Hodge Podge

Ummm, well hello there!  It's been a while now hasn't it?  Sigh...somehow the time has just gotten away from me.  Maybe it's the three boys, or the holiday, or the getting the last of things finally unpacked (I think for real this time,things just might all be where they are suppose to be.  Maybe.)

I hate when I neglect this space for long periods of time because then I never know what to talk about.  So maybe I'll do one of those bulletpointthrowupeverythingthathashappened posts.

Here we go!!

• Thanksgiving.  I guess that has pretty much dominated the last couple of weeks really.  Between the hunt for things  and the making of things, I've been pretty preoccupied by it.  And I worked hard to think ahead this year.  I felt like last year in language school, holidays would sneak up on me, and because I couldn't just run to the store and pick up (fill in the blank) to make it feel like the holiday, we all sorta were in this depressed state the day of the holiday.  That's not going to happen this year! 

• Por ejemplo...I really wanted to make cranberry relish this year.  We have this recipe in my family that's fantastic.  It requires whole fresh cranberries.  Those don't grow here.  So, I went on the hunt for them, which lead me to the fanciest grocery store here, AutoMercado.  It's like a D&W or Harris Teeter on steroids.  It has all sorts of imported things, and they let you pay a pretty penny errr colone for it too.  But I was successful in finding the fresh cranberries and it was ohhhh so worth it!  Plus, I didn't have to buy the orange or lime the recipe calls for because I just asked Elliot to go grab me one of each off our trees.  

• Pumpkin pie.  Yeah, this was another thing that took some thought.  I bought an ayote (squash) that I was told could be used just like pumpkin and it worked great!  What a find!  But it takes some time to roast it, pureé it and then make it into a pie.  But oh so very worth it.  And yes, that little one, I made just for me.  That was my breakfast Thanksgiving morning.

• My life has been revolving around feeding people, but Noah has been working hard on things at camp.  He is meeting with different groups to work on the camp themes for this upcoming temporada (camping season) almost daily.  He made memory verse cards for all the volunteers (and just so you get in your head, these would be what we called Summer Staff at Barakel.  They are the counselors and program staff).  And just in general has been busy with getting ready for camp and getting to know the volunteers.  It's been very obvious he is filling a need here. 

•  We need to get a Christmas tree...soon.  That should be a cultural learning experience.
• The winds have come and they are crazy!

• See that black fabric on the railing there?  Yeah, we found it and were able to make the deck and upstairs hallway safe for little people.  They can't wedge their bodies in between the rungs now.  Everyone give a collective sigh of relief!

• I thought rainy season was done...not so much.  I managed to leave clothes out on the line (they were dry yesterday) and then it started to rain overnight.  Blahh.

• We bought the boys a new hose, one without holes in it.  They are in love.

• We had friends come to spend the night this weekend, which helped make it feel even more like a holiday.  Because isn't that what you do?  Either have some over night guests to your house or you are the overnight guest at someone else's.  Anyway.  A good time was had by all and then reality set in.  See, they are leaving Costa Rica in just three weeks and then moving to Spain.  Spain!!  That's really far away!  But we are thankful for the time we had with them