Walk a Mile in My Shoes

I wish some of you could walk a mile in our shoes. I do not say this to infer we are holy or special. Quite the contrary, this has nothing to do with why we are even here. This week I have felt a pressing need to earnestly pray for America, more so even than the people of CR or the next country we will be going to serve in. Before I tell those of you in the states why I wish you could walk a mile in my shoes, let me first place this disclaimer: I am not trying to offend anyone or get anyone upset, I am merely stating the facts of what change seems iminent, and what this change will mean for my fellow Americans.

We currently are living in a country that is a socialist country. I believe that in less than one week the American people will probably vote for a change in our government. With this said change I believe we will go from a representative democracy to a socialist type government. I would like to tell you what it is like to live under a socialist government.

1. Free healthcare for every citizen. Now to obtain this free healthcare all you have to do is go downtown to the one hospital offered to said residents at around 5am. You wait in line with your number until around 9am when one by one you are allowed to see the receptionist. The receptionist will then help you make an appointment with the appropriate health professional. Your appointment will be sometime later that afternoon, so you need to go ahead and pack a lunch and plan on staying the day. When you have your appointment with your doctor you will probably have to get some form of tests, x-rays, etc. performed. To schedule these tests you will need to return the next morning to make the appointment with the appropriate department. You can call to make this appointment, but chances are slim that you will actually reach one of the people that can help you. When you make the appointment you will be seen for your test sometime in the next 3-6 months. If your results require further treatment or surgery, you can add yourself to the appropriate list for this and then wait your additional 3-6 months for your procedure. My empleada told me how she had to schedule her EKG 5 months in advance and her annual physical 6 months in advance.

If none of this sounds appealing to you, you can go ahead and pay out of pocket and go to one of the private facilities where the foreigners (like us) go for treatment, that is if you can afford to...

2. Redistribution of wealth. There are price controls on certain products here in efforts to make life easier for the poor people. For example, rice, beans and flour are very cheap here. When they tried this with other products as well in the country where we will be serving, it caused many farmers to lose their farms because they could not afford to grow the crops due to price controls. This then trickled down to the fact that no one could now purchase: chickens, flour, eggs, milk....you get the picture.

Here they have a yearly aguinaldo (bonus) for every worker. It is required by law that all employees who are legal residents receive this bonus every Christmas. Great, we all would love a bonus right before Christmas, right? Problem is, it amounts to one month's salary for each person, so the small business owner is now strapped down with end of the year expenditures and now they cannot even purchase Christmas gifts for their own families. We are even feeling the squeeze from this one with our empleada.

3. Monopolies run amuck. Just take a look at this article written just a few months ago. We continue to have blackouts on a semi-regular basis here that often appear city-wide.

Just about two weeks ago, Costa Rica suffered a historical blackout that darkened the entire nation for about three hours... Just a few days later, the Electricity and Telephony Monopoly (ICE), asked the Costa Rican Government to allow them an average of 23% in rate hikes, citing the increased cost in petrol to power thermal energy plants. According to La Nacion, the countries biggest newspaper, the Utility had already used 80% of it's operating budget for the year for Thermal Electric generation. When the government refused, the Utility commenced with rolling blackouts over the entire nation for the last nearly two weeks. Every day for 3-4 hours, communities have their power shut down. Those companies with backup generators are forced to bear the cost of paying for the generation of their power. Smaller businesses and individual families, simply suffer. The imagery is amazing.... Meat markets forced to lock up all their meat in freezers and unable to take the meat out for fear of losing the cool in the freezer, are losing money every day.
Other small businesses, including offices of various types, are basically without productivity for 1/3 to 1/2 day. And to make matters worse, they change the time of the outages per area, seemingly AT RANDOM! Last week our power was out every day from 2-5pm. Yesterday it was 7am-11:30 am, and today 11:00am-2:00pm, making it impossible to plan...

4. The powerful get richer and the poor get poorer. Costa Rica on a regular basis devalues their currency by 8 to 18% a year. If you are making $450 a month (this is more than the average college graduate salary) anything you save will be lost through inflation. You will never accumulate the savings needed to escape poverty level. The government that claims to be working on your behalf is really working to keep you poor and dependent. The money made from the productive economy will never be reinvested in the factory or machinery that could provide you with a safer, more productive job. It will be spent in so called “administrative costs” or used to buy votes. You can really appreciate this when you see the average Costa Rican house and neighborhood...think Bronx circa 1970.

5. Public transportation, the only way to get there. We found out shortly after arriving here that people with drivers license plates ending in odd or even numbers are only allowed to drive certain days of the week. This apparently is also in effect in our upcoming country of service as well. We have seen the police spend much time at the local intersections checking to make sure this law is inforced. I am told however that you can "pay the officer" to make sure it is not counted against your driver's license...which brings us to number 6...

6. Bribery, the new game in town. What else is the average rich person supposed to do? So while you are hoofing it or taking public transportation on those days you are not allowed to drive, you may be mugged. Why? Because that officer is following his mandate to be at the intersection and make sure that only cars allowed on the roadway are there, and also making sure he has his extra money for a little extra retirement thanks to those with the extra cash. This also holds true for certain government services, etc...

