Quotes

My time here in NC is flying by, but I'm loving it. I've gotten to run away to the beach for two nights with college friends, see family, eat lots of good food, play games, shop, sleep, read, get frustrated with angry birds thanks to Amy and my brother, and just relax. Cassie got "snowed-in" here yesterday, well, we convinced her she was snowed in, so its been fun to have extra time with her. And we watched the good 'ole PC Blue Hose lose mightily to NC State Women's basketball team yesterday. "On on PC..."

Last week I want to church in English for the first time in a long time and it was wonderful. I wanted to share two quotes that really struck me and stuck with me. Love them.

"All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful" - Flanery O'Conner

"God is more ready to forgive you than you are ready to offend Him." - Spurgeon

Surprise!

I’m in NC :)  I’ve been planning for about 6 weeks to come home and surprise my friends and family.  I’m so glad it finally got here!  I have some videos that will hopefully work to post to show my family’s reactions.  After surprising about 6 people, I just lost energy.

Its overwhelming to be here.  There is just so much that I’m not used to anymore.  Its strange that it only takes 6 months to discover a new life norm.

So, the best things about being home…
1. Seeing friends and family
2. Chickfila
3. Driving
4. Eating all kinds of familiar foods
5. Playing canasta
6. Giving and receiving so many hugs!
7. Knowing that I am very blessed by the Lord to be so loved

Hardest things…
1. It is so cold :)
2. I have no idea how to spend my time.  I want to sit down one-on-one with every person I have ever been friends with.  I want to know every detail of everyone’s life.  Its not possible and its stressful.  It kind of makes me want to sit on my couch and not leave. (plus then I wouldn’t have to face the cold!)  Just making decisions is hard.

Please pray for the Lord to give me great peace to just enjoy my time here and the people that I do get to see, although it won’t be everyone.  Pray for understanding for the people I don’t get to hang out with, and just great joy and expanded time when I get to sit and talk about life.  I am so very blessed.

Here are some videos of the fun surprise.  Clearly this is not professional videography!

Simeon

This morning in church, the pastor called up one of the oldest men in the congregation, he is 84.  When he got to the stage she put a baby doll in his arms and read this…

Luke 2:25-32
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.  It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.  Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
You may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation, 
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, 
and the glory of your people Israel.”

Can you even imagine?  He has been literally waiting for the Lord’s Messiah.  And when they put this baby in his arms, he knew, this was the One.  And at the moment He was ready to go home to be with the Lord knowing that His eyes had seen the One who would be the redemption of the world.  Wow.  What a moment.

I love that at this moment, far before Paul took the Gospel to the Gentiles, far before the Gospel went any further than the Israelites, Simeon knew.  And He said it about this little baby.  He would be the light of revelation for all people. 

Imagine looking into the sweet face of a baby, or maybe the crying, drooling, hiccupping face of a baby… but knowing beyond a doubt that this baby IS redemption for the people of God.

What a wonder.  What a great day.  And what a great reminder for this Christmas season.

Thanksgiving take 2

I know, I just blogged about Thanksgiving take 1, and now here we are again!

Saturday was my first time ever to cook Thanksgiving dinner without my mom and grandma.  My host family wanted to eat Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey and all the fixin’s, so Melissa came over and we went all out!

Thankfully Maggie had just come so we could get stuff from the states that is super expensive or not available here.  And my mom’s awesome Bible study sent most of it as a gift, so that I could afford to cook Thanksgiving dinner… so MANY thanks to them for yams and onion topping and cranberry sauce and so much more!

The adventure began with the Turkey… 
My host mom’s oven is in Celsius and apparently doesn’t have even heating since the top burned after 30 minutes. (P.S. they really only cook on the stovetop here, I’ve seen her use the oven about 1 time)  But we regrouped and readjusted and it was delicious!

Melissa and I made all kinds of delicious side dishes… Josefa got the stuffing out of the bird. Ariel carved the Turkey… its really not easy to do by the way, especially if you want it to be pretty! Isabella was just being cute and admiring her Uncle Jonas (yes, she calls him Jonas as well as any other handsome guy who reminds her of the Jonas brothers!)

Then we had the people!  My host family and two sets of neighbors… 14 people total. All in all, it seemed to be a hit.  Everyone enjoyed the food and it was fun to cook. My sister informs me that now that I know how to make Thanksgiving dinner, she is never going to learn.  She expects Ali and I to be the Thanksgiving hosts of the future.  Thanks for that… :)

Concert

Last night was so fun!  A group of us from school went a concert for some Christian singers (all in Spanish) who are pretty popular here in Costa Rica – Jesus Adrian Romero and Marcela Gandara.  There were TONS of people there!

Here’s a video of them singing together, one of my favorite songs…

And here are some pictures of our fun group hanging out!  We got so excited because they sold food there :) 

This is our pastor and his wife

YAY for cotton candy!

Some of our teachers came.  Sadly, only Rita’s arm made the picture!

Thanksgiving

Holidays.  It’s hard to start new traditions when you know that your family is at home doing the same things with the same people and that things are moving forward while you’re gone.  But in the midst of that, the Lord is so good!  He is constant amidst all the change and has given me blessing after blessing during my time here and Thanksgiving was no exception.

I really didn’t have time to be anything but excited as Maggie came to visit and we got ready to have Thanksgiving dinner with friends here.  We went all out and had everyone’s favorite traditional foods!

Maggie and I joined the Lee Family, Messick family, Chad and Nikki, Rebecca, Adam, and Ben for a big dinner at the Lee’s house.  Many thanks to Tricia and Hannah for doing most of the food, especially the pie :)

Here are some of my favorite boys, who are not only cute, but they also help make a great macaroni and cheese!

And of course, little Taylah

cuteness

I’m stealing kid stories from my friends’ kids, but this was too cute not to tell.

One of the cutest 6 year olds that I know lost some teeth this week.  After night one he was beside himself excited that the tooth fairy had left him a personal note and knew HIS name!

So, he decided to write back to her and the finished product was something like this…

Dear Tooth Fairy,
What shape is your body? Is it like a person?
Love, Jonah

I love the way kids think :)

Maggie

I’ve been hanging out with Maggie :)

She got back to the States on Tuesday after a little adventure with the airline on Monday.  An adventure that involved her not having a flight for 24 hours.  Honestly though, we loved the extra time together!

Here are some fun pictures from our time.

We went to the beach…

Pretending to drink from coconuts at a little table that reminded us of the scene of the battle of wits from The Princess Bride.

We read, a lot!  And hung out avoiding the rain :)

We rode a public bus and lots of taxis…

Hung out with friends…

Drank awesome fruit drinks!

Ate at the only nearby restaurant that was open, about 5 times!  Good thing it was good…

And then drank coconut milk for real back in my neighborhood.

We also got to go to the market, see Harry Potter, and just enjoy seeing each other.  It had been far too long!

Love you Maggie!  Thanks for coming to visit.  And many thanks to Maggie’s family for sharing her for Thanksgiving!