The Beginning of the Goodbyes in Costa Rica

Please be praying for our kiddos, especially over the next few days. A family moved in next door in January with kids our kids' ages. And over the last four months, our kids have all grown really close. Well, tomorrow is their last full day in Costa Rica--they're moving back to the States. Goodbyes have never been easy for them, but especially so as they get older.

I'm thrilled that a new family with girls my girls' ages have just moved in two doors down, but the family doesn't have any boys. My boys are praying another family with boys moves in next door.

This is part and parcel to growing up as a missionary. You get to travel around and meet all kinds of new people. But on the flip side, you have to say a lot of goodbyes as well. It is a blessing *and* a sacrifice, and Troy and I don't take it lightly. We've said before that we are the ones with the definite calling of God to be missionaries. They may not have their own specific callings, but we have seen Him help them through the transitions, and through the waiting, with much grace. I believe He's going to help them over the next several months as the goodbyes keep coming.

But a large part His blessing comes because people like you prayed. And so we thank you in advance for your prayers on our children's behalf.

First Devotional in Spanish

(The following is the devotional I wrote for my lenguaje final. It is in English and Spanish. It is the first time I really made the effort to write something and translate it into Spanish all on my own, without just plugging it into an online translator. I only used the translator once for one sentence, as it was abstract, and restricted myself to using only my Spanish dictionary for the rest. This is a testimony to how far God has brought me in the last eight months--in the last month, really.)

Exodus 17:8-16

After leaving Egypt, the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years because they did not obey God. During this time, groups of people in the land attacked them. One of these were the Amalekites.

Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."

So, Joshua lead the Israelites against the Amalekites. Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed the hill and stayed. While Moses raised his hands, the Israelites were winning. But, Moses' hands grew tired and he lowered them. When this happened, the Amalekites were winning. As long as Moses' hands were raised, they were winning. Aaron and Hur got a rock for him to sit on. Then, when his arms grew tired, they held his hands up -- one on one side, one on the other. In this way, they remained steady until sunset. God gave the Israelites the victory over the Amalekites.

Moses' arms were raised for hours and hours. Try raising your arms in the air for five minutes and see how difficult, how painful it is. I imagine they were sore and shaky. I imagine he wanted so badly to rest his arms. But God had told him to keep them raised for a purpose.

God may ask us to do things that are hard or painful for us to do. Things we, like Moses, can't do on our own. He prompted Aaron and Hur to support Moses by holding up his arms. Just as Moses needed supporters, so do we. We need people to pray for us unceasingly. We need people to work alongside of us. We need people to encourage us.

But just as Moses' arms grew tired, I imagine the arms of Aaron and Hur grew tired as well. Yet there was no one there to hold their arms.

We are missionaries and ministers of the gospel need people to come alongside of us and hold our arms as we minister, yes. But we also need to pray for and encourage those who support us in this way. Aaron and Hur could literally see the results of their efforts -- the Israelites were victorious! But our supporters, often times, do not have the luxury of being on the battlefield with us. It should be our joy to share with them the rewards of our labors -- stories of lives changed, prayers answered, and miracles given.

Éxodo 17:8-16

Después de que los israelitas salieron de egypto, ellos anduvieron por el desierto por 40 años porque ellos no le obedecían a Dios. Durante ese tiempo, grupos de gentes en la tierra atacaban a los israelitas. Unos eran los amalecitas.

Moisés le dijo a Josué, "Escoge algunos de nuestros hombres y sal a combatir a los amalecitas. Mañana yo estaré en la cima de la colina con la vara de Dios en la mano."

Entonces, Josué se dirigió a los israelitas contra los amalecitas. Moisés, Aarón y Jur escalaron la cima y se quedaran. Mientras Moisés levantó las manos, los israelitas ganaron. Pero, las manos de él se cansaron y las bajó. Cuando eso aconteció, los amalecitas ganaron. Aarón y Jur fundaron una piedra para que Moisés se sentora. Entonces, ellos le agarraron los brazos a Moisés y se los levantaron -- uno a cada lado. De ese modo, ellos se quedaron constantes hasta la puesta del sol. Dios les dio a los israelitas la victoria sobre los amalecitas.

Los brazos de Moisés se levantaron por horas y horas. Usted trata de levantar sus brazos por cinco minutos y ve que dificil y que doloroso es esto. Yo pensé que los brazos de Moisés sería doloridos. Yo pensé que los querría descansar. Pero, Dios le dijó que los levantara por un propósito.

Dios podrá pedirnos hacer algunas cosas dificiles o dolorosas para nosotros. Cosas, como Moisés, nosotros no podriámos hacer solos.

Dios se dirigió a Aarón y Jur y les pidio que apoyabaron a Moisés para que levantaron sus brazos. Como Moisés necesitó apoyo, así nosotros. Necesitamos a las personas que oraren constantemente. Necesitamos a las personas que trabajen con nosotros. Necesitamos a las personas que nos den ánimo.

Pero, como los brazos de Moisés se cansaron, yo pensé lo mismo para Aarón y Jur. Aún, no hay personas que levanten sus brazos.

Nosotros, como misioneros y ministerios del evangelio necesitamos a la gente que venga y levanta nuestros brazos mientras nosotros ministramos, sí. Pero, nosotros tenemos que orar por aquellas personas que nos apoyan. Aarón y Jur pudieron ver el resultado de su esfuerza -- los israelitas tuvieron la victoria. Pero, muchas veces, nuestro apoyo no tiene el lujo de estar en el campo de batalla con nosotros y ser testigo de esas victorias. Nosotros debemos compartir con ellos las recompensas de nuestro trabajado -- historias de vida cambiadas, oraciones contestadas y milagros dados.

A Day in "Paradise"

Yes, we live in paradise. The weather is mostly warm (it does get chilly from time to time, mostly at night or when it rains, but I'll refrain from trying to convince those of you who've spent an entire winter shoveling out of your driveways from yet another snowfall of this fact). We are surrounded by Palm trees. There are beaches on two sides of the country. And the mountains! Mountains are my personal idea of paradise. Especially ones that remind me of the Smoky Mountains, my favorite place on earth. Not to mention the many scrumptious fruits and vegetables found each week in the local feria (farmer's market), and for a song, too!

Sounds pretty amazing, right? Before you either (1) decide to pack up your stuff and move here, or (2) grumble at our luck, there are some aspects of life in paradise that you need to be aware of.

(1) We have no car. Therefore, we must walk absolutely everywhere we go. Now, I'm aware that there are many of you big city dwellers who might scoff at this as no big deal. So, okay. It's more of an inconvenience, really. Especially when we currently patronize three or four different grocery stores, a pharmacy, a bread store, PLUS the aforementioned feria just to get our monthly groceries. None of which are necessarily close by. We shop weekly for the staples like meat, canned goods, or milk at one of two grocery stores (both of which are about a ten minute walk from our house). For the other items on my monthly grocery list (yes, monthly) Troy and I take a bus or a taxi to the other two stores on the list (on separate days) while the kids are still in school for the day. Bus or taxi fare for two is a WHOLE lot cheaper than it is for six.

We also walk to and from church and school. As we live just up a steep hill from the school, this isn't a big deal. Until you sprain your ankle and have no other way to get to school, that is. And did I mention that the sidewalks aren't of the best construction?

Oh, and the bank! Troy has to walk to the bank each week as well. A simple thing like a trip to the bank can be somewhat dangerous, even in broad daylight, as friends of ours discovered last week when they were robbed at gunpoint. A risk we take.

