How Costa Rica has impacted my life... by Ethan

        This time in Costa Rica has impacted my life so much. I didn't expect to be impacted so much spiritually. Here are some of the things that have helped me to have a closer relationship with God:
1. Peacemakers 2. Being SLOW 3. Nature
        Peacemakers is a study that we did as a family that focused a lot on forgiveness. We learned about not just saying "It's ok" or "I forgive you" then walking away but really stopping and really forgiving. The book taught us a saying to remember the true way to forgive. It says: Good Thoughts, Hurt you not, gossip never, friends forever. Another thing that really impacted my life through Peacemakers is the real way to say sorry, and to say it like you really mean it. We learned this chant about the five A's of making things right:
Admit, I'm it. Broke a bond thats tightly fit.
Apologize, Tell no lies, I hurt you I recognize.
Accept, gladly kept, a consequence I won't forget. 
Ask you before we're through. Forgiveness is what I need from you. 
Alter now, this is how, God change my heart please do it now!
      Second was being slow. Really focusing on the most important things and having time has had a huge impact on my life. It has let me do so many important things, like read and stopping to enjoy nature and God's creation. 
      Third, Gods creation has really helped me to be contemplative. Being contemplative and seeing God in our everyday life has been one of the most impactful things during my time in Costa Rica!

Saying good-bye to our favorites.....

to the Bluegrass Cafe

to the Taco Bar

To Chez Christope

To Glen, our waiter for all of our date nights... we ate at the same restaurant, the exact same food, with Glen always as our waiter every week! We would walk in and he would just say, "The usual?"

We are really going to miss Glen! 

Goodbye to Escazu Christian Church... We were humbled by a lovely send off where we were prayed over as a family. (look at Amelia's sad face!)

To Amelia's favorite play house... 

To warm sunshine and open windows in January

Goodbye to Jessica.

Good-bye to Monse... Amelia has enjoyed several outings with Monse... She will really miss her. 

Good-bye to Mrs. Yamelet... She has been such a sweet encouragement, especially to Amelia.

Good-bye to Osman... our guard

To Adrianna, our neighbor

To Miguel

to our beautiful house.... 

Reflections by Maddie

While we have been here in Costa Rica these six months, I have been spiritually encouraged and strengthened through so many things. I know that the main encourager has been Jesus, and I want to thank Him for the ways He has changed me. The other reasons why I have been encouraged are because we have had so much time to process and concentrate on God and His Word. Daily devotionals with Him have been made into a top priority in our lives. The fact that we have had so much time has allowed us to read encouraging resources and grasp what the Lord is calling us to do through them. I am beyond grateful for all of the ways He has graciously transferred us closer and closer to His throne.

 
Because it has just been our family together for these last six months and there hasn’t been  busyness involved in our daily lives, we have had more time to focus on the most important things. We have tons of time in the Word and also have had time to contemplate God in the many activities we have done. I have developed a deeper appreciation for my parents and their Godly influence, insights, and teachings, and it has been such a delight to have so many in-depth conversations, learning and hearing from them. Time was a important factor of all of the incredible moments I was blessed with to share with both Mom and Dad. I have recently come to a broader understanding that time is a cherished gift from the Lord; we only have so much of it on this Earth! I have no doubt that this time was used to mature and stretch me for the dynamic work in the Kingdom of God.

 
Daily devotionals, which are by far my favorite part of the day, strengthen and rejuvenate my soul. It has become a daily passion and spending time with Jesus is now a desired and long-lasting habit in my daily walk. I am currently reading through the entire Bible, and what a joy it has been! My daily devotional time has been deeply impacted by incorporating  reflective worship music into my quiet times because it puts me into a worshipful and humble mood before the Lord. I feel closer and closer to Jesus because of spending quality time with Him in His word!

Having nothing but time has allowed us as a family to dig into the inspiring messages provided to us through different Christian resources. I have recently read two very faith sharpening books: Will Our Generation Speak? (A call to be bold with the Gospel), and Jon Blooms book  Not by Sight, which is full of enriching stories of the faithful people in Bible. I took heaps of notes and was very encouraged to deeply understand the Bible and to let its satisfying message penetrate my soul. Another very impactful study my family and I journeyed through together was called Peacemakers. It  gave us a very fresh look at the concept of resolving conflict and honoring God in the way we communicate with one another. I will never forget all of the things I learned from it, and highly recommend it to all families! God keeps laying beautiful tools for us to use in order to draw near to Him on our laps.

