Family's visit :)

So my parents and my sister came to visit and it was such a blast. We had a great time! I'm so glad that they were able to come and get a better idea of my life here. I think they enjoyed it but I think they walked away a little apprehensive. Thankfully God has given them a little peace. Well anyway, I'll give you a litte rundown of everything. They came down on Sunday and we had a little party with my family and some friends in CR for Father's Day. It was so fun to see my dad on Father's Day! We spent the night at a hotel and then early in the morning left for Arenal, an active volcano in CR. It was awesome! On the way there we stopped at a beautiful church...

And at a restaurant that had 100's of huge iguanas just crawling around....

And got some great views of the city and valley from the mountains....

The weather was so clear and we could see the whole volcano (often you can't see the top). The best part and probably our favorite part of the trip was going close at night and actually seeing (and hearing) the volcano throw lava rocks out and have them run down the side. So it's like red orange lava looking stuff going down the mountain. It was awesome. I couldn't get any pictures of that, however, there are pictures of us there. We got the hotel for a great price and it was seriously really nice. We went hiking, went ziplining through the forest, and saw a beautiful waterfall. That part of our trip was awesome. Then we traveled through the mountains, farmlands, and rainforests to get to our next stop Manuel Antonio, a beach on the Pacific Coast. We did have great weather. The hotel was back in the rainforest, so it was beautiful. Here is mom with a Toucan...There were monkeys everwhere running through the trees, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys and white face monkeys. They were really loud. Howler monkeys actually howl and it is such a creepy sound. OK, best story of the week. So one night, I'm sleeping and I hear someone whispering "Trish...Trish." I look over at mom and she says the electric went out. I asked her how she knew and she said the AC went off. Power outages are nothing new, so I wasn't concerned, I told her it was normal and fell back asleep. Two hours later around 4 a.m. I hear again, "Trish, Trish." What??? "The electric is out and the emergency lights went out too...it is absolutely pitch black. And listen..." Then I hear the horrible sound of Howler monkeys. Normally it's fun, but in the absolute pitch black darkness, when you can't even see your hand in front of your face and listening to these loud, extremely close, howling monkeys...you have to admit sounds a little creepy. lol so of course we all freaked each other out. Hannah told us all to shutup. Then mom asks me if I think Jesus is coming back (like the whole thief in the night thing...i mean it was pitch black and the animals were going crazy). She asks me if I'm ready for Jesus to come back. lol so hear I am in the pitch black, with eerie howling monkeys, thinking about Jesus coming back and if I'm ready and then we hear a gun shot. I'm sure that it was someone scaring off the monkeys, but seriously. I finally fell asleep and the next morning we found out that a tree had fallen on a pole which made the electric go out for 24 hours...but seriously, it was hysterical. Here's another random photo of alligator river...they were everywhere just hanging out...The next day we went on a hike in the rainforest and dad spotted two sloths. Here's dad in hunter mode...We didn't really get good pictures of them though. The rest of it we just slept and ate, played games and laid on the beach. It was great. We then came back, went to eat some pizza, I showed them around school, we went downtown, took my family out for dinner and then came today when they left. I was sad, but I'm so thankful for them being able to come down. It was so much fun. The only scare was when I put them in cab to go to the hotel and the driver told me he knew where he was going (but didn't look sure). Then I saw him drive down the street with them in the opposite direction. I was dying laughing because I didn't know what to do. So I grab a taxi and go to my house with Kate. I try calling their hotel because I'm a little worried. I don't get through for 45 minutes and I start getting a little worried. I have the front desk check, no sign of them. By now it's not really funny anymore. My Tico mom and I decide to drive to the hotel and I go to find them. They're not in their room and I start to panic a little bit. Even if the taxi got lost, they would have been their within an hour. I started thinking the worse that he held them up for their money or something else (yes, that can happen). I'm checking the pool, the restaurant, everwhere and I can't find them. By now I'm thinking that I just need to wait in pray. I mean, their pretty much helpless. Hannah can get around in Spanish, but she doens't know the area. Finally I'm in the lobby and I hear my Tico mom beep in the car as my family walks past in workout clothes. I was furious! They went to work out in the gym area at 10:00 at night when they got home from eating. They said they did get lost a little, but that they got home and went to workout. Who does that??? ugh. All that worry for nothing, but I was glad they were safe. All in all everything went well and we had so much fun. That's all for now...I have a lot of homework for my intensive spanish course I'm taking now! Crazy stuff! And to finish, here's a nice view of the rainforest:

I made it!