When Troy must be out late at night (after 7 PM, yes, 7 PM!), he does have a bicycle he can ride.

The flip side is that all of this walking has helped me to lose a bunch of weight. Score!


(2) Due to older plumbing in the homes, at school, and in most places we go, we cannot flush the toilet paper. It must instead be placed in a trashcan kept near the toilet and emptied a couple times each week. Are you thoroughly grossed out yet?


(3) Aside from the fresh produce that is very inexpensive (and soooo good), many things we would consider staples are very expensive. Mainly because they have been imported. A typical Costa Rican diet consists of a lot of rice and beans. A. Lot. So things like peanut butter, sharp cheddar cheese, and American chocolate, as they are naturally not necessities, cost more. You have to ask yourself how badly you want that $10 bag of Reese's peanut butter cups or the $25 bag of pecans for a pie (not badly enough, as it turns out. So thankful for folks who send it to us from home!). We joke here that cheese is more valuable than gold.

In an attempt to keep costs down, we've switched to many Costa Rican brands or try to incorporate more vegetables into our diet to help fill us up. There are times, however, when you just want something familiar from home. I think everyone understands that. In reality, trips out to McDonald's are extremely rare. We've found Costa Rican sodas (small restaurants) that are far less expensive, and far better for us, than the American burger joints.


(4) Housework here takes a lot longer than it did at home. To save electricity, I try not to use our dryer as much as possible. We have four short clotheslines and a rack in our laundry area, so I do about a load or two every day and hang the clothes. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, all of the jeans are washed and hung over our second story balcony railing. We look a little redneck, but why not take advantage of the hot dry-season sun?? We have extremely porous tile floors upstairs and down that take a very long time to scrub and clean. Plus, with the huge gap between our front door and the floor, lots of dirt blows into the living room. It is not unheard of for us to sweep four or even five times a day.

Yes, we have an empleada (maid). She works for us on Wednesdays from 7:30 AM until 2:30 PM. In that amount of time, she tackles laundry, dusting, cleaning, and the floors. Can I just say that what we give her each week wouldn't even feed the six of us at Taco Bell in the States? Yet, our meager amount helps put food on the table for her son and for her. Helps pay her rent. Provide the things she needs. And her hard work enables me to concentrate on my studies while providing a weekly opportunity to practice my Spanish over a shared meal together.


(5) Learning a second language in your mid-late thirties is hard. Very hard. Add in helping your children who have never attended school outside of the home adjust to life in the classroom, life in a new country, and as they learn a new language as well. Imagine sitting in classes taught all in Spanish. Or church services where the sermon and worship service are not in English. Then imagine trying to conduct daily errands and business in a language you are still learning. Stressful, huh? Very! By the time the weekend rolls around, all I want to do is climb under the covers and never leave the house. It's that exhausting. There have been a few times we've been able to get away on day trips around the nearby countryside, even a couple trips to the beach. And they have been so refreshing. Getting out of the urban jungle, even for a day, is sheer bliss! And so necessary to our sanity. But these trips are far less frequent than you'd expect. Maybe once a month. Maybe. And without a car, there's no such thing as just "going for a relaxing drive" in the country.


I hope I haven't painted too bleak a picture of life here. It truly is beautiful, most of the time. As in everywhere you go, there are things that aren't as pleasant. But I'm truly grateful God has led us here to learn Spanish. The classroom setting and the friendships we've made have made even life without a car completely worthwhile.

Even if we do wish we could flush the toilet paper.

Beautiful Word Pictures in Isaiah 61

The following is a post I wrote for my writing blog. I want to share it with you here as well.


For one of my classes, we have to choose a few verses each week to read. We read them in Spanish, give a brief explanation of what they mean, and then explain why they are important to us. This week, I decided to look at the first three verses of Isaiah 61, the chosen verses that represent Hope61.

I can't tell you how many times I've read over these verses with out really reading them. Until tonight. Picture after picture kept leaping off of the page and striking me in the heart. Beautiful word pictures that demonstrate what God can do for the broken. The unlovely. The unloved. I understand like never before why these verses are were chosen to represent what we do. I want to share these word pictures with you as well.

Isaiah 61:1-3

"The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor."

God called me to serve Him as a missionary when I was 21 years old. Not many years later, He called me to go to Mexico and tell the people there about Him. Recently, I believe He's added yet another calling. I am to tell those who have been exploited or used by others about their value and worth in Him. About how they can have a new life in Christ.

"He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,"

This was the first of the word pictures to strike me, and it literally gave me chills. Imagine a beautiful vase. Now, imagine how that vase looks after it's been dropped. It's shattered. Pieces perhaps missing. No longer beautiful, right? With glue, it can sometimes be made new again. Not the same as it was before. But more beautiful. Especially when you put a light inside of it and see the light emanating from the cracks and chips of the vase. Beautiful. God's Word alone can heal a broken heart. With the good news of the Gospel message, we can "bind up the brokenhearted". Heal their wounds. Heal their very hearts.

"to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,"

Freedom to those enslaved. Praise Jesus! But the only way they are going to have release from the darkness of their internal prisons is to become renewed. To accept Jesus as Savior and allow Him to renew them from the inside out.

"to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God,"

This is a reminder to me that God is in control. Terrible, evil things happen every second of the day. But He has not abandoned us. He is a just God who hates evil even more than I do. Who hates injustice even more than I do. As Gary Haugen stated in his book "The Good News About Injustice", justice is not just a "cause" with God. It is His very character. His very Being. He will see that those who perpetrate these evil deeds are brought to justice. They will have to stand before Him and confess their deeds just like the rest of us.

"to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion--"

The only comfort for those who have been broken, used, abused, etc. is Jesus.

"to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."

This is a beautiful picture to me. Imagine someone in the ugliest rags. Filthy. Hair matted. Stinky. Now imagine they've been cleaned. Arrayed in fresh, lovely garments. Instead of matted, stinky, ashen hair, they wear a crown. The life of someone who has been exploited is not pretty. They've gone through terrible things we can never even imagine. They bear scars we will never see. But through the redeeming grace of God, these lives can be transformed. Turned into something beautiful!

"They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."

This one is the most powerful picture to me of all. My husband tells me that of all the domestic woods (not counting the exotics), oak is one of the most prized among woodworkers for its sturdiness, value, and beauty. Oak trees withstand at times great tempests. As do the exploited. A soul reborn, renewed through Christ Jesus is as the sturdy oak. Unmovable. Possessing great beauty and value to its Carpenter. These transformed lives become a living testament to what the saving grace of Jesus can do in a person's life.

They are living, walking, breathing displays of His splendor.

Facebook and Field Directors

If you've been dismayed by the lack of blog posts recently, that's because most of our updates have ended up on our Facebook group page. I'll try to do better about posting the same material in both places for those without Facebook accounts. But if you have one and have not already joined our group, please check out Gentrys' Mission To Mexico.

The field director for Mexico, David Cosby, and his wife, Carol, will be arriving on Thursday night. They are flying in to meet with us as well as our fellow Mexico City field-mates, Jonny and Gemma. The four of us are very excited to have this time of fellowship with David and Carol, as well as the opportunity to do a little dreaming and planning with regard to our time on the field, beginning in a few short months.

Won't you please pray that our meetings are productive and that God gives us wisdom and clarity about what His will is for our future ministries? Thank you!

Time Keeps Tickin' Away

Yesterday marked five months in Costa Rica. Five months! Time is flying by so quickly! Our first trimester of Spanish is behind us, and we've already begun the second. In less than seven months, we'll be packing up our belongings and flying to Mexico City.

