tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22903375300047040962024-03-13T05:50:46.134-07:00Dice's in Costa RicaThe Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-32762335161551629052010-05-06T10:44:00.000-07:002010-05-06T10:54:06.346-07:00The Last One<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Well, we are finally home and mostly settled in. It is nice to be back in Michigan, though we are already missing life in Costa Rica- it was really cold last night! Camden had three pairs of socks on today because his feet could not get warm. We had a relatively easy trip home and a relatively easy transition back into our house. The Grays, the family who had been staying in our home, left it in near-perfect condition, far better than we left it for them!! That was a huge blessing. April is ready to do some gardening, Camden is back playing baseball, Mason is relieved to have a big yard again so he can "conquer" the world, and Karis & Ellie are just happy to see grandparents and friends. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We would like to thank all of you for your thoughts, prayers, and support over the past 8+ months. It seems to have gone by so quickly. We would especially like to thank our church family for supporting this endeavor. We hope it will pay dividends as we move our missions ministry forward at Brown Corners. As for now, this blog is signing off. We hope to begin anew in the months to come!! Adios!!</span></div></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-17473189055834405662010-04-14T19:00:00.000-07:002010-04-17T07:41:12.995-07:00Almost There!<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The gang had quite an interesting trip home. They were bumped from their flight in Fort Lauderdale in exchange for free tickets to anywhere Spirit flies. Last time I talked to them, they were enjoying the pool on the 5th floor of their hotel! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I can't believe that we only have 2 weeks left here in Costa Rica! Jeff and I took our exams and both came out well. We both scored an Advanced Medium. So, I may have won in the classroom but in conversation, were it really counts, we are essentially even.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I think that I mentioned that I have been studying the Psalms. I discovered something pretty interesting yesterday. David wrote 23 Psalms. Over and over, David is under attack from his enemies. He asks God for help, for refuge, for love, for justice. But there is one thing he doesn't ask for. He doesn't ask for the strength to defend himself. I can find only one time in 73 Psalms where David ask God to raise him up so he can repay his adversaries. Every other time, he asks God to work on his behalf. He asks God to defend his rights. He doesn't ask God to give him the chance to defend himself. In fact, in several places, he says that he is silent before his accusers and asks God to fight for Him. This is very interesting to me because David was a man of courage, a man of war. He was also king. He had the rights of a king. Yet, he doesn't speak of personally fighting his own battles. He asks God to be his defense.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I am sure that you know the verse (Psalm 37:4) Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. I think that I have been looking at it the wrong way. I have always thought A + B = C. If I love God then he will bless me with what I </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">really</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> want. What do I want? What do we all want? Significance, love, importance. If I delight in the Lord, as David did, I don't have to fight for the things I want or the rights that I think I have. God is the one who gives when and how he wants. Instead of focusing on the desires, I can focus on God who fulfills them according to his wisdom. Even more that that, God becomes my significance, God is love, God is my happiness, and God gives me importance. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Are you like me? Do you want to defend yourself in every situation? Do you want to fight for your happiness at work or at home? Even David asked for God's help to repay his enemies once, he was human after all, but most of the time he asks that God fight for him. David had real enemies. My life is tame in comparison, yet I want to fight. Can I let God be my defense? Not without God's help. Of course, Jesus is the ultimate example. He gave up his rights for me. He was silent before his accusers. How can I hold on to my rights, when the Jesus, God's Son, gave up everything for me? Somehow, everyday it is a battle to let go of what I think I am owed. Lord, give us the strength to let go!</span></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-16197686208353976032010-04-13T06:06:00.000-07:002010-04-13T07:37:45.351-07:004 Women on a Mission<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">And now, our guest bloggers....</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Buenos dias! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>This is our last day in Costa Rica, where did our week go? Our trip was perfect! The Dices were wonderful hosts, a home away from home! Even as we write we cannot come up with the words that could describe our adventures. You will just have to see our pictures, well maybe not all of them! We experienced so much; strong ocean tides, zip-lining through the rainforest, bridge-walks through the treetops, relaxing in hot springs at the base of a volcano during a downpour, a night walk, which we fondly called our snipe walk, and even checked out Clinical Biblica. Our resident nurse, Deb, said that both Kate and the hospital passed with flying colors! As if we weren't pampered enough, we had to have a massage ($15/hour). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>While in Costa Rica we traveled by air, boat, bus, taxi and even by horse. We all agree that it was an experience, but a 5 hour city bus ride was not our favorite mode of transportation. Dramamine was our friend, at least mine! A few thousand kilometers left in our journey. We may be stopped at customs, bringing in bananas and pineapples, but if you tasted them you would understand why we risked it! They're much better than a bag full of apples! Amazing fruit, and would you believe that Costa Rica has the best Chinese food! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>While in Costa Rica we witnessed unbelievable landscapes, everywhere you looked there were sights to take in, but that can't compare to the people. There are many lessons we need to learn from them. Ticos are such happy people, content. It is their custom to say hello or good morning when they pass by or enter a room. How often do we do that? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Thank you Jeff, April, Camden, Mason, Karris and Ellie for opening up your home and allowing us to experience Costa Rica! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Hasta luego! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Deb, Julia, Kate and Christina </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-67529094359389313092010-04-12T22:30:00.000-07:002010-04-13T06:06:04.753-07:00The Final Home StretchWe have just 8 days of class remaining, so we are all but finished with our Spanish studies here in Costa Rica. Time has really flown by. It seems strange to be preparing to come home. We have some big events coming in the next two weeks, though. We took our ECO exam last Friday, which will tell us which level of oral proficiency we have achieved. We are both a little nervous about it. April also took the 3-hour grammar exam- I'm concerned as she may need see a professional. Then, next weekend Camden makes his Costa Rican stage debut in "Reserve Two For Murder," a play in which he gets killed 2 minutes in and gets dragged around the stage for an hour. And, of course, 4 women showed up at our house last Tuesday. They will appear as "guest bloggers" in the next blog.<div><br /></div><div>During Easter week, we had the privilege of going to Nicaragua for 6 days. We left on Saturday morning at 5:15, got to the border at 10:15, left the border at 3:30 (yes, we spent 5 hours waiting in lines at the border), and arrived in Granada at 5:30. I organized this trip for 33 of my classmates, so it was a little stressful, but it turned out to be a great experience. A few families from Browns, the Carter's and the Kleinhardt's and Jodie Robinson, showed up to get a project started at Pastor Juan Pavon's church. They began to redo the entrance to the church, working with a crew from the church, to make it handicap accessible (there are 2 people in wheelchairs who attend the church) and to make it easier to pull the microbus in. It will look very different when finished. The trip went really well, but we were glad to be back in Costa Rica. We did absolutely nothing Good Friday, Saturday, and Easter Sunday.