A Different Kind of Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. This Christmas is going to be different than any other. This will be the first Christmas in my entire life that I have not been with my mother and brother. So as you might imagine, this Christmas is going to be difficult in many ways. However, I am determined to be proactive and make this Christmas special in different ways! So, let me share with you something our family is excited about this Christmas season.

This year, we are participating in Advent Conspiracy, a global challenge to return Christmas to it's original purpose. We're committed to worship fully, spend less, give more and love all this Christmas season in the hopes that we can help change the world by focusing less on the stuff of Christmas and more on the spirit of Christmas. We'll still celebrate in many of the same ways we always do, but we've also chosen, this month, to be more purposeful about using the blessings God has given us to make a practical and eternal difference in the lives of others. We'll be making personal "sacrifices" so that we can give to those who need and don't just want.

Take a look for yourself. I think you will be challenged.

Happy Thanksgiving from Costa Rica!

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that your Thanksgiving is full of lots of turkey, family, and friends! There are so many things that we are thankful for this year. Tonight we went around the room sharing the things that we are most thankful for. We thought we would share some of our thoughts with you.

Tim is thankful that he can speak Spanish. When we arrived in Costa Rica 11 months ago, not one person in our family knew any Spanish at all! Wow, we have all come a long way!

Trinity shared that she was thankful for her youth group here in Costa Rica. There is a missionary family here who provides a fun and enriching youth group each Saturday night. Trinity even gets to sing in the praise team with some of the other kids. She really looks forward to this time each week.

Noah is thankful that there are sports all over the world. He has really enjoyed playing lots of soccer here in Costa Rica. It is a great way to make friends in the neighborhood too.

Gracie Lynn says she is thankful for her house in Costa Rica. As I might have mentioned before, it is pretty tight quarters around here. She reminded us tonight that each morning as we walk to school, we see several people who are sleeping in the streets. We are blessed.

Eden is thankful for her cars. Yes, my sweet little girl spends several hours each day playing with her cars. :)

Finally, I am thankful for my sweet family. This year has been wonderful and challenging at the same time. I have had to be a student, wife, and mommy. Many times I have not felt like I have done any of them well. At the end of the day though, I think we are all ok. :) We have shared both good and tough times as a family, and we are stronger because of it. Enjoy this special time of Thanksgiving. Remember all of the many ways God has blessed you and yours this season.

Father/Son Weekend

Hi everyone! This is Noah. This weekend my Dad and I went to the mountains here in Costa Rica. We went on a Father/Son retreat. It was really fun! It was COLD in the mountains! They built a fire every night so that we could stay warm. There were lots of things that I liked to do there. They had obstacle courses that Dad and I did together. My favorite thing we did together was have special time where Dad and I read our Bible together. He taught me some good stuff about how important it is to be a person of good character. Then we carved a special stick together so that we can keep it forever and remember the weekend. Here is a picture of all of the guys who went on the weekend. There were some other missionaries and lots of Costa Rican people too.

FALL FUN!

We are enjoying the Fall season around here. Well, actually that is a lie. Costa Rica does not have a Fall season. So, we are pretending. :) We have enjoyed painting pumpkins. Oh that is lie too. I mean we have enjoyed painting coconuts. You have to work with what you have! Ok, I am finished telling fibs now. :)
We have actually been enjoying a little bit of cooler weather, which is kind of fun. The kids were able to dress up for a little Fall party at school. We ended up with Tinkerbell, an Emerald Fairy, a Dallas Cowboy football player and a Micheal Jackson look alike. Tons of fun! We even got together with a few friends for a little Fall party. See, I told you we were enjoying the Fall season! Even if we do have to improvise a little bit.
Enjoy the pictures of our FALL FUN!

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