The Lord has shown us the house that we are going to start renting to begin our ministry!  Two weeks ago, my tica friend Yoko handed me a paper out of the blue with a name and number on it.  She said that she had a long time family friend that has a house in the “campo” of Cartago and this was his name and number and we should call him.  Later that week, I reminded Jacob to call Yoko’s friend, his name is Jorge.  So Jacob called him two Friday nights ago.  Jorge was excited to hear from us and offered to take us the next morning.  So on Saturday the kids went to stay with some friends while Jacob, Kelsey and I loaded up in Jorge’s truck and headed to the house!

We were in the car for quite some time and were wondering the whole time if the house was going to be as nice as we were told it was.  He said it was a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house.  With a big kitchen, dining room and an outside kitchen.  And best of all, he kept using the word farm.  He said that it had turkeys and geese and lots of fruit trees and coffee plants.  We were so excited needless to say!  When we passed the statue of Jesus up on Irazu we began to time the trip.  After about 40 mintues and an unbelievably beautiful trip through what becomes the cloud forest, we arrived at the quinta (or small farm)!  It was like a dream!  It was completely beautiful!  Everything and more than we ever dreamed we would want.  To this point, we had not asked the price and were beginning to think, “Oh no, we have come all this way and there is no way we can afford this!”  But we continued to look around and ask questions.  His previous explanation did not even compare to the beauty of the land!  It is like a paradise where someone can think by themselves and be with the Lord all at the same time.  If teams were in, there is enough space to be with the group or off by yourself, checking out the fruit trees or just listening to nature and God.  A place where people can come and minister to the people of Costa Rica and be ministered to by the beauty of the land.  A place of contemplation and praise.

Last wendnesday we borrowed some friends’ car and picked up Francisco to take him to the house.   As most of you know, we have desired for Francisco to be part of our family.  He is such a wonderful minister to the people of Cot and we have all along hoped that we would be able to find a house big enough for him to be able to stay with us.  So his opinion of the place was important to us.  When we arrived, he absolutely loved the place too!  He was so excited with us about all of the possibilities for the property!  So today we have finally worked out an agreement for rental with Jorge and we have the house!!!

He is going to allow us to transform one area in the back (that he had originally built for a jakuzzi) in to a bunk room and the garage into another bunk room, even though we are just renting.  This is such a blessing and we feel this is where the Lord wants us to move to.  Here are some pictures!

The house!

The back area we are going to make into a bunk house!

A view of the house from the back!

Kelsey and I in the front yard!

The garage we will make another bunk roon

A view of the driveway!

Some of the turkeys and geese!

A picture of us and Francisco on the farm!

The kiddos on the farm!

Lots happened at the end of this week!  First of all, it was the last week for our kids’ school, so we officially have a 3rd grader, 2nd grader and a kindergartner!  Here are some pictures from the last day of school!

Sophia with her class!

Lizzie on the last day!

Lizzie and her most fabulous teacher!

Benjamin and his teacher!

Sophia and Gracie!

Benjamin and Gabe!

Nicole, Emily and Me!

Jacob and his big catch!

We also had cultural day at school yesterday!  We experienced what Los Turnos are!  They are like celebrations each town has!  Kind of like fairs.  We had a great time!  Here are some pictures from that!

Nicole, Emily and Me!

Jacob and his big catch!

As we have done many fun things this week, we are also in the midst of making many decisions concerning the future of our ministry in Costa Rica.  Please continue to pray that we are wise about our decisions.   We are currently in the middle of negotiating a contract for a rental house.  Please pray for this process, that everyone involved would be blessed in our renting this property.   Our Spanish is improving daily and we are working hard so that we can reach the people here!  We love the Ticos of Costa Rica and we only want to be and serve how the Lord wants us to serve, to the best of our ability.

Kelsey arrived Wednesday!  Kelsey is a college student from Mt. Airy in Easley and she is going to live with us for a month and attend the University of Costa Rica.  We are so excited that she is with us!  She has already experienced different adventures involved in living in Costa Rica.  Yesterday, we walked to the grocery store and on the way back we got caught in a typical Costa Rican downpour!  We were drenched!  Please pray for Kelsey as you pray for us!  She will be attending the University to improve her Spanish and will be witnessing to her fellow classmates.  Please also pray for her safety as she takes the buses to and from San Pedro where the University is.  Here is a picture of her and Lizzie after they had changed clothes from the drenching!!!!

