Getting home. . .

   It's always an adventure, isn't it.  That's what we tell our kids when things don't happen like we plan them.  Today we had one of those adventures.
   We were finishing up our week of vacation where we enjoyed a wonderful week of rest in a little community called Playa Bejuco.  Last Saturday, the bus dropped us off right in the middle of nowhere, somewhere on the west coast of Costa Rica. Things seemed kind of sketchy, but the bus was gone, and with nothing but banana and mango trees surrounding us and a faded sign that read "Playa Bejuco," we followed the instructions given to us in an e-mail and walked with our three kids and luggage down the dirt road.  We rounded a bend in the road and spotted the office which was about one-third of a mile away from the main road, and we proceeded to check in.  A guy with a cart attached to his bicycle loaded our stuff into his cart and led us away from the office.  We walked some more, another half mile or so, into the very nice community called Costa del Sol.  We settled into our comfortable vacation home and enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, microwave popcorn, and Pepsi for our first dinner of the week.
   We found the gated community to be very tranquil and enjoyable.  With two swimming pools and a private beach, we spent most of our time in water.  We napped in the afternoons, enjoying the treat of air conditioning in the hot beach climate.  We finally discovered Netflix and were able to enjoy some new movies as a family.  We treated ourselves a couple times to the open air restaurant of a local hotel, which was about ten minutes away from our home, listening to the waves and smelling the smells of the ocean.  Most of the time, our meals came from food we either brought with us or bought at the mini-super that we found outside our community.
  Then today, we started our journey home.  The shop-keeper at the mini-super, a supposed expert on the bus schedule, assured us that the bus would pick us up at the same place we were dropped off.  We loaded our luggage into the back of a pick-up truck that belonged to a neighbor who drove us to the bus stop.  We unloaded and before the guy drove off, he said he had his fingers crossed, hoping we could get on our bus, since this is one of the busiest travel days of the year and the buses are packed.
   At the bus stop, an old tin-covered three-walled structure, there were several other men and one lady waiting for buses to wherever they were going.  Their bus came, and we found ourselves alone as a family, enjoying a nicely overcast, not so hot day.  We waited and waited.  Several buses came by that we thought were ours, but they sped by.  At last we were sure we spotted our bus in the distance roaring down the road. Timbrel walked down the road a ways in order to flag down the driver, waving our tickets frantically in the air.  The bus, clearly marked, and about an hour and a half late, sped by leaving us in the diesel exhaust and dust.  That's when Jimbo turned to the kids and announced that an adventure was beginning.
  We didn't quite know what to do, and had no other option, except to wait for another bus; a bus that would stop for every person who flagged it down, a bus that would take hours longer, a bus we weren't sure was even coming.  But what else could we do?  We then prayed for God to provide a bus.  About 15 minutes later, with Micah getting a bit more cranky, and the sun getting a little more intense, the pick-up truck that dropped us off came pulling up.  They were going to get supplies at a town down the road when they saw us, and so they offered us a ride.  This town, about 15 km away, would provide a better chance of getting a bus, since it was a town, and not a stop in the middle of no where.  We agreed.
  Once again, we loaded up.  We arrived in the little town, and made our way to the bus station.  The station was packed with people.  The man dropped us off, wished us luck, and he was off to the local grocery store.  We carried our stuff over to the ticket window and tried to communicate that our bus passed us without stopping.  The lady behind the window smiled and then proceeded to explain that the bus does not stop at little stops like ours, and that we needed to catch it here.  We had missed our 12 o'clock bus. The next bus would arrive at this station at 3 p.m., but there may not be room for us, since there were other ticketed passengers waiting.
  We spotted a restaurant across the street, and we were getting hungry.  We had about an hour until our bus arrived, and so we went and enjoyed a much appreciated hot meal.  The kids, with food in their bellies, were much happier.  We went back to the station a little before 3, and waited about 10 minutes.  The bus showed up, and it was packed.  A bus employee got out and began loading other passenger's luggage under the bus.  I approached him with our tickets for the noon bus.  He looked at them and told us to wait.  He went and spoke with the driver and came back to explain there were only two seats left.  We asked if we could go ahead and get on and explained that our kids would just sit on our laps.  He agreed and began tagging our bags and throwing them under the bus.
  We walked to the door and gave him our tickets.  He looked up and he asked where our other ticket was.  We were confused, because we had just counted four, which was all we needed.  He showed them to us, and there were only three.  The bus was ready to pull out, and he motioned for us to go ahead and board.  He told us to hold our kids, so the automatic censor would count only three.  So we rushed aboard, tripping the censor three times.  We thought we were good; at least we were on board, and we were only taking up two seats out of our four we had purchased.  Jimbo had Micah and Madeline in his lap about four rows behind Timbrel, who had Kayden in her lap.  Praise God for providing a bus!
   We rode the bus for two and a half hours back to San Jose.  Jimbo couldn't make it holding Madeline and a fidgety baby, so Timbrel got the privilege of Madeline so Jimbo could wrestle with Micah.  Being blessed again, the man in front of Jimbo had a little dog in his lap.  That made for a good distraction whenever Micah started to whine.
   We arrived in San Jose and unloaded.  The employee who loaded our bags began to explain that we needed to pay for the ticket we didn't have.  I pulled out the receipt, which clearly showed we had purchased four tickets.  That was not good enough.  He needed a paper ticket because he had to turn in those tickets and he was accountable for them.  Not sure what to do, I asked to speak with his boss.  It was getting dark as we waded through the crowded station to a barred window, where he motioned to an older gentleman to help us.  He explained the situation, and the man behind the window took a good look at us.  He told the employee that he could accept our receipts as our ticket and told us we were free to go.  So we grabbed our bags before anyone could change their mind, and flagged a taxi.  We made it home around 6:15.  Another adventure over.  Another answered prayer.
-jh

