This Is My Father's World

Once again, time has gotten away from me.
So many things I want to post about:
- Culture
- Living with my precious costa rican mom
- Random facts about living in Costa Rica
- Likes and dislikes about Costa Rica
- Living a simpler life
- etcetera etcetera etcetera....
And I'm two weekends behind...eek!

But on to the last weekend and happenings from the week! I'll post about the most recent weekend and this week very very soon! It was wonderful as well! Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to post more theme based blogs instead of lists about my week....but we'll see.

Saturday (6/18) - La Fortuna waterfall/Arenal Volcano/Baldi:
Saturday we woke up bright and early, met at the school, and left in the bus for the weekend adventure!

Bus ride was long and most of us slept. I was so happy to be feeling better and more like myself!
Our first stop was La Fortuna waterfall! We made a long hike down hundreds of stairs in a beautiful rainforest to reach our destination. Like everything else here, it was breath-taking. I feel like a broken record but I just over and over again am in complete awe at the creation surrounding me. It SCREAMS that there is a God.

"When through the woods, and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds, sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze;
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art."

Here are a few pics from the hundreds I took of our trek down to the waterfall and of the waterfall. They don't even begin to do it justice. I'll just have to take all of y'all back with me someday :).

It constantly amazes me how something can be so intricate and big and breath-takingly beautiful from afar, and then is just as intricate and big and breath-taking very very close. The mountain and waterfall and rainforest show as much wonder and creation as the tiny sugar ant that just crawled down my arm (eww by the way). God is amazing.

I feel almost sad looking at these pictures. You don't feel the gentle breeze, the spray of the water, the grit of the dirt. You can't hear the ROAR of the water as it POUNDS against the rocks. You miss the warmth of the suns rays. At least looking at the pictures though, you get a small taste of the beauty of it all.

After a picnic lunch by the waterfall, we hiked back UP the stairs which, after being sick for several days, was quite the test in endurance. We all made it back up though and were off to Baldi!
Before getting to Baldi, we caught a glimpse of Arenal Volcano. Arenal is still an active volcano, spewing smoke and lava, and is one of the most perfect conical volcanoes in the world. It was amazing!

That's smoke coming out the top...pretty cool, huh?

From there we journeyed on to Baldi. Baldi is a resort type place with tons and tons of hot-water springs of varying temperatures. The water is heated by the volcano and then filtered down into the pools! So cool! Some of the pools were so hot that you could only put your big toe in. Others were more bearable but still warm, and others were cold. It was all very relaxing. You could go lay on a bed in one pool, swim around in another, watch a soccer game on a tv screen in another, have a chat in another. Pretty much one of the most relaxing experiences ever. And, because the water has minerals from the volcano, they say that it's very healthy for your skin. Que rico!

After chilling/sweating in the pools for a while, we walked a little ways to a buffet and stuffed our faces. It was the first time that I had really felt hungry after being sick. I made good use of the buffet ;). All of the food was, as always, "muy rica".

Once we were stuffed, we hopped back in the van in hopes of seeing the volcano spewing lava at night. We were lucky and there were no clouds...a rarity for rainy season in Costa Rica. But unfortunately there wasn't any lava coming out that night. Bummer. We did however see a glow-worm. It's like a firefly but in worm form. I held it in my hand and watched it glow for a minute. So awe-inspiring.

Despite the lack of lava flow, we stood outside listening to the nighttime symphony, and were amazed. Gurgling water, chirping crickets, whispering breezes. It was beautiful and the perfect end to a wonderful day.
"This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;His hand the wonders wrought."

Sunday (6/19) - Zip-lining/Fairy tale castle:
Sunday morning I woke up early again and sat outside our quaint little cabin in what felt like a sea of flowers. Each cabin had a porch and flowers absolutely enveloping the porch all around it. I could see the volcano from the porch, hear the chirping birds, laugh at the silly hummingbirds, smell the sweet aroma, and feel the calming breeze. Like everything else here, gorgeous. And so, I spent another Sunday morning remembering Christ's love and sacrifice for me, heart overflowing with thankfulness, mind in awe at the beauty of creation, and yet spirit aching to share in fellowship with other Christians. So thankful that I was finally able to meet with the brethren in Alajuela this weekend (it was WONDERFUL!!!).

