Where is "home" anyway? Technically I'm "home" here in Costa Rica with my family after being solo in Chile for 9 days. But we'll all be going "home" in less than 3 weeks to visit with my parents in Florida. Then "home" to visit my in-laws in WV, before going "home" to Maine to visit with my siblings and extended family. Then we'll be going "home" to Ohio to stay at the same house that was truly "home" for over 2 years.
So, where do we consider "home?" First, I know the Biblical response is in heaven with Christ. "For where your treasure is, there your heart is also." However, here on earth, where do we consider "home?" Really, our nuclear family is "home." When we are all together, we are "home." However, we are truly looking forward to having a physical "home" to live in with stuff that is familiar to our family.
All of this moving has been REALLY hard on our kids. They really don't know where "home" is. Each time you walk into your "home" please pray for Caleb and Hannah and for other MK's who didn't ask to give up their families, physical homes, and belongings to be a part of a missionary family. Pray for wisdom for the parents of these special kid missionaries. Balancing ministry and the real needs of our kids is hard.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Here in Chile
I've been blessed to have seen the doctor down here, and PRAISE GOD they have everything that I need. The doctor understood everything and after a nice conversation in both English and Spanish, I feel comfortable that my medical care here should be just as good as what I would have in the states.
On another note, we've found a house!! I know it seems fast, but I've been looking at houses on-line for over 3 months and after seeing this one we decided that since it becomes available in the beginning of February, has everything we need, has plenty of space to have people over, and was within our price range, we'd try to reserve it. Therefore, over the next few days I have to get the money out of the bank to put down a deposit and such, so that we can sign a contract hopefully before I leave on Saturday. If not some fellow missionaries will sign and we'll transfer it all when we get here in February. Here are some pictures with the current resident´s furniture... I´m sure I´ll post more once we´ve moved in.
On another note, we've found a house!! I know it seems fast, but I've been looking at houses on-line for over 3 months and after seeing this one we decided that since it becomes available in the beginning of February, has everything we need, has plenty of space to have people over, and was within our price range, we'd try to reserve it. Therefore, over the next few days I have to get the money out of the bank to put down a deposit and such, so that we can sign a contract hopefully before I leave on Saturday. If not some fellow missionaries will sign and we'll transfer it all when we get here in February. Here are some pictures with the current resident´s furniture... I´m sure I´ll post more once we´ve moved in.
The office/guest room window that you walk by to get to the ¨front¨ door.
Looking from the back yard toward öur¨front gate - basically looking at the driveway.
Back yard with slightly covered patio
View of kitchen from the front door. Kitchens this size are VERY rare in Chile. They are usually gally type kitchens because it is offensive to have anyone else in your kitchen while you are cooking. Mostly because in the past and in the upper classes the maids/nannies do all the cooking, so one wouldn´t want to offend someone by asking them to help you cook or even join you in the kitchen while you cook. Off to the right past the ¨kitchen¨table is the covered laundry area with extra storage. Before getting to the table, also on the right is the entrance to the SMALL maid´s quarters. Obviously we will NOT have a LIVE IN MAID, so we´ll use that possibly as a homeschool resource room or something.
View from Living/Dining room looking into office/guest room, front door to the right past the stairs and open staircase. 
Office/Guest room that actually has an attached bath.
Dining area of the Living Room/Dining room combination
Living room section of the Living/Dining room with the sliding glass doors out to the backyard/covered patio
Master Bedroom and Bath - We are praising God that this house has PLENTY of storage space, like closets, because here in Chile they are practically non-existent.
The Kids´bathroom directly across from the stair landing
The kids´rooms are mirror images of one another. They´ll each have a closet like this one and a small area to use as a desk. For Caleb he´ll probably just use it to stack toys, but for Hannah I think she´ll probably want an art station all to herself.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
EARTHQUAKE!!!
I forget to mention that we had a 6.2 earthquake last night around 1 in the morning. I guess it happened on the Costa Rica and Panama border. I was slightly awake and could hear the ground rumbling and got out of bed to walk to the kids room when the main part ran right down the hallway of our house. It was bouncing pretty good (or I was mostly still asleep). Caleb had some lego toys on the side of his bed that got bounced off and ended up splattering over the tile floor. And then . . . just like that it was gone.
Kind of like the thief that ran across the top of our roof in the middle of the night over the weekend.
Too bad Heather was in Chile - she missed all the fun!!
I don't mind these little ones, kind of interesting, but I'm certainly hoping we never have a big one here or in Chile. Although I hear that Chile is overdue for a big one . . . .
