This and That. Again.

Remember I mentioned you'd be seeing a lot more bullet point posts over the next little while?  Yeah well, I am nothing if not truthful.

So here we go!

• We had friends come and visit!  It was so refreshing to be with them.  We got to show them crazy traffic, our little mountain town, and we did hit a few of the tourist places too.  I told them repeatedly they need to come every year!  All the kids got along wonderfully and, yeah, it was just plain refreshing!

• One of the things our friends really wanted to see was a volcano.  The one they mentioned has been acting fussy for a while now, so you can't go to the park.  I suggested Irazú which is a pretty sure bet to be able to see.  Wouldn't you know, the night before we were going to visit it, the next volcano over erupted!  Not with hot lava and stuff, but erupted nonetheless!  For a while Irazú was closed, but by mid morning the next day it was open again, so off we went like volcano chasers!  

• After months of praying, God brought a family to rent our house while we are gone this winter!  We're thrilled.  They have 2 boys and one on the way, so the house and yard is the perfect set up for them and they are thrilled to take care of Minga while we're away!

• We're still praying for Noah's car here to sell.  

• We are also still in need of a vehicle in Michgian.  Will you pray with us about that?

• The big boys talk almost daily about how many clothes they are going to have to wear in MI.  It's cracking us up.  We also realized we are going to work with they so they can get all their snow gear on by themselves by the time they start school in January!  What a tropical world problem huh?

This and That

I am afraid I am going to be resorting more and more to bullet points as we near our departure date.  I am amazed at how much normal life and wrapping up details need to happen in the next 8 weeks!  Yikes!

But I do want to keep you all up to date and in the know, so here goes:

• My mom was able to come again!  This time it was for two weeks and it was great!  We got a lot accomplished around the house, like finally decorating the boys rooms (yes, that only took two years.) and learning about painting here.

•  Yeah, paining here.  Not fun.  Not fun at all.  I have no idea why, but it was kinda the same but completely different than any painting I had done before!  The paint seemed sticky, the walls were porous, the roller was different, and well, it was simply a pain!  So glad I decided to only paint a wall or two in each room!

• We also got to redo the little break room at church!  This room gets used for a lot of different things during the week!  Growth Groups meet there, teachers use it to eat their lunch, Moms' group sometimes meets there when it is rainy, and well, it needed some love and attention.  With the help of several college age girls and my mom, we made it quite the cute little place.  A bit of home at church!

•  Our new system for water cups.  I am amazed at how well this has really worked!  Even Quinn understands the idea.  If you are just wanting a drink of water, use a red cup.  When you are done, hang it back up! No more water cups all over the counter or in the sink!  

•  All the boys' stockings are finally finished and are now sitting in a suitcase ready for the trip to Michigan for this Christmas!

Uncollection

Well, some how we went from the beginning of July to the end of July in a blink.  Here's a little of how it went

• We watched the Ticos lose to the Netherlands in a shoot out.  Sad.  But that didn't change the reception that the team got when they flew home the next week!  They drove the whole group around on a flatbed truck for 5 hours after they landed, just so people could see them.  And everwhere there are billboards thanking the team and the coaches. 

•  We went on a short get away to a beach we hadn't been to yet.  Long story, but our neighbors were given two nights at a house just off the beach and invited us to join them.  What a blast! Best part?  Hands down, feeding the monkeys on our porch first thing in the morning!

• I finally came up with a workable solution for shelves in our garage.  I even managed to maneuver the hardware store in Spanish with all the kids in tow! Oh and funny thing about those shelves.  Elliot opened the back of the 4Runner and all three boards fell out onto his little foot!  We were concerned that he might of actually broken something this time.  So we went off to the doctor the next day (this all happened the day before we went to the beach) and praise the Lord, it wasn't broken, just badly bruised!  He was told no trampoline or tree climbing for 5 days.  And now he's right as rain.

• Noah made me a window shelve too!  Yes, we're into shelves here.

• Elliot found a lizard and put a leash on him.  