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-58392749357723211152010-03-26T17:41:00.000-07:002010-03-26T18:15:37.661-07:00Low Expectations<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hey all,</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We are finally posting another blog! We have had a very busy week. We had exams in both classes this week and we have been studying a pretty difficult theme in Spanish grammar. Just when we thought we were starting to make some progress, we have to add in subjuntive. Subjuntive basically means when you are talking about emotions or things possible but not real you have to change all of your verbs. Yuck.... It is coming but pretty slowly. I feel like there is a huge ball of string in my head and I have to find the right string at the right moment and pull it out, which means it takes a while to say anything. The one positive is that our comprehension has really taken some huge leaps. We can actually sit through a sermon and understand most of it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We did learn something pretty interesting about Costa Rican culture last week. We were trying to explain the saying, "don't sweat it." Eugenia, our teacher, told us that it doesn't exist in Spanish because they don't need it! It is us Americans that have to be reminded to relax. (Although, they do say, "tranquillo," which is pretty similar.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Along the same lines, I read an article about a survey that rated countries according the people's personal happiness. The U.S. was number 15. The surprising thing was that Puerto Rico, Columbia, and Mexico were in the top 10. Crazy isn't it? The survey found that after basic necessities were met, money had very little to do with happiness. Denmark was number 1, because the people there have very low expectations of life. Maybe that is the key!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We leave tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. for Nicaragua. Everyone has Holy Week off and we are taking a group of 33 students to Granada. The Carter's and the Kleinhardt's from Brown's are already there. We can't wait! Also, Maria Pavon, the superintendent's daughter, received an international scholarship to Huntington University. We are so excited! She wants to be a missionary to Africa. She is an amazing young women. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Well, we are off to Nicaragua with very low expectations so I'm sure we'll have a great time!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Love to all,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">April</span></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-5119610901711975012010-03-14T18:53:00.000-07:002010-03-14T19:32:52.655-07:00Quakes, Moles, & SheepOkay, everyone, it is almost unbearably hot here now. We topped 90 degrees and our fan stopped working. I'm almost ready to return to Michigan. Is it in the 70's there yet? We had a fun week last week. First, we had our biggest quake late last Friday night. Our house shook for about 5 seconds. It was a little unnerving. We had just gone to bed, but afterwards I couldn't fall asleep for more than an hour. <div><br /></div><div>A couple of weeks ago April and I were asked to speak during one of our chapel times. So, we did our presentation on Thursday. It went really well as April did most of the sharing.</div><div><br /></div><div>April finally went to the plastic surgeon this week. However she only got 5 moles removed. One of them was on her forehead which is why a plastic surgeon was recommended. Botox is next on her agenda, though I'm not sure why. I happen to like wrinkles. They go well with my receding and graying hair.</div><div><br /></div><div>We (I) haven't said much over the last couple of months about our grades. This is because the race was over after the first test in which April scored a 98 on and I scored a 79. However, we received our mid-term grades and the gap was closer than expected: April- 94, Jeff-90. This is probably the last I will report on them as I am conceding the race. My campaign funds are all used up.</div><div><br /></div><div>April here: I have been studying the Psalms lately. I learned something pretty funny when I was looking at Psalm 23. I thought that is was interesting that it says that the shepherd <b>makes </b>his sheep lie down to rest. He doesn't just give them a choice. He makes them lie down. So, I thought about that. Are sheep too stupid to know that they need to lie down? I looked on the internet and found a lot of info on sheep. A good shepherd often makes his sheep lie down mid-day to ruminate (chew their cud). Also, sheep will not lie down unless they are free from fear, insects, hunger, and fighting. Interesting isn't it? I think that we as humans won't rest until we are free from fear, irritations, hunger (spiritual and physical), and in-fighting. In every case, it is only the Good Shepherd that can bring that freedom. </div><div><br /></div><div>I really feel like the Lord has made Jeff and I lie down to rest here in Costa Rica. It has been so different from life in Michigan. A time to rejuvenate and be challenged again to pursue Him. We are ready to get back home and ready to serve again. Ready to be surrounded by people we love and that love us. Ready to see God move in MI and Nicaragua. Ready to follow the Shepherd.</div><div><br /></div><div>See you all soon, </div><div>Jeff and April</div><div><br /></div><div>P.S. I found an article in USA Today from 2005. While the shepherds in Turkey were eating breakfast, one sheep walked off a cliff to his death for no apparent reason. 1500 followed him! 450 died and the rest only survived because of the big pile of sheep at the bottom to break the fall. And we are called sheep over and over again in the Bible, hmm.........</div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-18356488511730295152010-03-10T20:00:00.000-08:002010-03-10T20:00:00.219-08:00Spiritual Emphasis Week<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Well, it is Wednesday already! We have just completed Spiritual Emphasis Week at our school. It was a great week in so many ways- no homework, good speakers, and the temperature was pretty mild (75-85) all week. Our speakers, Jack & Mary Anne Voekel, shared many of their experiences from over 40 years serving as missionaries in Latin America, with the life of Moses serving as the starting point for each of the 8 services. Of particular note was Thursday evening's service where we "prayed through" the tabernacle. April and I learned much about ourselves and how much God wants to be with us. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It is hard to believe that we only have 2 weeks until Spring Break! We are ready! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Tomorrow is a busy day for us. First, we are speaking in chapel and then April is going in to have a potentially cancerous mole removed on her forehead. Since it's on her face, she has to have a plastic surgeon do the procedure. She is seriously considering having some more work done, but we are not sure our insurance would cover it!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Spring Break should be a blast as we are taking 28 other people with us to Nicaragua! Many students need to renew their visas, so they decided to take advantage of this trip. We are excited to have them all see such a special place. Sunday evening we will all be attending Juan Pavon's church! Plus, there are 2 families from Brown Corners who will be there to do some destruction and rebuilding of the front wall of the Ebenezer Church property, a much-needed project that will be of great benefit to the church and to anyone who has had to drive the microbus into the property! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">That's all for today. Until next time.... </span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-66618876963578462882010-02-26T13:34:00.001-08:002010-02-26T16:15:31.202-08:00Day Off!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It has just been a great day today! It's Friday and we did not have classes today due to a teacher in-service day. It has been a much needed break for me as my brain has not been functioning at a very high level lately (to some of you, that would appear normal for me). We had a grammar test yesterday, which means I am now even farther behind April. She is doing quite well with her language acquisition. I, on the other hand, am just trying to make it through most days, so a day off is just what I needed. There is just so much to learn. I am really looking forward to next week as it is Spiritual Emphasis Week, a week where we have special services every morning and evening. This means we have no homework or tests. Hopefully, this also means that what we have been learning will sink in a little more. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We are getting excited about some things being planned right now! We have a Spring Break trip planned to Nicaragua where our family will meet some folks from Brown Corners to get a project started somewhere near Masaya. I have also been planning a trip from Costa Rica to Nicaragua. 28 students from the Institute will go to Nicaragua during the same week. It's been challenging, but Nicaragua is such a cool country that it will be worth all the work. It will be encouraging to see how our work there changes with our improving ability to communicate. As for this year, we will continue supporting the local church through project work, but we are looking forward to expanding and deepening our work in several other areas. Our main trip this summer will add a new dimension to our work, too, as we will be running day camps for the children surrounding Santa Rita. If there is interest, we will take a different group of people to continue the project that will be started in March. It is exciting to see what God is doing for Nicaragua through our church!