Christmas in Costa Rica!

 Papa White Hair and Grandma J visited us over Christmas!  Seeing their faces at the airport was the beginning of many, "man this is awesome!" moments during the week.  One of the days we visited an active volcano (pictured to the left).  During our time a the National Park we were able to do some hiking which was a true highlight for these Colorado Ferry's living in Costa Rica!  Reese added in an extra measure of fun with her hiking-wresting hybrid.  

Never boring!

Back at home in San Jose we spent Christmas Eve making 6 pies, black bean brownies for Santa (yes, you read that right...), a birthday cake for Jesus, graham cracker gingerbread houses, poinsettia centerpieces from egg cartons and coffee filters, and egg carton Christmas trees.  We were super crafty and enjoyed time together chatting, laughing and creating.

Another day during Christmas break we visited the Doka Coffee Estate.  We learned that Doka exports 80% of its coffee to Starbucks!

It was a big day as Georgia and Reese tasted coffee for the 1st time.  Chris and I are so proud being HUGE coffee drinkers ourselves.  I'm not sure they'll be drinking it daily but we rest at night knowing we have at least paved the path for them to enrich their life with the magic bean of COFFEE!!!!  We take our parental duties very seriously.

Chris and Bob took time together to chat and catch up.  Bob's constant presence in his son's life has been a great stabilizing factor and Chris is grateful for his continued presence as we life abroad. We praise God that Bob and Judy were able to come and share in the Costa Rica phase of our journey towards Ecuador.

Tina spent much of the Christmas break in the kitchen cooking three meals a day for our family and visitors.  Now before you say, "Poor Tina!" remember that cooking is one of her favorite hobbies.  So, this time was spent in great joy and having Grandma J do all the dishes made it all the sweeter!!

In the end, Christmas week was a sweet time of family and celebration.  Although we didn't have a "real tree" or snow or all of our family and friends present the Reason for the Season remained.  Jesus.  The Greatest Gift of All.  We enjoyed celebrating His birth in new and different ways this year in Costa Rica.  This year we had carrot and pineapple birthday cake adorned with our homemade poinsettia centerpieces...  Feliz Navidad from Costa Rica!

Trimester One - Done!!

Trimester 1 of our 3 trimester year of language learning is complete!!  We've included pictures of Tina standing with each of our teachers (we had the same 3 teachers but different class schedules).

 This trimester was full of mistakes, progress, patience, growth, frustration, sleeplessness, hope, victory and so much more!  We learned to "trust the process", to persevere and have faith in God's character and strength even if we grow tired and weary.

We have also been striving to choose gratitude in the midst of hardship.  This is a hard process but we count it as a total gift and a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Who can complain about that?!  (Well, sometimes we can but that's where grace comes in isn't it?)

God blessed us this trimester with teachers who seek to please God with their work.  Each of them view their work as an opportunity to equip missionaries to share the love and grace of God with all of Latin America.  Their patience, heart and consistent presence were a huge gift and stabilizer during this stretching time.

Shortly after our trimester ended Chris made his way to Nicaragua to renew his tourist visa.  This trip was made with two other Chris'.  Just imagine all the jokes told about 3 Chris' headed to the border.  They were truly endless!  The three Chris' spent over 16 hours on a public bus, 4 of which were spent waiting at the border for clearance.  Chris (Ferry) specifically begrudged the bus music-soundtrack of Celine Dion.  He made jokes about a new form of torture - bus border crossings with Celine Dion...a recipe to make any guilty party confess on the spot!

While Chris was in Nicaragua the girls and I enjoyed a quiet girls-only weekend.  We read books, snuggled, played chase, cards and more.  This was a sweet time for us but we were very glad to have Daddy back home!!  As a gift, we promised him no Celine Dion music for the next year.

Turkey Fruit, Meat and Time With Grandparents Can't Be Beat!

Thanksgiving has been "tropicalized" in the Ferry house!  It's been such fun to tweak some of our home traditions and adapt them to our new environment.  Also, it was a great opportunity to use Spanish when trying to explain to the deli counter employee that you are making a turkey out of fruit and cubed cheese and lunch meat.  Lots of laughter, side stepping, back stepping and in the end... Turkey Fruit!!

Each of the girls were able to share their tropical turkeys with their class and kicked off our tropical Thanksgiving of 2014.

We were also incredibly thankful to have Papa Whiskers and Grandma Ibsen visit from Colorado.  They came bearing gifts of toothpaste (we have a couple picky toothpaste users!), packages sent by churches, friends and so much more.  It was like an early Christmas.  Mostly, however, our most cherished moments were the ones spent snuggling, chatting, laughing and updating on the normal ins-and-outs of every day life here in Costa Rica and in Colorado.

Grandma spent time with the girls making a Christmas train out of cereal boxes, glitter, ribbon and other recycling bin finds! She also made an angel tree topper and ribbon garland.  All Christmas long we looked at them and played with them remembering our sweet time over Thanksgiving.  There is no one like a Grandma to bring warmth and love to the holidays...

And, now to get to the "meat" of the post.  (Hey! Don't groan. We need all the humor we can get!) Anyways, Great Grandma Ibsen took it upon herself to stock our freezer with meat that is hard to find, super expensive or just not up to quality here in Costa Rica. Ever since Thanksgiving we have been savoring each piece of bacon; enjoying each serving of spaghetti with italian sausage and more.  Little tastes of home have made this transition so much for "palatable". (C'mon! I had to throw one last groan-worthy word in...)

La-La-Bomba!

