home seem closer!


Left to right: me, Summer, Katie...the three amigos. Summer had her birthday the first Sunday she was here and Katie and I baked her this cake!

Eliana and I. This is the precious girl I stayed with when I came to visit in March.

I am teaching earth science with fifth and sixth grade so we made bottle rockets. This is us :)

Emilio came out too to help translate. I didn't want any accidents because they couldn't understand my English...that would be VERY bad

Baking soda and vinegar and then shake it like a polaroid picture!!!

So...the bottle rockets didn't go quite as high as we hoped so I promised the kids a big explosion. This is me setting up mentos and Diet Coke

There's a video but this picture will have to do for now...it was quite the explosion

Let's just say that I didn't move my face out of the way in time and I was in the midst of the explosion. Of course the kids LOVED it!

Me drinking the remainder of the coke...the kids thought I deserved it after getting drenched

My class and Emilios after the explosion....so much fun!!

Crazy picture is mandatory of course!