7. Changing separation of church and state to a national religion. Something that is commonly found in socialist countries is a national religion. For Costa Rica it is Catholicism. For other socialist countries it can even be agnostic or atheistic in nature. Does this mean a difference for America? Well let me ask you this, how many people would stop paying tithes if they knew that they could no longer deduct it from their taxes (tithes that incidently fund our work here). What then happens to most of America's churches if they too have to start paying taxes on any revenue? It doesn't take long to figure out what will probably happen...one religion for one nation...Anyone remember why those Pilgrims came in the first place?

I know this is lengthy and that most of you are aware of the gravity of the situation. All I ask of each of you is to seriously consider praying earnestly and even fasting with me next week as our nation reaches a precipice. To ignore this situation or to say that it is merely a change that is necessary for the good of the whole is to ignore the very foundations that our great country was built upon. The Bible says we are to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. To me this means we keep informed (and I mean by more than just one source), keep praying (for all of our leaders!), and keep exercising our right to make a difference in the government that will affect us and our neighbors. Remember that Jesus' second-most important commandment was to "Love thy neighbor like thyself" What better way than to make sure the people placed in charge of us and our neighbor has our best interest at heart? I can think of two wonderful examples of this in the Bible; Esther and Daniel. Both of these wise people changed the course of history in their countries when they chose to engage in the political process. We have that privilege ourselves in our great nation, so remember, " if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. " 2 Chronicles 7:14

A Taste of Humble Pie

Coming to another culture can be a very humbling experience. Quickly one realizes that their “gringo” ways of doing things are just that, gringo. Not everyone in the world feels the necessity to stick to a rigid schedule or to be punctual at the risk of being offensive. For example, when we were reviewing for a big test in our grammar class, another teacher came into the room and told our teacher, Oscar, that they would be singing in 15 minutes and his assistance was needed. Singing? During class???!?? Some of the gringos wondered what could be so important to interrupt class, especially during an exam review. Well, one of the teachers was having a birthday. I had the wonderful privilege of watching a group of people that put relationships over personal agendas honor one of their friends by not just singing happy birthday, but also a local song of blessing from God to that same person.

Ken had a humbling experience of his own when a man walked out of the store across the street as we were leaving our house for school one day. The man was speaking in rapid Spanish to Ken and Ken had a quizzical look on his face. The man switched to broken English and said to Ken that he remembered Ken from the House of Restoration for men, and that Ken had been there to share the gospel a few weeks ago. Like Ken said, he is fairly certain one of the more advanced students probably did all the talking, but this man remembered Ken being there. Ken said it humbled him to know this man saw him as an evangelist, and that this inspired Ken even more to apply himself to learn the language.

It has really humbled me to think that these people understand what so many of us gringos take for granted. People and relationships are so much more important than schedules and agendas. The average Tico will be very offended if you come to a meeting and do not go to each individual to ask how they are doing, how is their family, etc…They will honestly think maybe you are angry with them or something is wrong. Every time we go to the House of Restoration it takes about 5-10 minutes to go all around the room and hug and kiss everyone and ask how they are, how is their family, etc…The same applies when it is time to go. Much time is spent hugging and telling the other person you hope that God will be with them this week and that they will be blessed, etc…This is not just a custom either, or at least not with most people. This is for real. They genuinely care deeply for one another. I think of all the times in my life I have just kind of waved and said hi to people and gone on my way, when I should have stopped and said, “Hey, how is your child doing? Have they adjusted to that new class yet?” Or, “How are you feeling since losing your loved one? “

Yes, it has been quite a taste of humble pie, but I am learning to appreciate the flavor. Just call it the blue plate special. Would anyone else care for a piece? There is plenty to go around….

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

This week started off a little dismal as the rain has been relentless. We have tried to entertain the children with little forts, mini fiestas, nice hot bowls of chili (thanks Nana!), and mugs of hot chocolate. Who knew that Costa Rica could get down into the 50s during the day?

All the rain has helped everyone sleep a little better I think, as we have metal roofs and the noise of the rain drowns out most of the street noise. I just listened to Ken go over a passage with the children in Matthew where Jesus says, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." As you can see Kayleigh really took that passage to heart the other day waiting for her evening Bible story.

This week had a really bright spot in it, though. We received some packages from Nana and Papaw, Grammie, and our friends Miss Beth and the Dickinsons. There were some hand made cards, skittles, jelly bellies, spices, grits, and some cool tattoos the kids are sporting for the camera here. It felt like Christmas had come early for all of us! Ken lamented how one of our friends at school said he gets a little more glum with each day his mail box is empty. (I noticed that Ken did not volunteer any jelley bellies to him though...) So thank you so much for brightening up our very dreary week.

We have been told that this current tropical depression, or whatever it is that makes me feel a compelling need to start constructing an ark in the back yard, will leave by the end of this week and we will go back to only 12 hours of rain a day instead of 24. ¡Gracias a Dios!