"This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere."

After everyone else got up, our director led us in yoga by the pool which was kind of cool and weird at the same time. Still not sure exactly how I feel about it haha. We grabbed breakfast and hopped back in the van headed for zip-lining!

The zip-line guides got us all decked out in our gear and proceeded with explaining how to do it...pretty simple (and much safer feeling than the zip-line dad rigged in our backyard when we were younger; which was awesome by the way).

Zip-lining was amazing! Flying through the rain forest on a wire was indescribably exciting! Loved it!

After ziplining we headed back towards Heredia and stopped by a "fairy-tale castle and garden" on our way home (it was really a church with a beautiful garden outside it). Very fun and beautiful like everything else here.

Headed back to Ubelia and her delicious food! We watched a Costa Rican version of American Idol for children. It was kind of fun to watch but I had more fun watching Ubelia's reactions to it. She's so precious and funny! Overall a very fun weekend :).

Monday (6/20): Coffee Tour
After class on Monday a lot of us went on a tour of Cafe Britt. Coffee in Costa Rica is HUGE! We're always drinking coffee and it's the best coffee I've ever had. The coffee is so rich and tasty that I don't even put sugar in it here! It's amazing! Cafe Britt is some of the best coffee that Costa Rica produces, and the tour was super fun! We learned all about the process of producing coffee and had a blast trying all of the different types of coffee that they produce! Here are a few pictures from the tour!

Naz (guy in the picture above) figured out a deal so that we could buy our families coffee! Overall we ended up saving about 87 dollars or something like that. He was very proud of it! haha

Came home and said hello to Mateo Perez and his mom (they were visiting Costa Rica!) So exciting and wonderful to see them! We went out to eat pizza with Ubelia, Matt, his mom, Reagan, and Beth. It was so wonderful to be with college station people in Costa Rica! I loved it!

Tuesday (6/21): San Jose/Cooking Supper/Futbol!
Tuesday was PACKED full! After class I went to San Jose with Reagan, Beth, and some other girls. We went to San Jose and walked around the souvenir area...rows and rows of tents of souvenirs! So much to choose from, it'll be hard deciding what to get everyone! We ended up getting a little lost and wandering around San Jose in the pouring rain trying to find a bus back to Heredia. It was interesting and we definitely got to explore San Jose a lot!

Once back in Heredia, Beth and I made a stop by the supermarket "Mas por Menos" (more for less) and bought some noodles, chicken, alfredo sauce, and salad to make supper for Ubelia. Matt and his mom showed up with bread and Coke and we had a blast cooking for them and sharing a meal with them! After the meal, all of the families and students in the Sol program met at the stadium to play soccer. I wished desperately that I had an athletic bone in my body while running after the ball and trying in some meager way to contribute to my team. No such luck. After playing one game though I had fun cheering on the other players! Collapsed into bed that night.

Wednesday (6/22): Baking class/movie/singing!
Wednesday after class some other girls and I went to a house and participated in a traditional Costa Rican baking class! It was fun and we made some delicious desserts! We ended up stuffing our faces and bringing tons of bread home. Don Roger (the man who works on Ubelia's house) told me that he really liked my baking! I was pumped that he liked it...and even more pumped that I understood him (he speaks mumble spanish). Here are some pictures from our baking fun!

After baking class I hung out with Beth and Matt for a little while. We went to the movies since it was Wednesday (two for the price of one= $2 movie...and I thought $4 college station movies were good!) We watched the movie...in English with Spanish subtitles, then headed home and had a mini Bible study/singing. It was absolutely wonderful to spend time and worship God with my brother and sister in Christ. So very thankful that Mateo came and that I was able to live with Beth!