Kind of like the thief that ran across the top of our roof in the middle of the night over the weekend.
Too bad Heather was in Chile - she missed all the fun!!
I don't mind these little ones, kind of interesting, but I'm certainly hoping we never have a big one here or in Chile. Although I hear that Chile is overdue for a big one . . . .
Meanwhile back in Costa Rica . . . .
Following up on my wife's post below . . . here is our story back in San Jose.
So Heather called us and said we needed to go pick up Mr. Bunny International at the airport on Friday. His flight was to land at 10:30 so we needed to leave early to get there. Well to start off we had very little money at the house and we were not going to get paid for another two weeks so we need to get to the airport as cheaply as possible. Praise God that Costa Rica has an incredible bus system to get around the country, but it is still a process.
We left the house around 9:45 and walked over to the school (15 to 20 minutes - depending on how grumpy the kids are that day) and went to the bank. Well the first bank we went to did not have the ATM functioning so we had to walk further down the block to another ATM. While waiting in line we saw some other friends so while talking to them 3 other people jumped in front of us in the ATM line. Things to remember in Costa Rica -personal space is not much space at all - so if you are more than 12 inches from the person in front of you in a line - technically you are not in line at all - and people will feel free to avail themselves of those enormous 12 inches.
So finally we got our money from the ATM, walked up the street and then went and waited 10 minutes for the bus. This is the bus to get us from our part of town to downtown San Jose. This ride isn't too bad - maybe 20 minutes. Once we got into downtown San Jose we had to walk a good 10 blocks or so through downtown San Jose to the bus stop for the buses going out by the airport. Just as we walked up to the station one bus left so we had to go get in line for the next bus. Thankfully a lot of people go out to this side of town so the bus was filled pretty quickly and off we went. This bus ride is at least 30 or more minutes because through out the trip they are constantly picking up and dropping of people. So Gallatea arrived around 10:30 and we got to the airport around 11 or just after.
First of all we went downstairs to the security office to find out where we needed to go. The lady there said we needed to go upstairs to the Copa airline office and talk with them. So we walked back across the street, up the escalator, across the people bridge and into the check-in area. We walked up to the Copa check-in line and the guy at the front of the line said that our bunny was probably not at the office but at the cargo office. This office is about 2 miles before you get to the airport so now we went back across the people bridge, out to the road and got a taxi. The taxi thought he knew where the location was so off we go - out of the airport. Thankfully the taxi guy did know where it was and so we went inside. We talked with one lady out the front desk and she pointed us to Copa's cargo office. Down the hallway and in the door we went. The lady at the cargo office said she had no news about a bunny at their office but did some phone calling to find out where and if an international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit might be. Finally she found out that the international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit was actually back at the airport. Well this was good news except that there were no taxis on this street and the bus stop was quite a bit down the road. So out the door we went, walking away from the airport down the highway for 15 or so minutes to a cross walk. We went up the stairs, over the people bridge, down the stairs and then back up the road to the nearest bus stop.
Praise God (once again) that almost immediately after we got to the bus-stop a bus going to the airport was coming down the road so we got back on the bus and back to the airport. At the airport we went up the car ramp to the upstairs section, across the people bridge and back to the Copa airline check-in desk. I talked with a guy at the desk, who did some more calling, and finally he said I needed to go back downstairs to the security checkpoint where everybody leaves the airport. He said one of his co-workers would come out and either bring the bunny or take us in to get the bunny. So back across the people bridge, down the stairs, across the road and down to the security office we went.
Somehow I had the impression that the guy would show up fairly quickly since he knew that we were already waiting down there. Well the first 10 minutes went okay, then 15 . . . now Caleb and Hannah are laying on the ground and we are looking like a homeless family looking for handouts. 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes . . . now I feel like a homeless family looking for handouts. Maybe I should have had a cup to ask for bus fare back to the city. After a little more than 45 minutes the tall guy from Copa airlines comes out and says . . . "Sorry but I can only take one of you into the airport - security rules!!" So what do I do with the kids? "Well you can take the kids back upstairs to the check-in office and we can watch them there for you."
Back across the road, up the escalator, across the people bridge, back to the Copa check-in desk. I left the kids there with the workers and went back across the people bridge, down the stairs, across the road, and back to the security check-in desk . . . expecting the Copa guy to still be there. Well ten minutes later he finally shows up. I mention that I wasn't real "excited" about leaving my kids up at the check-in desk and could he call up to check that they were okay. By now I've kind of got the worried sick feeling in my stomach that somehow somebody has my kids booked for a flight down to Colombia by now. So he called and the supervisor of the office went out and took my kids to the back office of Copa where it was much more secure.