As excited as we are to be here, and as long as we waited for this, we can't help but looking ahead. If the first quarter of our term flew by this quickly, I can only imagine how speedily the next three-quarters will go. Lord, we want more time!

It's taken four months to adjust to life in Costa Rica. I can only guess it'll take awhile to get used to life in Mexico City, as well. And we only have one year scheduled there. Lord, we want more time!

Thankfully, and because of God's grace and the faithfulness of our supporters, our account has held strong. Praise God! If it holds strong for two years, why not more? Lord, we want more time!

We all know that we serve a big God. To that end, Troy and I are stepping out in faith and asking something big of our big God. We are praying that our two-year term is extended to a three-year term. Or....dare we even ask it?...a four-year term. I believe God can do it! He can work that miracle!

Why do we want more time? Here's a little word picture for you that best explains our feelings.

After five years of dreaming about the beach, visualizing what we'd do at the beach, and planning and waiting for our trip to the beach, we don't want to settle for a little stroll in the sand. We don't want to merely get our feet wet! We want to swim in the ocean!

We want time to grow lasting, meaningful relationships with the men and women we meet. The kinds of relationships that don't just happen overnight. Time to really settle in to life in the country of our hearts. Time for the kids to truly experience the life of a missionary. Time for all of us to really get a great grasp of Spanish. Time for Troy and I to discover what ministry roles God has in store for us.

Won't you please commit to praying about this with us? If it is His will for our family, nothing is impossible for our big God. Thank you so much!

Time Flies

We've been in Costa Rica exactly two months today. It's very strange to think that in just another couple weeks, we'll be into the month of November. With Thanksgiving staring down our throats and Christmas not far behind. And all of this while in another country.

Since our last blog post, life has fallen into a comfortable--and certainly busy!--routine. School 5 days a week, tests every two weeks (eep! So far so good, however), the fresh produce market on Saturdays, church on Sundays with pizza afterward. Our world has shrunk to the space of several blocks. But despite that, God has allowed us to touch the peoples' lives around us. The banana vender at the feria that always gives the kids a free banana each week. Our elderly "watchiman" who patrols our neighborhood streets each day. The young woman who meets with me each Wednesday to practice Spanish (and English for her). I pray that God gives us more opportunities to witness for Him.

Before you feel too sorry for us never leaving the city, we have had a couple opportunities to visit some of the surrounding areas. Last month, we went with almost the entire first trimester group to visit a nearby waterfall in the mountains outside of the city. The drive to the park was breathtaking, as were the falls. Then last week, we spent a weekend away at Arenal Volcano, about four hours away by bus. Located on the eastern side of the mountain range, the weather was far more typical of the heat and humidity we're used to, but it was gorgeous nonetheless. We all did something that none of us had ever dreamed of doing before--we zip-lined through the jungle canopy. Me! Despite my intense fear of heights! It was so freeing. The whole weekend was so refreshing for all of us--just what the doctor ordered.

I wish I could tell you that everything is wonderful and that we've experienced nothing but joy here in Costa Rica, but I can't honestly say that. We all have our moments of soul-crushing homesickness. Frustrations with learning Spanish (these, thankfully, have been fairly rare). We've met wonderful and forthright individuals who went out of their way to help us. And we've been taken advantage of as well by more unscrupulous individuals. But through it all, God has proven Himself sufficient. More than sufficient. Time and time again. I'm still in awe at the many ways He's blessed us in the last six months.

When I look back at where I was upon our arrival, and where I am today... I can conjugate present-tense verbs. My Spanish vocabulary is so much bigger than it was. I can give the "Tico" directions to our home. And I can carry on a basic conversation in Spanish. The thought of my professors teaching entirely in Spanish no longer terrifies me. Indeed, I can understand most of what they are saying. In just two months! I know I have a long way to go before anyone would ever consider me "fluent". But I'm still amazed at the progress made in such a short time. God truly has been good.

Definitely please keep praying for us as we learn Spanish. Pray for the kids as they are still adjusting to a different type of school than they've been accustomed to. Pray that the Lord will bring opportunities for evangelism to us. And finally, please pray for protection against the enemy. He'd like nothing better than to distract and discourage us at this time. We've heard so many stories of attacks on families while they're in language school preparing for full-time ministry. Please pray he won't gain any footing in our lives or the lives of the other students studying with us.

Thank you again! We could not do this without your prayers!

When the Earth Moves

Yesterday began like a normal day. We got up at 6, everyone got showered and/or dressed for the day, we ate breakfast, the kids and I fixed their lunches, and we made sure all the previous day's homework had made it successfully back into the bags for the short trek to school. Just moments before we left the house, Troy huddled us all together and read the Psalm for the day (Psalm 5), then Cody led the family in prayer.

Here is Psalm 5 in its entirety:

Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

In the morning you hear my voice... Let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them... For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.

These are verses that were especially poignant to us later in the morning.

School begins at 7:30. After the first hour, we take a short break and move on to our second class. For me, that means staying in the same room for both hours (both hours make up my grammar class). My room is on the second floor of the building. With the windows open and the ceiling fan on, there is the most delicious breeze up there. Troy's two morning classes are downstairs (I believe his last 2 hours of the day make up his grammar class, but I'm not positive. As it always took me at least a month into a new semester during his seminary days to know his schedule, so it is here. I'm happy enough just to know my own!)

Just after we'd begun the second part of my grammar session, my desk started shaking. At first, I thought the man behind me had his feet on it and was really nervous about something. It was that soft. Then, the shaking became more intense and I realized with a jolt that he was not shaking my chair: we were experiencing our first earthquake! The first bit of it lasted just a few seconds, then it briefly stopped. We all looked at each other and at the teacher. He was perfectly calm, and looked as if he believed it was over. But it wasn't. When the room began very intensely shaking (I was actually getting quite nauseous at this point from the motion), my teacher marshaled us out the door. He remained calm throughout, but the sharpness in his tone relayed the urgency of the situation. As calmly as individuals who have never experienced an earthquake can be, we quickly walked down the stairs and congregated on the sidewalk in front of the building. I was immediately panicked for the children. Were they okay? Were they hurt? Were they as scared as I was? I felt a check in my soul about immediately rushing to them, and I believe that was a good thing. Troy is much calmer in emergency situations than I am, and as his class evacuated, instead of heading to the parking lot (which was what the rest of us were told to do), he immediately went to check on the kids. Because of his attitude upon discovering them ("Hey, guys wasn't that cool?"), the kids had a better initial outlook upon the situation than they would've if Mama had come flying down the stairs, gathering them all up in her arms and weeping over them.

Once the adults had gathered in the upper parking lot (our designated meeting place for emergencies) and the kids had gathered in the lower playground (their designated meeting place for emergencies), the adults met in the chapel to pray and to catch our breaths. Most of the Spanish teachers are women, many mothers concerned about their own children. It was at that point that someone looked up the information. That the epicenter was in a town on the NW Pacific coast (about 88 miles from San Jose), that it was a 7.6 on the Richter scale, and that due to its location, a tsunami warning had been issued up and down the Pacific coast from Mexico to Peru. Thankfully, it was cancelled shortly afterward without any tsunamis reported. We rejoiced that, aside from some books that fell off the shelves in the library and a few clocks that fell off the wall, there was no damage to the campus. There were no injuries, and everyone was okay. What a miracle!