Thursday (6/23): Jane arrives/volunteering/symphony!!!!!!!!!
Thursday was SPECTACULAR! JANE GOT HERE!!! I was so excited that she was able to visit me! She's been living in my room for the past several days and I've LOVED having her here! Unfortunately she's flying back tomorrow. Super bummed to see her go. But back to last Thursday....

After Jane arrived at my house, we set off for volunteering! Volunteering was very fun and also a little sad since a lot of the students from the first summer session were leaving. We hung out, taught english to, and played with the fifth grade children and had a wonderful time! After volunteering we piled in a bus headed for San Jose and attended a concert in the beautiful national theater. It was an ensemble of five instruments (clarinet, flute, bassoon, oboe, and french horn). Kind of a random combination but all of the musicians were extremely talented and it sounded beautiful! I loved every minute of it. We ate supper across the street at the San Jose hotel and listened to a super talented pianist playing popular north-american music. It was especially exciting when he played "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". :)

Unfortunately I wasn't very smart and left the memory card for my camera at home :(. So no pictures of Thursday but it was still an absolutely wonderful and incredibly blessed day!

And that ends my week! Friday was the start of our weekend trip so I'll talk about that in the next blog post! Sorry for the monstrously long post and for taking forever to write a new blog. Things have been very busy and very blessed. Still loving Costa Rica immensely and wishing that I could share it with all of y'all! Have a blessed Tuesday night and Pura Vida!

"Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!" - Psalm 103:22

Manuel Antonio and icky blechy sicky.

Hola amiguitos!
¿Como van las cosas en los Estados Unidos?
Here things have been wonderful....and a tad bit not so fun.
But lets start from the beginning shall we?

*Side note...currently typing on a spanish keyboard...I think I might be just a little too excited about being able to type ñ so easily!!!
mañana, tamaño, cumpleaños, baño, año, ñññññññññññññññññññ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SO much fun!
¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ upside down question marks are fun too!
But back to Costa Rican stories....

Last weekend we went to Manuel Antonio national park. I've been trying to think of ways to describe it and it's pretty much impossible. Even pictures don't do it justice. God's creation is just...wow. There was so much diversity, so much creativeness, so much beauty. Several times I wanted to cry from the pure, un-altered, simple joy of it. I am so in awe of the beauty that surrounds me - it speaks of the beauty of the Creator.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard." - Psalm 19:1-3

And then I read verses like Isaiah 40:8
"The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever."

And I am in even more awe. As beautiful as all this is, it will fade and end. Yet the God who created it endures. Such an amazing thought.

On the way to Manuel Antonio National Park, we stopped by a river and saw some GIGANTIC crocodiles. They were icky looking but pretty cool at the same time. Me gustan los cocodrilos mucho!

After seeing the crocodiles, we headed into the national park, hiked to the beach, and were absolutely overwhelmed by the beauty of it all.

If you can find the lizard you get a prize!

Once at the beach we saw some adorable monkeys just hanging out and a super cool iguana! Also the beach was just incredible.

(The iguana is on the log behind me!!!)

Sometimes I have to ask myself if this is real life...cause I'm really not sure anymore haha. Once at the beach we went on a hike up in the forest to a lookout point. 

After the hike we went and hung out more on the beach.

I might just stay here forever. Maybe. :)

After hanging out at the beach we did some souvenir shopping, went to a super cool beach-side restaurant to eat, had some ice-cream at this pharmacy place, and learned a Spanish card game in the hotel room. I was bad and didn't take any pictures of it all....got to do better about that.

The next morning I woke up bright and early, sat outside our hotel room, and joined the birds in praises to God in the early morning light. Remembering His sacrifice while sitting in the midst of a rainforest and gazing out at the vast ocean before me was so overwhelming that I cried. May the Lord make me ever the more mindful of the heights of His love, the depths of His sacrifice, and the magnitude of His blessings. Also, Psalms 104 and 148 are pretty incredible. After everyone else got up, we had some delicious breakfast and drove through some precious small towns in the mountains before reaching our destination. The drive in an open jeep type vehicle was seriously one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on. Unfortunately, we were told not to bring our cameras or I could have some breath-taking pics to share with y'all. So just imagine amazingly beautiful tropical scenery and precious little towns with friendly smiling people. Had some major thoughts about becoming a little school teacher in a village here. Will keep y'all up to date on how that plan works out.