• The boys and our neighbor friend built a tepee.  Steph has been collecting used sheets to make a big one later on, but she let the boys paint one for the small tepee they built.  And I will say, their painting looks very cave drawingesk.

• This week is teacher inservice at LCA.  Today the Bible teacher is talking with the rest of the staff about how Jesus taught.  Wednesday, Noah is going to be talking about discipleship, and Friday I will be sharing some practical ways a teacher can  be disciplining in their classroom every day.  This is a new concept for most of them.  Pray for us and for the staff.   

Dibs and Dabs

• Noah's done with the school year!  We're thankful that he was able to step in and help by subbing, but we are also thankful he is done.

•  We are putting the finishing touches on what is next for us with our mission and our new ministry.  Details will come, soon.  I promise. 

• There is a short term team down from the US and they have been doing a VBS for the kids at LCA, and our boys have been able to participate.  It hasn't gone super smooth for our boys, but it's a good learning experience ( read:  learning how to do things even when they don't want to.)

•  Quinn's second birthday is Saturday!  I honestly am not sure how that happened!  And yes, I caved and gave him his scooter early. 

 

• I have visions of getting real up in the air fireworks to set off for the 4th of July. They make these boxes here that are full of fireworks and all you have to do is light one fuse and walk away.  Then enjoy real, live, up in the air fireworks!  Now I just need to convince Noah.  

• Our grass needs to be mowed.  But every time our landlord goes to do it, the mower breaks.  I am about ready to go old school on the yard, with a machete!

• We have fish.  This has been a long time coming.  But the last week of school we finally had the bowl, the rocks, the water, the food and the fish all in one place!  Quinn keeps asking to "Hold it?  Hold it?" Forrest picked out the gold one and named it Golden Eagle.  Elliot picked out the one with the red head and named it Nija Warrior, and Quinn and I picked out the black and gold one and the other boys decided it's name is Tiger.  So boy.

•  This last weekend our landlord filled in a hole that has been a problem for months now right by our garage.  And he had help.  Although I told him I wasn't sure three boys under 10 was really a help with this sort of thing. 

This and That

• Forrest was walking out the door this morning with an empty backpack.  No homework, and worse, no lunch...and I hadn't packed his lunch yet!  Mom fail.

• 17 days until our Florida Trip.  Yeah, we're just a wee bit excited over here

• This last weekend we had a retreat with our mission.  It was the last of the LAM retreats and several people came from the United World Mission headquarters.  There was even a couple that came from Cape Town, South Africa to give us a taste of what God is doing there.  Very cool.  It was good to meet some of the new faces now that we are with UWM.  Forrest at one point during the weekend said this was the "M" retreat, because there is an "M" in LAM and UWM.  That kid.

• Did I mention we are going to Florida?  Oh, sorry.

• We just might be getting some new neighbors!  Our landlady is building a new house next to ours and a friend from a Bible study I am a part of is looking for a house.  They have a 9 year old boy and are originally from Chicago.  It would be amazing if this actually works out!

• I think I am going to adopt Quinn's form of language learning.   His vocabulary is exploding right now and it's in part because he repeats all the time!  And if he hears anything in connection with another word he just learned he will talk about it.  Like this.  He learned how to say Happy Birthday to you.  No really.  The whole thing.  He says Happy Birthday to to.  I was reading him a book that said something about a birthday cake.  To which he said "Happy Birthday to to."  What?!  He also learned about airplanes this weekend (there were lots of planes flying over the place the retreat was at) All weekend he would say "Plane.  It's flying!"  Now he talks about the birds, "Bird, it's flying"

• There is a pile of laundry calling my name.  Bye.

HodgePodge

Ummmm, hello?

Yeah, welcome to Week 4 of Summer Camp, the time of year when we try to accomplish normal life like having a kid in school and do the insanity that is camp!  It's been an interesting season for sure!  Full of a lot of good things, some hard things, some weird things, and some just normal things.  But we are tired and looking forward to next week, when Noah will be home.

So in an effort to get caught up, we're going to do one of those bullet point posts.