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Tonight, we are doing pre-marital counseling with a young couple from our church. It is the second time we've met. One really interesting thing I want to share with you is Juan Pablo's background. He is not from a Christian family. He started his journey to Christ as a 12 year old because someone came on a short-term missions trip. Juan Pablo came to play baseball and was introduced to the Lord. He is now 27 and still following Jesus. It is fun to see the result of short-term missions 15 years later. You just never know the impact you are making.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Well, I am really hot right now- it has been almost unbearably hot and humid for the past few days. Makes me yearn for Michigan....not really. 2 months to go, unless there is still snow on the ground April 28th, then we will be changing our flights.</span></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-67802266224899657622010-02-21T12:40:00.000-08:002010-02-21T15:27:44.913-08:00Fun Times<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Every once in a while, something happens in class to make us all laugh. In fact, this happens weekly. But this week was more special than the previous ones. It was Thursday, and on Thursdays we present Bible studies in Spanish. I had chosen Psalm 51 largely because it contains several desires of David which could easily be changed into the sentence structure we are practicing right now. Verse 6 states that God desires truth in our innermost parts. I just happened to translate this into "God desires truth in our intimate parts" which in Spanish specifically means your "special private place." For some reason my Bible study, for all intents and purposes, ended right there- though for David this still might have applied. It was a memorable Thursday.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">A couple of weeks ago, April signed up to attend a women's retreat for all the ladies at ILE. Over 30 women attended this Friday-Saturday event. They were supposed to leave on Friday at noon, but the bus had some problems and they had to wait for another bus to arrive. So, April returned home for a few minutes before leaving again. But now she was wearing a name tag with the words "The Love Connection" on it. Nothing like 30-plus mostly married women heading to a hotel to make a "love connection." She returned Saturday night thankful for the time away from the hustle and bustle we find ourselves in daily. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">One of my baseball buddies, Juan Pablo, recently asked April and I to give him and his fiance marriage counseling. Thankfully, JP and Natalie both speak English. God continues to give us opportunities to be involved in people's lives. If it goes poorly, perhaps Dave Luther could use a vacation to Costa Rica.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The kids are all doing great. Camden gets dragged around at play practice 2 or 3 times a week (he's playing the part of a dead guy), basketball is going great, and he had his first 4-hit ball game with the team we play for every Sunday. Mason is having fun making and throwing paper "stars", writing new "Stick-Man Ninja" comics, and playing soccer. Karis is still enjoying gymnastics (she can do a cartwheel, something her mother still hasn't mastered). Ellie is in an "accelerated talking phase" where she must get in around 50,000 words every day. Unfortunately for us, Maria just returned to Nicaragua. Now April and I get the brunt of Ellie's constant questioning. I love answering questions like, "Will you still be strong if you're skinny?" "Why do you have to wear rings if you're married?" "Why do boys have hair all over their bodies?" For the past month we've been referring these questions to Maria so she could practice her English. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We miss our family and friends, just not enough to come home just yet. After all, it was a breezy 85 today. Until next time...</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-65732915828692472442010-02-09T17:08:00.000-08:002010-02-09T18:25:34.358-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/S3IYwTjAF4I/AAAAAAAAAHs/zQMy4jzaeZ8/s1600-h/DSCN0522.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/S3IYwTjAF4I/AAAAAAAAAHs/zQMy4jzaeZ8/s200/DSCN0522.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436434918349477762" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/S3IW6Lk-AzI/AAAAAAAAAHc/8acfn-dAldk/s1600-h/DSCN0404.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/S3IW6Lk-AzI/AAAAAAAAAHc/8acfn-dAldk/s200/DSCN0404.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436432888985682738" /></a><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Hola</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">! <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It's been a crazy month for the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Dice's</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> in Costa Rica. We had a birthday, a visit from 16 family members, Maria came back for another month, and we have had a ton more school work this </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">tri</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">.</span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It is a whole new ball game. We now have learned all 14 of the verb tenses, we just don't know how to use them all yet. I am considering taking the 3 hour grammar exam at the end of the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">tri</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> for college credit. Jeff is considering death by lethal injection. Really no difference, except Jeff's solution is painless and quicker. I have started studying for it already. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The 15</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">th</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> was </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Karis's</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> birthday. She had a blast. 7 kids came over for brownies and games. (See the pic above.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">On January 24</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">th</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, the whole Palmer clan arrived for a family vacation. That is Aunt Beth and Uncle Lee and their kids and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">grand-kids</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> as well as Aunt Jody. For those of you at Brown's that includes </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Treena</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> and Duane Hall and Todd and Lori Palmer. It was pretty awesome because many of the kids had never flown or been to another country besides Canada. They spent the first day with us exploring around San Jose and then headed for the beach. They enjoyed exploring and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">snorkeling</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. The fun was mixed with jelly-fish stings and sunburns! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Aunt Beth was gazing at the moon, tripped, fell, and broke her nose! She was walking with Guillermo, the guide and bus-driver. He says he tried to save her, but she was sure that hand on her back was pushing not pulling! Actually, he felt terrible and Aunt Beth loved to tease him about it. Ellie told Aunt Beth that she had very colorful eyes. I guess that was true since they were black and blue!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">After school on Friday, we took the public bus and met the family in Monte Verde. It was a five hour trip. The bus was packed and people stood in the aisles the entire way! Our hotel, the Monte Verde Inn, was at the edge of the jungle. We got to see monkeys, </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">coatis</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> (a type of </span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">raccoon</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">), sloths, tarantulas, a porcupine, wolf-spiders, a huge ant mound, and lots of other bugs! It was pretty awesome. We went on a suspension bridge walk high up in the rain forest. It was something right out of Tarzan complete with hanging vines. As David said, "On your wonderful works I will meditate." God is amazing.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Next we took a boat ride to the </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Volcan</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Arenal</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. The drive to the lake was amazing. I am convinced that we just need to move all our family and friends down here. We'll just have to wait for the housing market to come back up! Los Lagos, our hotel, had pools warmed by the volcano! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">This was our only trip outside of San Jose and we really enjoyed doing it with the family. We are so blessed to have them. There were a few tears (mostly mine!), but </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Treena</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> let me borrow her noise-maker (a machine that makes noise so you can sleep), and the next day I was fine and Jeff didn't need to push me off a suspension bridge! It was an amazing experience none-the-less. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I have been really enjoying the experience down here. It has been so different from normal life. I didn't realize the weight I carried around at home. The weight of concern for others in our church and family. A friend told us that God's shoulders are big enough to handle the weight of the world. We can't carry it ourselves. I am convinced I need to pray more and worry less, but I guess that probably isn't news to anyone! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Well, I'm going to leave you all in God's hands. Mine just aren't big enough.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Love to all,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">April</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-70736750375804404512010-01-23T04:53:00.000-08:002010-01-23T05:42:40.039-08:00Dead Man WalkingCamden tried out for the school play and was fortunate to be cast as half the school seemed to read for parts. He got the part of the jilted boyfriend who gets murdered. I think he has a few lines then gets knocked off and is supposedly carried around for the rest of the play. Though we haven't read the script yet, we are thinking "Bernie" in "Weekend at Bernie's." <div><br /></div><div>April and I are both pretty excited about meeting with our tutors last week. April meets with our Grammar teacher from last trimester, Maritza, 4 days a week for an hour each day. I meet with a private instructor named Marcos 3 times a week for an hour and 15 minutes each session. It really helps to have the extra speaking practice.</div><div><br /></div><div>We have been blessed this trimester with two good teachers, Eugenia (Language) and Laura (Grammar). Our Language class is really fun and helpful. It is much more structured than last time. We have to do something different for each day of class- things like prepare and present an article from a Spanish newspaper, prepare and present a Bible study, choose a theme and ask 3 people about it- then present your findings to the class, etc. Grammar is grammar. It has been great so far. We've been so busy that we can't find time to watch much tv, which we have come to find out we don't miss that much.</div><div><br /></div><div>On Friday, we went to visit Cecilia, a lady who runs a soup kitchen for kids in her really poor neighborhood. God uses her to do some really great things and meeting her was/is an inspiration to us to find the joy of the Lord no matter what. We went there to possibly figure out how we could do some volunteering, but instead God used our visit to teach us.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mason got his hair cut on Thursday. We took photos of Zac Efron to the stylist. It turned out really cool! He is doing really well in school and at playing soccer. Mason misses his buddy, Skylar, who went to live in Peru. Now his best buds are Jonathan & Lucas, though Mason thinks Lucas fell out of his crib and hit his head. Mason thinks he is a bit on the crazy side! Karis is back to doing gymnastics only now she dresses the part! She celebrated a birthday last week and the only thing she wanted was for Camden's buddies to come over and play a game where they try to capture her. Ellie continues to be a source of joy- she makes the craziest comments and faces. She loves the comic, Jim Gaffigan, so pretty much every time we are walking on the sidewalk she will run ahead and say, "See you slowpokes at the Cinnabun!" or "Run for your lives!" </div><div><br /></div><div>We are now prepping for 16 members of April's extended family to arrive. They arrive on Sunday around 1. So, I need to help around the house a little!</div><div><br /></div><div>We miss all of you! Until next time....</div><div><br /></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-35494929624917673912010-01-16T10:46:00.000-08:002010-01-16T11:23:53.258-08:00Back to Work!!Wow, it is hard to believe it's been 4 weeks since I last wrote a blog! We had such a wonderful time visiting with folks in Michigan and Pennsylvania that the time flew by very quickly. We got back to Costa Rica on Thursday the 7th, and I took off for Honduras on Saturday the 9th (at 4:30 AM). I was invited to attend the General Conference of the United Brethren Church. This was the first time it was being held outside the States. General Conferences of the past were very large gatherings. The old system had individual conferences meeting annually. Michigan had a conference along with several other regions in the States, and each of our countries would have an annual conference too (we have conferences in Honduras, Nicaragua-including Guatemala and Costa Rica, Sierra Leone, Hong Kong-including Macau, Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, and the Philippines). Then, every 4 years we would all come together for a larger conference, elect a bishop, and generally have lots of fun together. Now, we have nationalized all the conferences. This means each place now has a National Conference which meets annually or biannually. We have one National Conference that meets every two years in the States (we no longer have a "Michigan Conference"). Other national conferences, like Nicaragua, meet annually. For General Conference, each of the national conferences sends two delegates. Guests were able to attend as well. Guatemala was added as its own conference at this meeting, bringing the total number of national conferences to 10. This means we had 20 delegates at GC. Plus, 6 or 7 guests were present.<div><br /></div><div>It was really a blessing to sit around the table with such great men and women. I had a blast reuniting with Karis Wong, the leader of Living Water Church in Macau, and practicing some long-forgotten Cantonese. The other delegate from Hong Kong was Ajax Wu, who always had a smile on his face. It is always fun listening to Jamaicans speak, so I had fun talking with Bishop Winston Smith and Isaac Nugent. Bishop Billy Simbo and Theresa Muso from Sierra Leone were fun to get to know as well. Bishop Brian Magnus and Paul Plato from Canada, Superintendent Juan Pavon and Pastor Henri Osorio of Nicaragua, and Bishop Phil Whipple and Jeff Bleijerveld of the U.S., Pastor Francisco Najera and Pastor Rolando Venezuela of Guatemala, Pastor Erik Ramirez of Costa Rica, Bishop Dennis Casco of Mexico, Pastor Olim Richard of Haiti, Superintendent Juanita Chavez of Honduras, Pastor Jason and Donna Hollopeter, and Steve Dennie were all there, too. We heard lots of reports and had many discussions of partnering in various ministries. You can check out more about the conference at www.ubcentral.org.</div><div><br /></div><div>I got a chance to explore the large United Brethren campus in La Ceiba. We have a school that teaches over 2,000 students and has a famous marching band boasting over 200 participants. 47 of them played for us one night and they were incredible. I wish I had a video camera with me! The UB Church in Honduras is doing well!</div><div><br /></div><div>I have lots more to write about from this conference, but instead of cramming it all in this post, I will try to sprinkle other info into other posts. I got back on Thursday night and returned to class Friday morning. Thankfully, I didn't miss too much work! More will come later!!</div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-80343871782527267382010-01-09T16:51:00.000-08:002010-01-09T17:35:54.578-08:00Back in ActionHello again!<div>It's hard to believe the holiday's are over and we are back in CR. It was so great to be back in Michigan. It actually felt like Christmas with the cold and the snow. Since there are people staying in our house, we invaded Mom and Dad's. So Mom had six extra people and 2 dogs, bringing the grand total to 8 people and 5 dogs. Not to mention the days we had the Hall and Palmer cousins over! After our dog ate a 3 pound bag of peanut M&M's and vomited all over the house and then the next day chewed up one of those neck pillows with a million styrofoam beads, Mom didn't seem quite as sad to see us go this time! We also spend a week in Pennsylvania with the Dice's. It was a great year for me because I won 2 games of Bid, a card game we play every visit. That brings the grand total of my winnings to 3 in the thirteen years we've been married!</div><div><br /></div><div>It was a reminder again of how blessed we truly are. We have a wonderful church, wonderful family, wonderful friends....it is so easy to loose sight of that. Before we left, Adela, our maid, told me at lunch that she didn't know how she was going to feed her family while we were gone. She didn't realize that we pay her from August through April. When I told her that she was still going to be paid, she began crying, thanking God and thanking us. The standard wage for a maid is about $50 a week. Can you imagine? $50 a week... It was so humbling. She lives in La Carpio, the old dump, with 20,000-50,000 other Nicaraguans. I am sitting here typing on a computer in a home with indoor toilets, a washer and drier. She has none of those things. I gave Adela brownie mix for Christmas, she loves those Garradelli brownies, but she has to cook them here because she doesn't even have an oven! Yet, she loves the Lord and thanks Him for everything. I hope that we can be as much of a blessing in her life as she has been in ours. Dad wanted us to find a good cause for his Christmas present, so he got 4 backpacks for her family. We can't wait to give them to her. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Lord has been working in my heart since we started traveling to Nicaragua. I am addicted to things, things I want, things I think I need. I am trying to learn to enjoy the things that God has blessed me with without being attached to them. I am not always successful. The author Erwin McManus said that often we let the blessings of God become an anchor holding us back from following Him. We hold on to the things He has given us instead of holding on to Him who gave them. I still have a ways to go to learn this lesson. So often I feel like I am playing a game of Wack-a-Mole. Just when I think that I got one area of my spiritual life taken care of, another problem pops up. It's hard to believe that God loves us anyway, isn't it?</div><div><br /></div><div>Jeff left this morning for General Conference in Honduras. There will be delegates from every UB National Conference: the US, Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Honduras, Sierra Leone, and Canada. The delegates from the Phillipines were denied visas to travel through the US. It will be fascinating to hear what God is doing through U.B. churches throughout the world. He will miss three days of class which means I am going to start out ahead!</div><div><br /></div><div>Love to you all,</div><div>April (& Jeff)</div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-44405058589434051812009-11-28T08:24:00.000-08:002009-12-04T16:08:35.305-08:00Almost There!From Jeff: We have just 4 more days of classes left! It is hard to believe that it is December when it is 79 degrees out with a light breeze blowing. Time seems to have flown by. As for our Spanish, I can only say that it has improved over the first day I arrived. I had to retell a story about a disobedient mouse today in class, using the past tense. I made it through okay, but I felt as though my head might explode at any moment. My level of speaking ability compares favorably with a 2 year old. I may have to get involved with a ministry to Spanish-speaking babies somewhere. Hopefully, the next trimester will see me improve to the level of a kindergarten student. Our last exam comes on Tuesday!! Then, hopefully we'll get our grades!!<br /><div><br /></div><div>From April: Boy, it's been a busy couple of weeks! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We spent it with our cousin Bill, who has lived here in Costa Rica for 16 years. He brought the turkey and it was wonderful! His girlfriend and her son came as well. It was a great night.<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span></div><div>We had a three day weekend which was also nice. We were able to get some Christmas shopping done down town. I spent most of the weekend preparing for the Christmas party in La Carpio. I think I mentioned it before, but La Carpio is a Nicaraguan slum. It is built in around a trash dump in a old mine for cement material. (I don't know what exactly you put in cement but....) Now there are about 50,000 people living there. Most houses are of corrogated metal. The city doesn't recognize property rights there, so people build but never actually own the land. So, as you can imagine there is a lot of poverty and crime, but also a lot of great people just trying to survive. </div><div><br /></div><div>The idea was to do a movie night on Thursday as a Christmas party. We were going to show the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe and then present the gospel. Some popcorn and drinks and we were all set, right? That's what I thought. Well, a couple of churches in the states donated about $450 for gifts, which was awesome. Well, the woman in charge of the party wanted to decorate gift bags for the kids. Then she wanted to buy different gifts based on gender and age. So.... Friday night we decorated bags. Saturday, we shopped all day. Sunday, we decorated bags. Monday, I played for a Christmas Party at the school. Tuesday, we spent 7 hours in La Carpio decorating the room and making up the gift bags. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ok, so here I am trying to survive the week of school with a grammar exam and a difficult subject to understand. I didn't have a great attitude about all the time preparing for the party. I was exausted and frustrated and hadn't spent any time with my family. I am sure you know what I mean. I was on the verge of tears every moment. I didn't even want to go the party. </div><div>I had told the girl in charge that I wasn't going but I don't think she heard me. So, when the email went out about the part, I was in charge of a couple games, so I went.</div><div><br /></div><div>We had planned for 150 kids which is double what we normally have. When we pulled up the the gym on Thursday, there were about 400 kids! Word had gotten out that there were presents! Every plan we had made had to be changed. The movie was out. We couldn't use the room we had decorated. The kids could hardly fit in the gym and they would not quiet down enough to sing carols or hear any gospel presentation. Five of us had to go dump out all of the bags we had decorated and then sort everything into different boxes. The kids lined up down the street and we gave out one item to each kid. It took an hour and a half just to pass out presents. But, God was good and we had enough! </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know what exactly the moral to this story is. It was quite an experience. I just find it comical that the 25 hours spent planning for the party were all for nothing! Serves me right for having a bad attitude! Nothing went according to plan. But, I'll tell you one thing- everyone in that neighborhood knows that there is a place where people love God and love them. So hopefully, God will use this event to open doors for the full-time missionaries there. But, I did come home to a bouquet of gerber daises from Jeff. He was such a support this week.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, that's enough about that. We can't wait to see you all. Only one more week. It's so hard to believe! Love to you all.</div></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-42770357029515115552009-11-21T14:30:00.001-08:002009-11-21T14:56:54.093-08:00The Home Stretch<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Three weeks to go and the heat is on! All of a sudden we are getting lots more homework! At the mid-term break we had meetings with all of our teachers to talk about each class and how it was going. I humbly requested more homework and it looks like I am finally getting my wish! Since we will only be here for two-thirds of the normal time, we had hoped we could move quickly so that we could complete most of the grammar. Spanish is not as easy as I once thought. Picking up vocabulary is the easiest part. Actually using it correctly in speech is decidedly not easy. There are so many different verb conjugations (endings of which there seems to be an i<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/SwhvpWvoWSI/AAAAAAAAAE4/U062mEUbBUw/s200/DSCN0337.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406694108928956706" />nfinite amount), words need to be in agreement according to their "gender" (casa bonito is incorrect- it should be casa bonita), indirect and direct pronouns appear <i>before</i> the verb (as opposed to after the verb in most English sentences), some verbs are reflexive requiring a pronoun to be inserted before the verb, and the list could go on. The encouraging part for us is that we should finish the trimester one-third of the way through the grammar for the next trimester. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Camden has been cleared to resume his normal life. We are thankful because he was driving us nuts being in the house all day not able to go do something! He does need to take one more test, but that should be the end of his little ordeal.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We visited a missionary friend named Roger Reeck in the hospital yesterday. Roger primarily serves in Honduras but travels all over doing training and lots of other stuff. Several years ago he showed up at our hotel in Managua and almost got a certain person with a passport photocopy out of the country. It was fun to catch up with him, though the circumstances weren't of his choosing. He fell and ruptured a tendon in his leg, had surgery, and will be in a full-leg cast for 2 months. He had just returned from Africa where he was bitten by a kind of fly that lays its eggs inside your skin. The eggs hatch and the little buggers start tunneling through your body. Remind me to not go to Africa.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">April went on a walk today with our neighbor, Audrey, and past by a vendor selling scarves and knit hats. After all, it is 65 degrees here! It has been rather comical to see how bundled up many of the locals get. The sad part is that April seriously considered buying a set of them. I'm in heaven, though I still break a sweat on long walks! 5 degrees cooler would be perfect.</span></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-11900047934164669142009-11-13T16:00:00.000-08:002009-11-13T14:03:56.352-08:00CAT Scans & Compliments<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Wow! We've had quite the week! On Tuesday night, Camden tripped while playing soccer, crashed his abdomen into a bench, hit his head on the wall, and proceeded to vomit in the bathroom. Our neighbor, Charlie Leckie (who is a family practice doctor), checked him out and advised us to keep an eye on him. Camden ate pizza, said he felt fine, and went to bed. On Wednesday morning, he said he felt fine and went to school. We got a call Wednesday afternoon at about 2:10 saying that Camden had fainted during chapel and emergency services had been called. We rushed to the school and found him laying on the floor of the chapel in a daze. I rode with him t</span><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/Sv3U_wLWXBI/AAAAAAAAAEw/i2EkMD7N69Y/s200/Camden+wired+up.