4th of July at the Cabin

Victoria, Canada for our 10 Year Anniversary!

Jack's Graduation

So a few friends have been on me about continuing with the blog even though we are home from Costa Rica...So here it goes...:)

Jack graduated Kindergarten this week! How could we not get all teary eyed watching our little boy walk down the aisle with his cap and gown on to the graduation song pomp and circumstance. It was sooooo precious!

a trip into the rainforest

We got to have one night as a family away last night in the rainforest. It was one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. wow! We hiked through the rainforest, saw the largest and most powerful waterfalls we've ever seen, fed hummingbirds by hand, had parrots land on Jacks arm, hiked with flashlights to find exotic nocturnal frogs, had butterflys covering us, and on and on. It was very special and we felt so blessed to have that time.

The kids were troopers and hiked like crazy. Something very sweet about Costa Rican culture is their care for the kids. EVERYONE touches their heads when they walk by, or says something cute to them or smiles so kindly at them. It's such an affectionate and sweet manner that they have with any kids and it's very refeshing and sweet to be around.

We have REALLY enjoyed our stay this year in Costa Rica. We feel so close with the Johnsons and connected to the vision God has given them for the youth in Costa Rica and their vision to go beyond that into many cities in the world. We are very grateful for the time we have had here.

We leave tomorrow morning and are of course excited to get home yet we feel like we are leaving family this time so it's going to be hard.

walking downtown

Jack running after the pigeons. He actually held two which was really cool and really gross at the same time. :)

Team dinner with Jamie, me, Nina, Joey and James

Joey, Nina, Jody, Cata, Joshua, Jack and Naomi

Melody, Nina, Kathy, Macho, Anna

Today we experienced downtown San Jose. We have only been there at night during the outreaches to the street kids, drug dealers and prostitutes. So it was our chance to be down there during the day.


We have also had a chance to really get inspired and equipped to be board members for Boy with a Ball. Today we met with Jamie and Melody, one of the team members, and dreamed of exciting things on the horizon in regards to what God has in store for Boy with a Ball.


Tonight we hosted a team dinner to thank them for all they have done for us and to have time all together. It was a great night. It's getting sad thinking about leaving on Friday. We have deepened our friendships and seen God's hand in binding all of our hearts together.


It would take too long on this blog to list all of the stories from this trip, the connections made, the miraculous seen, the joyful things, the really hard things like seeing such extreme poverty and abuse but hopefully we'll get to share more stories with you in person. The mentoring and developement of young people is amazing and gives so much hope.

more pics...

The potholes in Costa Rica...actually we have a really funny story about John driving straight into a pothole larger than this one and getting the minivan stuck. Jamie and 2 other men had to lift the minivan out of the hole

San Jose, Costa Rica

Naomi with Nina and James

John buying a tourist shirt...just kidding!

more Costa Rics news...

the park down the street from us

Casita de Daisy our favorite restaurant

view of San Jose from the school


Johnsons Family!

Pastor Hugo and wife Alice


Saturday night we headed to church with the Johnson's and team. Worship was sure awesome! They sang all the songs in Spanish yet we knew most of them so we were able to sing along in English. It's amazing to be worshipping with believers in another country singing in two different languages yet worshipping the same. Boy do they have fun worshipping, dancing, jumping and praising! It was awesome! Pastor Hugo spoke and it was a powerful teaching.




Sunday is definately a day of rest around here. Nothing is open and even the streets are quiet. It rained almost the entire day so we enjoyed the time just talking, cooking and playing games with the Johnsons. It was a GREAT day. We even stayed up late into the night after the kids were asleep to talk with Jamie and Kathy. Everyone who knows Jamie knows that was a pretty long and awesome talk! :) We are so grateful for them.







Today we were able to shadow Jamie and the team on some of their regular business. We met a new missionary couple in the country and went to their house to pray for them, went to the school where they are heading up the community outreach group and brainstormed with the highschoolers, and spent time with the team. This trip has been neat as it's felt like we are living here. Kathy has taken me to the grocery stores, we've navagated driving on the crazy roads, and tonight Anna, Melody and I ventured out to a big "American" style grocery store so we could buy food. We are going to cook a big dinner for everyone on the team tomorrow night to hopefully bless them and spend a special night together.