Water rafting was SO MUCH FUN!!! Seriously, I LOVED it! And want to do it again and again and again! It was absolutely beautiful and invigorating and just...wow! If you've never been, I highly recommend it.

After rafting we stopped by a cute little bakery and then made the drive back to Heredia. It was good to be home. :)

The beginning of my week held fun activities such as spending time with friends and being able to learn more about the bus system/also see more of downtown Heredia. Unfortunately though, around Tuesday night I started to feel pretty bad. Wednesday morning I was definitely sicky sicky. 

It wasn't very much fun. Major nausea, bad stomach pain, headache, super tiredness, entire body aching....yeah. Slept the entire day on Wednesday. Thursday tried to go to school but that was a fail so made a little trip to the "clinica biblica" - the doctor's clinic in Heredia....which was an experience! Turns out that I had a pretty nasty virus and had lost so much fluid because of the virus that I was dehydrated. After a super painful injection, drinking a liter of "suero de rehidratacion" (rehidration solution), getting some pills AND liquid meds that I have to take three times a day...I've started to feel MUCH better. The doctor was very nice and my Tica madre Ubelia has been very sweet making me soup and crackers and hot tea. So, after sleeping all day Thursday and loading up majorly on the meds, today has been a million times better! Actually starting to eat real food again...so nice! 

*Other side note...it's VERY hard to speak Spanish when you're feeling bad. I was definitely longing for a little more English in my life. Made me feel sympathetic towards Spanish speakers in the U.S. when they get sick and have a hard time communicating.

This weekend looking forward to going to La Fortuna...ziplining, hotsprings, and waterfalls! Whoop! Will let y'all know how it goes and try to update more frequently so that these posts aren't so monstrously long!

Lastly, a little thought from some 1 Kings reading I did while laying in bed this week. After finishing the temple construction, Samuel prayed a beautiful prayer to God. In this prayer, Solomon says, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house that I have built!" - 1 Kings 8:27. Yet God DID dwell on the earth. Read what Philippians says. "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." - Phil. 2:5-8.

My great God whom even the highest heaven cannot contain humbled himself to the point of death. Our God dwelt on the earth. Our God took on flesh. My Lord is so strong and so mighty and yet loves with a love great enough even to come and dwell among us! It is hard for my mind to comprehend such love, such sacrifice, and such greatness. And yet, as hard as it is to comprehend, I am so thankful for it.

As always, love hearing from all of y'all estadounidenses!

Que Dios les bendiga muchisimo!

Y Pura Vida!

Costa Rica!

I don't even know where to begin. Costa Rica so far has been absolutely wonderful, far exceeding my expectations. I absolutely love it here: the beautiful country, the people, my host family, the class, my classmates. Everyone is so nice and happy and relaxed. God's handiwork is so clearly seen and constantly surrounds me. I feel at home and so very blessed to be here. I wanted to catch everyone up on what life has been like so far (and also not forget it myself) so in order to catch up over the past week, I'll write in list format of everything I've been so blessed to see and experience. Starting with...

1) Arrival - Saturday night:
Thanks to Dad's frequent flyer miles, the least expensive flight for me was in business class (yay!). It was my first time flying business! Everything was so fancy. The food was delicious. And the flight was very uneventful. One of the things I love about flying alone is being able to meet and talk with the person sitting beside me. Unfortunately, this time a middle aged man sat next to me, said hello, and then proceeded to read every page of his magazine very intently. The only other time we communicated was when I spilled my little cup of nuts all over him haha. I was so excited though that his uncommunicative-ness didn't bother me too much :).