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 185px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403709319643814930" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">o the hospital while April gathered up our other kids. She later joined me at the Clinica Biblica for what turned out to be a 5 hour saga. Several tests were administered on Camden, including blood & urine tests, a CAT scan, and an ultrasound for his abdomen. We found out that he wasn't pregnant and that he does have a brain. All the tests came back normal, so they let him return home with us. We weren't convinced the two incidents were related, but we wanted to make sure. By the way, if you are in need of an MRI or a CAT scan, plan a vacation to Costa Rica. The total cost of all our tests and doctors was $500. We have a friend, Nina, who has decided to get a full body check up. Not a bad idea considering the price. April is thinking of having my brain scanned to see if there is anything going on in there. The worst part of the whole deal for Camden is that he has been restricted from playing sports for 5 days. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">While I was writing this blog, we experienced an earthquake!! Well, at least some serious tremors! Everything started shaking and the windows rattled as it lasted for about 10 seconds. It was pretty cool! However, I'd rather not experience anything more severe. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Lately, April has been kicking my tail in all of our classes, mostly because she studies more than I do, but also because I have been the victim of some unfortunate circumstances! We had an oral Phonetics test last week where I was the first person to take it (I volunteered to go first). I had to read about 30% more than everyone else, thereby giving me more to mess up! I scored an 80%, while April received an 85%. Oh well, those are the breaks. Then, today in Grammar class, our teacher, Maritza, comments on how much April has improved over the past 10 weeks. If this continues, April will soon have trouble getting her t-shirts to fit over her inflated head.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">And, my favorite thing to happen this week: we've discovered an awesome Cantonese restaurant that serves food exactly like the food we loved while in Macau. The owner even speaks Cantonese (even though I can't speak much anymore). We have eaten Chinese 4 days this past week. It is soooooo good. We had beef bak choi today for lunch. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Today was 70 degrees and overcast with a little breeze blowing. April had to return home to put on socks, shoes, a sweatshirt and a jacket, as well as ordering a hot chocolate from Cosas. I thought it was the nicest weather since we arrived 2 months ago!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Well, gotta go. We are looking forward to being home for a while!</span></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-17992681652887801742009-11-06T22:36:00.000-08:002009-11-07T05:29:51.113-08:00Hitting the Wall<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It took me longer than most, but I have finally hit the proverbial wall in trying to learn Spanish. Thankfully, I feel like I have busted through the wall for the most part. It was a tough week for me in my studies because I was glued to the World Series every night. The Phillies just couldn't get a big hit. Oh well. However, this has allowed April to pull ahead in our classes, much to my dismay. This week we learned direct and indirect objects and their pronoun substitutes. These are a little difficult to use when speaking because they come before the verb instead of after. For example: "Jeff gives the book to April" using pronouns becomes "I give it to her." In Spanish you would say "I her it give." Of course, this makes absolutely no sense to me. So, to actually use them I have to speak slower than a 2 year old which makes me feel about as smart as one, too. I want to go back to just butchering the language yet getting my point across. It was better for me not to know how incredibly wrong I was. Believe it or not, this actually has reinforced the topics from Spiritual Emphasis week. Most days, we don't have a clue as to how sinful we really are. When you realize how sinful you really are, it is quite humbling to know that God loves you anyways. It is easier to walk around in a bubble of "I'm doing pretty good" than to repent of our sin and try to walk in obedience.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It is 72 degrees and Maria is huddled on the couch under a blanket.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Camden and I went to see the Harlem Globetrotters perform a day after his birthday. They really put on a great show! The basketball wasn't that great, but the ball handling and the showmanship were really fun. One guy could spin the ball on his finger, transfer it to his bald head, and have the ball stop and balance on his head. That was pretty cool. The whole basketball team went so now they want to do the three man weave during a game. We had a junior high game on Thursday and we actually played pretty well. We lost 24-18, but that is a big improvement over our first game in which we lost by 41. It's hard to improve much only practicing 3 hours a week.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">On Friday night, April and I got together with Pastor Eric and his wife Iris for dinner. We went to a Cantonese restaurant and it literally tasted like we were in Macau again. It was awesome! We had a great time practicing Spanish with Eric and Iris while enjoying some of the best food on earth. We rarely eat out (except for PriceSmart pizza once a week) so this was a real treat for us!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We are excited about things going on in Clare! We are praying for the FMSC event that is happening even as I write this blog! We are also excited about the baptism service! God is still at work in the lives of people! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Until next time...</span></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-37354804334878857572009-10-29T19:16:00.001-07:002009-10-29T20:03:55.149-07:00Hola, everyone! Today is a very exciting day for me (April). Today, something I've been dreaming of and hoping for since 1989- for 20 long years has finally come to pass. Today, I, for the first time in my life, was able to roll my R's. I have been trying to do this since freshman Spanish. I finally can. A whole new world of Spanish pronunciation has opened up. I can say <i>carro, arriba, error</i>, and so many more! It is a wonderful, exciting day. I have been released from my speech impediment. It is time for bed, but I just had to share the news.<div><br /></div><div>We are so excited about the baptisms at Brown's. The news from home has been very exciting. God is still in the business of changing lives, including mine. I have been really challenged here in Costa Rica. Our last speaker talked about how much Christ loves us, not because of anything we do, but just because that is the way it is. You would think we already know this and we do when we are saved, but we seem to get confused along the way. We think, "Hey, I've been a Christian for 10 years. I'm doing pretty good so God must love me, at least in part, because of what I'm doing for Him." Or, we think, "I've been a Christian for 10 years and l'm a mess. God must be so disappointed in me." So we live either with pride, or with a sense that God is disappointed. We forget that Christ loves us no matter what. He wants our obedience, but that doesn't add to his love. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have been feeling that way for a while-that God is disappointed in me. Why can't I do more? Why can't I forgive more easily? Why can't I keep my mouth shut? How can God be pleased with me- He has given me every opportunity in life and shouldn't I have more to show for it? It seems like I was doing better at 20 than I am at 35! It was a real shock to admit what I was feeling. I was trying to earn the love of Christ and not succeeding. I guess I needed to be reminded of the Gospel again- that God so loved the world...while we were yet sinners Christ died for us... We don't stop being sinners and we don't stop being loved. I am going through my Bible right now and underlining every reference to God's love for me. It should be fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>Love to you all from Jesus Christ and from me, </div><div>Amen and Buenas Noches</div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-10136580986168513332009-10-25T20:07:00.000-07:002009-10-25T20:30:23.907-07:00Refreshing Week<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">We finished up our Spiritual Emphasis Week with the morning service on Friday. Our speaker, Josiah Bancroft, did a great job of reminding us that all we do should be in response to all Christ did for us and not a part of some game of competitive sanctification. When we realize how sinful we are and how perfect God is, our response to His salvation should be incredible joy and a heart's desire to be obedient, though our attempts at obeying perfectly pale in comparison to Christ! We should not be comparing ourselves or others to anyone else. It was a very refreshing week spiritually, but quite exhausting. We didn't have homework or tests, but our schedule was very full with services every morning and evening with classes sandwiched around them.