La Carpio Christmas

These kids were cracking themselves up!

PAOLA! She's a mess!

Amanda with Jocelyn, Marlow, Steven, and Miguel (aka Hercules) 

Que mas? Que mas?

Falling down is inevitable here in San Jose. The sidewalks suck. It is more safe to walk in the street. Amanda has had her share of falls- first breaking her toe nail and next getting her entire foot and shoe stuck in a crack in the sidewalk. I'm not gonna lie- I laugh at her till it hurts! I have been lucky. Until today. Today I bit it HARD. Since it rains everyday here, the sidewalks are mossy and slick. Amanda and I were crossing the street on our way to the park where we jog and I stepped out of the street onto the curb and start toppling in slow-motion all the way down. I caught myself with my left hand, but the sidewalk was so slippery that my hand slips out from under me too! I laughed all the way down. When I FINALLY stopped falling, I was lying completely on my stomach, my hands stretched above my head, with my shirt scrunched up, my back totally exposed and my bare tummy against the dirty, wet sidewalk. Amanda and I laughed for the next two blocks....

This weekend, we took a trip to the mountains to a town call Mounteverde. We made some friends from Germany, we walked at least 700 miles through the rainforest with a stray dog as our guide. We went to a cheese factory where Amanda bought this ChocoCheese. Yep, you guessed it, chocolate flavored cheese..... I don't even know what ChocoCheese should be used with. I will try anything once,  and this was a one-time-only experience. I felt like Monica on Friends when she has to make desserts from "Mocolate". Boo for chocolate cheese.

This is Snaggle, our perro/tour guide. I have never seen a dog with such jacked up teeth.

We also went to a Quaker church while in Mounteverde. Weird. Like I said, I will try anything once. That was seriously something I only want to do one time. The entire congregation sat in a circle facing each other, sitting in COMPLETE SILENCE for a full hour, even the kids. They use this as time to pray and meditate, but all I could think was "I want a nap!" There is a lot to be learned from Quakers, like actually being still and quiet long enough to hear God speak to you. "Spiritual Fitness" is the way they say it. 

Que mas? We have so many stories, I don't know which ones to tell..................

It's okay to be curious....right?

1 Peter 5:6-7

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

Amanda and I are adjusting to our brand new life in Costa Rica pretty well! I believe we are dealing with homesickness prettty well! I am also pretending to be alright with not flushing the toiletpaper (it's true, we have to throw TP in the trash). We have been told (repeatedly) that our city isn't safe at night (and night begins at 6 p.m.), so we spend a lot of time in our apartment. This gives me a lot of time to uncover what God has probably been trying to tell me for months.

I have been asking myself if anything in my life in the past few months has been glorifying to Christ? I was snatched from complacency and lovingly planted in a whole new country. Kind of hardcore...

Romans 8:28

"And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose."

In orientation today we talked about how deceitful our hearts can be- that our heart convinces us that we should not feel guilty about the things our heads think are wrong... those things that crouch down in the corners of our minds. A volunteer at our school told us that Satan is like that Rattlesnake in the middle of the road that we know is dangerous but we let our curiosity get the best of us. We slowly sneak up on him hoping not to be seen- just close enough to get a good look. Before we know it we are poking at Satan with a 10 inch stick!

This is where I was.

Creeping closer to the Enemy.

In the middle of all this, my deceitful heart tells me "it's okay to be curious".

I am so glad that I have such a wise roommate! She has convinced me that God is about to do a great work- that He is cooking up something real good! And I need to straighten up- refocus- so that I may have a part in this work!

God is Mighty to Save.

Psalm 30

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word i put my hope."

And so it begins

Last night, Amanda and I drove through the streets of San Jose on our way to our new apartment. The city completely fills the bowl of the central valley, and city lights look like gold stars as they climb the sides of the mountains. It's weird knowing they are on the ground but they appear to be floating.
Tonight we decided to start blogging- yep, we are those girls- to keep in touch with the civilized world. I have been considering starting this for a while; I'm not a super deep thinker and I have a lot of questions that need intellectual answers.

And so it begins. Our first day in our new country started with a trip to the supermercado with our "host mom" who speaks zero english. We spent 82,000 colones...we still have no idea how many American dollars that equals. Then we slept. For a very long time.

Amanda is across from me singing Tiny Dancer.
I'm curled up on the bottom bunk of my bed (which I don't sleep in--it's so comforting to have a friend who lets me be a big baby and will share her bed).
We had crackers and coffee for dinner (galletas y café).
Now we are trying to cleverly word our blogs while we eat some kind of awesome coconut cookies and drink Choco Leche.