All the Glory to God! These six months have had such a immense impact on me; I can’t believe how blessed I’ve been to be a part of them! The Lord has definitely walked with me, hand in hand, and has stretched my faith. Jesus has never failed to nourish me with His beautiful Word. I have felt His presence more strongly  than ever, and my relationship with Him is the strongest it has ever been! I am awed at the ways He can speak to us and grow us to become more and more like Him!

Tiquicia

As a family, we have been wanting to eat dinner at a special restaurant called Tiquicia and decided that we would go last weekend. It is famous for its incredible view of the valley below. It is really beautiful. They also have traditional dancing during the night which was beautiful to see.

Silly picture! 

Carara Again... but first time for Dad and #1 Guanacaste Tree

Maddie says: Joshua, Ethan, Dad and I spent a day at Carara National Forest. We had all been there several times before, but never with Dad because he had to work... it was so fun to go there with him.

This tree is very enormous, and unfortunately, the picture doesn't capture how huge

it is and how how small we are compared to it. 

This was the third time for the three of us to be in this national park. This time, though, we were taken by our tour-guide to a different and much dryer part of the park only a few minutes away.I was quite surprised by how quickly the weather changed so close! There are many ecosystems in this one park.

Here we are pictured with the national tree of Costa Rica, the Guanacaste Tree in the background. It is #1 on our Scavenger hunt.

It was great to go back once more, especially because Dad hadn't been there before. I wont ever forget how incredible the nature surrounding us was in this beautiful park! God has certainly amazed us through His creation there!

Rainbows...

Almost daily during the month of December we were treated to amazing rainbows right out the window of our house, sometimes right over our house. We tried and tried to capture good pictures.... but we just couldn't capture the amazing beauty as it looked to the eye. These are a few of the rainbows we have enjoyed... some we could see completely from beginning to end. 

It was a month of God reminding us that He keeps His promises...!

This rainbow is a double... you can almost see the second one to the left of the bright one

This rainbow is right over our home. 

Tony and Adrianna's farm house

Our neighbors invited us to spend the day with them at their farm house about an hour from where we live.  It is up in the mountains, in one of our very favorite parts of Costa Rica. We had an amazing day with them and we were humbled by the beauty that surrounded us. 

This is a picture of their farm home... it was amazing. We all agreed we would like to move in. Maddie said it reminded her of Ann's home in the book Ann of Green Gables. 

The view from the front porch.

This little chapel was built by Tony's dad. It is really lovely inside with stain glass windows and enough seats for about 25 people. 

We had a great hike up toward volcano Barva.

Everywhere these Calla Lillys grew wild.

A new market and #58 eating Sapodilla

Our neighbors invited us to spend the weekend with them last week at their home in the mountains. On the way we stopped to check out this market, it is way bigger than our small street market. 

We were really surprised to see turtle eggs for sale, although we had learned that the government does give out a certain number of permits for harvesting turtle eggs. After our experience with the leatherback sea turtle and all we have learned about the slim chances for survival of these turtles, we were sad to see turtle eggs here (although we don't know what kind of turtle eggs they were.)The price for a dozen is $3.

We were able to try #58 on our scavenger hunt... a really delicious fruit called sapodilla.

Espiritu Santo Coffee tour

Last week we ventured out to tour a coffee co-op called Espiritu Santo. It was a beautiful day and we learned so much about coffee. This co-op represents over 2500 individual family farms. 

Each of the kids got to plant a coffee plant. (After a little instruction on how to dig a hole with a shovel from Dad)

Ethan says: I really liked planting the coffee plants and I really liked the coffee also! 

Outside a typical old fashion Costa Rican home... We were able to grind beans and then drink coffee from those grounds. Maddie and Josh said it reminded them of Conner Prairie. 

Below is the traditional way to drink Costa Rican coffee. We have been served coffee this way here in peoples homes. 

The Coffee beans were ripe for harvest so we were able to pick some beans. It was hard work.

We learned that all coffee in Costa Rica has to be picked by hand and that pickers get $2 per basket of coffee beans (You can see the basket below with Ethan) A full basket weighs over 15 pounds, a really good picker can fill 10 baskets a day... but after 15 minutes and all working together, we didn't even have the basket 1/4 full. 

We learned about Peaberry coffee and why it is so sought after and about the difference between light, medium and and dark roast.