I couldn't help but remember the Psalm Troy had read just a few hours before. God had indeed been our refuge and our shield during the earthquake. He protected us from harm. He protected the campus from harm. In all of Costa Rica, there was only 1 death reported, and that was a heart-attack due to fright! Praise the Lord! Yes, there was some damage closer to the epicenter, and so we need to keep those families and communities in our prayers as they work to clean up and rebuild.

Our own home didn't come out of it completely unscathed either. During the earthquake, our hot-water pipes (we have a regular, full-sized water heater, something that is extremely rare in Costa Rica) burst and flooded our first floor. If it weren't for the large gap underneath the front door and the fact that our front terrace slopes down to the street, we would've come home to a real mess! As it was, water filled the utility room, the downstairs bathroom, the kitchen, the front bedroom, and then the living room before pouring out underneath the front door. As God would have it, our next door neighbors do most of their language study through tutoring, and so they were all at home during the quake and noticed water first trickling in the street in front of our house and then gushing. We still have not gotten a cell phone, so they called the school and someone at the school found Troy and brought him to the house so he could let them in. Someone else called our landlord, who came right over. Our neighbors and several other families as well all came over to help in the cleanup. By the time school let out early and the kids and I came home about an hour or so later, the 2-3 inches of water in our house was gone (yay for tile floors and squeegees! I don't even want to think how badly it would've been if we'd been in the States with carpet or wooden floors!), the landlord's furniture was upended so that it could dry, and several fans were placed throughout the first floor to help speed the drying process. Of everything that could have been ruined (mostly electronics), only the power cord for our computer was ruined! Everything is back to normal in the house, with only a couple fans left running to dispel the moisture from the hard-to-reach places. I am so thankful for our ILE family who rushed into action to help us in our time of need. We truly are blessed to be here among such amazing brothers and sisters in Christ.

While the furniture dried, we decided to do something fun, and so hopped in a couple taxis and went to eat lunch at the mall food court (Wendy's burgers and Frostys taste exactly like those back home! Yay!). After lunch, we walked through one of the department stores and saw that they had not been as fortunate during the earthquake. In their home section, there were glasses, vases, and picture frames broken. There was glass on the floor where they hadn't yet had a chance to clean. Some of the glasses in displays had tipped over into other glasses and shattered. It was a mess.

At home, we let the kids eat the sandwiches they'd prepared for lunch and then Mama made a double batch of the Ghirardelli brownies (a store called Price Smart sells a huge box of brownie mix. You get 6- 8x8 pan-sized packets, or 3- 9x13 pan-sized packets in each box, depending upon how big a batch you want to make) that are soooo good. If we always do ice cream after painful medical procedures, I figured something warm and sweet was in order after a major disaster.

For the most part, while we didn't enjoy the fright of the experience, most of us realized that it was not something that would be repeated. We might feel aftershocks, but we knew they wouldn't be as severe as the original quake. We also weren't expecting a quake with each loud sound (earthquakes are quite loud!). But as the day progressed, it became clear that some of the kids--Tori in particular--was actually quite terrified of a repeat performance. Every little sound spooked her. To top it all off, we had quite a thunderstorm last night--something else that just freaks her out. Between the storm and her terror over the earthquake and that another one would come, or that something would fall on her head, it was quite a long time before she was able to get to sleep. I even appealed to many of you and our other supporters and friends on Facebook, asking for prayer for her and for the other kids. At about 11 PM, she came into my room literally shaking in fear. I had her snuggled under the covers with me and spent about 15 minutes holding her tightly and praying over her silently. I rebuked the fear and Satan's attempt to paralyze her with that fear. I prayed God's peace over her, especially that God would fill her with a soothing peace and calmness to help her immediately be able to rest. She went back to her bed and I did not see her the rest of the night. She told me this morning that as soon as she laid down, she went right to sleep. Praise God for answered prayer! Thank you for praying for Tori especially. God answered our prayers for her last night!

This morning, it became clear to me that she was not the only one who'd been struggling with fear during the night. One of the boys said to me when I came downstairs, "Mama! We're still alive!" I pray that as each day passes, the fear that we will have another earthquake, or that things will fall on them in their sleep lessens and passes. I pray that my children--all of us--remember our verses in Psalms.

Yesterday, when the earth moved, God was our very real refuge and shield. Praise God! Let us remember that any time our world seems to move--whether literally or because of situations or circumstances beyond our control.

And a Little Child Shall Lead Them

(The following is a blog entry I made this evening on my writing blog.)


This morning was our second Sunday here in Costa Rica. Back home, we come from a very traditional church with excellent music. If it's particularly rousing--if--we might clap a bit. We lean a bit more toward the "high church" side of things. And this is what I've been accustomed to for almost the whole of my life.

I would never classify the church we've attended here as "high". And if you've ever attended worship in a Latin American church, you know that it's anything but docile. It's quite rousing. You can tell the new missionaries, or the ones who are more accustomed to the high church setting. We stand there, hands to the side (or firmly thrust in pockets), and participate as best we can in an unfamiliar language. Boy, do we stick out like a sore thumb.

There was another new family, whose first time attending was this morning. Indeed, this was their first Sunday in country. I delighted in watching as their young daughter worshiped. She clapped. She jumped up and down. Most importantly, she wore the most beautiful smile of joy on her face as she participated in worship with our Costa Rican brothers and sisters. I think she was greatly disappointed when the worship portion of the service was over.

Several of us are a bit more bashful in new settings and can appear a bit stand-offish. Not intentionally, of course. We just struggle with new things and not knowing what to do or say. This morning, I am happy to say that I was prepared for the Costa Rican greetings and leaned right in for the hug and kiss on the cheek that is customary. I was prepared for it. In fact, I only stuck my hand out for a handshake for those who first stuck theirs out. Anyway, after the song service, the kids are dismissed to attend children's church. Some of the kids were a bit more wiling to do this than others. But our new little friend? She was excited to meet new people! Her mom told me after church that she walked around telling everyone what her name was! It was if she didn't know the concept of a stranger. To her, these were not "strangers"; they were simply new friends to be made.

And it struck me that this is yet another example of why Christ admonishes us to be like little children. Their willingness to do new things, try new things, say new things--without fear of embarrassment is truly something we should strive for. There are not strangers, simply new friends to be made--especially friends who love Christ. And they have a willingness to abandon all cares of what they look like to others and throw everything they have into worshiping God.

First Day of Orientation and a Mini-Adventure

This morning was new student orientation for Sojourn Academy, the school the kids will be attending on the same grounds as the language school. We arrived at 9:40 for a tour of the grounds, then assembled in the chapel for the presentation. Cody, Tori, and Clayton all got to meet their teachers. As a seventh-grader, Tayler will have many teachers; we did not get to meet them all today. All of the teachers, however, are extremely friendly. Tomorrow begins our orientation sessions, and while we're attending ours, the kids will have a few more days of orientation material they will cover as well. School officially starts for them on Monday, and for us on Tuesday (one week from today).

After the morning's session, we decided to walk down to the bank and then on to a McDonald's located a little less than a mile from the school. Keep in mind that these are busy streets, some with sidewalks, but some not. When there aren't any sidewalks, we try to keep as far to the side of the road as we can, and try to walk single file (one of the adults leading, and the other bringing up the rear). However, as far as we tried to stay from the road, it didn't feel far enough this afternoon when a semi truck blew right past us.....WAY too close for comfort! In order to reach the McDonald's, we had to cross the busy round-about (imagine a game of Frogger), and then get across the street again to reach the golden arches.

