Sunday Snapshots

It is my goal to take family photos of all of the families we go to church with.  This is something we have been wanting to do for them for a while, but something always comes up, or someone would be sick, etc.

It is quite comical trying to take photos of them.  Through the past year I have taken tons of photos and the good ones I get here and there are when they have no idea I have my camera out.  They all have a phobia of smiling for the camera.  It makes me laugh so hard.  I know this is something normal for lots of other cultures too.  They are not conceited like us Americans who love to smile in front of the camera and take tons of "selflies" for the world to see.  LOL!  They all stand there like we are burying someone, solemn faces and eyes.  You have to be creative and tell them to do funny things, say funny things.  Saying funny things isn't too hard for me since my Spanish is probably equivalent to a 4 year old...maybe.

CAMPOS FAMILY

I snapped these a couple Sundays ago after church.  It was hot and SUNNY.  Let me say that again, "It was HOT."  I WAS HOT!  We don't have that perfect sweet hour of light right now.  Some days you might have it, but other days it goes from blinding sun to dark with torrential rain.  There is no scheduling a time to take some photos.  With raining season, you just go outside when you can.  

I thought (above photo) was cute.  Little Valeria just wasn't quite big enough to get her face above the rail.  I was working on getting some smiles...no one was impressed but Mom and Dad.

We were walking around looking for some shady places to take some photos and we ran into these people.  Their grandmother offered for us to come in their gate and take photos in her beautiful flower garden and rancho.  I have some of those too, but that will have to be a later day.  I edited these couple of pictures during school today and this little bit of computer time is about all they can handle today...there is chaos in the house.

And, I do believe this photo is a SUCCESS.  While it may not be prefect lighting, I think these are some perfect facial lines!

p.s.  I don't have time to reread and check for grammatical errors and typos...I am smarter than my typing and writing may always appear, just busy and trying to formulate complete sentences with 4 kids talking, laughing, and at times screaming.

Sweet Fellowship

While the Moore Family was here visiting at the end of July we scheduled to have a Sunday get together for lunch and an afternoon singing.  It was a wonderful day.  Everyone was visiting with one another.  There are some in the group who rarely speak, actually they don't at all unless they are spoken to, and others that love to chat.  I always say it takes all kinds to make the world go round.  He knew what he was doing.

Everyone stayed for the singing.  I couldn't get everyone in the photo.  : )

 Visiting

Brother Jorje

From Left: Martha, Julito, Felecia & her granddaughter

This particular Sunday that we had our get together after services a new family had visited our services for the first time.  David had previously met her before and visited with her very briefly.  She joined us with her two children, a six year old little boy, and I believe a 9 year old girl.  She asked us to pray for her husband because he had cut his hand the previous day with a machete.  Automatic nurse instinct is to think the worst.  I am thinking he has a mangled hand that was chopped with a rusty machete.  They do not have seguro (the national insurance) because they are unable to pay, like so many people we know here.  

Later that afternoon on the way home, David and I stopped to visit their family.  We were very thankful to assess a hand that had a small cut to one finger that would heal fine with a peroxide cleaning, clean gauze, antibiotic ointment, and some band-aids.  I did ask to see the machete, and as I thought, a really nasty and rusty piece of metal.  I explained, at this point David is translating, that he really needed a tetanus shot.  Tried to also tell him that it would be a good idea for him to have it anyways since he works with a machete everyday and could potentially harm himself with it.  He did not want it.  We couldn't understand why.  We told him we would get the medication and I could give it to him.  He refused because he did not want to be stuck with a needle.  He said if I gave him a shot in his arm he would not be able to work.  I tried to explain that he would be able to work, but if he got tetanus he would not be able to work.  Oh well, we tried.  God answers prayers and his finger is all healed.

We headed back to the house from a full day of "like back home" Sunday fellowship.  On our way home we passed an ambulance flying down the road with crater-sized potholes.  David and I both commented that someone must be in a bad way.  Because in the entire year we have lived here, I have never, and I repeat NEVER seen an ambulance move in rapid manner.  They drive like normal with the their lights flashing.  No one moves to the side of the road.  No one stops at intersections to let them pass.  They sit in traffic like any other vehicle and I envision people dying in these things, because they are never going to make it to the hospital.

A few minutes after we got home we received a completely frantic phone call from Demaris.  Her son had been run over by a motorcycle.  They were in Atenas and were soon heading to the hospital about 45 minutes from here.  She asked for us to pray.  David called everyone from church to let them know what had happened.  We heard from her again that night that her son had sustained some head injuries, possible some internal bleeding, and they were doing some more scans.

