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FELIZ DIA DE AMOR Y AMISTAD!

Hi everyone!! Just wanted to wish you all a very happy Valentine's day!!
In Spanish it translates: "Happy Love and Friendship Day!" and I think I like that a lot!! So to all of those I love, and all of my friends, I'm wishing you a happy day!

these are some cookies that I made with the Baldwin kids this last weekend!!
We has LOTS of fun, and they turned out super cute, and yummy!

this is Brittany (11) and me holding one of the cookies (before we ate it!)

here is Cody (8), Brittany (11), and Nick (9)
They were all really good at making a mess, eating the dough and licking their fingers!!
Hey, we were all guilty of that when we were younger too, you can't blame them!!
They each made cookies for their class to share on the actual day!

Well, have a great Valentine's Day!
Much Love to you ALL!

happy birthday jessie!

Jessie is THE first gringa my age I met here! We celebrated her turning 23 at a Mexican restaurant in Escazu, where she now lives! It was a lot of fun, and fun to hang out with a gringo group for a little bit! Just thought I'd put some pics up of us girls.


On the left is Jessie, Ashley, me and Kerri, and then on the right is Jessie, me and Ash just having fun!

I've had fun getting to know these girls, and they have been such a blessing in the times when I just needed to talk about stuff in English, and feel like I was conversing efficiantly!!

MALPAIS~

My gringa friends and myself went to San Pedro to hit up the Jazz Club there! Malpais played, and Ashley snatched a few of the last tickets right before they sold out, they're pretty popular, and we could see why... they were GREAT! They were more of a folk band, but very talented, and put on a good show.

This is Jessi, Kerri, Ashley and me.... Ryan showed up later, that's why he wasn't in the pictures. We all had fun telling stories and just hanging out!

my january....finally!

So I realize that it has been FOREVER since I blogged, so below are posts to sum up my January on the home front here in San Fran. These are not in order (in fact they are backwards... the newest first, and the oldest last..). By blogging now, after much of the action, I am probably sparing my viewers of novels, and giving you just the pictures and facts...short and sweet people, that's what I'm aiming for! Okay, so they turned out a little longer than I wanted, but imagine what they WOULD have been!! hehe..... enjoy!
Thanks for checking up on me, and being interested in my mission in Costa Rica!
May God bless you all, and teach you wonders!

so NIFTY!

My mom turned 50!!!
I got to celebrate my mom's birthday with her when she was here, and it was a big one folks, that's right, she's reached the big 5-0!! hehe.

This pic is of my mom, host mom, host sister Karla and two piano students of hers singing "Cumplanos Feliz" to my mom! So cute!

When we got home from the beach, we went shopping a little bit more, and headed back to my house for a typical dish prepared by my host mom! Arroz con Pollo (Rice with Chicken), and for desert: Tres Leches Cake, SOOOOO GOOOD!! It was a good evening to chat, and for my parents to get to know my host family.
Then next morning we went to church, and then it was already time to bring them back to the airport. Short, but very sweet. It was a great break to spend with them, and to show them my life here in Costa Rica: to meet all the people they hear so much about!
It was hard to see them go, but I was so blessed to spend that time with them!! I am so grateful! And also so grateful for the way the weekend turned out, the Lord blessed us with great safety, and wonderful people to spend our time with!

Back at the Beach!

Since I had so much fun at the beach with the Alliance missionaries in November, I decided it would be a good place to bring the parents back to Jaco Beach, and it is the closest beach---so that helped!! We boarded the bus at 7 am Friday morning (after sleeping in...whoops!), and off we went to the beach. Only a 2.5 hour bus ride, and very scenic through the mountians we were there! We found our hotel (finally!) and put on our suits and really just enjoyed the very hot weather by the beach and in the shops!

It was so wonderful to have both of my parents with me here in Costa Rica!! Such a treat!
We spent lots of quality time together (especially since the hotel didn't have a TV....haha).
We had a fun time collecting shells by the beach, and watching the surfers.

Special Visit!

On January 24th, I got a special visit by BOTH of my parents!! After much talk about it, I wasn't for sure it would happen until the tickets were bought, but to much of my surprise they both came!!! Marlan hadn't vacationed since my parent's cruise in '94, and my mom applied for her passport 5 years ago with Alison and me, but this was her first chance to use it! With just five short days in their visit, I was determined to show them as much as possible, and have a marvelous time in doing that!!