McDonald's in San Jose is very similar to any McDonald's in the States except for a few differences. The ever-popular McCafe is not a regular menu option---but an entire little coffee shop within the McDonald's! You can buy pastries, and all types of flavored coffees. It's a regular Starbucks experience. The play place is upstairs (we didn't go there because there were a bunch of high-school aged Costa Rica kids). Chairs are grouped very closely together and it was a bit disconcerting to have two men sit down right next to us at a table when there were other tables open. I felt like I should be introducing myself and offering to share my fries. Something to get used to, I guess.

Following lunch, we raced across the street (another opportunity to play Frogger) to the Pecueno Mundo (Little World), a store specializing in a bunch of household items and assorted merchandise. We picked up almost everything else on our list that we needed for the house (lamps, fans, decorative elements, etc.) and saw a bunch of really pretty Asian jewelry boxes, baskets, and vases. Since none were essential to setting up our home, those remained at the store. We filled two shopping carts full of items, then headed outside to try and flag down a taxi to bring us home. An employee was especially helpful in assisting us in this process, and went so far as to call a taxi company for us. When the first driver arrived and saw how much stuff we had (which fit in the trunk of his taxi) plus the six of us, he called for another cab. The really nice thing about this driver is that he insisted upon waiting for the second taxi to arrive so that we could all go together--and refrained from starting the meter! (As there was at least a 10 minute wait, and since he had been so gracious to us, we did give him a nice tip. Usually, you don't tip the drivers, but in this instance, we felt it was appropriate.)

A taxi ride through town is an adventure in itself. Especially when there are left turns with no traffic light. In the States, you line up behind cars waiting to turn left and then patiently wait your turn. Not here! Sometimes, if the drivers (and the taxi drivers are particularly this way) think you're taking too long to turn, or you have missed too many opportunities, they will pull up alongside you--sometimes even two and three abreast!--all trying to turn into one lane! Eep! You just hang on and, at worst, close your eyes and say a prayer for safety. I have never in my life heard so much honking of horns. I thought it was bad in Jackson, but Jacksonians are tame compared to Costa Rican drivers and their horns!

I've gotten very good at saying "no habla Espanol", but I really do look forward to the day I'm able to communicate--at least somewhat--with the people here. For the most part they've been very friendly and most will go out of their way to help you (like the PM employee and the taxi). I am also extremely thankful for Troy's Spanish base. That has been a huge blessing.

Please continue to pray for us as we begin our orientation tomorrow and for the kids as they prepare for the start of school. There's lots more to come from Costa Rica!

Costa Rican Chinese Food

All week, we'd planned to find a restaurant where we could enjoy Costa Rican cuisine after church. When we'd last visited Mexico in 2008, one of the couples had a little Mexican sandwich shop they visited most Sundays after church. I really liked the idea of having a place we regularly went to on Sundays, giving us the opportunity to really get to know the owners and workers there. Relational evangelism is very effective in Latin American countries.

So after church, we came home and changed clothes, then set out on an adventure to find a Costa Rican restaurant. In hindsight, we should've done a bit of planning during the week to figure out just where the open restaurants where. Or, at the very least, we should've asked one of the two missionary couples we met at church. But we didn't. We were "winging it" for sure.

It had begun sprinkling on the way home from church, so we grabbed our umbrellas and began our trek. The sodas were not open. And on the street we selected, there were not a lot of options. There was an open-air bar/restaurant, but we weren't quite sure about that one. Was it more restaurant....or more bar?

Finally, we settled on a Costa Rican Chinese restaurant. That just seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Costa Rican Chinese food! About the only thing Chinese in the restaurant were the pictures on the wall and the food names. Even the food items themselves weren't anything like their American cousins. The sweet and sour chicken, for example, was very tasty. But it was not exactly like sweet and sour chicken I'm used to. (And don't get me started on the egg rolls!) Perhaps the best tasting dish was the kids' fried rice plate with chicken, onion, and pineapple. It was delicious! But again, we were a bit lost in translation, so we ended up ordering WAY more than we actually could eat. The nice thing about this is that we have leftovers for another meal.

We set out from our house, determined to have an adventure. And we definitely found one. Next week, I think we'll do a bit more homework ahead of time and have a few places scoped out. We are, after all, still on a quest to taste authentic Costa Rican cuisine. We've been here a week now and it has eluded us. Maybe next Sunday will finally be the day we get to sample some.

And if not, we know where we can get some good Costa Rican Chinese food.

Lost in Translation....But Where We Want to Be

Yesterday was our first worship service in Spanish. We visited a Spanish-speaking Nazarene church not far from Parque el Bosque, about a 15 minute walk from our house. Some missionary friends of ours (folks who also graduated from the same college we attended) referred us to the church and even specifically asked several people they knew to "watch out for" our family and help us feel welcomed. What a blessing!

In Latin America, things either start on time or on "Latin time" (which means things are a bit more laid back and schedules are not closely adhered to). We knew that church was scheduled to begin at 10, but we didn't know if that was the "scheduled time" or "Latin time", so we decided to arrive a bit early just in case. We needn't have worried. We could probably leave our house closer to 10 AM and still be on time. :-)

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by several church members, including the pastor. Greetings here are slightly different than they are at home. If you haven't seen folks in awhile at home, or are very close to them, you might hug. But usually a touch on the arm or handshake suffices. Not here! When people greet each other (even when meeting strangers for the first time, as we discovered yesterday!), you lean in and kiss each other on the cheek! I'd been notified of this on Saturday but had completely forgotten about it. So it was a bit of a surprise for me, and a bit awkward for the poor church members. We'll do better next week. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, which helped.

There is a very long worship service with lots of upbeat music and energetic clapping. I'm really not much of a clapper, so it will take some time for me to "loosen up" enough to really get into Latin worship. That's not to say my heart wasn't in it. Quite the contrary! I may not have understood the words, and most of the songs were foreign to me (we did sing two familiar songs. What a relief to be able to recognize the music! I could even sing along in English in my head), but the spirit of worship present in the church captured my heart nonetheless. At one point, it really occurred to me where we were standing and I instantly teared up. We have spent the last four years preparing for ministry in Mexico. And yesterday, we were actually in a place that would help us get there. As much as we love our home church, it is not Mexico. Our hearts have been drawn to Mexico since our first missions trip there. Costa Rica isn't Mexico, either. But we were worshiping in Spanish....like our brothers and sisters in the country of our heart.

All of our waiting has come to an end. We may not have understood everything said yesterday (although of course, Troy understands quite a bit as a former Spanish speaker, and can communicate amazingly well for someone whose Spanish is so rusty), but there was an overwhelming conviction that we are exactly where we need to be. Where God has placed us. And where we want to be.

New Experiences

This week has been chalk full of new experiences for each member of the family. Here's a break down of our first week:

Monday: Flight to Costa Rica via Atlanta. The kids' first plane rides. After our arrival and a bit of a rest, we embarked upon our first trip to a Costa Rican Walmart. It is very similar to it's American counterpart. However, here there is really no rhyme or reason for the placement of the goods in the store. Clothes are right next to the food court (that alone is different -- there is a huge food court with several different American fast-food restaurant options inside), next to batteries, next to electronics, next to towels, next to hardware. And the sugar is not in the baking aisle. Unless you go there often enough to become familiar with the store (and due to the high costs, we will not -- there's another difference; Walmart here has more department store prices than American Walmarts), it's best to just start at one end and work your way to the other.

Tuesday: Our big brother took us to a couple stores, one kind of like a Home Depot (I don't remember the name), and the other a small neighborhood grocery. After lunch, he took Troy and another couple shopping at the Price Mart (like a Sam's Club). I got a little bit of unpacking completed. Had our first taste of Costa Rica pineapple (sooooo good!) and baby bananas.