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I volunteered to coach the junior boys at Sojourn Academy since we have 6 of them on the high school team. We had our first practice Saturday, which was pretty fun. We have three games scheduled already over the next 12 days. Camden is really excited- he's ready to play against kids closer to his size. We both got a chance to play modified softball Sunday morning. Camden made a great play in the outfield. The field was really wet- several times I jumped large puddles to make a play. It was fun nonetheless.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">What a fun time of year right now! The Phillies are in the World Series again, the Steelers beat Favre and the Vikings, and Penn State finally won in Ann Arbor. Let's hope it continues!</span></div><div><br /></div></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-11644982788419289512009-10-20T18:56:00.000-07:002009-10-20T19:32:57.499-07:00No Homework?!This week is a special week on the campus of ILE (Instituto de Lengua Espanola) as we are in the middle of Spiritual Emphasis Week. There are several likeable things about this week, including the fact that we do not have any homework or tests! We get to enjoy a special speaker, Josiah, both morning and evening. Here are some of the highlights so far: <div><ul><li>From Luke 7 we began with a discussion/presentation about joy. Josiah contrasted the joy factor in Simon, the host, and the uninvited woman. The catch phrase of the lesson was: "forgiven little, love little- forgiven much, love much"</li><li>From Philippians 3 we looked at Paul and how he needed to repent of his religiosity. This led to a discussion on how we need to better understand how deep our sin is and how incredible God's holiness is.</li><li>The whole gospel is equal parts forgiveness and righteousness. Jesus death on the cross gives us forgiveness once and for all, and He imparts his righteousness to us through our faith in Him- we cannot earn it. When we couple our forgiveness and our unearned righteousness with a bigger understanding of our sin and God's holiness we should be overflowing with joy and motivated to be obedient!!</li><li>And, we received an assignment today that challenges us to refrain from doing a laundry list of things for the next 3 days. Among the items we can't do are gossipping, criticizing others, complaining, boasting, deceiving, stretching the truth, interrupting others, making excuses, and defending yourself. Sounds like fun, eh?</li></ul><div>We are anxious to hear the next 5 sessions! The kids get the added treat of participating in VBS in the evenings thanks to a group of people who came from the States just to do that!</div><div><br />Mason has been working hard at learning "Fist of the Dragon" martial arts. <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/St5ttKC2xSI/AAAAAAAAAEA/Q5QNtATMvcA/s1600-h/DSCN0335.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394870026194306338" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/St5ttKC2xSI/AAAAAAAAAEA/Q5QNtATMvcA/s200/DSCN0335.JPG" /></a> He has 3 sessions each week <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/St5uPyk_NTI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/UxwmVslN370/s1600-h/DSCN0329.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394870621190436146" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/St5uPyk_NTI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/UxwmVslN370/s200/DSCN0329.JPG" /></a>and thus far there have only been two students! I watched the lesson today and was pretty impressed. Devin and Mason worked hard for 90 minutes, kicking the heavy bag, learning how to properly fall, doing flips, slightly punching each other, stretching body parts I'd rather not stretch, and having a blast doing everything. I really think April should sign up for the class. Then she wouldn't have any fear in walking after dark!</div><div><br /><br /> </div><p></p></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-12348983202066135342009-10-19T13:52:00.000-07:002009-10-19T14:41:09.077-07:00Sights, Baseball, and oh yeah, Grades!<div align="left">We received our mid-term grades today, and to the surprise of most, I actually am ahead!! Not by much, but one percentage point can change the world (think Bush/Gore 2000). Here is a rundown of our grades thusfar:<br /></div><br /><ul><li><div align="left">Phonetics: Jeff 98, April 97</div></li><li><div align="left">Language: Jeff 98, April 96</div></li><li><div align="left">Grammar: April 99, Jeff 97.5 (April seems to think this is more important as we have this class for 2 hours. I would like to point out that the only reason I don't have a 100 is because I screwed up on part of an oral quiz 3 weeks ago.)</div></li></ul><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StzXumBAinI/AAAAAAAAADY/MD0rAEmqico/s1600-h/DSCN0327.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394423649161742962" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StzXumBAinI/AAAAAAAAADY/MD0rAEmqico/s400/DSCN0327.JPG" /></a> <p align="left">This weekend, April, Camden, & Mason went on a very long hike up a very steep mountain. That was Saturday, today is Monday and April is still complaining about how much her "nalgas" hurt (that's "buttcheeks" for those of you who don't understand Spanish). They hiked for about 4 hours with an hour of bus riding to and from the mountain. Upon returning, April stated that she wanted pizza and 5 hours of tv. I fell in love all over again. The boys had no trouble going up and down the mountain. They loved it! Mason took tons of pictures!</p><br /><p align="left">I am now officially part of a modified softball team. Saturday mornings we hold practices for a kids team we are trying to put together, but the dads of the kids would also practice. So, we decided to form our own team. We had our first game Sunday morning (before church) and got thrashed. It is a little different than traditional softball as the pitcher throws as hard as he can underhand without raising his hand above his head. So, you can't throw the ball as hard as in fast-pitch, but it is still pretty fun. I left the house at 7:15, road my landlord's bike to the park a few miles away, played most of the game, left the park at 8:55, got back to our house at 8:59 (it's all downhill on the way back), showered and got to church by 9:15. </p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StzcR8I9EBI/AAAAAAAAADg/cyPlTCRL2L0/s1600-h/DSCN0223.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394428654442582034" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StzcR8I9EBI/AAAAAAAAADg/cyPlTCRL2L0/s200/DSCN0223.JPG" /></a> <p align="left">Speaking of teams, Camden's basketball team had its first game on Friday. Final score: 83-28. It was a good effort. It was pretty funny to see Camden and some of his junior high buddies going up against much taller high school boys. We actually are putting together some junior high games that I will help coach so the younger kids can play against teams that aren't so big!</p>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-49950323819382077302009-10-14T12:00:00.000-07:002009-10-14T15:42:49.234-07:00Nicaragua!!<div><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StY7D7kbgXI/AAAAAAAAAC4/PMfqEvrHx3U/s1600-h/DSCN0132.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392562542538883442" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StY7D7kbgXI/AAAAAAAAAC4/PMfqEvrHx3U/s200/DSCN0132.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:verdana;">This weekend was a whirlwind as we made a trip to Nicaragua to renew our visas. We left our home at 11:30 Friday morning and arrived in Granada at 10:30 or so. It was a long trip made much more bearable by the company we had with us. We took two young ladies, Tricia & Kate, with us on our adventure (their first trip to Nicaragua) and also had another family, the Johnson's, traveling to Nicaragua at the same time. The Johnson boys, Jeffrey & Wesley, are good friends with our boys and their daughter, Katie, took care of our girls for much of the bus ride. The Johnson's were headed to Diriamba to visit a home for troubled teenage girls. We got up early on Saturday and everyone went to the market in Masaya while I met with Jesus concerning a side project we hope to get started. After the market, we headed for "TelePizza" to get some cheese! Cheese is really expensive in Costa Rica, so Tele's monster cheese-filled calzones were on our to-do list. After eating more than we should have, we went to visit the church that we built in August. It is finished for the most part and looks great. We saw several o<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StY8GHBmr6I/AAAAAAAAADQ/owqS9OlXAJU/s1600-h/april+and+rosa.jpg"></a>f the kids and a couple of the mom's. Of course, they asked about Linda and when she was coming back! We then stopped by Catarina for some photo ops before returning to Juan Pavon's for tacos, a youth church service, and updates on what's going on with our churches in Nicaragua. We finished the evening by meeting up with Kristen Haskin's toothless Romeo. He's patiently awaiting her return!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The next morning we experienced our first baptism service in Nicaragua. Maria said it was a only a 30 minute service, which sounded pretty good to us. What we didn't realize, was that it was 45 minute drive. The service was held on the shores of Lak<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StY7qBrElXI/AAAAAAAAADA/biMcxzycxdY/s1600-h/baptism.