Ballad of San Francisco

Here is a collage of our favorite photos from our area of San Jose called San Francisco de Dos Rios. There are some photos from our neighborhood, the parks nearby, and our school. We also included some pictures from the cultural day we had at school last week. We hope you enjoy it!

Rain, rain, go away!!!!

Yes, it is the height of the rainy season! Everyday now we can expect the rain to come by 12pm or 1pm and continue on until around 11 or 12 at night. This constant rain does have a tendency to wear down parents of young, active children, but you should see how it wears down the roads! We are including one of our favorite gringo trap pictures. We have to cross in the middle of this busy street just about every day, and this is a very common sight. The depth of this "pot hole" is about 6 feet deep. The width is big enough for a large horse to sit in comfortably. As you can see the locals have a special way of making sure drivers see these pot holes until the road crew can get around to fixing them. By the way, this has been here now for over a week. So, next time you are driving down the street in your car and complaining about the state of the roads there in your city, remember, at least you don't have to worry if your car will be falling INSIDE of the pot hole!

A New Day

Every day it rains here. Usually the rain occurs just as I am leaving the school with Cade to go home for his afternoon nap. When I say rain, I mean torrential downpour! I call it "La Tormenta". We have had several of these and have learned to adjust to the fact that the rest of our afternoons will be spent inside (kind of like most of our day was spent inside in class).

It has posed a few little inconveniences for the kids when they need to run around and get their sillies out. Cade came in the living room after getting buck naked and covering himself in diaper cream the other day. (I'll save those pictures later for his humiliation as a teenager :).

Anyway, the other day as we were finally getting dried out Ken said, "Hey, the sky looks kind of funny doesn't it?" Now anyone from the tornado belt does not like to hear that comment because it usually indicates impending doom, but this was a different kind of funny, so we went outside our casa to look. Sure enough there was a purple sky with a huge beautiful rainbow! What a pleasant surprise. It was a reminder to us of God's promise. The rain will not last forever, the flood waters will recede, and God will give us a new day.

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:23

Costa Rican Views

Iron Eyes Cody

I know that this will no doubt date Ken and me, but does anyone remember Iron Eyes Cody? He was the "Indian" (actually of Sicilian ancestry if you read wikipedia) featured in a public service ad back in 1971 which had a tremendous impact on our attitudes regarding littering in the United States. I have gone ahead and included it here for the benefit of those lacking the years of wisdom that can only be obtained through living in the 70s first hand! The reason Ken and I were reminiscing about old Iron Eyes was because of the experience we had this last weekend at Tarcoles Beach. Needless to say, the video says it all. I wish we had a Tico with us when I filmed "our" beach clip. It would no doubt have made a great commercial to play on the television here in between news casts of graphic scenes from car wrecks and drug busts. Well, maybe it wouldn't have had quite the impact on the Latinos as good old Iron Eyes Cody had on us.....

"Hey, wait a minute Mr. Postman!"

There are a few times in my life I have related to the character Charlie Brown in the Peanuts comic strip. Most recently I have found myself looking longingly in the empty mailbox at our school kind of like Charlie Brown does in the cartoon. You know you really miss mail when you wish you could receive a bill or an advertisement, ANYTHING!!! So today I received my first actual piece of mail in our mail box since we arrived. I believe my Mom felt sorry for me, so she sent me 2 newspaper clippings from the Mobile Press Register. I have never been so happy to read a story about a tiger having surgery in my life. Yes, just call me a little homesick. So, I want to give everyone an opportunity to send a note, a postcard, a long letter, junk mail ...whatever to the Nelsons, especially those of you that know Connor, Kayleigh, and Cade. Here is our Costa Rican address:

Instituto de Lengua Espanola

Apartado 100-2350

San Jose, Costa Rica

If anyone wants to send a package, send it in an envelope in the mail. It is much cheaper than sending something in a box. Hey, if someone just wants to send a copy of the comic strips from the newspaper in English, that would be great too!!!!

Diving in!

This week was our first official week of school. We feel like we have been here forever, so we are very glad to now officially be here as students. We have been treading water a bit this week, but I am glad to report we expect to be doing the doggie paddle by the end of next week! Thank you for all your prayers this week as we have I believe finally settled somewhat into a schedule. We leave for school each morning at 7 am and return most days by 3pm. Ken and I have lunch together most days, but we are not in any of the same classes because we are not at the same level (I'll let you guys guess who tested higher :) )

On Mondays Ken will be a part of a men's ministry and I will be part of a women's ministry on Thursdays. Both of these ministries are called Restoration House and are for women and men that are former drug addicts/alcoholics/prostitutes (it is a legal profession here by the way) that give them a place to stay and to study the Bible until they can get back on their feet. I had the opportunity to go to my first meeting on Thursday. The women are nice and they are genuinely excited to have us gringas there to lead the Bible study. There are 2 other ladies that have been going regularly there for the last 2 trimesters. They told me they would work me into the teaching schedule easy, I don't have to lead my first lesson in Spanish for 2 more weeks. Ken got off a little easier with his guys, he has a whole trimester until he leads! Anyway, we are really excited about the opportunity to be a part of such a great ministry.