Wednesday: Our first trip to Parque Copa, where most of the missionaries hang out. It is absolutely beautiful! The view from that park is nothing like anything we've seen before. We learned a very hard lesson, however. Due to our proximity to the equator and/or the altitude (I'm not really sure), it is essential to apply sunblock whenever you plan to go outside. After spending the morning walking around and then about an hour hanging out at the park, we came home burnt to a crisp! Quite a bit of the unpacking was completed.

Thursday: Troy went with our Mexico City teammate, Jonny, back to Walmart. Hiring a cab and getting around is a bit easier for Troy, as he was formerly fluent in Spanish. Much of his conversational Spanish is beginning to come back. In the afternoon, he and the kids walked through the area around our house, peeking in and out of the shops and picking up some more groceries and supplies. I was thrilled when they surprised me with a teapot and later, some flowers. They also brought home some of the most delicious bread I have ever tasted, fresh from a local bread shop.

Friday: We walked several blocks to the Jumbo (imagine a Kroger) for our groceries. What an experience! I was surprised by how many American brands there were, and most of the produce was at least recognizable. It is still disconcerting for me to have people speak to me in rapid-fire Spanish, expecting me to answer. I'm sure my eyes glaze over and there must be a most vacant expression there. The day when I can understand and respond back to them will be a most welcome day. I've gotten very familiar with the phrase "no comprendo - no habla espanol." I'm also not accustomed to hearing salsa music played over the grocery store's sound system, nor am I accustomed to seeing a man from the store walking around with a microphone, announcing what I can only assume are the specials. (You'd think after my experiences with the singing meat-market guy at Kroger, this would be old hat.) Perhaps the absolute strangest thing that happened occurred before our excursion to the grocery store. I was checking email in the living room, with the front door open to let in air (we have a screen door). The front gate was locked and dead-bolted, so I wasn't concerned about people walking in. When I looked up, however, I noticed this older man walk slowly past the left side of our gate and then stop at the door in the gate, look up at our house, and just stare at the house. He didn't knock or try to come in. He just stared. Then, after several minutes, he moved slowly on. Folks have told me not to be concerned, that it happens. It just was very weird. In Jackson if someone so obviously "cases" your house, it's never a good thing. Perhaps my proudest moment yesterday, however, came just after the old man walked on. Another man came to the gate and knocked on it, clearly wanting something. Knowing that Troy was upstairs finishing getting dressed, I yelled out the open door, "una momento!" and raced up the stairs. I was about half-way upstairs before realizing what I'd said. Without any forethought at all, my brain conjured this simple Spanish phrase, and it shot out my mouth before I could think twice about it. (I probably should've added "por favor", but again, there was no rational thought put into it.)

Saturday (today): We've had a big day already. This morning, we walked to a farmer's market with our big brother and his family for our fresh produce for the week. At the park, tables snaked back and forth up a hill, some covered with tents, some not. On the tables were all kinds of fruits, most recognizable. Thankfully, Mark had given us a sheet listing all the English names of the fruits and vegetables with their Spanish translations (including articles -- I'd have no idea if something is "el" or "la" otherwise). There were so many to choose from! Corn. Red beans. Black beans. Green beans. Onions. Garlic. Ginger. Celery. Lettuce. Tomatoes. Pineapple. Apples. Strawberries. Cherries. Mangoes. Watermelon. Carrots. Potatoes. All kinds! We settled on the necessary vegetables (potatoes, onion, garlic, beans) and decided that we'd alternate which fruits we buy each week. This week we bought strawberries, apples, peaches, and plums. We already have some watermelon and a pineapple, so we didn't guy those. Next week we want to try mango, grapes and cherries. There were also little fruits called King Kong Boogers (!). I haven't the foggiest what those taste like, or what they are most similar to. They are small, lightweight, and have a bunch of seeds inside. If you shake them, you can hear the seeds rattle. There's also a fruit that looks like a sea anemone on the outside. You cut it open and inside is a single fruit that looks like a large grape. It is soooo slimy! The texture is almost impossible to get past, but if you can, they are actually quite good. Next week we'll try to bring our camera to the market and get some pictures. This afternoon, we're meeting our teammates, Jonny & Gemma, and their family at Parque Bosque and taking taxis over to a "mall" for some hang-out time. For supper, we'll eat at one of the American fast-food restaurant options in the mall food court.

Tomorrow, we'll be worshiping for the first time in Costa Rica. I'm not sure yet where we'll head, or with whom. We're hoping to find a restaurant nearby where we can sample some Costa Rican cuisine after church. Monday is our last free day before orientation. And then the week after next, school officially beings.

Many new experiences await.


UPDATE: One of the strangest things I've seen since we arrived would most definitely be the live mannequins at the mall. In front of the stores are pedestals. And on them, dressed in merchandise from the store they are standing in front of, are people posing as mannequins! Some of them are so good they almost appear plastic. One guy held his pose--without blinking!--for the longest time! I cannot even begin to imagine the physical shape you have to be in to be able to hold poses like that!

Exploring

I'm thankful that wandering around the neighborhood is an exciting adventure for Troy. I vastly prefer the "one-stop" shopping you can find in the States, but that is not the way things are done here. You want some meat? Go to the little meat shop (some must be avoided at all costs--the trick is learning which ones are the good ones and which ones will, er, not agree with our American bodies). While you're out, you can get some freshly baked bread at a bread shop (and oh, is it good!). Need some tools our housewares? Go to the hardware store. Is it some toiletries you need, or a bill that needs to be paid? Stop by the pharmacy. And then for general groceries, there are markets in various sizes to accommodate your needs. All of these things are conveniently located right on the same main boulevard (you might just need to do a bit of walking to reach them). Oh, and fruit and veggies! If you want really fresh produce, go to the "farmer's market" in one of the local parks each Saturday! Obviously, this is profoundly different than what we are used to.

This morning, Troy shared a taxi with Jonny, our Mexico City teammate (we are blessed to be going through language school together!), and the two of them shopped at Walmart. Once at least one of us is more comfortable with Spanish, Jonny's wife, Gemma, and I plan to leave the Daddies at home with their respective kids to have our turn shopping sans children.

After lunch, he and the kids all decided to do a bit of exploring. They wanted to go to some of these shops and visit others along the busy street a few blocks from our house. They had great fun avoiding the periodic rain showers, stopping for Cokes, and discovering a heavenly-smelling bakery. They managed to lug home a couple 2.5 liters of soda, a small watermelon (!), another pineapple, a carton of milk....and a new teapot for me! I never imagined that having a teapot so that I could make hot tea would be that important to me. But to my great surprise, it has been. It's been the one item (besides fans) that has made it onto every single one of our shopping lists over the last couple days. Go figure.

I did not join the expedition because of the horrific sunburn I acquired yesterday at the park. (It looks bad. And it doesn't feel all that great, either.) Troy believes it's faded somewhat, so we are planning on venturing out again tomorrow morning in the search for one particular store.

And of course we will be sure to apply the sunblock. In liberal quantities.

"We're Not in Kansas Anymore, Toto!"

San Francisco de Dos Rios, the district where we live (kind of a suburb of San Jose) is definitely not the States. The views from the local parks here in Costa Rica alone are nothing like those from the local parks back home. Here is a list of some of the things that are different (not worse, just different).