So now Copa guy and I walk into the airport back through customs and to the baggage claim area . . . and there sat our wonderful, furry, ball of joy international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit. (Do you get the feeling of how much I love this little guy now . . . ) So we grab the bunny and start walking back out, but now we need to stop at the special customs desk where they check all the paperwork for animals coming and going through customs. Paperwork . . . what paperwork . . . there is no paperwork for the bunny because it is all down in Chile with my wife. (Well actually the paperwork, bunny food, water, and stuff like that had all started the trip with the bunny back to Costa Rica, but somehow it managed to fall out of the plane while our international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit didn't . . . oh the luck!!)
Anyway so we ended up talking with Mr. Customs official trying to explain that indeed this beautiful bundle of joy in the cage was indeed Costa Rican (they couldn't tell by the white skin), and that it never actually made it into Chile because the customs officials did not like the paperwork with the bunny (that now was NOT with the bunny). So Mr. Customs official went off to talk with THE Mr. Customs OFFICIAL for some time to explain that we had an international bunny crisis with no papers to prove just how grand and big this international bunny crisis was.
Finally he came back and said I had to give him all my information including my grandmother's great aunt's maiden name and that they may come to our house in the next month to ensure that this fine, good looking bundle of joy and happiness is well and prospering at our home address. Which by now if you have read this blog or our prayer letters you know that there really is no such thing as an address, it's just a rough location for a house behind a barbwire fence.
So I gave Mr. Customs official my information and our family tree back to Norway and then out through customs, across the road, up the stairs, and back across the people bridge I went. I got to the check-in desk and they said I could go back the hallway to the back office, which I ended up taking the wrong corner and almost getting lost in the back of the airport. That would have been a good conversation to have with the security . . . and finally find my kids.
Back out through the maze of hallways, past the check-in office, over the people bridge, across the parking lot, down the car ramp, out to the road and down to the bus stop we went. A few minutes later we finally snagged a bus for the ride back into town. By this time we were all pretty tired and I think I started to hear the rabbit speak Spanish to me. I don't know what was scary, that I was hearing the rabbit speak Spanish, or that I was beginning to understand him. If he didn't have such big front teeth I think his pronunciation would have been better!!
Finally we got back to San Jose, and I was pretty certain that we were not going to make it across town walking again so I finally broke down and got a taxi for the ride home.
All in all, from the time we left the house to the time we got back was close to five hours. Five hours to retrieve and bring home this little wonderful, sweet, adorable, loveable, international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit.
Can somebody say - RABBIT STEW!!
Sincerely yours - Doug
So Heather called us and said we needed to go pick up Mr. Bunny International at the airport on Friday. His flight was to land at 10:30 so we needed to leave early to get there. Well to start off we had very little money at the house and we were not going to get paid for another two weeks so we need to get to the airport as cheaply as possible. Praise God that Costa Rica has an incredible bus system to get around the country, but it is still a process.
We left the house around 9:45 and walked over to the school (15 to 20 minutes - depending on how grumpy the kids are that day) and went to the bank. Well the first bank we went to did not have the ATM functioning so we had to walk further down the block to another ATM. While waiting in line we saw some other friends so while talking to them 3 other people jumped in front of us in the ATM line. Things to remember in Costa Rica -personal space is not much space at all - so if you are more than 12 inches from the person in front of you in a line - technically you are not in line at all - and people will feel free to avail themselves of those enormous 12 inches.
So finally we got our money from the ATM, walked up the street and then went and waited 10 minutes for the bus. This is the bus to get us from our part of town to downtown San Jose. This ride isn't too bad - maybe 20 minutes. Once we got into downtown San Jose we had to walk a good 10 blocks or so through downtown San Jose to the bus stop for the buses going out by the airport. Just as we walked up to the station one bus left so we had to go get in line for the next bus. Thankfully a lot of people go out to this side of town so the bus was filled pretty quickly and off we went. This bus ride is at least 30 or more minutes because through out the trip they are constantly picking up and dropping of people. So Gallatea arrived around 10:30 and we got to the airport around 11 or just after.
