Summing Up

Hi there!  Remember me, you friendly missionary blogger?  Yeah, it's been a while, I know.  Something about having your computer stolen...

But we aren't going to dwell on that.  Instead, I am going to attempt to catch up on the last few weeks, bullet point style and everything.  So here we go

• Noah's parents came for their first visit and it was great!  We were able to show them how crazy unpredictability life can be here, and also were able to go away for a few days to see the now dominate volcano, Arenal.
• We were robbed, but you knew that already.
• We finished up swimming lessons.  Costa Rican swimming lessons are soooo different!  And hard!  We're just going to put that on the back burner for now.
• We found a home school group that meets every Thursday and it's only about 20 minutes from our house.  The boys have loved it so far, and it's been good for us to get out of the house once a week.
•  Noah started a Bible study with some of volunteers interested in learning more about leadership.  The response was pretty great!  We even had to order more books!
• We were able to get a a new laptop!!  Which is fantastic, but now comes the whole process of learning it and making it our own...blah
• We took another trip to Panama last week.  This time we did it all in one day, crazy, but it's done.  Hopefully we will have our residency by the time these tourist visas expire and then we can get our drivers' licenses.
• A group of faculty and staff from Spring Arbor University (our Alma Mater) were here last week and wanted to have lunch with us!  What fun that was!  They also talked with us about spending some time with the Cross Cultural trip that is coming in January.  How fun!!
• I made a corned beef this year for St. Patrick's day.  While it was a step or two in the right direction for corned beef, it was super spicy from some red pepper flakes.  Will be cutting way back on that.
• Quinn is now crawling like a maniac, pulling up, has two teeth, is babbling like crazy and flat out refuses to eat anything.  Seriously.  Sometime soon I should show you all the video...I really don't know what to do for him.
• We now have a 8 foot aluminum sheeting fence around our back yard.  See the note about the robbery.
• I found whole 16 lb turkeys here for $9!  At Thanksgiving time they are close to $60!  I bought two.  One we will have for Easter.  What?  You don't have turkey at Easter?  And the other I cooked today, will take all the meat of the bones and freeze that.  Maybe I can get one more and do the same and still have room in my freezer...maybe

The First Day of Escuela Kamper

First off, if you haven't added a comment to the coffee give away post, go over here and do that.  And then come right back.

Yesterday we started school here.  Forrest is now officially a kindergartener!  That 5 years sorta went by in a flash!

 And yes, it's February, but we decided to go with the Tico schedule this year for a lot of reasons.  We had thought maybe Forrest could go to a local school a couple of mornings a week, and do school at home a couple of mornings a week. However, that didn't work out, so we are going with the home school thing.  And really, that's just right.  It gives him plenty of time to play and explore and just learn the world around him as well as some more formal learning. He's got years and years to sit in a classroom. 

We're keeping it simple, but the boys seems to both be enjoying it. Elliot is right there in the mix with us, working on letters and numbers instead of reading and writing, but other things, like the stories and history lessons he's getting right along with Forrest.

Today we are also adding in swimming lessons to the mix, mainly for Spanish.  The boys did swimming lessons this summer and loved it (well most days), so we thought swimming in Spanish would be a good idea.  Today is a practice lesson, to see if they like it, if we like the teacher, etc.  It should prove to be interesting if nothing else.

And while we are homeschooling this year, it doesn't mean that will always be the case.  In fact, if you think about it would you pray for us regarding schooling?  There are a lot of factors to consider and we just need a lot of wisdom for each of our kids in this area.

All Things New Year's

I keep meaning to tell you about New Year's here. With all the excitement of the trip to Panama and Christmas, we decided to just hang out that night.  I bought some brie ( the only kind I could find had crushed black pepper all over it, and I decided I really didn't like that) we splurged on some crackers and we watched three movies that night.  And then!!

Someone once said that Americans use an inexcusable paltry amount of fireworks in their celebrations.  I concur.  New Year's Eve was incredible and we were 10 miles from the heart of it all.  

This video isn't the greatest, but hopefully it will give you some idea of how things looked from our deck.

Now, we have friends who live down in the city.  This is what it was like on their deck.  Yeah, pretty nuts!

New Year's Day we were invited to go to a church picnic with some of our neighbors.  The church had rented a place with a pool, a fútbol (errr...soccer) field, a playground and a covered pavilion.  It was a good time of playing as a family, the boys got to swim and Noah got to play a game of soccer.  The boys also got to go sledding.  Yep!  Sledding!!  We laughed so hard over this!

Sledding!!  And the dried leaves even flew up after the kids went over them, you know, just like the snow does.  So funny!!

 

The other funny thing to us was how concerned everyone was over the fact that Quinn didn't have a hat on.  Now remember, it was probably 75 and sunny.  Yes, there was a breeze and yes, we were up on the mountain side, but he had a onesie and sweatpants and socks on.  He was also wrapped in the Moby most of the day. 