Please pray in particular for one of the ladies I had a chance to meet and spend some time speaking with and praying for. She was recently diagnosed HIV positive. She starts her medicines on Monday. She is a believer and she knows that God has a wonderful plan for her life, but she is understandably a little worried about the treatment and converting from HIV positive to AIDS. Please pray God will give her strength and courage during these difficult days ahead.

God is so gracious to us in so many ways, but sometimes I need to be reminded of this fact in just the little ways, the beauty of a sunrise, the light that shines in a child's eyes when they laugh, and the warm embrace of a fellow sister in Christ who has shared such a great burden with me and who still says to me, "Mi Dios es fiel." (My God is faithful)

Gringo Day

This week has been a long week for us. The kids started school and we started a 4 day orientation that doesn't end until Monday afternoon. By the end of the week we were a little bit tired of the massive amounts of information we had been receiving about just not blowing our nose in public or tossing an object to another person, or disciplining our children in public, etc... as these were all found to be culturally offensive. We also spent a few hours listening to how the pick-pockets work and what the various scams were in Costa Rica that the locals use to extort money. We even saw a TV program in Spanish for women about how to protect your valuables while you are out and about in the city. Despite all this, we decided on Saturday to do what any good gringo would do and go shopping!

Taking the bus downtown to San Jose we managed to get on the same bus with the local "loco hombre" who likes to sing loudly and ask for money on the bus. Not to be deterred we continued on to our destination, the Mercado Central. We had a mission to start a little early Christmas shopping because I have always started my Christmas shopping in August (can you say type A?).

We arrived downtown and made the 8 block walk to the central market which is a large building full of small kiosks of local food, goods, animals, knick-knacks, and the sort. The entire area is kind of like a maze, so we kept the kids close and looked around the area for a certain item I had seen at one of our friend's houses and thought would make a great gift for Ken's mom and my mom for Christmas. Well, we looked, and looked, and looked...I think we went by every store over 3 times in the hour we were there. We never found what I was looking for, but it was fun to just look at all the different items and the way the people interact. This place is a local hangout that a lot of tourists like to come and see too.

When we were done we were really hungry, so we did what any good gringo would do and went to Wendy's. Ken had been craving a hamburger that was 100% beef ever since we got here (the Ticos use mostly soy burgers for some unknown reason). We ordered our thoroughly gringo fare and sat down to hamburgers, fries and frostys. We did detect a bit of soy in the Wendy's burger, but it was great none the less and there were no morsels left at the end of our meal!

The rain started in a little early during our lunch. We have usually found it to start raining at 1pm off and on until about 9pm lately. We took the 8 blocks back to our bus and rode home. When we arrived we took a short but much needed nap and then prepared to have our fellow gringo friends, the Bredbenners, over for a dinner of enchiladas, some awesome guacamole, rice and beans, and even brownies!

As we were eating the feast the phone rang and we were informed of the most wonderful news our family could hear, the Alabama game was on channel 70! We quickly turned to see the Crimson Tide take the field at the Georgia Dome. Oh, it was so good for our homesick eyes to watch the Tide Roll down that field for the next 3 hours. I will spare my Auburn fan friends from the gory details, but the Tide slaughtered Clemson 34 to 10. Yes, it was a day of celebration. So, we felt at the end of the day like we had received from God a gift of home just when we needed it most.

We are so grateful to be here knowing this is where God wants us to be, but it is also nice to know that God cares enough about us to give us those wonderful little moments just when we need them. ¡Gracias a Dios!

I couldn't resist putting this video on our site from one of the newly graduated students, John McLamb. Hopefully it will make you laugh and remember us in prayer as we barely speak Spanish!

Nacho Libre vs Ramses

For those of you who have never seen Nacho Libre with Jack Black, it is one of our favorite movies and we have seen it twice here since we arrived on the big screen when we were at the AMCA house. Well, it only made sense when we told the kids they could have a hamster that they would name him Nacho. We brought Nacho home from the pet store after going to over 5 pet stores in town just to find a hamster. That was only the beginning of the saga for Nacho as he arrived after a frightening taxi ride through traffic (notice previous blog bearing in mind the lack of real enforced traffic laws).

Once in his new home, we placed him in his exercise ball so I could put together the cage. Our youngest, Cade, AKA Ramses, took this opportunity to slam dunk little Nacho across the floor and into the book case to the horror of all of us. Now it gets a little graphic here for those of you that are squeemish...it appeared that little Nacho, eyes open and unmoving, little legs fully extended and rigid, chest not moving, had fought his last match. Poor Connor was completely distraught. I was not quite sure if I should be attempting mouth to muzzle CPR and chest compressions, or if there was some sort of funeral service that you have for a pet you have only had for less than an hour. All I really knew to do was pray. So I prayed, and the kids prayed. I was certain after 2 minutes of staring at this little luchador that he had been dispatched to grassier meadows. Suddenly he opened and closed his eyes and slowly moved his little legs about! Yes, a real live miracle!

Now our champion is safely ensconsed in his cage up high above "Ramses" reach. Ken and I take turns holding our youngest whenever we let Kayleigh and Connor play with Nacho. Yes, our own little luchador has lived to fight another day.