So yesterday was our last day of school! I made it through my first year of teaching and I couldn't be more excited. I am so thankful that God has brought me through. There were times that I truly didn't think that I was going to make it...especially those first couple of months. It's hard to believe that I've lived here for that long. It was a wonderful feeling to say goodbye to the last student and realize that we made it!!! Thank you Jesus. It was a great year and I learned so much. Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement and support...I really appreciate it! Today we went to the ferria to buy all kinds of fruits and vegetables for tomorrow's fiesta and then went to a Costa Rican wedding (see pic of me and mama and my tico grandma). I'm preparing for my family to come in tomorrow! I'm so excited about them coming. We're going to have a little Father's Day party and then go for a trip around the country. I'm going to bed so it comes faster! Good night!

Leaf Juice

So a bunch of us have gotten hit with some kind of flu bug here...me definitely not as bad as others here. Kate wound up in the emergency room on Saturday night due to the excessive vomitando. Yuck. Anyway, so I've felt not so great and asked my family if I could make soup for dinner. We did and then my mom said she was going to make this "remedy" juice for me. lol she disappears and comes back with part of a bush in our front "yard" (more like a small square of grass and a couple of plants). She mushes it up and mixes the greenish brownish leaves with water. LOL I was thinking Oh great. At one point she comments that she needs to get all the little thorns out. Finally the final product was mixed with sugar and I drank it. It tasted like a leaf...just as I suspected. :) It wasn't all that bad but I just loved how she went out to the front, got some bush, and made juice. I'm not miraculously healed or anything...but it hasn't had adverse effects either :). Oh the adventures.

P.s. saying goodbye in my last post meant saying goodbye to friends who are leaving. I'm not leaving anytime soon. I'm going to be living here for quite some time.

Saying goodbye :)

Well, this last week was a good one. We had track and field day with the kids...which I'm still hoarse from...and a read-a-thon day. Starting tomorrow we only have 5 days left! I can't believe I've almost made it though my first year of teaching! Thank you Jesus! This should be a fun week. It might be a little crazy...and I might be a little sad. I mean, I've grown pretty attached to those kids. Hanging out with them for 7 hours a day for 180 days...that's a lot of time. You really come to love them :) We're also saying goodbye to Kim V., Kim L., and our friend Corrie. That's going to be a tough time. We've all had so much fun together, it's truly been a blessing. The one redeeming factor for all of this is that no more lesson plans for a couple of months, starting Spanish language classes, and best of all, my family is coming!!! I absolutely cannot wait :). I've been missing them like crazy. I've really been missing my friends a lot too! I was looking at pictures last night...and borderline feeling sorry for myself being so far away. Well, God took care of that one this morning at church. A Tico missionary to Spain was discussing his work with Muslims and was talking about Muslim converts and their sacrifice they make for Christ. He talked about how becoming a Christian and preaching Christ may and usually means losing your family, friends, home and sometimes your life. Putting that in perspective...I think I can "suffer" in Costa Rica just a little bit. Nothing like a good reality check. All that being said, all is well and I'm looking forward to this week!

USA vs. CR

This week was a fun and busy week. I did a lot of fun things. On Wednesday, we got a big group together to go the the Costa Rica vs. USA soccer game. It was crazy! The whole place was packed with crazed fans. lol us Gringos were pretty much hated at that point :). It was so fun though. The fans were jumping and the concrete stands felt like they were going to just crumble. The insanity was crazy. I was almost happy that Costa Rica won just so we wouldn't get any of the brunt of some ridiculous fan's anger. But to be honest, the US played terrible. It was awful! Apparently the US hasn't won on CR soil in over 34 years...crazy. But it was fun and we cheered loud :). Then , this weekend, we had graduation for our students on Friday night. I was sad to miss Hannah's graduation, but I'm pretty sure those are boring no matter what country you live in. Then, on Saturday, I was able to experience something fun that God allowed me the opportunity to do. I went to work with the children of women that are in prison here in CR. We just play with the kids and feed them, while ministering to the mothers as well. It was a blessing and I am excited to go back. After that a graduation party, out to Spoon's to "celebrate" Kim's going back to the states :(, and of course eating ice cream. Today I went up to Cartago, a beautiful area of Costa Rica with two missionary families. One will be moving up on a volcano there to minister to a poor town. We went to the one room church they will be working at. The pastor actually lives in that one room. There is a little futon bed, a bathroom, and a fridge (that was just recently bought for him). Now that's a parsonage if I ever saw one. But seriously makes you think...do we need all those awesome buildings to preach the word of God? Obviously the answer is no with proof coming from a man name Francisco who is fervently trying to bring up disciples for Christ. Neat stuff. Then of course we ate some good food, chicken, black beans and rice. Quickly becoming my favorite. And here we are now...just trying to get some stuff done for the last 10 days of school! woo hoo :)