Kelsey and Lizzie

From Kinder!!!  What a big day was today!  She was so excited that she was going to graduate that she started planning for it two weeks ago.  She laid out her clothes (not a hard choice considering she wears a uniform shirt) and has been planning her hairdo!  Yes, I know she is only 5, but she is a girl and our hair is important on big days!  She has been begging me for 2 weeks to straighten her hair for her big day.  So last night I went to work.  While I was straightening Lizzie’s hair, Sophia came in and wanted hers done too.  This morning when she woke up, it was curly again.  So we straightened it again.  Then this afternoon, our school got out an hour early so that the kinder could have their graduation.  It was such a neat thing for it to be taken so seriously that the adult classes, high school, and elementary school all got out early for it!!  She did great!  And of course I cried, especially when her teach put pictures up of the individual kids on the first day of school.  We had only been in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks when this picture was taken and boy Lizzie looks so grown up now compared to then.  It was a nice day for our family.  Here are some pictures!

Lizzie with her straight hair!

Sophia with straight hair

Sisterly love!

Folk girls with straight hair?

Benja reading while he waits on graduation to start

Lizzie entering with her friend Alton

Lizzie getting her diploma

Beautiful Lizzie after graduation!

Lizzie’s diploma

Lizzie and her teachers! They are the best!!

Lizzie and her friend Kendyl….they could be sisters!

Lizzie, the graduate!

A couple of weeks ago, we realized that we did not have any water when we went to flush the toilet.  This happens every now and then.  This time we were told it was because they were doing road construction and broke the water line.  Well, we usually have drinking water that we have purchased, depending on the day of the week and how close it is to the time to buy again.  The closer to time, probably we will have less water.  Well, we had plenty of drinking water, so we were prepared for that   However, the harder part was that with 5 people in the house, we could not flush the toilet!  Not fun….

We took the kids to school that morning, so that was the first blessing of the day!  We could use the bathrooms there!!!  The next blessing was that it is the beginning of the rainy season here, so that afternoon we got a nice downpour!  Why was that a blessing?  Well, I was talking to a friend about how funny it was that we were without water to flush toilets, but there was plenty outside.  He laughed and he said, yea, too bad you could not put buckets outside and collect it and use it to flush your toilets.  See, he and his family have a reservoir at their house, so they always have water.  We however do not.  But I thought, that was exactly what I was going to do.  I only had one bucket, but I had bowls in the kitchen and I could use that!  As I was going to get the bucket from the wash area, I noticed the gutter spout with water pouring out of it!  I decided, we are not going to drink this, so this would be much quicker to collect it from the gutter!!!  So that is exactly what I did!  I have never been so happy to have functioning gutters!!!  Oh, the little things

It did get me thinking about how quickly each of our situations in life can change.  Are we prepared?  When the water would cut off regularly when we first arrived, we always had wipes handy for cleaning hands and bodies.  We had water stored in what we had on hand at all times, just in case.  Then it quit going away as often, so we dumped the stale water out and lapsed in refilling them.  Then when it went off again unexpectedly, we were not prepared.  It reminds me of the virgins and their lamps with their oil, prepared (or in some cases not prepared) to meet their bridegroom.  The picture is meant to make us realize that we need to be ready to meet our Lord at any moment, because at any moment, our situations can change and our time might be called.  Are you ready to meet your Lord?  Our God is perfect, whose perfection demands that we come before Him white as snow, covered only in the perfection of His son Jesus Christ who died for us on the cross.  It is my prayer that everyone examines their relationship with God.  Make sure that you are prepared, because our situations can change in a heartbeat and we may be called to stand before God.  Are you going to be white as snow before Him?  If not, ask right now for forgiveness of your sins and for Christ to deliver you from them.  He is ready for you to come to Him.

Here are pictures of me collecting water from our gutters, making up for not being prepared……

Precious water flowing into our bowl!

Me, so happy to be catching water!

Precious water

Exhausted

Ready for sleep

Up, Down

Sleep

AWAKE

“Ok, Lord I’m awake.  Let’s talk.  You have truly blessed our family….Thank you for….Please be with……during…..”

Sleep

AWAKE

Up, Down,

“Wow, Lord I am really sleepy.  But let’s continue our talk…..I am listening now…..”