1. Obviously, English is not the designated language.

2. You must dispose of used toilet paper in a trash can. Never flush it. Well, unless you don't mind clogged pipes.

3. You can actually drink the water here. This is not different than home (although the water actually tastes better here. Go figure), but it is different than in Mexico. We wouldn't dream of drinking the water there. At least not until we'd been living there for years and years and years.

4. You can develop a full-on sunburn in about 30 minutes. Ouch.

5. Running errands means you went to one (or at most, two) stores. Especially when you are without a car.

6. Everyone lives behind locked gates and bars. The flip side of that is that I have never in my life felt more safe.

7. No grass to mow!

8. You do not fill your sink and use a squirt of dish soap to wash dishes. You dab a wet sponge with this green goo (that's rather gritty in texture) and wipe your dishes clean with that before rinsing and stacking to dry.

9. Some things are more expensive. Like the $20 box fan that costs twice that here for the same fan.

10. The Walmart is more like a mini-mall with it's own food court (filled with American fast food restaurants!).

11. Fresh. Fruit. 'Nuff said.

12. "Gringo catchers". Imagine a manhole without the cover. Why you have to pay attention to where you are walking!

13. There is a rainy "season".

14. The scenery!

15. Costa Rican colones are really quite pretty, and are very colorful. (Not like the plain, somewhat ugly American dollars.)

16. "Raid" bug spray smells like "Mellow Yellow" soda. With a nicer smell than some air fresheners I've used in the States, I'm thinking of using it to freshen the air in our house. It can also serve to keep bugs away at the same time.

17. And speaking of soda, "soda" is a place to eat here, not a beverage.

18. Dora the Explorer speaks Spanish, but teaches kids English words. And her squirrel friend, Tico, speaks English. (So glad for those few words I've learned from Dora over the years.)

19. Watching cartoons in Spanish isn't as weird as watching other live-action shows that have been dubbed over. Especially when you know what the actors are actually supposed to sound like.

20. The sun comes up at 6 AM and sets at 6 PM. Year round. Makes sleeping in a challenge, but will help us all wake up on time for school.

21. In some stores, when you drive through the gate you get a ticket. Once you exit the store's gate, you return it.

22. Also in some stores, someone is posted at the door to inspect your purchases and make sure you're walking out with what you paid for. Or, if you walk into the store with other bags, you "check" them during your stay in the store. Cuts way down on the shoplifting this way.

23. Tico children never climb trees. Never. And they think we gringos are strange for allowing our children to do so.

24. There are no street addresses. You just have to be able to describe to someone how they can get to your house via distances and house colors.

25. Time is not "worshiped", as it often is in the States. Costa Rica (and Latin America in general) is very laid back.

A Long-Awaited Day

Yesterday, August 20, we flew to San Jose, Costa Rica. So many amazing things happened--miracles, really--that I want to share. This will be a long post, so beware. Troy worked all through the night Sunday night and all the way up to about 3:15 AM Monday finalizing the packing. All told, there were seven pieces of luggage and seven totes.

While waiting for Troy to arrive at the hotel, the kids and I spent a few minutes praying together. How precious to hear my children praying for our future ministry here in Costa Rica. After a speedy shower, we headed to the airport in Jackson. Upon our arrival out front around 4:30 AM, we were greeted by a man from our home church who had come to see us off! We were so touched that he would get up that early just to say goodbye to our family! All of the pictures from this earliest stage of the journey were ones he took for us. I began the bag check-in process while Troy took the borrowed pickup over to the long-term parking area.

With great trepidation, I watched each piece of luggage as it was placed on the scale and weighed. 47 pounds....49 pounds....48 pounds....one was even 50 pounds (the allowed limit). My genius husband had packed each suitcase or tote in such a way to allow maximum usage without incurring over-the-limit fees. The man weighing all of the bags had just completed the process when Troy walked in. With dread, I asked the man helping us at the ticket counter how much we owed for the baggage. We had two extra pieces than we thought were allowed, so we figured the fees would be astronomical (we guess about $500). Imagine my shock and great surprise when he looked at me and stated, "Nothing." I stood there in complete shock, tears filling my eyes. I don't know how it came about, but somehow God worked a miracle there.

Aside from the GPS in one of the backpacks that completely threw off the TSA agents (they rescanned that thing at least 3-4 times. Why they didn't just open it an look through it, I'm not sure), security was a breeze. By the time we used the bathroom and arrived at our gate, we only had about a five minute wait before we were allowed to pre-board. Here's another instance of God going before us. Originally our seat assignments were not together and we were planning on asking to be switched. But when we printed out our boarding passes, ALL OF OUR SEATS WERE TOGETHER. We literally filled up an entire row--three on one side and three on the other! The gate attendant announced that they hadn't gotten the plane they were originally supposed to get, but ended up with a larger one. God's handiwork! The girls and I sat on one side of the aisle and Troy and the boys sat on the other. I think I'll let them share on their blog about what they thought of their first flights, but it was precious to hear their "ooohs!" and "aaahs!" throughout the experience.

I'd long been dreading the flight into and out of Atlanta because of all the horror stories I've heard of that particular airport. Plus, knowing that we literally had to go clear across the terminal to get to our next gate---in just over an hour---really sent me into a panic. We hustled as quickly as you can with small children pulling carry-on luggage and bogged down with heavy backpacks to the "train". After one of the girls were almost left behind (Troy realized what was about to happen and stepped out; the other passengers rallied around us and forcibly held open the doors so they could both quickly step in and yank the luggage behind them), we realized the hard way that those bars are placed there for a reason. Those trains start and stop in such a rush that those who weren't holding on careened into the wall or against fellow passengers. A dear woman grabbed onto Tori for me and said, "I've got her, Mama," to which I was extremely grateful. We arrived at our gate in plenty of time for our flight.

Once again, all of our seats were together---this time at the literal back of the plane. We settled into a longer plane ride, roughly 3 hours, and the kids enjoyed many more firsts: first time to use the headphones and watch an on-board movie, first time for plane snacks (our short flight from Jackson to Atlanta was too bumpy for snack service), and the first time to use the tiny plane bathrooms (well, that was a first for Mama as well, actually). It was so beautiful to look out the window at first the Florida keys and then the open Gulf water. About an hour into our flight, Troy and I looked at each other, both of us clearly overwhelmed emotionally. We were feeling a mixture of exhaustion, sheer joy, relief that all of the hard work of the summer was behind us, but at the same time, utter terror of the unknown. He said to me, "What did we just get ourselves into?" And I knew the sentiment, because it was exactly what I'd been feeling. It's one thing to say that we're called to minister in Mexico, or attend language school in Costa Rica. It's another thing to actually do it.

Once we arrived in San Jose, we waited until nearly everyone had deplaned before getting off. The first stop was through immigration. We snaked through the line, waiting about 20-30 minutes for our turn with an immigration official. Our paperwork was fine. Our passports were fine. But we didn't know our address. The thing is, there are no street address in Costa Rica. Here, "address" refers to which area or district you live in (we are in the San Francisco de dos Rios district.) I had printed out the paper our Big Brother sent us with this information on it, but it had gotten packed in one of the totes. Thankfully, Troy had a piece of paper with the information of a market near the language school on it and the official was able to discern about where we would be. After about 10-15 minutes spent trying to get that all figured out, she stamped our visas and cleared us through to the baggage area.

We were anxious to see if all of our luggage had arrived with us. At the Jackson airport, Troy had wrapped a bit of hot pink duct-tape around each of the handles on our suitcases. Turning the corner to the baggage area, there were several hot-pink suitcase handles grouped together off to the side, and two men were loading the seven totes onto a large cart. Troy finished rounding up the luggage and counted pieces. I counted pieces. The kids counted pieces. Our next miracle was that ALL PIECES OF CHECKED BAGGAGE ARRIVED WITH US IN COSTA RICA!