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

This week as we recovered from our illness we decided what we needed was a little deversion, so we found it! We went to the Children's Museum in San Jose on Wednesday, and on Friday we went to the Parque de Diversiones.

The Children's museum was great. They had an area for aerospace and a planetarium section, a natural habitat area with some examples of the local flora, insects, animals, etc..., a history of Costa Rica through the ages, a large area devoted to the study of the human body, including the great inclosed photo of us in a large mouth! They had a cool house you went through that was built on an 21 degree angle where you could really see physics at work! There was a literature section and a small art museum area. They had histories of the banana and coffee plants and their contribution to the economy of Costa Rica. They even had a train, plane, helicopter, and some places outside where you could take a pretend trip through a banana farm and work in a coffee shop.

The amazing thing about this place that was decorated like a medievil castle is that it was located in the renovated former national penitentiary. Apparently the Costa Ricans wanted to make a statement after the prison closed that they wanted to focus on the future of the country and not the past turmoils. The tickets were really inexpensive considering the amount of exhibits they provided, $1 for children and $2 for adults. We had a great time and I know we will be back again soon!

On Friday we went to the local amusement park, Parque de Diversiones. It reminded me a little of Alabama Adventure with a Spanish flair. As Ken and I have gotten older, and especially after a stomach virus, we find some of the more exhilirating rides to be a little too moving on our digestive system. Anyway, that made my favorite thing the old town San Jose section. They had some beautiful oxcarts (a national symbol) and an recreation of the old San Jose. They had these old buggies that they sometimes pull with horses and they had a small theatre where they put on various productions. It reminded me a little of Stone Mountain.

I believe Cade's favorite was his first kiddie roller coaster ride. It was so neat to see him go from a little timid to shouting, "Woller coast fun!"

Connor and Kayleigh really enjoyed the flying octopus ride. The

ride was spinning so fast I couldn't even get a clear picture of it. Ken just about lost his breakfast on that ride!

My big experience was on the ride that drops you some 500+ feet in 3 seconds. By the time I said,"I don't like this!" it was over, phew!

We had some ice cream and called it a day before the rains started. It was a really great time for the kids. We will plan on coming back again after the rainy season is over.

Connor has made me promise to blog this week on the new addition to the family, so check back

later and I promise the full details and some pictures!

A Day in the Life...