Showers of Blessing

It's amazing how quickly life can dry up. Even in times of relatively low stress, even on days where I seem to avoid the major pitfalls that come my way, even when I manage to carve out time to interact with the Word Himself, there can be dryness.
I realized one day what was causing this. I was becoming a lake. Receiving (though sometimes in trickles, but receiving nonetheless), but not releasing. The environment that we are in for this year is not incredibly conducive for speaking into others' lives, yet both of us have spiritual gifts that are quite verbal. In order to use our giftings we need relationships - relationships that give us the freedom to release blessing.
We of course are involved in relationships. Here in Costa Rica we have each other, our kids, and some good friends from school. In the States we have our extended families, friends, and ministry partners (that would be many of you who are now reading this - thank you!).
In order to not shrivel up, we need opportunities to intentionally interact with others in ways that allow us to speak blessing, to intercede, to exhort, and to listen. When we walk in our gifting (what's yours, by the way?), we not only bless others, we also experience refreshing streams of blessing.
It is almost rainy season in Costa Rica. As the rains come, we long to be instruments of refreshing, to be parts of the body working together for the whole. Maybe you are a part of that process with us. Maybe you have an assignment to bless someone (it could be us!).
Without awareness of potential assignments, there is no action. This I have learned, and that is how I found myself becoming a lake. Feel free to remind me in two days, two weeks, two months, or two years of this truth. To quote the animated Robin Hood, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Or forgetful." May we be so enflamed with His Presence that is it impossible to forget to pass it on.

Choosing to Rest...

"God is my Shepherd
And I am his little lamb.
He feeds me
He guides me
He looks after me.
I have everything I need.
Inside, my heart is very quiet.

As quiet as lying still in soft green grass
In a meadow
By a little stream."

Author: Sally Lloyd-Jones (adaptation of Psalm 23)

This sounds great, right? A quiet heart is resting in a meadow, listening to the gentle gurgling of a quiet stream...
Then there's reality: the baby is cranky, very cranky (currently has a virus and is cutting new teeth), and he also has a knack for being caught up in the potty-training adventures of his older sister. Multiple accidents daily and serious lack of sleep at night, alongside the rigors of language study, pregnancy, living cross-culturally, etc...
Rest? Quiet? "I have everything I need"?