• Did I mention we're starting Week 4 of Camp?  We are.  I think I've said this before, but while the camp weeks are shorter and the season itself is shorter, it's harder on our family than Barakel.  I think there are a lot of reasons for this, including: We don't live at camp, I can't just put the kids in the stroller and go into camp, I still have to cook, Forrest has school everyday, and because we have weekends free, there is a temptation to try and do "normal" life too.  We about killed ourselves last January trying to do both.

• Forrest is back at school after  4 week Christmas break.  School + Summer Camp = hard. 

• I made my most expensive language mistake to date.  I thought the robotics class for Forrest was $60 for the semester.  Turns out, it's $60 a MONTH for the semester.  Yeah.  matricula and mensual are very, very different words.

• I got  new to me cast iron skillet and I love it!  I don't know why it took me 10 years to get one.  Anyway, it hangs above my stove and it's lovely. 

• I have been revamping the house.  The playpen is now put away sand the kids table and chairs are in the kitchen.  I bought two end tables from the same family as the skillet and use one for desk type stuff in the kitchen, and we took apart a desk that Noah was "using" and now a bit more space in the living room.  We also turned the kitchen table the other direction and for  40 cents I bought 12 cup hooks and revamped where the mugs and coffee things go.   

• I finally (it only took 3 years to have the mental wherewithal to find the necessary components for this project) made a blackboard!  I love how it turned out and today I am going to make two smaller ones for the bigger boys' rooms.  I might also make one for the garage...you can never have too many blackboards.

• Saturday the boys and Noah had a water balloon fight.  And when I say "the boys" I mean Forrest and Elliot.  Quinn tried playing with some water balloons, but every time
  they broke and he got wet he cried.  He needs a bit more time before he understands this is suppose to be fun.

Oh, Just This and That

Well, it seems that life just keeps clipping along.  Noah looked at me the other day and said "these weeks are so FAST!!"  I don't know what it is, but it sure feels like it was Thursday two days ago and here we are again! 

• Forrest is finishing his 4th week of school!  What?
• It's almost September?  How is that possible

• Quinn is talking.  We've suspected it for a while now, but the kid is talking!  Hi, Hola, Mama, Da, Bye bye (complete with hand motions) Eat (but it's not really the word eat, it's more like a monkey call) Yeah and we think he even says "what is that?"  Genius child.  We are working hard on Chao (as in bye)
• Quinn was sick all last week, and then I got sick and then he got sick again.  It's not been a fun two weeks in that department!

• I miss a dishwasher.
• I am thankful for a dryer!
• I tried the famous "blue soap" here...I think it works well as a treatment on new stains...it didn't do so great on the old one.

• We discovered that Minga HATES being sprayed with water...I think we found our anti-barking solution!
• I think I am going to try and rig up some sort of tent out on the deck so the boys can go "camping" for Labor Day and sleep out there.  We'll see...
• Elliot says he can't fix my runny nose, he's only good at fixing toys.  Too bad.

An Uncollection

Well good grief.  I am sure I posted here more recently than last week.  I really am sure of it.  Didn't I?  Oh well.  I have a lot of posts rolling around here in the background, but nothing ready to share with the world just yet.  It seems like everytime I sit down to write, somethinge else grabs my attention.  Like a screaming baby, or a barking dog, or buring something in the oven.  So, in an effort to keep you up to speed, I'll bullet point it for ya.

• We looked at another school last week for the boys.  Don't think it's a good fit.  On to the next one.  Honestly, this is getting discouraging for me.  Education is expensive here...like 10 grand expensive.  Per kid.  Per year.  If we're going to be honest here, I am struggling with this.  It feels too big.  Which is silly, because it isn't, but it feels like it right now.

• I broke down and bought frozen blueberries.  3 pounds for $12 USD.  We needed something familiar.  I think we will indulge in blueberry pancakes tonight.  With fake maple syrup, because well, $30 USD for a half a pint just doesn't work out.  

• I taught a bilingual group of kindergartens about density last week.  Let's just said I remembered why I taught High School.

• Quinn now eats crackers.  That's it.  I did manage to shove 3 black beans in his mouth last night and he didn't spit them out.