He looks cold, doesn't he?  But I got chastised by more than one lady about how "that baby needs a hat!" and "he is going to get an ear ache" and "I would love to hold him, but he shouldn't be unwrapped, put him back in."  Frankly, I was way more concerned with him getting sunburned that developing an ear ache from the 75 degree wind. So funny what people think is cold!  There is no use in explaining to them about Elliot crawling in the snow with no boots on...

And there you have it. All things New Year's. Maybe next year we will try our hand at some of those crazy fireworks!

K kampers Get to be C Campers

Our happy Kampers were so excited this morning about being campers for the first time.  At Roblealto, Day Camp starts at 4 years old, so both Forrest and Elliot get to spend today and tomorrow playing, laughing, singing and learning about Jesus all in the context of camp. 

Pray for them, that God would use this two days in their little hearts to make them more like Him, and that this would be a good time of interacting with kids and counselors in Spanish. 

We're Back!

Yesterday we got a new power supply cord for our laptop!  If you remember, our puppy made the slightest dent in the cable and rendered it useless.  But yesterday a friend came to visit and was able to bring the cord that a friend in the states order for us and had sent to another missionary friend who happened to be Stateside last week.  That missionary dropped it off to the friend that came yesterday, so it was a well traveled cable and we are so thankful to have our laptop back in functioning order.  Now we can communicate with people in the US again!

And because no post is complete without a photo, here's one of all the boys playing with cars.  Elliot, when told Quinn couldn't play with matchbox cars yet, went and found him a truck to join in the fun.  Love these boys!

Our Weekend

This last weekend Noah was apart of staff training at camp for the whole weekend.  He was gone the afternoon and evening on Friday, came home late, left Saturday morning at about 6:30 and was gone until Sunday when we went to pick him up.  It really wasn't longer than anything we had at Camp Barakel, but the big difference was we don't live at camp anymore.  And we have three boys now.  It was a good time for him to get to know some of the volunteers and to get trained in archery here.  Which just makes us laugh, becuase he did so much with archery at Barakel.  Now he is internationally certified. 

Overall, we did ok.  There were some moments of "we can't do this!" but we did and we all lived.

One day we went into town by ourselves.  Ha!  That was a fiasco!  I thought it was a good idea.  Until we got lost, got caught in traffic (Saturdays are horrid!) had a screaming baby, couldn't figure out how to order at the restaurant, dealt with  a huge meltdown fit, couldn't find a parking spot at the mall, and came home in the rain.  Yeah.  Sometimes I get these ideas and think, "oh yeah, I am a grown woman, I can take my three kids to McDonald's no problem."  Ha!  Yeah right.  And par for the course, I managed to order something extra.  Oh well.

Another thing we did to keep life interesting around here was made sidewalk chalk paint again.  We did this once last year and got our guard to come play with us.  This time, even though it was raining, we were able to paint in our garage ( I love this thing!!).

And Quinn pretty much decided he needed to be held.  All.Weekend.Long.  Yep, so this is how we looked.

He is a cute little bugger.  Good thing.  Oh, he has also figured out how to slam his legs and feet down and scooch his way lower in the bouncy seat.  Time for the seat belt.

A couple of weeks ago Elliot found a hose in the grass.  It's got some holes in it, but the boys have been playing with it, making damns and all sorts of other things.

 

I am so thankful for this house and this property.  The Lord really answered our prayers with a place for the boys to play and dig and grow.

Hodge Podge

So this is more of a hodge podge than anything else.  There is a little of the house, a little of the boys, and a bit of an update about Noah's job.  So you know, feel free to jump to what interests you.

House
Not a lot of pretty pictures on this front, mostly we have done some deep cleaning over the last few days.  I found mildew in the dressers and wardrobe in what will be our bed room last week.  After bleaching them, tea tree oiling them, leaving vinegar in the room, leaving baking soda in the wardrobe, the stink is still there.  So we asked the landlady if they can be moved out, and she said yes.  Today they came and got the two dressers and tomorrow they will come for the wardrobe.  That will mean I can finally get us moved down to that bedroom.  Although, now we have to figure out a closet solution.   And still find a crib mattress for Quinn.  I have been to two different stores and while they had crib mattresses, they were all too long.  So the hunt continues.

Noah was able to finally put up the tapestry last night that has been hanging on the banister since we moved in.  Isn't it nice?

The Boys
Overall, they have been doing really well.  I think because we had help with this move, it meant we could work on helping them through the transition.  They are loving the yard, the garage, and their own rooms.

They have been sharing a room since we left Barakel a year and a half ago.  The first night in this house, we let them sleep wherever and said we would talk about it the next day.  In the morning, I asked Elliot if he liked sleeping by himself.  "Yep, because Forrest can't hit me."  Oh boy.  I asked Forrest what he thought about the whole situation.  His response was "I like it, becuase Elliot can't bother me."  And that sealed the deal. 

Quinn is charming just about everyone he comes in contact with.  He gets called, guapo (handsome), precioso (precious), gorditio (chubby) muñeco (doll) and all sorts of other sweet names. 