It is 3am here in San Jose and I was hoping I wouldn't have to be up at this hour, but apparently the stomach virus that has plagued most all of our friends down here has now found it's way into our family. Poor Connor just woke up crying, "I threw up, Mommy!" I am just glad it did not happen the day before on his birthday. Now he is here on the couch with some lemon water and a bowl, and I am standing vigil by him for the next few hours until the worst of it passes. Please pray for all of us as this stomach bug is particularly nasty and has made pretty much everyone in each house pretty miserable for 36 hours.
While I am up I thought I would go ahead and give you a typical Saturday for us here, the current situation not withstanding...
5:45am...Cade comes into our bedroom. He and Connor tell me a motorcycle woke them up and so they get into the bed with us.
6:04 am...They are still awake and the sun is shining in, so I give up on sleeping in and get up to make breakfast.
6:36 am...I am unpacking the last of my clothing as the kids eat some cereal. Why did I bring these long sleeve shirts anyway??!!???!!??
7:44 am...We decide to go ahead and go to the Feria (Farmer's Market) for our weekly fresh fruit and vegetables.
8:13 am...We are on our way with a small cart and stroller in tow. Navigating the sidewalks can be tricky as the pavement is cracked and the elevations change frequently between houses. We play a couple quick games of Frogger to get across a few of the busier streets. 15 minutes after leaving the house we are at one of the panaderias in the area getting everyone a doughnut. Total bill for 6 doughnuts is Ç1,300 or about $2.05 total.
8:25 am... Ken is on his way to a nearby park with the kids and I am going by the ATM and then the market. It looks pretty busy as I pass by to get my cash.
9:10 am...After going to my favorite 3 vendors and using my limited Spanish I am now the proud owner of: 1 bunch of cilantro, 1 bunch of oregano, 1 bunch of thyme, 1 bunch of parsley, 1 bunch of basil (all are fresh), celery, 10 tomatoes, 3 cucumbers, 5 huge red peppers, 5 small scotch bonnet peppers (great for salsa), 3 garlic bulbs, 5 large plantains, 1 lb of strawberries, 1 huge bunch of bananas, and 2 fresh fruit drinks for the kids. All this cost be about $8.50. Now we go home to wash and soak our veggies in a little vinegar to get rid of any unwanted parasites.
10:24 am...Our produce is in the fridge and clean. We decide to go ahead and go to the Hipermas (Spanish Walmart), so we go down 3 blocks to the park where the cabs line up and take a taxi there. It is a beautiful day and we notice lots of people in all the parks along the way.
11:02 am...We decided to grab lunch in the food court. The kids wanted McDonalds. Connor and Cade had hamburger Happy Meals. Kayleigh had chicken. They don't have nuggets down here in the Happy Meals, rather they have chicken legs...they call them McTasty chicken. American food here is pretty expensive, but it's a piece of home for the kids. Ken and I eat Mexican which is cheap everywhere you go.
12:22 pm...After filling 1 cart with new pillows and the other with our needed Walmart type items (cleaners, organizing stuff, etc...) we get in line at one of 25 checkouts along with half of San Jose.
12:40 pm...We are still in line and I decide to take the kids for a potty break and get a spare set of keys at the kiosk by the restrooms. We have 5 keys just to get into our house (1 to the first gate, 1 to the carport gate, 1 to the large carport gate that we take the stroller through when we use it, 1 to the front door gate, and 1 to the front door).
12:51 pm...The keys are ready. I check on Ken in line. He has moved up 2 places. I decide to go get a small fan to add to our cart.
1:01 pm...Just 2 more customers to go. I go back through the store and look for a key chain.
1:14 pm...I return to the checkout in time to bag my items. I never could find a key chain. The cashiers do not move fast as they are not given any incentive to. Apparently the extra personnel that would bag the items are in the store peddling their products instead. I spend a lot of time saying ."No hablo español." The Ticos seem to have no problem just ignoring the well dressed ladies as they point out their particular products.
1:24 pm...After waiting in line for a taxi, we are finally on our way back to the house. We give our taxi driver the address to our house..."Parque Bosque...300 metros al oeste y 75 metros al sur, mano durecha la casa blanca con verde cerca la castilla del guarda con portones negros."
2:15 pm...Cade is down for a nap and I am cleaning up and doing some laundry. Ken takes our taxi up to the local "Freds" to return 2 defective fans. He gets back 40 minutes later and tackles the ants in the cupboard for me. I check to make sure all the containers are airtight.
4:55 pm...I begin making chocolate chip cookies for Connor's birthday and some good ole Mac'n'cheese with chicken nuggets.
6:02 pm... We spend some time catching up with Nana and Papaw, then with Grammie. Connor tells them all about his new baseball glove that he got today and played in the park with and plays a few tunes on his new guitar.
7:55 pm...After a quick visit from our friend Brett and his son, we get the kids cleaned up and ready for bed.
8:35 pm...I spend 15 minutes purifying 3 gallons of water to be used for the next 2 days for drinking. I put the kids to bed after Ken gives them their nightly Bible story and hears prayers.
9:48 pm...Once the kids are in bed I sweep and wash the floor I crawl in bed myself. I can hear the local guard making his rounds outside. He blows a whistle as he makes his rounds to let us all know he is doing his job. Supposedly we have a really good guard. He makes rounds every hour at night. He also uses his whistle if he sees anything suspicious. Sometimes when I get up at night I can hear him on his bicycle going down the street and tooting his whistle. I guess we will eventually get used to it.
4:37 am...Connor has now thrown up 3 times. I pray the worst is over for him and give him a cool cloth for his forehead. I hear the guard making his rounds and prepare to go to bed. I think I hear Cade...better check to see if he has gotten sick....please pray!!!

Mi casa es su casa

Below are some pictures of our new house we will be living in for the next year.

The front of our new house! The backyard where we will plant a garden!

The dining room. One of the kid's bedrooms with bunk beds.

The master bedroom.

The living room.

Our laundry room, a luxury in Costa Rica!

We have plenty of room, including an extra bed! So any of you that have been waiting to visit Costa Rica with some really knowledgable tour guides...come on down!!!!! You will learn how to say, "Yo perdido." in no time! (For you non-spanish speakers..."I'm lost!")

¡Feliz cumpleaños!

Monday after school we had a birthday party for Connor and Kayleigh. All our friends from school came and some new friends we have just met here in CR as well. The kids had a wonderful time hitting the piñatas, eating cake, and opening presents. The pictures really tell more than I can, so enjoy them. We will be moving to our house on Friday, so we hope to do some blogging with a few pictures of our new digs this weekend. For Kayleigh's birthday we had some new skate shoes we brought from the U.S. for her. I love the picture of "big brother" helping her learn how to use them. She had a great time rolling around the AMCA house!

¡Viva la diferencia!

Some of you have asked me about some of the differences we have found here in CR (Costa Rica). Here is only a partial list of some of our observations:

-Almost all liquids here come in bags (ie. ketchup, jelly, sour cream, washing detergent, etc...)

- The largest denomination of money is 10,000 colones, which is around $20 US dollars.

-There are beautiful hummingbirds and flowers (birds of paradise, hibiscus, etc...) everywhere that are not easily found in the US. There are no pine trees, robins, oak trees, or nut trees here in CR. (Nuts are very expensive here...please bring me some pecans at Christmas, Mom!)

-No one writes checks here. They only use credit cards, debit cards, or cash. If you pay cash at some small stores you can get a discount for using cash (about 7%). There is also no sales tax here as well.

-People do not put their toilet paper in the toilet bowl. They put it in the trash cans next to the toilet. The nurse in me finds this practice VERY disturbing.

-It rains really hard here. The fist time we saw the rain come down here I was reminded of that line from Forrest Gump: http://www.gotwavs.com/php/sounds/?id=gog&media=WAVS&type=Movies&movie=Forrest_Gump&quote=raining.txt&file=raining.wav

-Almost all mayonnaise here is flavored with lime. I Love it!!!!