After they arrived (a little late!) from Miami, we went to the hotel (getting scammed along the way.... part of culture, right?), we tuckered in for a night of chatting and all that good stuff.The first thing on the agenda in the morning was to head to the Britt Coffee Tour with my directors Chuck and Robbi. The tour was AMAZING!!!! We all had so much fun, and learned so much about coffee, and laughed a lot at our tour guides in the process!

After the tour and a wonderful 'typical' lunch, Chuck and Robbi brought us to a t-shirt factory where my parents bought their Costa Rica shirts, and the we all got a free one too!! Pretty great. Then we went into downtown San Jose and walked around, and did the tourist shops, and then headed back to Chuck and Robbi's house where they put us up for a night (such a HUGE blessing!!).
Next on the agenda was the beach!

Cartago

After trying to figure out hotels and such.... and maybe getting a little stressed out.... my oldest host sister, Mariela and her boyfriend Juan, just throughout the idea to go to Cartago, the next province over, so that we could see some sights before it got dark. I was game!
So these are just some pics of the random trip there.

Cartago used to be the capital, and my sister told me that they are a very proud province... but I kind of find that most of Ticos (Costa Ricans) are prideful no matter where they are from.

This is some old building, I can't remember, but they also told me that it's one of the main history things in Costa Rica, and there aren't many so they told me I had to take pictures!

There were churches on every street, all Catholic churches for the most part. So they are known to be a very religious province too. This church, well it's a Basilica (pictured below when all the lights got turned on outside!), I don't know the difference, but it was so beautiful!!! It's very famous, so it was cool to kinda poke around know it. It was a Sunday night, so we got to see the end of the mass that was going on.

This is a picture of where water from a "Holy Spring" runs into. People come here and wash their babies and children in the water, wash their heads, drink the water, and place a part that needs healing under the water.

There is a story about this Basilica about a girl who went to the stream to fetch water and found a doll and put it in a box. She went back to the stream and found the same doll, and was excited that she had two, so she went to put it in the same box, and found that the doll that was there before wasn't there before. So she put the doll in the box again, but secured it this time. Then she went to the stream again the next day, and yet again found the doll, ran home and the doll was no longer in the box from the night before. SO... she talked to the priest, and the priest didn't really believer her, but did the same thing she did, and realized that it was real. The doll that they kept finding was a stone that took the shape of the Virgin Mary. So the Priest concluded that it was Mary telling them that it was a holy place, and that she wanted to dwell there. So in the back under the Basilica they have a place where you can see water streaming in, and the stone Virgin Mary, which supposedly is in the exact same spot. It is kinda a cool story of how it all got to be, and how close they hold to tradition.

journey to the jungle~

A few weeks ago I got an opportunity to go to Bribri, a town that's a 5 hour bus ride (or so they say). A couple that attends my church that I attend here, San Francisco de Dos Rios Alianza Cristiana y Misionera, headed up a church in Bribri.... well not in Bribri the town itself, a mile down the beaten path... in the jungle! :)
Ashley and I (my loyal adventure pal) jumped on a bus Saturday morning, and destined to arrive in Bribri at 3ish.... well, I learned a lot about the culture- again!-- and because of a crash that happened in the moutains, we were at a dead stop for about 3.5 hours. A good deck of cards came in handy, and we eventually made it to Bribri around 7 ish. Whew!
So instead of attending the Bible study that was to happen that night with the women in the village, since the couple was late due to the crash as well, we just chatted for a bit, and went to bed. It was very rustic, and I wish I would have taken pictures of the house that the couple rents. Ashley and I snuggled into the twin size bed, and tried to get a good night sleep. Again, another experience, as I couldn't sleep due to the bats above my head that wouldn't stop chattering... but I made it through the night! There's a roof on the house, but where the trusses support the roof there is nothing attatching the walls to the roof, so it's all open (for there very import airflow in houses). I felt a lot stronger when day broke, hehe.
All of that aside, the next morning is what we had been waiting for, to meet the people, see the church and see how God is working in that village!!!

This is a picture of the church. The part on the left, the patio that has a roof, was added on by a volunteer group this last summer, and all the people in the church were extatic, because they didn't have to cram into the house part any more. The only thing they asked was that they could have chicken wire around the outside to keep the chickens and dogs out!! hehe.
The church mainly ministers to children, and some women. Men don't really go because they feel like it's a womens outing on Sundays.
To say the least, it was very eye opening, and humbling.
Those kids steal your hearts for sure. When Ashley and I were leaving one little boy followed us to our house to get our stuff, and with this sad look in his eyes asked us when we were going to come back. Ashley and I were moved. I think I'll be going back this summer for sure when another group comes to do some more work.
It was a very touching experience.