He has also decieded that he needs to eat every two hours (again!) and that sleeping in the living room is far more fun during the day than his tent.  Funny little old man.

Noah's Job
Noah started work last week Monday.  It's been good for him to get there, get his feet wet and work on getting to know the volunteers.  He was working from home one day last week and I laughed because much of the time was spent on Facebook and Twitter!  He's been able to chat online with some of the volunteers who are very excited we are here.  This last weekend, he also worked with the program department and some of the volunteer leaders to start creating the theme for the upcoming camping season (in January).

So there you have it, a hodge podge update. 

Quinn's Annoucment

Swimming Lessons

The big boys finished up their two weeks of swimming lessons today.  This was the first time we had done anything like this and now for everything, Elliot asks, "when are we going to have lessons for (fill in the blank)"  like eating cherries, cooking, riding a train.  Funny child.

Today was a day parents could come and watch, which if you have ever worked with kids, means the kids were not as well behaved and there was a general feeling of chaos. 

Elliot, who has done fine every other day was not in the mood today, and let everyone know it.  After about 20 minutes of the 30 minute lesson, he decided to participate.  Oh well.

Seems that one of his favorite things to do was jump.  That was what got him out of his funk.

And Forrest just cracked me up with this move.

 Yeah, that was a belly flop.

I am glad they got to take lessons and now we are glad they are done.

A Simple Fourth

Quinn Declan

He's here! I don't know how many of you are on Facebook with us, but that was about all we had time for over the last 4 days.  Now I can actually sit down with the computer and let you know all about this little guy.

We went in for a c section this time around because, well, remember Elliot's birth story?  So we decided that unless I went into labor and stayed in labor on my own, we would go with the scheduled c section.  Which was a bit, ummm, a lot nerve wracking, for me, but the goal of this all was a healthy baby and mama.  And that's what we ended up with, praise the Lord!

The actually surgery went well.  It was strange to walk into the operating room this time, but I had some great people in the OR with me, explaining the whole thing.  They even had classical music playing.

There were a couple of points where I threw up, which, when you stop and think about it, that's really an awful thing in the middle of abdominal surgery, but we made it and everyone is not that much worse for the wear.  And now we have Quinn!

What a sweet, content little guy he is!  He is eating like a pro, sleeping as well as you can expect from a 4 day old, and just has a content little personality.  He was 8 lbs, 5 oz, 21 inches long.

Big brothers are thrilled with him too!  I am not silly enough to think that is going to be like that forever, but it's a good place to start!

And now we are all home, working on settling into this new normal.  I will say that so far the recovery from a planned c section is far, far, far and away different than 2 days of labor with an emergency c section!  While I am no where near my normal self, I am in a much better place than I was 4 days after Elliot was born.

For now, although everything seems to be sorta foggy from my point of view, everyone is eating and sleeping, so we must be on the right track.

Ultrasound

So, yesterday we had our 21 week ultrasound.  Baby did a pretty good job of hiding more of the time.  That meant we got some really nice pictures of the spine! Ha.

The ultrasound doctor (yes, you see a real doctor for your ultrasound here, so they can tell you what is going on while they are doing the scan!)  worked hard to get Baby to move around to get a picture of the face.  Eventually we got a semi ok one...

The doctor then asked us if we were trying to build our own men's soccer (well, he said Futbol...but same thing right?) team because this baby is a BOY!

Yep, 3 boys!  We're all excited and when Noah told the boys they were going to have a brother, he also said, "this means we need to work really hard at treating Mama kind and gentle because she is the only girl!"  Ha!  Yep, the only girl, out numbered 4 to 1 now!

Bug Buddie

Last night Elliot got all excited about something.  I mean really really excited.  We kept listening, trying to decipher Ellioteses, and then I realized he was trying to say spider.  Except there wasn't a spider, but a stink bug.  And he was thrilled!  His love of bugs goes way back.  Remember this video?

Elliot sat there, and very carefully, moved the bug around, playing with him.  Forrest was a bit leary at first, but then he realized it was ok and joined in the fun.  Poor bug.  But really, Elliot was so very careful with him, I think he went away unharmed.

In all of my thoughts on motherhood, it never crossed my mind that someday I would be telling my kids to share a bug.  But last night I did.  "Forrest gets to play with the bug for a minute, and then it will be Elliot's turn."  Yeah.

Wrestle Buddies

When my brother Nate was about 3 or 4, the big craze was Wrestling Buddies.  Do you remember this commerical?  What a throw back!

He was desperate for one becuase he was the only boy in the family at the time.  Anyway, he didn't get one, so he used his My Buddy (doesn't this just make you laugh histarically?)   instead and ended up cracking Buddy's head open.  




All that is a set up for these photos. My boys are finally to the point where they can wrestle with each other and sometimes it doesn't end in tears.  Sometimes.  I find it funny that usally Elliot is the one winning, but either way, they have a blast.  Oh my, boys and their physicallness!

 

The Snowy Day