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.

Precario

Naomi coloring with friends in the Precario

Melody, Anna, Jamie, Joshua and Joy

homes in the Precario

Jamie visiting with a women in the Precario

John with Jose in his home

We spent our first two days here in the Precario. This is an area of great poverty and horrible living conditions. The team from Boy with a Ball have made great relationships and really love on these people. Yesterday we joined them in a ladies bible study and the rest of us played and colored with the kids so the mothers could be taught in the study. Today we did their usual rounds of walking through, giving suckers to the kids, greeting and hugging, praying with people and tutoring. One particular man we will keep with us forever as we connected with him today. He is 21 years old and is dying of a brain tumor with little medical care available to him. He was so gracious and loved talking. We were able to pray with him and we told him we would not forget to continue praying for him. We took his picture so we could remember his face. His name is Jose.

The team has grown so much since last year so it's been really neat to meet and connect with all the great leaders down here. What amazing young people with servant hearts that are totally in love with the Lord and want to follow his lead in their lives. We've been impacted by knowing them already.

The kids are really enjoying being with the Johnson's kids, Joshua, Joey and Nina. Jack and Naomi are like their little shadows. :)

I love the affectionate culture down here. You are always greeted with a kiss and a hug. It's very endearing and precious. Today Jack mastered the cheek kiss when saying hello or goodbye...very cute!

It's pouring rain as I write this which is a really cool sound. The rain is so hard and forceful here. It's sunny in the morning and then the huge rain clouds come in midday and then it doesn't stop raining till nighttime.
We are going to Hugo's church tonight.

We are here!

We had a smooth day of travelling and made it here late last night. Jamie and Nina picked us up and we headed back to their house. Last year they were doing construction on their home adding two new bedrooms for visitors and staff. It was great to see the new place and they had it all set up for us. They set up bunks for the kids with toys and snacks which got the kids super excited. We stayed up late talking with Jamie and Kathy and then the morning came very early. The sun rises at 4am and most people are up and ready by 6am. So of course the kids were up at 5:45 smiley and happy to explore. yikes...that was like 4:45 at home!

First blog experience

I've put off this whole blog thing for quite awhile. I love checking other people's blogs but haven't really figured I needed one as well. But with our upcoming trip to Costa Rica we decided it would be a good way to keep everyone up to date with what is happening during our trip. We will try and update and possibly add some pictures while we are down there. We leave this Thursday, May 22nd to visit Jamie and Kathy Johnson in San Jose, Costa Rica. They run a non profit, Boy with a Ball, and minister to the youth of Costa Rica. Please pray for our journey, our safety and most importantly that God would use us and teach us through this trip. (These are a few pictures from our trip to Costa Rica last year.)