Here in Costa Rica they are all about their fireworks (or, bombas, as Costa Ricans call them).  They are also all about their street parades!  For their "Dia De Independecia" -- Independence Day -- schools each host their own street parade to celebrate.  The kids make homemade lanterns, the school band plays loudly (with an emphasis on the drums!) and police block off neighborhood streets for the march.  Our girlies participated in this and loved the experience.  We used our recycling pile to construct lanterns and marched with the best of them!

This was all such a welcome cultural experience until we encountered the "dark" side of their firework and parade love and admiration.  Imagine this... It's early Saturday morning.  You are fading in and out of glorious sleep; so thankful that after a long week of early mornings and brain-twisting language learning you have the opportunity to sleep past 5:30am and listen to the yellow-bellied birds chirp on the line outside your window as you casually sip your second cup of coffee. Sounds nice, right?  Well that's not how it works. NOPE!!!!  Here's the truth -- It's early Saturday morning; about 4:30am.  You are fading in and out of glorious sleep when --- BOOM!!! --- Your eyes burst open, your heart beats quickly.  You ask yourself, "Self? Are we in Kuwait in the 90's or Costa Rica in 2014?"  Then it hits you.  You're not under attack...the Costa Rican's are setting off Bomba's at 4:30am in celebration of St. Francis.  Then, suddenly --- BOOM!!!! --- and then it really starts.  The band, the horns, the drums that really like to express themselves and stand out among their fellow instruments!  Sleep is out of the question.  The school of culture doesn't close it's doors for a Saturday and Sunday break.  Our lesson was at 4:30am on a Saturday morning and it's one we will never forget!!

Puntito - The Little Polkadot Car!

We've been in Costa Rica for 6 weeks now.  Each day walking, taking buses, and hailing taxis in the rain.  This experience has been a huge adjustment from our two-car suburban lifestyle in Colorado.  Not bad, but certainly an adjustment.  Trips to grocery stores similar to Costco without a car have proven to be an exercise in strategy and will.  The only cheese we have found that will melt into homemade mac-n-cheese is a 30 minute walk from our house.  I make the walk.  I love mac-n-cheese. We have it figured out and have hit a rhythm.

This past weekend, as a shout out to our past we made the leap and we rented a car!  I kept snapping pictures of the girls buckling their seat belts, Chris navigating roundabouts, paying tolls...not one of them turned out.  The car was so small it was like I shoved the entire family in a closet with a steering wheel and some seat belts and told them to say "cheese!"  We named the car Puntito, or "little dot" in English.

We soaked in every minute of independence; the fact that we could turn on the radio and listen to Costa Rica's favorite genre of music - 80's soft rock and ballads.  It's the soundtrack of our life.

On this trip to the beach (a 1.5 hour drive) Chris also managed to smack his nose of the bottom of the swimming pool.  He broke his nose and we had a nice trip to the public hospital to entertain his need for stitches.  We paid $120 for 3 clear bandaids and a nurse to aggressively manipulate his wounded nose.  Also in the background?  Construction workers removing the wall of the exam room using a grinder to cut a nail in half.  Shards of nail and sparks were flying across the room to create an entertaining scene.  Chris and I praised God that we learned to navigate a public hospital when it was only his nose at stake.  Now whenever we walk, taxi, or bus past any form of construction we giggle and shake our heads.  Pura Vida!

Books and Coffee!!!

We are about month into language school and books have taken over our house.  Things are said in our house that we've never said before.  Things like - - "Georgia and Reese! You need to brush your teeth so we aren't late for school.  Mom and Dad can't get a tardy in Grammar class!"  We always pause and laugh.  I think Georgia and Reese are enjoying the shared pressure of school with their parents.

Our days start around 5:30am and rarely wrap up before 10pm.  Each moment is filled with attending classes, studying, cooking, hanging laundry, washing dishes, washing dishes and washing dishes.  Dishwashers are not a common appliance here. We've learned to record our Spanish vocabulary words and listen to them while washing dishes.  Chris is continuing his chronological Bible-in-a-year reading by listening to each daily reading while washing dishes. Genius!!

Chris and I have greatly valued our Monday-Friday lunches together before we tackle the books.  We make the 2nd pot of coffee for the day and study and sip, study and sip, study and sip.

In the evenings all four members of our family are often found sitting at the kitchen table studying and practicing; very often, erasing and reworking.  Never underestimate the power of caffeine!

Home Sweet Blue-Home

Our long driveway.  The dog isn't ours!!
Rosita, our neighbor's dog, likes to come over and rest on our
porch while his owner is at work.  

We have arrived to our new home in Costa Rica.  Renting a home without ever physically seeing the home was a leap of faith but we have been pleasantly surprised!  Upon arrival Reese pointed out that our house is "Cookie Monster Blue!" We have barbed wire, multiple locks and doors, a long driveway and cement walls.  Our Blue-House is like nothing we've ever lived in before.

Despite their exhaustion from an overnight flight from Denver to San Jose, the girls scurried around the house excitedly opening cabinets and doors.  The top and bottom bunks were quickly chosen and stuffed animals tossed onto pillows.  We got lessons in hot water heaters, bug-management, lock do's and don'ts and more.  We located the breaker.  All the important things.

Now we've lived here for a couple weeks and it's beginning to feel like home.  Both Georgia and Reese were missing having a pet so we sprung for a couple parakeets that we can give away at the end of our year here in Costa Rica.  This was a fun trip!  We rode by taxi to a recommended veterinarian's office to purchase a pet.  After choosing the birds, the cage, the food we hailed a taxi (think Nissan Sentra) and climbed into the taxi bird cage and all.  Those birds had the ride of their life!! Our taxi driver was the craziest driver we've had yet! Knight and Angel are now peacefully living in the corner of our living room and sing to us as we study.