Sleep

AWAKE

Up, Down

Ooopps!  I woke up Jacob.  “Sorry, I’m fine.  Go back to sleep.”

“Lord, You want me to live where?  But what about my beautiful, trusting, ready for the next adventure children?”

Sleep

AWAKE

Up, Down

“Lord, You want me to be more like my children….trusting fully in You.”

Sleep

AWAKE

Up, Down

“Lord, I am willing.  But honestly, I am scared.”

“Little one, I know you are.  I love you.  I love Jacob.  I love Benjamin, Lizzie Grace and Sophia.  I also love the people your family needs to serve.   I have the whole world in my hands….”

He’s got the whole world in His hands…..He’s got the whole world in His hands…..

Sleep

AWAKE

Up, Down

“Thank you Lord for your love.  Thank you Lord for your grace.  Thank you Lord for your patience.  Thank you Lord for your understanding.  Thank you Lord for your sovereignty…..”

“My peace I give you my child.  Leave everything with me.  And take my peace.”

Peace, peace.  Wonderful peace.  Flowing down from the Father above…..

SLEEP

Last week, Jacob and I with the kids, along with Danny and DarLynne, their family, and our friend Joe all went down to downtown San Jose to share the gospel with the ticos down there before Easter.  We had a great time and the Lord was glorified.  We started out by having Joe do a magic trick to get people’s attention and the point of it was to show people that all people are alike, that all have fallen short of the glory of God and all need salvation through Christ.  Then Danny started doing a painting and through it also showing the way of salvation through Christ.  We then stayed around to continue to talk with those who had questions.  It was a great day for the Lord.  Here are some pictures…

Joe doing a magic trick with strings to gather people

About 50 people gathered to listen

Danny’s finished painting

Every Saturday Jacob gets up really early and goes to the feria.  You can see a previous blog on that, but it is basically a farmer’s market that comes to a local park every Saturday and Jacob goes to buy our produce for the week.  And the kids and I stay at the house and get to sleep in.  Jacob meets a couple of his guy friends who are also in charge of buying their family’s produce and they meet at a make-shift “Soda” – like a small restaurant.  They (Jacob and his buddies) have named it “The Greasy Spoon.”  They eat gallo pinto (again, see a previous blog if you aren’t sure what that is), eggs and coffee.  The lady who cooks the food calls Jacob “Senor Corlantro” because he always wants extra corlantro (cilantro in English) in his gallo pinto.  And they sit around and have a good old time.  He does this each Saturday.

Well, the kids and I get to sleep in while he does this.  However, sometimes, Lizzie and Sophia get up before me.  They usually play something quietly until I wake up.  Then once I get up it is cleaning time.  Each Saturday is my day to clean, clean and clean some more.  See the thing is, many families in language school have what is called an empleada who comes each week and helps with the cooking and cleaning.  Well, Jacob and I don’t have one.  With the pressures of school and studying, the only day I really have to get the house clean is Saturday.  And for those of you who knew me before Costa Rica, you know that I prayed and prayed about the Lord giving me a heart for cleaning my house, since it is SO culturally important here.  Well guess what.  I love waking up, getting my cup of coffee, that Jacob made before he left for the feria, and getting to work on the house.  And it stays clean for maybe an hour all together, but at least I worked on it and all the clothes get washed and put away and we start the weekend off with a clean house.

Here are a couple of pictures from today, Saturday, March 28, 2009.  One is of Sophia.  When I woke up, the game that she and Lizzie had been playing was “Decorate Sophia with markers and stickers!”  Another is a picture of the hot peppers that Jacob found this morning at the feria.  You know how we love hot sauce.  Jacob is the king of making wonderful hot sauce.  Another is a picture of one morning at the “Greasy Spoon.”  Unfortunately, it was not today.  They had about 6 men this morning.  But you can at least have a picture to go by.  Enjoy!

Sophia after being decorated by Lizzie – She did a great job!

Jacob and the guys at the “Greasy Spoon”

Jacob’s treasure find of hot peppers from the feria

Wow, what a busy last couple of weeks.  Two weeks ago, we had the privilege of returning to South Carolina to speak at the Irazu Summit at Mt. Airy Baptist church in Easley.  They allowed us to stay in their wonderful mission house and the entire trip was such a blessing.  My family all met us at the airport late Thursday night and then we drove from Atlanta to Easley that night.  The mission house was wonderful and to quote Jacob, “The bed feels like a cloud!”  It was so nice to sleep in a comfortable bed!  My mom was able to stay with us the entire trip and help us with the kids.  That was so nice.