Going through immigration was one of the things I was most nervous about. But, gracias a Dios, there was another Sol student (Austin) on my flight! We met in the Dallas airport and were able to go through immigration together, get our luggage together, and help each other out. It was such a blessing to have someone with me! I think God must have known how much I needed someone. Immigration was a breeze. No problems at all. The airport was very nice...and then we walked out the door into San Jose.

By that time it was very dark, there were people EVERYWHERE, and a million voices screaming "taxi, taxi, taxi". Thankfully Austin and I found our director almost immediately. We followed her to a slightly less crowded place and waited with our luggage for some other students that were also arriving that night. Once everyone got together, we rode in a van from San Jose to Heredia, and I was dropped off at Ubelia's house.

I met Ubelia and her daughter who was visiting from Panama, had a Coca Cola, and called home to let my parents know that everything had gone well. Ubelia showed me my room and I fell asleep quickly.

2) Poas volcano - Sunday.
The next day I woke up very early to meet at the school and take an excursion to Poas volcano. Ubelia made me a delicious breakfast (tamale, cafe, pineapple) and her daughter drove me to the university. Once there we piled in a van, and were off! In my group, there are five other girls and two guys. Everyone is very nice and sweet and fun. I've loved getting to know them :).

Once at the volcano, we parked the van so that we could get in and drive off quickly if the volcano erupted, since it's active. Then we hiked up to where we could see the volcano. Everything is very tropical and green and beautiful. It was simply breathtaking. After the volcano we hiked over to Botas lake. Botas is a lake that was connected to the volcano. However, debris closed the connection and rain-water filled the crater that was left. It was also very very beautiful. Pictures don't come close to how incredible it really is.

We did orientation on top of the mountain and learned about what our summer would be like, what to expect with our families, etc. On top of the mountain we also had cafe (we drink coffee all the time here - I had four cups today haha), and then ate a packed lunch at a cute little restaurant on the mountain. We then returned home where I saw Reagan and Beth for the first time since arriving in Costa Rica! We went to Reagan's house and caught up for a bit before Beth and I returned home. We ate with Ubelia and went to bed quickly after the long day.

My lowest point of Sunday was not being able to meet and worship with a group of Christians. Reading my Bible by myself Sunday night, I cried a lot. God created the church for a reason and I firmly believe that we need each other. I NEEDED to be with other Christans. I NEEDED to worship God with them. I missed worshiping God with them more than I can say. With the program I'm in, the first three weekends include excursions to various parts of the country and it's required that we go on them - part of the learning experience, etc...Please pray for me. It's hard not to be able to worship with Christians for three weeks. Harder than I can say. I am so thankful though that Reagan and Beth are here. It has been such a blessing :). And also thankful to spend the Lord's day in His amazing creation. His works are truly powerful and incredible. I am in constant awe here viewing the beautiful work of His hands.

3.) Heredia Central y Clase - Monday:
On monday we woke up bright and early to walk to school, had a tour of the university, and went to my first class! My prof couldn't be there Monday so Advanced Spanish I (my class) went to the same class as Advanced Spanish II. We pretty much just spoke Spanish the entire class (8:00-11:00) which was very helpful! After class, we all met up to go on a tour of Heredia (the town we're living in). From the university, we took a bus to downtown Heredia and toured the main sights. We went to the fruit/meat market which was incredibly fun and interesting, toured an old Catholic church, went to el parque central (the central park), and saw different sites such as the tower that was built for the military before Costa Rica abolished it. While in downtown Heredia, we had some of the best coffee I've ever tasted. Seriously, it was amazing. And ate lots and lots of different fruits! It was all so fun and new and exciting. :)

4.) Clase de Espanol y La Clase de Cocinar Comida Costarricense Tradicional - Tuesday:
On Tuesday I went to my real Spanish class and fell in love with my professor. She's absolutely precious and calls me "Sarita" - little Sarah, even though she's smaller than me. Class is good, no complaints. I feel like I'm learning a lot in class but more being outside of class and conversing with other people in spanish.