We have asked our Shepherd so many times to restore the sleep of our precious, still-very-snuggly 13 month old. Either He's not answering us...or He is. Perhaps He wants to teach us how to rest in Him when life doesn't feel like a meadow with a quiet stream. Perhaps He wants to teach us how to have a heart that is very quiet even as we respond to the not-so-quiet issues He's called us to deal with.

He is, after all, still the One in charge. He has not lost a bit of victory. Whatever He asks us to do, He assures us He will give us the strength to do it. He is totally capable of "strengthen[ing us] with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy" (Col.1).

This is a moment-by-moment battle. When I am tempted to be frustrated (or when I have already begun to feel frustrated), the question is beginning to arise: "Will you rest in Me and enjoy this task that I have given you or will you just 'survive'?"

We know our true identity; He knows our true identity. May we live as the royalty we truly are.

after a month...the rubber begins to meet the road

Making a cross-cultural move always has some degree of excitement to it. There was a time in our lives that we thought excitement would carry us through the stress of a cross-cultural move. Fortunately, before we moved to Costa Rica, we realized that, as much as we love adventure, adventure is not enough to provide endurance under stress.

Stress is finally catching up with us, just a bit. The unexpected "adventure" that we rejoice to find ourselves in (i.e. adding another member to our family this year) is so exciting! But the reality is that even excitement (i.e., adventure) brings stress; in this case, it's the "mommy feels yucky all the time" kind of stress, which brings the "daddy has to do a lot more" kind of stress and the "why don't mommy and daddy have time for _____ anymore" kind of stress.

And so we enter a phase of the adventure that requires a lot of stress management; how can we constantly, consciously bring our stress levels down so that they do not stay elevated? A friend wisely reminded us that living stressed actually works again our language learning by in effect killing the brain cells that we need in order to learn a new language. Not to mention that living stressed brings out the worst in us, making it oh-so-very-easy to respond in harshness to those we love most. The long-term effects of allowing stress to dominate our lives are scary indeed.


Once again my favorite book brings a Word of hope that I can grab onto: "Let the goal of this day be to bring every thought captive to Me. Whenever your mind wanders, lasso those thoughts and bring them into My Presence." Yes, we know that eating right, getting enough sleep (!?!), and exercising (no worries there with all the walking) are great ways to manage stress, and we're doing our best at them. But there is no better antidote for stress than sitting in the Presence of the Prince of Peace. Pray for us to keep going there - and more than just in the morning for a few concentrated moments. Pray for us to live there. "In Your Presence all my fears are washed away..."

The Spirit has been encouraging me with these words today: "I will not ask you to do anything that I will not give you the strength to do." Today I survived a church service with no nursery with a very cranky but incredibly active one year old; it was not fun. But as I sat in an empty room (which I was very thankful for) with him as he screamed, the Spirit said, "If I ask you to do this, I will help you do it. I will even help you do it with a heart that is at rest in me and not full of frustration." This is what I long for - to do everything with a heart that rests in Him instead of pumping the heat of frustration through my veins.  

I/we do not have all the answers. We will have many choices over the next several months; we will need wisdom for how to navigate these waters of childbirth during language school. Knowing that we have friends and family who love us, support us, and believe in us is HUGE - thank you for expressing your support for us.

2 weeks in...

We arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica just over two weeks ago. In that time we've unpacked 28 bags (well, almost all of them - some we're saving for Uruguay), gone through orientation, celebrated two of our children's birthdays, and had three regular days of language classes.

Our house is wonderful. Bathtubs are a rarity in most places outside the USA, and ours is huge! It fits all three kids very well, so that is a great nighttime ritual. All of our major appliances are USA-style, which makes for early user-friendliness:) The rooms and furniture are comfortable, and now we are all set up with internet (which you cannot purchase without also getting cable, so at this moment Jimbo is preparing to watch the Tim Tebow, er, Broncos game tonight). In many ways our house here is more comfortable than our previous housing in Florida.

Our schedule is mostly settled. We leave the house (walking) five days a week at 7 a.m. to get the kids into their classes before ours starts at 7:30 a.m. Our classes are all finished by noon (then we wait for one kiddo until 1 p.m.). Lots of things happen in the afternoons - too many to list:)
We have established Fridays as "family date days." After school we'll try to do something fun as a family - this gives us something to look forward to during the week.  We go to bed earlier than we EVER have before - usually we're all asleep by 8:30.

