Ronald visits Costa Rica

Tim surprised Gracie Lynn and Eden today with a trip to McDonald's to meet the Costa Rican Ronald! He said they were the only Gringo's(that is what they call white people here) there and it was tons of fun! The girls were full of stories and of course had a great time with their crazy daddy.
We are heading to the beach for a three day weekend first thing in the morning. From time to time our school offers vacation get aways where they plan the entire event and you are just along for the ride. I am all about a vacation where I do not have to plan and think after a week of Spanish. We are really looking forward to some rest and relaxation on the beautiful beaches of Costa Rica.

Happy Pancake Day!

That's right! It's Pancake Day! Many of you are aware that I
was born, raised, and lived more than 25 years in Liberal, Kansas!
Each year there is a friendly little competition between Liberal,
Kansas and Olney, England. The ladies run down the streets of each
town flipping pancakes in a race against one another. This tradition
has been going on for more than 60 years now. It is still the only
race of its kind on the planet. Sweet action! Though, Pancake Day
itself is celebrated around the world. Check out "Pancake Day" on
Google if you would like to see an international perspective of the
day.
So, enjoy a pancake or two today. I sure will be! What better
way to "live large", right? If you have an IHOP restaurant near you,
that would be a great place to enjoy a free stack of pancakes. They
hook every customer up with a free stack every year! Moreover, check
out Pancake Day to see all of the activities going on in
Liberal, Kansas today and across the pond!
Thanks for your prayers each day! We are having lots of
opportunities to share about Jesus!
Tim

Jungle Friends

We had the most wonderful surprise this weekend. Our jungle friends, Adam and Jessica came for a visit. I say it was a surprise because I thought they were coming in March and they had planned on coming this weekend and our communication was totally off. Jessica and I decided that this is what happens when two women whose brains are tired from Spanish learning try to make plans. Nonetheless, it was a WONDERFUL weekend! We did so many fun things. We shopped, visited several parks, cooked some yummy food. Adam lived in Costa Rica as a kid (actually just a few blocks from where we are now) so he taught us lots of new things about living in Costa Rica. It was great to be able to spend time with them and laugh together. Adam is fluent in Spanish so I have to tell you that was nice too. A little less work than our normal weekends.
We trained with Adam and Jess in Virginia and now they are in Guatemala for a few months before heading to the Amazon jungle of Peru. You can check out all of their wild and crazy adventures at Jungle Book

Refocused

This week at school has been Spiritual Emphasis week. They have a week each trimester where there is no homework (Glory, Hallelujah!!!!!) and special chapel services each day and evening. There is also a team that comes in and does VBS with the kids in the evening. It has been such a special treat for the kids and they have had so much fun! It has also been a blessing to have this time to refocus! I have to say that it is easy to lose sight of why we are here. Day in and day out of Spanish learning on top of life with 4 kids can be very draining! God has really spoken to my heart this week and reminded me that I am here because He has called me to this place, at this time. I am here because I must learn the language so that I can be obedient to the call He has on my life. I am not here to make straight A's (which would be an added bonus) :) Our speaker this week challenged us to manage our ministry not let our ministry manage us. I think that for ALL of us no matter what we are "doing" with our lives, it is easy to let our life manage us. Life gets so busy and we get so busy doing life! I encourage you to take some time and refocus....on Him.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope your day is filled with lots of hugs, kisses, flowers and chocolate! The kids all enjoyed fun parties at school today. We even made some pink popcorn in honor of the day! I am feeling a little under the weather so I am resting at home tonight and Tim has taken the kids to McDonald's to play Monopoly. For those of you who did not live in Thomasville with us, I should tell you that it was a family tradition to go to Whataburger on Friday nights and play Monopoly. Since there is no Whataburger to be found, I guess he chose the closest thing. The kids were so excited and I am looking forward to reading a good book and turning in early.
Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Children's Museum

I have found now that we are ALL in school we really look forward to our time off together! This past weekend, we went to the local Children's museum and it was SO NICE!!! The kids had so much fun! I was so impressed with the exhibits they had. Here are the favorites:
Trinity loved the book section. Noah thought it was extra cool to get to "fly" a real airplane. Gracie Lynn spent lots of time in the kitchen cooking up her favorite meals and Eden thought it was pretty funny to sit on top of the teeth in the dentistry exhibit.
We have had a busy week around here so far. Lots of homework, tests and getting ready for Valentine's parties at school. More later.....

