Merry Christmas!

Christmas

Oh what a great Christmas we had. As long as we can look past the fireworks (or dynamite) at 2:30am Christmas Morning and the 85 degree weather, it was a pretty normal Christmas. Okay it wasn't normal at all. We woke up with no other family around and opening presents was done in record time, but we made it a holiday to remember. We bought from another family a little Dora Kitchen for the girls and Evie saw it and said "This is mine!" It was so funny. Mylee took the sight in for a little bit then went straight to her little bag of stocking goodies. But as soon as they were done opening presents that was the first thing they both played with. The other well-liked presents were the princess dresses and shoes. Both of them loved those and put them on immediately. Around 9am I had to go lay back down because I was so tired from only getting 3-4 hours of sleep from the night before. But in the afternoon we went and had a lunch with some other IMB folks. The kids had a great time running and playing, I had a great time playing Mexican Train dominoes with the ladies, and Aaron hung with the boys and watched bull fighting on TV. But there was one constant. I brought with us a children's nativity scene that we could sit down as a family and over a period of 7 days talk about the true reason for Christmas,the birth of our Savior, Jesus. Yes it was definetly a very different Christmas but, because of Jesus, one worth remembering.

As I type this I wait for my parents flight to arrive safely in Costa Rica. Please pray this week that we have a great week with my parents, Mike and Connie, and that things would run smoothly with the fun activities we have planned...Si Dios Quiere (If God Desires). Please pray also that Aaron's grandmother's house sells quickly down in Bentonville, AR and that we would know which offer God would have us accept. Click on the photo above to see our fun Christmas. Have a Happy New Year!

1st Week of Vacation

Well we made it through our first week of vacation and didn't die of boredom. It went by really fast! However we didn't do much this week. Sunday we had a little birthday party with our Nicaraguan friends in our bible study because the father of Violetta, who hosts the BS, celebrated his 85th birthday the day after Aaron's birthday(16th). Below is a video we took of singing and blowing the candles out on the cake. Very fun evening. (Remember to push pause in the music box to the left, before playing the video to hear the sound of the video.)

Monday we went to the park and took some pretty cute pictures of the girls in which you can see when you click on the pictures below. Tuesday was another good attempt at Potty Training but didn't last all day. So we will try again later down the road. Wednesday and Thursday were spent going to Hipermas and PriceSmart to stock up on supplies for the month. Friday, Aaron and I found a sitter for the girls and went and did some final Christmas shopping. We then were able to eat lunch at Subway, where we found out they have Air conditioning! It was so refreshing after walking in the hot sun. We are finally moving out of the rainy season and have had quite a few days of no rain. Praise the Lord! We are looking forward to this next week celebrating the Birth of Jesus here in Costa Rica. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Park Day

End of Trimester Evaluations

 

 

 

We finally made it through our second trimester of language school! We both came out with two more A's under our belt! We also received our language acquisition score for the trimester. Aaron received an Intermediate High, which is what he needs to move on to Mexico. Good work Aaron! I received Intermediate Medium Basic. I moved up a small step but small enough to probably say I didn't move at all but I didn't go backwards either. This last trimester has really been hard for me in dealing with the death of my Grandfather, including a trip to the states. We have also been without a house helper for the past 2 months and probably still a month to go. So towards the end of school Aaron and I had to get a schedule set to keep up with the housework on top of homework and studying. So I will be working next trimester one on one with a tutor trying to gain some ground back. My goals over our month break will be to practice memorizing some more verbs and brushing up on the 14 conjugations of each verb.
Above are just some random pictures I snapped the past week. We were mainly just trying to get through the week. Evie had a temperature Thursday and Friday, but no other symptoms. But her fever finally broke early Saturday morning but only after she had two nights of nightmares. So sleep was scarce for all of us. I pray tonight will be better. So Friday Mylee and I came home from the school Graduation to find Aaron and Evie snuggled up on the bed sleeping. So I snapped the pic because I thought it was so cute.
At the school garage sale I found each of the girls a new swimsuit (well new to them). So they wanted to try them on and Evie decided to put on her rain boots too and sweep the floor all at once so it was a funny sight. Thought you would enjoy that pic.
Below is a video we made to promote the Lottie Moon Christmas offering for a couple churches. I wanted to put it on here, so you could see Evie's personality shine through! If you would like to play for your church or would like for us to send it to you please email us at agmewoods@gmail.com. Aaron's 31st birthday is on Tuesday, December 16th. So if you wanted to shoot him a Happy Birthday, I am sure he would love it. Enjoy!

A Weekend of Parties!

This past weekend, including Thanksgiving, we attended 6 parties! Two on Thanksgiving, two going away parties(one with our Bible Study group for Scott and Sherry), and two birthday parties! What a busy weekend! The girls participated in a Christmas program as well this week. Evie wasn't too sure of it all. So she just stood there with her fingers in her mouth. And at one point was crying. But it was her first performance so a little stage fright was to be expected. Mylee's class did the Christmas story and Mylee was a shephard. Below is a video of her class reciting in Spanish Luke 2:14. In spanish it says: Gloria a Dios en las alturas, y en la tierra paz a los que gozan de su buena voluntad. In English: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will to all men. You can't really understand them but you can watch Mylee perform. She wasn't shy at all! The other video is of Mylee taking her turn at a pinata at a Costa Rican birthday party she was invited to. They had the party at McDonald's. Mylee had a great time playing with all her friends. There are also some pictures of a Cultural Day we had at school. They taught us Christmas Carols of Latin America and portrayed what is called Las Posadas. This is where the children of a Catholic Church dress up as Mary and Joseph and walk around to preselected houses singing a song about Mary and Joseph looking for an Inn. When they reach the final house they are accepted into the home for coffee and cookies and they sing carols and pray. So the teachers portrayed this for us. We then had Tomales, and hit pinatas. You will not want to miss some of these pictures! If you want to hear the sound on the videos be sure to scroll down and push pause in the red music box in the left column. Click on our family photo box to view the pictures.

A party weekend!