Our kids are doing beautifully. They have weathered this transition incredibly well - thank you so much for talking to the Father about this for us! Our little one is still not sleeping well at night. We are taking turns getting up with him. We trust that this will not continue for the entire year and are thankful for when the change begins.

Our classes are going well. We (J and I) are in the same classes for four hours five days a week...right now this is a good thing:) We feel confident in class right now.

Right now we are learning that victory is not so much about doing things right (we've made a few mistakes since we've been here) as it is about our response during and after our failure. Consider the following quote from one of my favorite books:


"People usually associate victory with success: not falling or stumbling, not making mistakes. But those who are successful in their own strength tend to go their own way, forgetting about Me. It is through problems and failure, weakness and neediness that you learn to rely on Me."

We have already seen great victory here in San Jose as the stress of doing new things (and I really never can find a pen!) brings out the unlovely in us. What an amazing opportunity to be purified! We all know we're not perfect, but how do we ever move forward? Try going through stress in an environment of grace - His Presence.

We have so much to be thankful for: a (clean!) house, a job, amazing food (cooked for us),  healthy kids, a thriving marriage, supportive families, friends who love us, a high quality language school, and the health and strength to live the Pura Vida (as they say here in Costa Rica) with gusto.

We look forward to sharing with you (and hearing from you) as we progress through the year.
Happy (belated) New Year!

So much to do, so little time

Looking at the next two days is overwhelming. If we were to try to do everything that we need and/or want to do (last minute details, last minute packing, focusing on saying goodbye well, we would be stressed for every minute of the next two days.

A quote from one of my (Timbrel's) favorite books helped me this morning as we prepared to leave Toccoa, GA (where we've been for the past week with my family). Being away from Minneola has been stressful in its own way, especially for the kids, but for us it has also been a break from all the crazy packing, details, and decisions. Now we're entering the packing zone again, and I feel the weight of "how will I get all this done?" returning.

Here's what Abba said:
"Your time and energy are limited; only I know how much of each you have...Instead of wasting so much energy longing for what is not, invest that energy into trusting Me...Trusting Me will draw you into My joyful Presence."

So, we have come to grips with the fact that not everything that "needs" to be done will get done, and we have already crossed a few things off of our list. We are asking Abba to help us accomplish the important things and to help us recognize and let go of the nonessential.

Because one day in His Presence is better than a thousand elsewhere.

Will you ask the Father to keep drawing us into His Presence, and to care for the details that need to happen? We continue to speak "Grace!" to the growing mountain of luggage that sits in our house - "Grace!" to its packing, "Grace!" to its transport to the airport, "Grace!" to its free passage to Costa Rica, "Grace!" to it's acceptance into Costa Rica, and "Grace!" to its unpacking in Costa Rica.

He is enough.

The Rest of the Story...

I find that there is so much I want to share in a monthly newsletter, but there is never enough space.

So here's the rest of what I wanted to put in this month's newsletter, but didn't because I didn't want to overwhelm everyone with information.

We had a great time with Jimbo's side of the family in November. If you're friends with us on Facebook, you can see some great photos from a photo shoot we did.

K is doing really well going to her "class" every day! We are so thankful for this. She is blossoming in the wonderful kids' program that they have here in CO. Baby M is actually the one having a rough time in the "nursery"; we're not sure why. He is also not sleeping well at night. Please lift up his security and rest! Our oldest is loving the program, as we knew she would. She is like a sponge, soaking up all she can. She is excited about school in Costa Rica, but nervous about learning a new language.

Jimbo and I continue to process, process, process. The training we're doing now is definitely set up for that, dragging things out where we can see them and learn from them. So it's an emotionally full time, and a joyous time as well.

Our bags at home are....mostly....packed. It will be an interesting 3 days between Christmas in Georgia and departure for Costa Rica.

We have seen pictures of our house in Costa Rica! How exciting! It looks great.

Thanks for walking with us on this journey, for praying for us, for believing in us, for supporting us. We value each one of you.
-T