The next stop was customs, and I was dreading it. Sometimes they will wave you through. Sometimes they'll open a piece of luggage or two and then wave you through. But sometimes they'll insist upon opening every piece. Sometimes you won't pay any "duties" for your luggage. But sometimes they'll make you pay quite a lot. And there's no predicting how it will go. We had our backpacks and carry-ons, and the man pushed the rest of our luggage on the cart. At the security checkpoint, he handed the customs sheet we'd filled out on the plane to another man and unloaded each piece onto the conveyer. On the other side, he loaded it back onto the cart and off we went. I figured that it was just the first step in the customs process. So imagine my shock when we rounded a corner....and were outside the airport! Our last miracle of the day was that we MADE IT THROUGH CUSTOMS WITHOUT PAYING ANY DUTIES OR WITHOUT THEM OPENING A THING!

With everything that has happened this summer in preparing to get here, and then with everything that happened yesterday in actually arriving, it is quite clear to us that we are where we are supposed to be, at the time ordained by God. There are some things to get used to, of course. While many people speak at least broken English, this is most definitely a foreign culture with a foreign language. We've already discovered that you can get just about anything you want (including most brands from the States, and even most fast-food restaurants. We've seen places like Church's Chicken, Burger King, McDonald's, we ate Pizza Hut pizza for dinner last night, there's a Papa John's, Taco Bell, Subway, and many more--many of those options right inside the Walmart!), but it costs. A lot. A simple box fan that costs $20 in the States costs at least $40 here. A small package of Hershey's Kisses is between $6-$8. Spending more for basic necessities is just going to be something we have to get used to. At the same time, you can't put a price on the views we see from our second-floor balcony.

There will be so many other things to share with you throughout the next year. I wanted to include more pictures from yesterday, but for some reason, I can't get it to post more than one. So I'll upload them to our Photobucket account and share the link to that album so that anyone can see them.

Thank you for your prayers and support. You helped make this possible for us. And your continued prayers and support will enable us to thrive as we learn Spanish and adjust to living in a new culture.

There's so much more in store to come! And we're so thankful and blessed to have the privilege to serve God in this way.

Real

I'm not sure why it's taken this long to really sink in that we are actually leaving the country in only twelve days. But it has. Until today. Why today? We received the email confirmation that our airplane tickets to Costa Rica have been BOOKED! Paid for! We're flying out of Jackson on Monday, August 20 (I feel the need to say it again -- in only TWELVE days) at 6 AM. Okay, so that part's not too great. It means that we'll have to be at the airport before even the sun wakes up. After about an hour long flight, and then another hour/ hour-and-a-half layover in Atlanta (that part I'm not real thrilled about, either. I wish it were a tad longer, truth be told. The idea of racing through an unfamiliar airport with six carry-ons, six backpacks, and four children whose first airplane flights will have only been that morning, frantically trying to find our correct gate, have time for everyone to use the bathroom, and then get on the plane, is not a welcome one), we should arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica just before lunch time. That part is amazing. Provided that it doesn't take too long for us to get six carry-ons, six backpacks, seven footlockers, six suitcases, and six people through customs, we should have plenty of time to settle into our new house. (This is, of course, assuming that all of our luggage arrives with us in Costa Rica. I don't like to make assumptions, especially when luggage and airports are involved. But in this case, I choose to trust that God will have it covered. As He's taken care of everything else so far.) We leave the country in twelve days. Twelve days! It's finally real.

Goodbye Betty Lou

I remember the first day Troy brought her home. Our tiny car just wasn't big enough for our growing family. But after a long night of searching, we just couldn't find anything we liked or could afford. The next morning, Troy received a phone call from the car dealership, telling him that they'd found a van they thought we'd like. Not expecting much, Troy pulled onto the lot. He took one look at a blue Chevy Astro van and heard God say to him, "That is your van." He bought it on the spot and brought it home. In no time at all, she became Betty Lou....just another member of our family. Yes, she's a vehicle. Yes, she's not a real person. But don't let any of us hear you saying that. She's as real to us as if she really were a living, breathing member of our family. We knew, however, that we couldn't keep her. And storing vehicles long term is just not a great idea. So we realized that we had to sell her. Upon our return from getting our visas last week, Troy began preparing her for sale. He labored over every inch of her, inside and out, to where she looked as good as new. Well, somewhat new. Then, this afternoon at about 1 PM, he marked on the windows in vehicle soap, "For sale", our asking price, and his phone number. Within THREE HOURS, she was sold. And not just sold. But sold for almost our entire asking price! (An aside: As the family hadn't yet had time to clean the windows, he's even just moments ago received a phone call asking if the van was for still for sale. He had to tell the caller, "The people you see driving the van are the ones who bought the van.") As quickly as she came into our lives, she left us. And we are so thankful for the eight years we had with her. Thank you, Betty Lou, for being part of our family all these years. And thank You, Lord, for Your amazing provision in not only providing an amazing van for our family all those years ago, but in helping us find a new family for her to go to so quickly. Thank you all for your prayers!

A Provision Before We Knew We Had a Need

A post I made yesterday in our Facebook group, "Gentrys' Mission to Mexico": Sometimes God provides before we even realize we have a need. A month ago when we applied for our passports, the lady had one extra picture of everyone leftover. Instead of just disposing of these, she said to me, "Some of these are quite good. You might like to have these extras just to keep." I thanked her and stuffed them in my purse. Fast forward to this morning. Almost the first thing requested by the consulate representative were pictures of each of us to affix to our visa applications. Troy and I glanced at each other in a panic. Pictures? Nobody said anything about pictures! Before our eyes, our hopes of walking away with the visas disappeared. What were we to do??? And then I remembered the extra passport pictures. And exclaimed, "Hello!! I have some in my purse!" I'm quite sure the poor man was unsure of what to think of my outburst, especially when I alternately giggled and appeared on the verge of tears. We are sitting at McDonald's (where there is wifi) waiting for our paperwork to be completed. Thank God for His provision; we'll be leaving Houston later today with six visas!

Bittersweet Countdown

The first family member arrived in Iowa last night. Troy and the kids are arriving tomorrow night, and the last family member is arriving on Saturday. We have lots of fun things planned for this visit, including a viewing of "Brave" (which the kids are very excited about). Plus, of course they are thrilled for the chance to meet their newest cousin, born July 11. Last night during a Skype chat, they talked over their menu choices with Nana. Many of the usual favorites were on it: Nana's homemade sugar donuts, waffles, chocolate chip pancakes. And of course, lots of Anderson Erikson chocolate milk (for those of you who cannot get AE dairy products, I am so sorry. They make what are quite possibly the very best tasting dairy products in the country. Maybe even the world). Things are planned, but not overly scheduled. Just the way we like it. As much fun as this time together will be, I can't help but realize that it is the last time we're going to have as a family for the next couple years. The last time Nana will make those sugar donuts. The last gallon of chocolate milk. The last movie we'll see thanks to the generosity of "Aunt" Jackie. The last time we'll hold Benjamin as a baby. So, as everyone arrives and the fun begins, I realize that this time is bittersweet. Fun and enjoyable as a family. I wouldn't trade this time for anything. Yet, I know we have to get to Tuesday night and Wednesday, when the goodbyes come. We would definitely appreciate your prayers as we face these goodbyes. It is never easy to leave. Especially this time, knowing that our time apart will last a little longer.