After class we left to go to a traditional Costa Rican cooking class at the house of some friends of the director. Some of the best food I've ever eaten! Everything here is "que rico" (very good/rich/delicious/whatever) and the food was muy muy rico! Absolutely loved the cooking class. It was very relaxing and fun and DELICIOUS!

After the cooking class, our driver took us to his house to pick some ripe mangos from his mango tree. All of the fruit here is incredible and we eat ALOT of it! We returned from "el campo", the countryside, back to Heredia and la case de mama tica, Ubelia. That night Ubelia taught Beth and I how to knit while talking about God and the Bible. Can I just say that I'm in love with Ubelia? She's pretty much incredible.

5.) Tres ticos - Wednesday:
On Wednesday we woke up early as usual to go to class. Class continues to go well. Wednesday was our free day this week and some of us were planning to go to downtown Heredia to explore a little more. Unfortunately, I didn't feel super well so I stayed home. My stomach was pretty messed up. Don't know if it was the virus going around or the change in diet but whatever it was was pretty nasty. I stayed in bed most of Wednesday afternoon and thankfully started to feel better pretty quickly. By that night I was feeling a little better and Ubelia wanted Beth and I to see a movie that her friend Dona Olga has. We walked down the street to Dona Olga's house in order to borrow the movie. Of course though, with the latin culture, it wasn't a simple grab the movie and go. Instead, we met everyone in the family, sat down to eat and drink a little, chat a little, etc. Ubelia soon decided that she wanted to go but told us that we should stay and talk to the sons some more. Dona Olga has three sons ages 29, 24, and 18. Soon Dona Olga also left so it was just Beth, I, and her sons. They're very nice guys and it was fun to talk to Ticos (costa ricans) that are our age, but definitely felt like the whole evening was a set-up to get us together. We talked mainly to the older two and then met one of their friends who plays Futbol and is famous in Heredia and several of their other friends. Overall, a very interesting/unexpected evening.

6.) La escuela elementaria - Thursday:
Thursday morning was class as usual along with volunteering at a local elementary school. We work at an after school club called "Pura Vida english club". Reagan was one of the girls in charge of the lesson plans and played guitar while teaching the kids an english song (she did so good! so talented!). Super fun/exciting to spend time with little ticos. Before that I went to the mall with some other Sol students and explored/hung out/ ate U.S. food: subway.

Thursday night we heard that there was going to be an original Costa Rican movie showing at "El Centro Cultural". We thought that it would be fun so Beth, our neighbor JaQuanna, and I all grabbed a taxi and met some other friends down at the theater. What we thought was going to be a fun cultural movie turned out to be this terrifyingly frightening and confusing (didn't help that it was all in spanish) movie about two girls who switched bodies or something like that (really not sure). It had people dying in various ways throughout it and was even scarier as the movie was filmed in Heredia....yeah, not the best thing to see during your first week in a foreign country. The company however, was fantastico.

7.) Aventuras solas - Friday:
Today was another free day so after class and lunch with our host family, my neighbor JaQuanna and I decided to get some things we needed for the weekend at the mall (ten minute walk away) and take a bus to downtown Heredia to mail some stuff and hang out. It was our first time to figure out the bus system by ourselves. We figured out withdrawing money at the mall and such, then walked down to the bus stop and hopped on a bus to central Heredia. After hopping on the bus, we got off at what we thought was the central park...but turned out to be a different one. A nice lady however helped us out and we walked to the other park which wasn't super far away. Very pleased with ourselves, we had a cafecito (a little coffee) at a local coffee shop after mailing a letter, and then met other students to hang out for the afternoon in Heredia. Very fun and relaxing.

