Day of Rest

Sundays have become our new day of rest. Since our bible study worship has been changed to Saturdays, by the time Sundays come around we are just ready for a day to stay around the house and not have to walk anywhere. So I decided to take some pictures of our Day of Rest. Below is the link to take you to those pictures.

Day of Rest

Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures, but we had the priviledge of having Ticos in our home last night. This was a family that we have gotten to know through church and our school. They have a son in Mylee's class and a 9 year old daughter. After last night we were regretting we had not invited them over sooner but we didn't feel comfortable with our spanish before now. We grilled hamburgers and I made some guacamole and had a wonderful time together. We were also invited to go with them in a couple of weeks to their house they have up in the mountains. So we are very excited about having that interaction with them. And I will definetly take pictures of that day. But that isn't until the 8th of March.
Next weekend we will be taking our last little trip here in Costa Rica. We have signed up to go to Manuel Antonio beach. So stay tuned for those pics next week. We only have 8 weeks of school to go counting a couple breaks we have. Please pray we stay strong to the end. We have not received any word yet on our visas but we'll let you know the minute we do. Thank you to my cousins Andy and Christie and Nathan for the package that was sent to us this past week. Praise the Lord it made it here! Have a great week.

A Calm Week

Evie trying on a Princess hat Mylee made at another Princess Party!

Mylee couldn't smile very big because she had a big piece of candy in her mouth.

Silly Evie with her swimming goggles on!


After last week, this was a much needed calmer week. We made it through, however. We think Wednesday night Mylee ate some bad ham and got sick two times in the middle of the night. So we were ALL up changing sheets and getting her cleaned up. That was a pretty hard night. But in the morning Evie slept til 7am, which she hasn't done that since...well I can't remember the last time she did that. Why couldn't it have been on a Saturday? Oh well.
Aaron and I went out last night for Valentine's Day. We didn't do much, however, because we were so tired from the week. So we decided to go watch the Pink Panther 2. It was a great therapy movie because we laughed quite a bit through it. Then we went and found Mylee and Evie a Valentine's present. We bought each of them some chocalates and a little doggy in a purse. Aaron and I very carefully selected a different one for each of them that we thought they would like. Well they found them without us this morning and ended up picking the opposite of what we had picked for each of them. Oh well I guess we still have a lot to learn! But the important thing is they didn't fight over which one to have.





Looking ahead: Please be praying that our visa papers for Mexico will be processed quickly. We have 10 weeks to go and the business manager will not buy our plane tickets out of here until we have a fax saying they are processed. Also a couple weeks ago we reserved a mission house in Lee's Summit for our stateside assignment in 3 years (talk about looking ahead-2012). However, our first option has become a possibility for us again as Missionaries in Residence at Midwestern Baptist Seminary. This would be the best option for us as Aaron will be completing his Masters there and I will be completing my Bachelors at UMKC. This would save us on gas expenses and travel time to allow us to have more time as a family. Please be praying for our acceptance by the president of the Seminary. Have a great week!

Happy Birthday to Mylee

Mylee's Birthday

What a fun week we have had celebrating Mylee's 5th birthday. We started off the week with Mylee's birthday party at McDonald's Play Place. We had about 22 kiddos show up (including all the little ones with the families) and about 15 parents or so. The kids were able to play in the play area, as well as games and a pinata. All the kids received a Happy Meal and the adults received a small fry and a small coke. Mylee also chose to have a Hello Kitty cake and all were served a piece of that. One of the new customs we have learned is that the Birthday girl (or boy) gets to have the first bite. So they are supposed to just dig right in with a big mouthful of the cake. Well, Mylee was just fine with a finger full. It was pretty funny. The other funny thing that happened was the night before, I went to fill the goodie bags and opened up the package that was supposed to have 12 units turned out to only be 6 units. Rememeber I had about 17 bags that I needed to prepare. So I ended up taking some freezer bags and filling those for the boys. Oh well you live and learn. The other common thing here is to not open the birthday presents at the party in front of everyone. So we brought the gifts home and opened all the gifts. I would have to admit I like this way alot better. It wasn't craziness with tons of kids around and I wasn't standing back hoping Mylee was going to be nice and polite as each gift was opened. So while Aaron went and watched the Superbowl up at the school the girls and my friend and her two daughters came back to the house with us for the gift opening. It was a very fun day!

At the party, when they served the cake they cut around the middle first and left the picture with Feliz Cumpleanos Mylee, written on it for us to take home. So for her real birthday we sent that to school with her to share with her friends. It was so thoughtful. She was also given about 4 more gifts for her real birthday from us!

Below is the link of the pictures from the birthday party and when we went back to the Children's Museum on our day off, Friday. We had a lot of fun as a family. We all also received hair cuts this weekend and those pictures are included also. We took pictures because I think this was Evie's first hair cut. I wasn't going to cut her hair but she wanted to be like her sister, so we cut all her beautiful little baby curls off. It was so sad but I knew I was going to have to cut them at some point. You can see her long hair in the early pictures. Thank you for praying for Mylee this past week and look forward to seeing you back here next week. Have a blessed one!

Vacation Bible School

What a week we had at Vacation Bible School. It was such a different experience. I signed up to help so that I could get a glimpse into a Latin VBS. I have to say it was pretty much the same as the US. We rotated to 4 stations: crafts, snacks, missions and a teaching time. I helped with the 7-8 year olds. There was one little boy that would not stop running all over the place. We would be having the bible story time and randomly he would get up and run out the door to go to the "bathroom" or just get up to be moving. He would not follow many directions or sit long enough to get any. But on the 4th day I found out he lived in a home for children who have no parents. So that explained a whole lot. On Wednesday I experienced a little bit of the Latin culture when the teacher of the class I was in left to go to the bank with out telling me she was leaving. So after 20 minutes I realized what had happened and didn't have a clue of what to do. Didn't have the schedule given to me before she left. I could feel the stress creeping up my upper back and into my neck. So I tried to keep some order with my broken spanish and one word commands. I ended up just letting them run some energy out in the back lot you will see in the pictures below. By Friday we were all tired. I gave the choice to Mylee if she wanted to go or not and she said she just wanted to go home. So I didn't force her and I also didn't complain because I was pretty tired also. I did start feeling sad we didn't go but at the same time don't know if I would've had the energy or patience to do it. In the end I was very glad we went for the spanish practice and being one step closer to becoming one with the culture.

There are also some pictures of the ballerina princess pajama party we went to of one of the Missionary kids here with us in Costa Rica. The girls had a great time. Speaking of parties we have a big one today for Mylee's 5th birthday. You definetly know you are out of the the US when you plan a Birthday Party on Superbowl Sunday from 4-6pm. OOOOPS! Didn't even realize it until it was booked and the invites were out. We are having a McDonald's playplace birthday. So check back next week for pictures of the big party. Her birthday isn't until Wednesday, February 4th. Please send up a birthday prayer for her this week. See you next week.

VBS