The next morning we learned they were sending him home and he had some follow-up visits in the following days.  We went to go see him the next day and for a little boy who had a motorcycle run him over at a high speed and went down the entire middle of his body, he looked good.  God had answered a many of prayers.  Prayers from so many people, people in Costa Rica, people in the United States.  He obviously had some swelling in his face.  He had no broken bones, only nine stitches on his forehead, and not a single bruise or any swelling visible on the trunk of his body.

Since then, him and his family have been at services every Sunday.  His stitches are gone, he lost a tooth, but his smile is back.  He is a quiet little boy with a smile behind his mother's leg when we talk to him.

The power of prayer is a miraculous thing!  I need to get some pictures of that shy smile, so everyone can see the miracle.

Muy Ocupado

Translation - VERY BUSY

Yes, that pretty much sums up my life.  For years I have had goals of less.  Less stress, less work, less daily over commitments.  And, it is a never ending fail situation.  I quit doing some things only to find other things that I need to do and commit to do and have to do.

In all of that, the blog just gets lost and completely forgotten.  I said, "Forgotten."  Sorry.  I remember late at night when my brain is not coherent and I am in a slumber of really wishing I could sleep but too tired to get up do anything in the middle of the night sleepless state.

Life in Costa Rica.  Crazy!  Good!  More crazy!  New things!  New friends!

Major Blessing- To all those prayer warriors that prayed along with us for so many months that our house situation in the states would work out with a sale or a new rental commitment, God answered.  We literally received a contract just days before we were going to be out the mortgage with no rental income.  While we definitely are taking a monthly loss in order to secure that rental contract we are praying God will provide.  Another Year!!!

July seemed to come and go in a complete blur.  The kind of blur, you know the one that is just circles
of blur.  I thought I would have a few weeks to catch up on "my things," the non homeschool related activities that just are a passing thought.  Things like swimming at the pool, reading books, taking pictures, trips to the park, and ice cream cones were on my agenda.  Well, I think we went to the pool once, I read one book, once to the park, and we managed lots of pictures (that still need to be edited) and ice cream cones a few times.  It went by in a blur.

We take all visitors to Tio Mano's for some local "helado."

{New Friends - Africa, Vietnam, Taiwan, United States, Germany, and Israel represented here in 

Costa Rica.  Love Diversity!!!}

During that time David and I painted the church building (still not complete, need to cut in the ceiling, but hey it looks better than it did) and we had tile laid in the church.  Before it was varying types of concrete from cracks everywhere, finished spots of concrete, to unfinished, and unlevel.

{We have had a full house almost every Sunday for the last 6 or 7 weeks.  This particular Sunday there was not a chair left.  That is such a good problem...people sitting on paint buckets.}

Nana came for a visit, of which was part of the radial whirlwind blur of activity in July.  She was here and then she was gone.  She came with puppets for the kids and they loved that and have had some hilarious puppet shows for us and have entertained company as well.

And we still have crazy, funny, and loud kids.  Some things never change!  : )

I have so much news to share that I do not even know where to begin.  So, for now this is a start.  Along with our normal daily activities of survival, learning, teaching, meditating, and so many other things I am wanting to start doing photography here as a free-lance.  I am not a professional by any means and have so much to learn, but I think this is a good place to start.  I have had lots of people here ask me to do this and others encourage me to do so.  So, that has pretty much consumed my little tid bits of spare time lately.  I am one of those OCD kind of people.  If I am going to start this then I want to do it right.  That means more prep work on the front end, but to me it results in better organization and less hiccups...or so I tell myself.  I have been working on building my website (talk about a brain zapper and time consumer...and I am using a template).  I started with what would be my logo.

Then I made my Facebook page.  Let me just tell you the couple different times I have attempted to manage more than one Facebook page linked with my name it is a disaster.  And, this time was no different.  But it is working now.  Yay!!!!  Finally after fighting with it for 5 weeks...yes, sadly, it is true.  FIVE long frustrating weeks.  You can check it out here.  I will let you know when I am ready to launch the website.  While you are probably living in a different country, you can still take a look and see what I am up to in the wee hours of the night, staying up really late and going cross-eyed.  Because, we all know, especially homeschool moms, that there is never any time in the day for this sort of activity.  I decided to take the plunge and do this.  I figured if I can even do a few shoots here and there that will help pay for plane tickets to go back to the states, once a year hopefully, and maybe not drain the bank....have you seen airfare prices lately??????  And for a family of 6??  Whew! 

So, Kristin, thanks for the shove!!!  I laughed when I got your message this morning.  Hopefully, I am back from my extended leave.  And I will give the latest and greatest snippets of life here in Costa Rica serving a mighty God.

Night All!