Women's retreat

This weekend was the women's retreat with my church and it went so well...thank you Jesus! It was three days of all Spanish, so I was a little nervous. Not so much about the Spanish as I was the making friends part. I really only knew one girl and not very well at that. Sometimes when I get nervous, I don't speak very well in Spanish (well, I never speak that well, but worse than usual). My Spanish did fine though. I did find myself rather quiet and just listening...which was so good for me. I found it hard to get a word in sometimes and/or wanted to spare myself the struggle/humiliation of speaking up :). It's hard to understand pretty much everything and then answer like a 2 year old. lol but it went so well. God got my confidence up before I left because the usually semi-crabby lady at the bank smiled at me and told me that I have finally learned Spanish. So I went feeling alittle confident and it was great. I learned a lot, made some new friends and practiced. It was great :) I did say a lot of stupid stuff...but I do that in both languages. The girls thought it was hysterical to teach me new ridiculous words and practice random words they know in English. That's always interesting, especially when they ask me more "colloquial" terms for different body parts. Okay...I'm hesitant to tell you this story, but it made me laugh out loud, so I think I will. So right before a service started, one of my friends was talking about words in English she knew and actually asked me when she should use the word "boobies." I absolutely lost it. That word with a Latino accent in a church service sent me over the edge. I was dying laughing. I told her to practically never use the word. Maybe it's juvenile, but I giggled to myself about that one for a while. Anyway, now that I sound like a middle schooler laughing about saying private words, I'm signing off. Thanks for your prayers regarding the retreat! God bless!

Back for round 2

So I am back in Costa Rica for year 2 of my teaching career :). I am excited to be back after a long trip in the U.S. It was so great to be there and see so many people. It was really refreshing and the perfect amount of time because I actually felt ready to return and get back to a schedule. I was also able to take Hannah up to college with my parents while I was there which was so fun. She is going to Cedarville like I did, so while dropping her off I was able to see a lot of old friends and mentors. She seems to have a good set-up there and is already having fun. I'm a little worried about my parents considering they are empy-nesters now. lol those of you in Cincinnati need to take care of them. Who am I kidding, I'm pretty sure they are going to be throwing a party here soon :). My trip back was eventful but worked out well. There were a lot of delays and I nearly missed my flight to CR, but thanks to the prayers I somehow made it. God also brought along a friend along the way. He was from Spain, so I was able to get my brain back in Spanish mode before I went to see my CR family. So thanks for the prayers and the encouragement from all of you. All is well here and I'm excited to pick up one of the new teachers tonight, Courtney. Then, this weekend, I will be attending a ladies' retreat with my church. Should be interesting considering I only know one girl right now going and I'm going to have to be in Spanish mode all three days. lol so I'm here sending out that prayer request for some diving intervention and supernatural acquisition of Spanish for this weekend (and forever really). We'll see how it goes...I'm sure there will be good stories to show. Stay tuned :)

Summer in the U.S.

My three weeks in the states is over half way over and it has been great so far. I was able to go down to the Outer Banks to visit one of my best friends who is 8 months pregnant with her first child. My family, grandparents, aunt, uncles and cousins were able to go with us...so it was a lot of fun. It was great to be at the beach (and hear people speaking English) and eat good food. Highlights of the trip: seeing Britt's huge stomach, sleeping in the moldy "dungeon" of the big house we all stayed in, relaxing at the beach, watching uncle Rick flip his cayak in the ocean, and hearing everyone in my semi-dysfunctional family ;) state their opinions to everything on earth.