First of all we went downstairs to the security office to find out where we needed to go. The lady there said we needed to go upstairs to the Copa airline office and talk with them. So we walked back across the street, up the escalator, across the people bridge and into the check-in area. We walked up to the Copa check-in line and the guy at the front of the line said that our bunny was probably not at the office but at the cargo office. This office is about 2 miles before you get to the airport so now we went back across the people bridge, out to the road and got a taxi. The taxi thought he knew where the location was so off we go - out of the airport. Thankfully the taxi guy did know where it was and so we went inside. We talked with one lady out the front desk and she pointed us to Copa's cargo office. Down the hallway and in the door we went. The lady at the cargo office said she had no news about a bunny at their office but did some phone calling to find out where and if an international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit might be. Finally she found out that the international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit was actually back at the airport. Well this was good news except that there were no taxis on this street and the bus stop was quite a bit down the road. So out the door we went, walking away from the airport down the highway for 15 or so minutes to a cross walk. We went up the stairs, over the people bridge, down the stairs and then back up the road to the nearest bus stop.
Praise God (once again) that almost immediately after we got to the bus-stop a bus going to the airport was coming down the road so we got back on the bus and back to the airport. At the airport we went up the car ramp to the upstairs section, across the people bridge and back to the Copa airline check-in desk. I talked with a guy at the desk, who did some more calling, and finally he said I needed to go back downstairs to the security checkpoint where everybody leaves the airport. He said one of his co-workers would come out and either bring the bunny or take us in to get the bunny. So back across the people bridge, down the stairs, across the road and down to the security office we went.
Somehow I had the impression that the guy would show up fairly quickly since he knew that we were already waiting down there. Well the first 10 minutes went okay, then 15 . . . now Caleb and Hannah are laying on the ground and we are looking like a homeless family looking for handouts. 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes . . . now I feel like a homeless family looking for handouts. Maybe I should have had a cup to ask for bus fare back to the city. After a little more than 45 minutes the tall guy from Copa airlines comes out and says . . . "Sorry but I can only take one of you into the airport - security rules!!" So what do I do with the kids? "Well you can take the kids back upstairs to the check-in office and we can watch them there for you."
Back across the road, up the escalator, across the people bridge, back to the Copa check-in desk. I left the kids there with the workers and went back across the people bridge, down the stairs, across the road, and back to the security check-in desk . . . expecting the Copa guy to still be there. Well ten minutes later he finally shows up. I mention that I wasn't real "excited" about leaving my kids up at the check-in desk and could he call up to check that they were okay. By now I've kind of got the worried sick feeling in my stomach that somehow somebody has my kids booked for a flight down to Colombia by now. So he called and the supervisor of the office went out and took my kids to the back office of Copa where it was much more secure.
So now Copa guy and I walk into the airport back through customs and to the baggage claim area . . . and there sat our wonderful, furry, ball of joy international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit. (Do you get the feeling of how much I love this little guy now . . . ) So we grab the bunny and start walking back out, but now we need to stop at the special customs desk where they check all the paperwork for animals coming and going through customs. Paperwork . . . what paperwork . . . there is no paperwork for the bunny because it is all down in Chile with my wife. (Well actually the paperwork, bunny food, water, and stuff like that had all started the trip with the bunny back to Costa Rica, but somehow it managed to fall out of the plane while our international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit didn't . . . oh the luck!!)
Anyway so we ended up talking with Mr. Customs official trying to explain that indeed this beautiful bundle of joy in the cage was indeed Costa Rican (they couldn't tell by the white skin), and that it never actually made it into Chile because the customs officials did not like the paperwork with the bunny (that now was NOT with the bunny). So Mr. Customs official went off to talk with THE Mr. Customs OFFICIAL for some time to explain that we had an international bunny crisis with no papers to prove just how grand and big this international bunny crisis was.
Finally he came back and said I had to give him all my information including my grandmother's great aunt's maiden name and that they may come to our house in the next month to ensure that this fine, good looking bundle of joy and happiness is well and prospering at our home address. Which by now if you have read this blog or our prayer letters you know that there really is no such thing as an address, it's just a rough location for a house behind a barbwire fence.
So I gave Mr. Customs official my information and our family tree back to Norway and then out through customs, across the road, up the stairs, and back across the people bridge I went. I got to the check-in desk and they said I could go back the hallway to the back office, which I ended up taking the wrong corner and almost getting lost in the back of the airport. That would have been a good conversation to have with the security . . . and finally find my kids.
Back out through the maze of hallways, past the check-in office, over the people bridge, across the parking lot, down the car ramp, out to the road and down to the bus stop we went. A few minutes later we finally snagged a bus for the ride back into town. By this time we were all pretty tired and I think I started to hear the rabbit speak Spanish to me. I don't know what was scary, that I was hearing the rabbit speak Spanish, or that I was beginning to understand him. If he didn't have such big front teeth I think his pronunciation would have been better!!
Finally we got back to San Jose, and I was pretty certain that we were not going to make it across town walking again so I finally broke down and got a taxi for the ride home.