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 260px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 190px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392563197012383090" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StY7qBrElXI/AAAAAAAAADA/biMcxzycxdY/s200/baptism.jpg" /></a>e Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America (think Lake Michigan). The other important fact Maria left out was that everyone gets in the water and forms a circle around those being baptized. We didn't bring extra clothes, so we just watched. After watching the service, I really think we should try this at Kleinhardt's pond next summer! The ladies spent the early part of the afternoon seeing Granada's seven beautiful cathedrals. It really is a beautiful city. We are really trying to set up one of the girls with Dan Best, but after viewing his Facebook page, she is having second thoughts! He needs to step it up a little. Then we ventured off to Diramba to see the home for troubled teenaged girls. We learned a little about the ministry there and got to spend some time with one of the girls- she is 16, was "abused" by a half-brother, got pregnant, tried to commit suicide, but then a miracle happened! She is now saved by grace and is doing as well as can be expected. April had a fun time with her 6 month old son!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">To wrap up the weekend, we spent an afternoon at the ocean with Juan, Candida, and Maria Pavon. The kids <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StY73z7I5LI/AAAAAAAAADI/fWZDfEuUs8Q/s1600-h/beach.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392563433839846578" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BXqtXcSG4fc/StY73z7I5LI/AAAAAAAAADI/fWZDfEuUs8Q/s200/beach.jpg" /></a>had a blast. The ocean is very warm there with lots of crabs and other creepy crawlies to discover. This was the first time at the ocean for Ellie, and probably the first time that Karis can remember. After another 8 hour bus ride, we were glad to be back in San Jose, especially because it is about 10 degrees cooler and probably 25 percent less humid.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">So, we returned to classes today and got some test scores back. April sorely missed Maria, because in her absence I have drawn even or overtaken the lead in all our classes. Now that Maria has returned I will have to step it up a notch to maintain all that I have accomplished! Actually, we are both doing really well. My lowest test score was a 90 I received on a grammar test, and April's lowest was a 90 she received on a language test. Every other score has been over 95. However, those great scores have not carried over into our ability to speak! We've been told that at some point things will just "click." We hope it happens soon! Pics from the weekend are coming soon!</span></div></div></div>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-14461074987716690622009-10-05T16:36:00.000-07:002009-10-05T16:44:33.357-07:00Pictures, Pictures, Pictures<span style="font-family:verdana;">We are trying to add a few more elements to our blog. Each week we hope to post new pictures which will appear in the form of a slideshow on the right side of our blog. I just posted a few pics of our kids with their teachers (Camden has yet to get one taken with his teachers). Ellie's teacher is Miss Monica- she only speaks Spanish so Ellie is actually doing really well with her language learning! Karis' teacher is Miss Bedortha, though she is getting married soon! Mason's teacher is Miss Siscoe, who happens to be traveling with us to Nicaragua next week. We broke the news to Mason yesterday. He took it well. Camden has a couple of teachers, but his primary teacher is Miss Faulk. Also seen in one of the pictures is Mason's best friend, Skylar. He is a freak like Mason. They are so similar it's scary. Mason continues his new class in martial arts called Fist of the Dragon tomorrow. He and our neighbor's boy are the only two in the class. I'm trying to get April to take it, but my attempts to coerce her have been thwarted. Thanks to all of you who are committed to remembering our family in prayer. Hopefully the pics will help you get a visual on some of those prayers!</span>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-870426695668045792009-10-03T18:42:00.000-07:002009-10-03T17:41:23.656-07:00Me and My Barbies<span style="font-family:verdana;">We did not have school Friday, as all the teachers had an in-service training day, so we decided to go to the Children's Museum with our neighbors. We took a bus to the downtown section of San Jose, then had to walk for about 20 minutes to get there. It was pretty fun, with lots of exhibits and things for the kids to do. The highlight of the day for all of us was when a local woman came up to Ellie and commented that she looked like a Barbie Doll. Then the woman saw April and made the same comparison. As we walked back toward the bus stop, April began to take note of all the people passing by looking at Ellie and commenting "que linda" which means "how cute." It pays to be blonde and beautiful in a dark-haired country!!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Our landlady, Ivonne, recently told me I could use her really sweet mountain bike if I could fix it. I fixed it and went for a ride this morning. This bike has disc brakes, shocks, and just about anything you could ask for on a bike. I went to the bank, and as I was leaving, I decided to ride off the curb and onto the street. Bad decision. The front shocks compressed and sent me over the handlebars. I did manage to perform a hand-stand for a few seconds before regaining a standing position with the bike wrapped around me. I have since tightened up the front suspension and can now focus on all the cars that could potentially hit me. No, April will not be riding a bike, so you don't need to add that to your prayer list! </span>The Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290337530004704096.post-58928785873817772792009-09-28T14:29:00.000-07:002009-09-28T17:22:46.129-07:00Finally!From Jeff:<br />It took some time, but I have finally pulled ahead of April in one of our classes, Phonetics, thanks to a stellar performance on our last exam. Of course, she is leading in Grammar and we are about even in Lenguaje, but I must relish this potentially short-lived supremacy! Praise God she can't trill her "r's" yet!<br /><br />The papers here are saying we are headed for water shortfalls beginning in January. Most areas are between 20% and 40% under the normal rainfall for June through September. This means April will not be able to take her normal 20 minute shower and I've decided to only take sponge baths to help out. I am beginning the search for a nurse to bath me. Really, though, the whole country suffers when it doesn't rain because so much of the infrastructure here is related to the agriculture industry. However, it has been raining for the past 5 hours, so maybe we could catch up a bit!<br /><br />Prayer points: Our kids are having a bit of an adjustment to actually going to school. They need prayer in the area of forgetfulness. As in they forget their books, forget their homework, forget they need supplies for cooking class, forget they need to bring.... We would also appreciate prayer for our meeting with our 4 Costa Rican UB pastors. We are taking all of them out to dinner on Friday! And finally, that April would actually apply some of the knowledge we gained in our PeaceMaker Seminar (see below).<br /><br />From April:<br />Jeff almost cried when I kicked his tail in grammar so I decided to back off a little. I don't want to destroy him this early in the trimester. Saturday we had an eclipse of some kind. It was cloudy, so it was hard to see exactly but it made a large ring around the sun. It looked like a rainbow in a circle. It was pretty cool.<br /><br />Yesterday it was pretty hot. Ellie said, "It's always hot on Sundays, that's why they call it SUNday." Makes sense, doesn't it?<br /><br />Today, I get to give my first piano lesson to a 14 yr.old. boy from La Carpio (the Nicaraguan slum). They call him Lapiz, which means pencil in English. He is a gifted musician but hasn't had any formal training. I am looking forward to it. Steve, the missionery in La Carpio, hopes that music could be Lapiz's ticket to a better future. It is exciting to see what God will do.<br /><br />I told you Jeff and I attended the peacemaker seminar on conflict resolution. We learned some really good stuff. The lesson we both appreciated most was the one on confession. We learned how to apologize in meaningful ways like: 1. I'm sorry <strong><em>if</em></strong> you're hurt. 2. I'm sorry <strong><em>if</em></strong> I did something wrong. 3. I know I said something wrong, <strong><em>but</em></strong> what about what you did wrong? 4. I'm sorry you are so sensitive. Jeff and I are already experts in this area but it was good to be reminded. If you want to take advantage of this wisdom just make sure you use key words like <em><strong>if</strong> </em>,<strong><em>but, </em></strong>and <em><strong>maybe</strong></em> in your confession and you too can be on your way to a successful marriage.<br />Well, off to my piano lesson in Spanish! AdiosThe Dice'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14127259697817342915noreply@blogger.com0