-Houses are locked up like Fort Knox. There is a front gate with sharp spikes protruding from the top, an iron gate in front of most doors, and then the doors themselves. Most yards are surrounded by big walls with concertina wire on top to prevent climbing.

-There is no air conditioning here. Most of the time it is not really necessary anyway, but I am sure my friends from the OR (i.e. Dr. Wolfley) would probably die of heat stroke at night trying to sleep. Due to the constant moisture we have found lotion unnecessary, but cologne/perfume absolutely essential.

-Driving laws are optional, but horn honking is mandatory.

-Pedestrians=speed bumps (See above)

-Everything here takes more time. Going to the grocery store can take more than 2 hours just for a few items. First we have to decide, will we walk, catch a bus, or a taxi? If it is raining we don't want to walk or wait 20 minutes for a bus, so we usually call a taxi. If it is during rush hour we pray the taxi actually shows up since they never acknowledge on the phone that they are actually coming to get you after you give them the directions. On entering the store you must turn over any bags (except for purses) to prevent anyone from easily shoplifting any items. Once you arrive at the store you find yourself wandering aimlessly looking for items you recognize. One lady from our group here bought baking powder instead of salt because she couldn't read the label yet. There are many choices here in CR, but not all of them are good. For instance, women in the store dressed in regular clothing stand there and try to pedal their product to you when you are trying to look at say, lunch meat. Even though I know what they are trying to do I find myself playing the stupid gringa and telling them in English that "I don't really need any help, thank you." If you are buying any produce you have to get the man at the scale in the produce aisle to weigh it for you and put a sticker on it before you go to the checkout counter. God forbid you get to the checkout and don't have all your produce labeled with the proper stickers. That's a major no-no! And at last there is paying at the checkout. In rapid Spanish you hear a lady say"Setentaseismilochocientosnoventaidos colones," SAY WHAT??? Now comes the fun of trying to flag down one of those elusive taxis at the front of the store. By the time you get home you are thoroughly exhausted and realize of course that you forgot the milk which was the whole reason you even went to the store in the first place.

-There are no street names or numbers, but I am told they are trying to place some street signs and numbers on some areas in downtown San Jose. Most believe this is a fruitless endeavor as the signs are made of metal and all the junkies like to sell any scrap metal they can get their hands on.

-Some streets have their own security guards that are there 24/7 with a day guard and a night guard. We (the residents) pay these men to watch out for potential robbers. Although they have no real weapons to speak of I have heard they will chase someone down and beat them senseless if they steal or mug someone when they are around. Usually these guys are from Nicaragua. Which leads us to the next thing...

Things that are the same:

-The people here tend to treat Nicaraguans the same as Americans treat people from Mexico. They allow them to take the jobs they do not want, like landscaping, construction labor, and guard duty. Many of the jokes are also about what they refer to as "Nicas." The Ticos (Costa Ricans) seem to feel that although the Nicas are doing this so they can better their lives, they should go back and better their country instead.

-Most Ticos are very friendly. It is kind of like being in a large city in the South. Busy, but the people will take time to talk to you if you ask them a question and they appreciate our attempts at learning their language.

-These people here love their roasted chicken (kind of like Southerners love fried chicken).

-Ticos enjoy a good party and love a weekend at the beach.

-Ticos love their kids. This is evidenced by all the parks they have and the fact parents are frequently seen there with them playing and spending time as a family. We were glad to keep this tradition here in Central America. We have become park connoisseurs and enjoy the opportunity to meet Tico families and make new friends. They truly are a wonderful people.

So, with all this in mind and the many other things not yet named we say "¡Viva la diferencia!"

The grass is always greener

This first week has been a tremendous week for adjustment and patience. We have seen the best and the worst of our area in all the miles we have taken on foot around here. Some of the things we have found ourselves grumbling about like the temporary commune living in the AMCA house with new faces coming and going every night (usually arriving around 1-2 am) has been both a curse and blessing for us. The kids always seem to take it all in stride and enjoy meeting the new people. They have even given some command performances of break dancing and air guitars for their captive audience. For Ken and I the lack of privacy, especially the lack of a bathroom close to our room we can use, and the fact we are all in one room in bunk beds as a family, has been a challenge for sure. I guess we can't all serve in Portugal (inside joke).

This all being said I have been very aware of the massive amount of poverty here in Central America. We no doubt have it very good down here compared to many of those around us. Ken was speaking with a homeless man the other day that told him he was going to try and find work in a neighboring city because he was unable to find work here. The man did not ask for a handout, but merely said he needed to find work so he could better his condition.

This morning I got up early and went to the local farmer's market to purchase our vegetables and fruit for the week. Along the way I saw many people putting their garbage in the street for pick up and also many people going through those same garbage bags looking for aluminum cans to sell, food to eat, etc... It is hard for me to really feel justified in my complaints about our cramped lifestyle for the next two weeks when I see teenagers having to scrounge around through the trash for food.