• My dirty dishes are out of control.  And to think I used to grumble about unloading the dishwasher.  Ha!  Oh for the day!

• Forrest told me a story the other day about a 17 year old who looked like he was 5 because he was a dwarf.  His name was Quanto and he rides sheep competitively.  I love that kid (Forrest, not Quanto, although I am sure he's a great guy.)

• It took me all morning to work out the math to make ice tea and lemonade for 35 people. Good grief.

• I looked at our orange tree the other day and realized that little green orange have just managed to appear...no blossoms, just BOOM, oranges!  Weird.

• Rainy season has been weird.  One day it won't rain at all, and then next it will pour!  Many days, though, in the afternoon the clouds will roll in.  And we are close to 5,000 feet up, so we are in the clouds. If the windows aren't closed the cloud will come in the house.  And no, it's not just fog, it's a cloud.

• 

Hodgepodge

It's been a lot of this and that this last week.  Just a bunch of bits and pieces really...

So here you go, in no particular order:

• Today Noah is hiking up a volcano with two of our volunteers.  Yeah, pray for him.  Pray for great conversations with these two guys, that they would be safe, and that he wouldn't be too worn out when he gets home...7 hour hikes are intense, man.

• Today our lawyer meets with the Migration people to get the answer to our petition for residency.  Pray it will be granted!

• Since moving all three boys to different rooms last week, Quinn has slept so.much.better.  Probably should have moved him out of our room 2 months ago. Oh well.  We're thankful for more sleep.

• Although, now that we are sleeping more, my body remembers what it's like and now is asking for more and more.  I am pretty sure I could sleep 12 hours straight for the next week and a half.  Yeah, not going to happen, but a girl can dream, right?

• We need to paint all the bedrooms.  When I asked our landlady if she had paint we could use, her son brought primer over.  You think that will still work for a finished wall look?  I haven't the foggiest...

• After scouring the yard for limóns, and squeezing the ones we found, I look at the juice and realized there were worms swimming in it.  Yeah, that went down the drain...sigh.

• Seems as if we are transitioning to rainy season weather.

• I was explaining to my tutor yesterday about the house I grew up in, and he was amazed at the amount of land my parents own, 10 acres.  He also said no one here would live on that much land by themselves, it would be too dangerous.  And that explains a lot about why people think we are nuts to want to live in the campo (country.)

• Mango Hedgehogs are the boys new favorite way to eat a mango

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

Summing up Because I am too Tired

It seems that another week has gotten away from me.  I told Noah tonight at dinner I feel like my life is appointments and sleeping right now. Yeah, I am up to two short naps a day now.  Goodness, this baby is sucking the energy right out of me.  And now we are doing the doctor's appointment thing once a week until delivery day (which is now June 21st.  We have to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM!)

So let me just hit the highlights of the last week for you and we'll call it a night, because, well, I am tired again.

• We discovered that the community Rec Center has a lovely pool just 3 blocks from our house.  And the family rate is $6 for the whole family.  And they have swim lessons this summer for half the price of other places I've looked.

• Saturday Noah was able to share at one of our supporting churches in Grand Rapids. 
• Sunday we were able to share at another supporting church, this time in Eaton Rapids.  Yep, all these water towns here in Michigan!

• I got all the baby's clothes washed, folded and put away.  Also, all the cloth diapers are washed and ready.  The car seat is ready to put in the suburban, and changing table is ready to go.  Now baby can come.  

• The boys both know how to ride trikes now.  They road the two blocks to the library and back this week.  And they thought they were quite something, let me tell you!

•  Last week, Noah ran the 25K Riverbank Run.  He finished in under 2 hours!  It's the longest distance he has ever run and he was super pleased with his time.  It was quite entertaining for the boys to watch everything going on downtown too.

•  I am needing to drink a lot more than I have been.  So in an attempt to tempt myself to get more fluids in my body, I tried making some decaf ice tea.  And this time I used not only the normal black tea, but added some raspberry zinger to the mix.  And wow, that's good!  I do add a bit of sugar too, but just a smidge and it making me drink a lot more!