Tonight, Ubelia's entire family came for a little reunion as her daughter and family from Panama are visiting. I've never felt so out of place in my life. It has been fun to talk to them all and get to know them, but I definitely feel VERY white. For the most part, I understand them and can communicate well, but tonight I've felt a little weird being the non-related/non-costa rican person here. It has however been very interesting to talk to them and been fun to see Ubelia's grandchildren. One of the husbands thought that I was sixteen instead of twenty...glad the whole looking younger than I am exists in Costa Rica as well as the U.S....haha not. The sixteen year old grand-daughter knows a lot about United States music so it's been fun to talk with her about that and practice some English with them! Overall, a very fun night!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend I'm going with Sol to Manuel Antonio national park and beach. It should be very fun/gorgeous! I'm excited :). There's lots more to tell but I'll end this super long post and go into more details about different aspects of Costa Rican culture in later posts. If you read to the end of this, felicitaciones! You deserve a prize! I'll bring you back some coffee :). Also, I realize that my english isn't spectacular in this post. It's hard to switch from talking in Spanish tons to writing in English...can definitely tell that my english is worsening! haha Any ideas how to fix that? I hope that everything in the United States is going well. All of you are in my prayers and thoughts and I would love to hear how everyone's doing!
Que Dios les bendiga mucho y, por supuesto, Pura vida!

"Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
praise Him, all His hosts!

Praise Him, sun and moon,
praise Him, all you shining stars!
Praise Him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the Lord!
For He commanded and they were created.
And He established them forever and ever;
He gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and mist,
stormy wind fulfilling His word!

Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Beasts and all livestock,
creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and maidens together,
old men and children!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for His name alone is exalted;
His majesty is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for His people,
praise for all His saints,
for the people of Israel who are near to Him.
Praise the Lord!"
~ Psalm 148

Toasting in Texas

Texas lately = HOT!
Like drowning in your own sticky sweat hot.
Like wanting to dance for joy in the beautiful air-conditioning hot.
100 degrees hot.
Costa Rica's high today is 79!
Get me over there! :)

Speaking of which, I'll be there. TODAY. Wait, what? I'm leaving the country today? I won't be back in the United States for ten weeks...today? I'll be living with an adorable older lady and Beth (!) today? Crazy on so many levels. Emotions = excitement and nervousness...but mostly EXCITEMENT!!!

These last few days/weekend in Texas have been so incredibly blessed. I could write pages and pages about how much I have loved spending time with friends and family but that would probably bore everyone except my mom. Here are a few pictures from these last few days in los Estados Unidos:

Caleb graduated!!! So thankful for him and excited to be with him at A&M in the fall! Whoop!

The Penn family spent several days with us over memorial weekend and we had a blast! Those little boys have stolen my heart. They're precious, silly, sweet, and tons of fun. I love them!

Joseph is talented. 

And SO grown up! It makes me a little sad. He was such an adorable little red-headed baby.

Sam is sweet and funny! (look at those eye-lashes! wow!)

All boy.

And curious!

Tate is full of life!

Hilarious

And just so stinkin' cute and sweet!

Few families have had as large an impact on my life as the Penn family has. I'm so very thankful that God put them in my life. They're pretty wonderful.

Lastly, Mallory came to spend the night! So thankful for my "other twin"! 

Hat crocheted by Mallory! She's so talented!

My life yesterday consisted of packing. Preparing for a 10 week long trip abroad was probably one of the most daunting things I've ever packed for. Dad was a magician with getting things to fit...I'll probably never get anything packed as compactly as he is able to. Guess that's why he's an engineer...and I'm not. ;)

Here's a verse I've been thinking about lately with regards to my upcoming trip:

"...For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline." - 2 Tim. 1:7. Praying that the Lord might continue to help me in overcoming my struggle with timidity. Especially while abroad.

Also,

"With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You." - Psalm 119:10-11. Praying that my heart might be entirely His, seeking Him fully. That I might truly treasure His word above all else. That I might be bold in keeping His commandments.

And lastly,

"Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end." - Psalm 102:25-27. One of my favorite things about God is His immutability or unchanging nature. Despite the changing nature of this life. Despite the fact that our circumstances and locations and life might change. God remains the same. Always. Few things are as comforting to me. The "Father of lights" will continue to bless me with "every perfect gift" (James 1:17) in Costa Rica as he has in Texas. And with that knowledge, I am fearless. 

Prayers for a safe journey are appreciated. Next post will be from Costa Rica! Adios till then amigos! 

Pura vida!