One step forward and two steps back.....

Occasionally life here feels like one step forward and two steps back. Well, maybe a little more than occasionally. Today, we headed out to church. We were given a list of local churches recently so we took it out and chose one which we thought was near our home. Wrong. An hour after we departed and after asking for directions several times, we finally arrived at our destination. We sat through church which to be quite honest is somewhat of a challenge because of the language. After church we headed out to find some lunch and head home. We needed milk and a few other things so we stopped a local grocery store and got a few items. We decided to ride the bus home since the walk was further than we anticipated. After a few minutes on the hot, crowded bus we discovered that we were heading the opposite direction from our home. Ok, reevaluate. We got off the bus, crossed the street and attempted to get on another bus going the correct direction. I know at this point, you are picturing how calm and sweet we were all speaking to each other. :) Ok, good news here comes our bus. We all file on, wait a minute Tim cannot fit the stroller through the door of the bus. Quickly, he runs to the back of the bus and tries the other entrance. Nope. Not happening. So, the kids and I wave as we pull off leaving Tim and the stroller standing on the side of the road yelling that he will just meet us at home. Perfect. The kids and I manage to get to our area of town and walk home with our groceries. A few minutes later Tim arrives. It is now 2 and we are all starving so we decided to go find some food at a nearby restaurant. In retrospect I should have taken a cue from the rest of the day and just made a sandwich at home. We find a restaurant that we have been wanting to try and everyone manages to decide what they want to eat which is not easy these days since it is all in Spanish. For my long awaited meal I choose a "tostada" which sounded great! Now, I have to tell you that the "tostada" was right underneath the 'taco" on the menu so I assumed it was a typical tostada....you know Taco Bell type and all. A few minutes later the lovely waitress arrives with our long awaited meal. I am so hungry at this point. The kids plates look great, ham and cheese sandwiches, tacos and hot dogs. Tim's plate looks great too. My mouth is watering! Finally, they place my meal in front of me and it is 4 pieces of toast. Yep, you heard me 4 pieces of plain toast. Tostada equals toast in Spanish at this restaurant, not tostada. I really wanted to cry but instead I walked across the street and bought a chocolate donut for lunch.

School Days!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the sites of our school days.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!!!

from Tim......
Picture both white-faced and squirrel monkeys swinging from tree to tree, two-toed sloths resting quietly overhead, and iguanas resting on many of the rocks around you as you enjoy a peaceful afternoon on the beaches of the Pacific ocean. That my friends is what the Louderbacks did this past weekend as we ventured out on our first family getaway into one of Costa Rica's national parks called Manuel Antonio. This national park has a series of small beaches and bays surrounded by luscious rainforest. It is a JUNGLE and home to 108 species of trees, 99 species of mammals, and 355 species of birds. Sweet action! I stopped counting early on, but I think that we saw most all of them! Magnificent!
It's always a blast to experience new and exciting aspects of God's creation! We loved every minute of it!
Many of you have located San Jose, Costa Rica on the map, and are aware that we live right in the middle of the country. The city is surrounded by mountains and thus God gives us beautiful sunrises and sunsets with His magnificent mountains in the background. Gorgeous! Since we live in the mountains, the bus ride just to get to the beach was a very winding path over the different mountain ranges. Let's just say that our family took our motion sickness medicine before leaving the bus station. I wish that I could say that for the other 50 some odd passengers. Many of them lost their "cookies" along the way, and you can only imagine what the bus smelled like when we rolled into the final destination after four hours of travel.
Anyway, as you can see, it was quite the weekend for the Louderback family here in Costa Rica in more than one way. I hope yours was just as exciting! We were indeed "living large" all weekend! Enjoy!