As I took the children to one of the many local parks in the area I was humbled by the knowledge that God has really provided for all of our needs. We have learned the first few verses of Psalm 23 in Spanish "Jehovà es mi pastor, nada me faltarà ." which translates, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." How true that simple message has become for each of us.

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers. God is really pruning us right now, but that is exactly what we have needed. It is not always easy for us to find these places in us opened and bared to the world, but through these moments I know that God will grow us into the beautiful creation He has designed. God bless you all, or, as they say down here...¡Diós Te Bendìga!

¡Que guapo!

Well, yesterday was day 2 of our barefoot experience here in San Jose. We had a simple assignment to take a bus to a local mall and engage some of the locals (see Ticos) in a little practice session of our newly aquired skills. Ken and I were told that it is wise when you introduce yourselves to someone else that a little compliment will go a long way. Women were instructed to say another lady's name was pretty (bonita); men were to shake hands and show their machismo (masculinity). So, we went and looked for a jogging stroller here because our little umbrella stroller will not cut it on the rough San Jose streets. The streets and sidewalks here are full of pot holes, cracks, and assorted gringo traps (dog poop, man holes without the covers, etc...)

We decided to try our newly aquired skills at several stores that sold coches para bebes (baby carriages). Apparently nobody here jogs with their baby because when I asked for a jogging stroller in Spanish they looked at me like I was crazy. Like, why would a gringa want to run with her baby? Sure enough, when I do go running in the morning, I don't see ANY women jogging, just men. So, it was pretty much a fruitless endeavor on that part, but we did manage to speak a little to the locals, and I'm sure make several of them snicker.

When we went to the food court to get our lunch I decided to go to a Japanese place after Ken went and got some Italian. Ken came back and said, "The lady behind the counter said I spoke very good Spanish." Not to be outdone I went to the Japanese place where a man was making some sushi rolls. I asked him in Spanish what kind they were, how much, etc... I selected a few and decided to ask his name. "¿Como se llama?" I said. He said his name was Mark....and a few more words I could not really understand. Of course I felt the need to compliment him on his name, but not really knowing how to do that I just said, "¡Que guapo!" He had a huge smile and then proceeded to give me an extra sushi roll for my compliment. I realized my error a little too late, so I tried to make it clear to him I was here with mi esposo (husband) and was just learning Spanish. Yeah, I think that next time I may stick to something like, "what a nice name" instead of "How handsome".

Putting the cart under the horse??!!???

Well, we have arrived here safe and sound in Costa Rica. We passed through customs at 11:30 pm CR time (That is 12:30 am central) and arrived at the AMCA guest house at 1:00am CR time. The flight was a bit delayed out of Atlanta due to TSA wanting to go through the bags. It might have been due in part to the fact that many of us had those black footlocker trunks that look the same.

The kids were real troopers throughout the journey. Poor Connor got motion sickness when we were landing, but he managed to use the bag this time instead of his clothing to catch his dinner. Customs was not too hard, and we were outside the airport, all 20 of us with over 75 bags in no time. Imagine our surprise when we saw a flatbed truck awaiting us to put our luggage on. As they dropped two pieces of our luggage off the top while stacking them up about 6 feet off the bed, I turned to Ken and said, "What were we thinking??!!??" Yes, sometimes you just have to be a little bit crazy to follow God's call in your life. Ken said, "It's just stuff." Connor, a little more concerned said, "I think we need to pray for the luggage!" Well, we arrived safe at the house and the bags did too.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers and encouraging emails. We really do feel that is what is sustaining us during those mule in the air moments!

Saying Goodbye is Never Easy

Why does it take a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye? Today is our last day here in the US for the next 3 1/2 years. These last few weeks have been a series of bittersweet moments saying goodbye to friends and family as we prepare to go on the journey God has set before us. I wanted to take a few moments and just say thank you to all of you who have shown us your love and support. Thank you for your prayers most especially. Although we have very heavy hearts leaving all of you, we know that there is something truly wonderful God has in store for us as we share His love with others far away. I believe George Eliot said it best when he said,"Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love." Thank you everyone for showing us the depths of love.

The Nelsons,

Ken, Kirsten, Connor, Kayleigh & Cade

In our natural habitat!

This last week was very interesting for Ken and the kids. I had to go up to Richmond for a medical conference on Tuesday. The conference was to last until Sunday. I knew with it being so close to us leaving the country it would be a real challenge for Ken to get anything done and still provide fun for the kids. I want to thank all those (Amy & Trent, Beth, and Ann & Harry) for all their help with the kids and giving them some wonderful memories to leave with.

I knew that the kids would enjoy a trip to the Zoo, so I told Ken to take them there one last time. He took them to a new kangaroo exhibit that he said the kids really enjoyed. Usually the kids use the sprinklers there in the summer, so they all had their bathing suits on and were prepared to romp in the summertime fun. Unfortunately Kayleigh slipped and fell just going into the water. As Ken tried to care for her, Cade took his turn taking a fall as well and reopened a cut on his arm, so with two injured children and our oldest saying he was really now too old for the sprinklers, poor Ken was forced to call the fun time to an end. I hate that I missed that....