All in all, from the time we left the house to the time we got back was close to five hours. Five hours to retrieve and bring home this little wonderful, sweet, adorable, loveable, international good-looking bunny in a white tuxedo suit.
Can somebody say - RABBIT STEW!!
Sincerely yours - Doug
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Wrabitt Woes
Gallatea and I set off on a wonderful trip to Chile on Thursday. We left the house around 5:00 am and while getting checked in, they decided to put me on an earlier flight to Panama so I would have more time to change plans before heading to Chile. All was uneventful, we made it through security without having to pull him out of the cage, although they had asked me to, after I had tried to NO avail, they simply used a hand wand to check his cage. We settled into the first flight with a whole row to ourselves which gave me plenty of room to check on him during our flight. He did GREAT, however he DEFINITLY was very leary!!
I took this picture during our lay over when he slept most of the time.
Getting on our 6 hour flight to Chile was fine with no issues, this time we also had a whole row of 3 seats to ourselves. He rested and ate, while I relaxed, slept a bit, and watched a couple of the in flight movies. It was very relaxing, until...
I got to customs in Chile. First off I must say, I did not just make this decision lightly to take an animal to another country. I had called the Chilean consolate in Costa Rica, had him examined by a vet, had gotten his health certificate certified by the Costa Rican governmenet, and even visited the Chilean embasy there in Costa Rica to get his certificate for entry into Chile. However... As soon as entering the customs area, I was told that he could not enter the country. I was just stunned!! Exhausted, stunned, trying to understand these people who speak with a TOTALLY different accent and EXTREMELY FAST, and explaining everything in Spanish. They wouldn´t budge!!! OH, did I mention all 3 of the customs agents were WOMEN!! Crying just wouldn´t have worked!!
SO, I asked what my options were. They said I could have it killed... (Yeah, right? Why would I have gone though all of that trouble to kill him?! Plus what in the world would I have told my daughter?) ... OR I could leave it with Copa Airlines. (What is Copa Airlines going to do with a rabbit for 9 days straight?)
Well, there was a WONDERFUL lady from Copa who was SOOO understanding. Free of charge, she arranged to send the rabbit back to Costa Rica the next day to have Doug pick up at the airport. SO, I said goodbye to the flying rabbit and proceeded to ABWE headquarters to call my husband to inform him of his new plans for Friday. Now the pick up, was even more interesting, or so I am told. I´m hoping Doug will blog about that soon!!!
I just praise God that Gallatea made it ¨home¨ ok and now is safely hopping around our yard in Costa Rica. However, now we need to find him a permanent home in Costa Rica. Any takers???
Other than that interesting challenge that now I can laugh at, I am having a great time. I got some groceries yesterday and I will be seeing some houses and at least one doctor next week. I´m enjoying being here, but look forward to when my family can be here too!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Off I Go!
Please be in prayer as I leave first thing tomorrow morning for 9 days traveling to, in, and from Chile. I am excited to spend time looking at houses, fellowshipping with other missionaries, and getting to meet a doctor who is supposed to know something about Addison's Disease. I should have access to a computer, so if I have time, I'll update my blog from there.
Please especially be in prayer for Doug and the kids as they will be here alone and Doug will have to balance the kids, school, and other activities.
God bless!
Please especially be in prayer for Doug and the kids as they will be here alone and Doug will have to balance the kids, school, and other activities.
God bless!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Excited?
I've noticed something since being here in Costa Rica. Ok, I've noticed A LOT of things! But this one is an eternal perspective. Do you get excited when someone shares that someone was saved? The ministry here that we are involved with under a fellow missionary pastor is very strong in sharing the gospel and it is not unusual to hear on consective Sundays that someone else gave their life over to God. SOOOO what is the reaction. The first Sunday we heard this, I spoke up loudly and said, "Aleluja" (Spanish pronunciation). People looked at me funny.
WOW! Shouldn't we be shouting from the roof tops just like the Angels rejoicing in heaven that there will be another child of God in heaven one day? When was the last time you became genuinely excited about the salvation of another child of God? By being excited we show that there is joy and blessing in being a child of God. If we aren't excited about being His child, then why should anyone else?
By the way, I still say "Aleluja" rather loudly!
WOW! Shouldn't we be shouting from the roof tops just like the Angels rejoicing in heaven that there will be another child of God in heaven one day? When was the last time you became genuinely excited about the salvation of another child of God? By being excited we show that there is joy and blessing in being a child of God. If we aren't excited about being His child, then why should anyone else?
By the way, I still say "Aleluja" rather loudly!
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