The next day my friend Amy treated us both to a pedicure, while Jacob stayed at the house and was able to visit with Johnny, Michael and Natalie.   I also got to see baby Wyatt for the first time.  Of course I cried at the beauty of that precious baby!   After that we ate at Zaxby’s.  It was yummy!   Oh, the things we miss.  That night we had dinner with Chris and Amy.  The next day I got up early and went to Angie’s to get my hair cut.  What a nice relaxing morning.  She had coffee, muffins and banana bread waiting.  That afternoon we had dinner with our small group at Chris and Amy’s and then went back over to Angie’s to celebrate Mike’s birthday.  It was wonderful to see people from church early, not having to wait until Sunday morning.

On Sunday, we got to worship with our home church Mt. Moriah.  It was such a blessing.  That afternoon it started snowing (see the previous blog) but we went to share with Providence Baptist anyway.  It was nice seeing everyone there and when we left it was like a winter wonderland outside.  The next day, we had to cancel our trip to Kershaw, unfortunately, because there was so much snow and we were not sure about the driving conditions that night.   We hated to do it, but we did not feel that we had any choice.  Monday for lunch we had the privilege of sharing our calling and hearts with the leadership of Mt. Airy.   Tuesday we spent the whole day with Jacob’s family.

Wednesday morning I got up and went to Cracker Barrel with Christina and then we went to the Beth Moore Bible study she has been attending and then we went to lunch with Linda.  It was a sweet time of fellowship.  Wednesday night we spoke at Mt. Airy.  Thursday we attended and shared at the Irazu summit.  This was such a wonderful time.  It was so exciting to be with others that are on fire about everything going on around Irazu.  After that we headed to Spartanburg to spend the next couple of days with my family – my sister Mandie flew in from Connecticutt to see us!  We got to have a surprise retirement party for my parents.  Then Sunday we got to worship with our home church again.  That night we shared with Enon Baptist and then headed back to Atlanta to fly out.  We had a packed week.

How did God use this trip?  Many ways.  However, one big one was that we feel confirmed in our calling to Costa Rica.  There were many things that I had been missing and longing for, and when we experienced some of them, it was like, the Lord was telling me, “Just be content where you are in CR.  Don’t long for things here.  Your home for now is CR.”  Also, we feel that we have the best people supporting us with love and prayers.  We were so encouraged by the love we experienced while we were home.  Thank you to everyone that prays for us continually.  We could feel your prayers while we were back in the States.  Please continue to pray for our Spanish and our long term financing.  And for the financing of missions around the world.  Giving is down for many and it is affecting missionaries ability to stay on the field.

Oh, and the last piece of luggage finally arrived Thursday night.  Thank you to all of you that prayed for its safe return.  The kids were thrilled!

Here are some pics!

Me and Wyatt

The guys and the kids

Jacob and Wyatt

Our small group

The girls and I (Amy took the picture)

The Ingraham Clan

Lizzie and Aunt Mandie

The kids being loco

Benjamin and Mimi

Me, Benja and Lizzie in the snow after we shared at Providence

Driving in the snow/covered streets

Catching flakes!

The view from outside the missionhouse

The front porch

Jacob and Benja

Sophia enjoying the snow from the warm inside

Lizzie making a snow angel

Lizzie’s snow angel

Lizzie, Jacob and Gus made this snowman without gloves!

Well for those of you who know where we are currently you realize that these pictures were not in fact taken in Costa Rica.  We are in South Carolina.  We have gone from the tropics to snow in March in South Carolina.  It started snowing around 4:30 Sunday afternoon, but we decided to go anyway to speak at Providence Baptist about 30 minutes away.  Well, they decided to cut the time short and have just us share and then leave and when we were done and got outside it was like a winter wonderland.  It was beautiful!  It was very hard driving home in the snow, but we made it home.  Amazingly, we had power all night and we got up the next morning and played in the snow and even built a snowman.  Being that we were not expecting to come to South Carolina and have snow, we did not have all of the needed snow gear.  Jacob, Lizzie and Gus managed to build the snowman without any gloves!  Brrrrrr!  We are having a great time and have been tremendously blessed on our trip so far.