Tacheny family-Peaks and Valleys

Arajuno--or "Jungle Light"

2010-12-15T02:22:00.000-08:00

Mike and I went with a small group of docs and nurses to Arajuno--a community that used to be considered jungle. But since a road and electricity arrived about 7 years ago it has converted into a small town--and what we considered "jungle light". We went as part of the regular medical screening required of the children sponsored by Compassion International. And whether due to the Compassion funding or the general well-being of this community, all of the kids were very healthy. The kids seemed happy, healthy and apart from some dental problems--too much sugar cane--and the regular need to deparasitize them (is that a word?) there wasn't much for us to do medically for them.

We attended the patients in the "comedor"-dining room-of one of the local schools the first day, and a classroom at the school the second day.

We ate our meals at a local restaurant--that included of all things, cable TV! Definitely jungle light. Mike thought about making the 2 hour trip by car to watch some American football one Sunday.

If you have read accounts of the death of the American missionaries--Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, etc--you will have read about Arajuno. In fact, the school where we attended patients is called the Edward McCully school--another one of the missionaries that was martyred.

The most heart-breaking story of the 2 days was that of an 11-year old girl that had been raped by a family member 2 years ago. She was doing well now--but I found out that on average 1/3 of kids, mostly girls, are violated sometime in their lifetime. I am not sure what the statistics are in the states--perhaps not much different--but it is tragic. And to emphasize this problem, when we arrived back in Shell one of the patients in the hospital was a 10 yearold who had been violated by her 21 y.o cousin and had hurt her badly enough that she had to seek medical attention. Although I don't think these acts are culturally "acceptable"--they certainly are common and it seems that the justice system rarely is able to convict the perpetrator.

Praise God for Compassion International and all of the sponsors that give so that these kids can be healthy, well-fed and attend school. And please pray for those that suffer the effects of past abuse.

Visitors

2010-12-02T06:45:00.000-08:00

Mike's parents made the trip to Ecuador over Thanksgiving for a short visit. We were so happy to have them here and show them some of the sights in Ecuador. While we were in Quito, we drove up to the equator--or Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World). The large monument is at the first mitad del mundo--calculated in the late 1700's by french geographers. Notice the yellow line that divides the southern and northern hemispheres.

The second equatorial line and museum is relatively new, calculated by GPS. It is the red line in the bottom photo. We decided to visit them both. Sydney was the award winner at the second museum. She was the only one in our group who successfully balanced an egg on its end at the equator.

It was a wonderful visit with family--we were very thankful on Thanksgiving day to have family with us!

Hola Vida

2010-11-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

To try to attract some visitors we had to show you some pics of a waterfall we went to a few days ago with some fellow missionaries who were visiting from Quito. It was a beautiful 20 minute hike out to the waterfall. And the water was COLD! But we got in anyways. Sam gets the award for the most passes under the waterfall.
We went in the morning on a national holiday and there were quite a few people there when we arrived. But as we left an hour later--busloads of people were setting out on the trail to see the waterfall. We are glad we went early, because it was like Labor Day at a park in the states---super busy! But beautiful all the same.
We'd love to take you to see it sometime. =)

Nate Saint House Dedication

2010-11-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

Many of you have heard the story of Nate Saint and his fellow missionaries who come to this area of Ecuador 50 years ago to share the gospel and were killed by a group of indigenous people.

If you don't know the story you can learn more about it by watching the movie--the End of the Spear--or watching the documentary called Beyond the Gates of Splendor. It is an amazing story of sacrifice, forgiveness and love and since their death the Waironi people have left their violent ways and many have become followers of Christ.

Well, Nate Saint was a pilot and he built a house here in Shell when he was here to serve as a contact point, or base for their outreach into the jungle. The house was in disrepair and recently a mission group came in and restored the house.

There was a dedication a couple of weekends ago put on by MAF--Mission Aviation Fellowship-- that we attended. The kids even were involved because they painted rocks to decorate around the outside of the entrance. (Sydney's is the butterfly).
It was a special day, filled with emotion and history. In the pictures you can see the kitchen and phone that the Saint's used. One of the rooms is converted into a museum of sort of information about the 5 missionaries and the events of that time.
The first picture is one of Mincaye, the grandson of one of the Waironi men who killed the missionaries, who now is a Christian and a pastor among the Waironi people. It is a great example of how God can work amazing good out of the most horrible of circumstances.

Mike's trip to the jungle

2010-11-10T05:13:00.000-08:00

Our clinic has been contracted by Compassion International to help with check-ups for their sponsored kids here in the jungle. So the docs are taking turns taking 2-night trips out to the jungle communities to check on the kids. They are usually accompanied by one of the Family Practice Residents from Hospital VozAndes in Quito who are doing their one-month rotation at our hospital. So last month it was Mike's turn to go to a community called Charapacocha.
He and Betzabe (a resident from Quito) traveled by plane 45 minutes south down the Pastaza river to this community. For Mike the flight was the highlight of the trip--because he has always wanted to be a pilot. But the experience of going to the jungle and living life there for a few days was very eye-opening as well.
Of course a visit to the jungle included the opportunity to drink,chicha , a drink made by fermenting yucca mixed with the saliva of the women. Yummy!

Fortunately, the kids were all doing well with the help and support of the Compassion program. Now just 30-some more communities to visit over the next few months and I (Heather) have to decide if and when I want to go out.

Our first visitor

2010-10-18T13:39:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful time with our first visitor here in Shell. Jessica McMillan, fellow HCJB missionary nurse and former neighbor and colleague at Partners in Hope in Malawi. "Auntie Jessica" as the kids call her is in Ecuador getting ready to be part of a short-term medical team that is going from Ecuador to West Africa and we were lucky enough to have her come visit us here in Shell. We had lots of reminiscing to do about life in Malawi and talked a bit about the similarities and differences between life in Shell and life in Malawi.
Certainly the medical work is very different as the prevalance of HIV is so much less here in Ecuador as is malaria and tuberculosis. But whether being the lower socioeconomic status or the tropical climate or both--we still see plenty of sick patients.
The climates are comparable--although Shell is perpetually in a "rainy season". But both are definitely comfortable.
In Malawi we were in the capital city--one of the most "developed" in the country and here in Ecuador we are in the "sticks". However the level of development is pretty similar between the two cities as far as roads, restaurants, housing, etc. That's just a few of the similarities and differences that I can think of right off the bat.

Mostly we just loved seeing Auntie Jessica again!

Volquetero

2010-10-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

I had to include some pictures of the lunch we had last weekend in Puyo. It's called the Volquetero which means dumptruck. And it sort of looks like a dumptruck just dumped a bunch of stuff on your plate. It's tuna, toasted corn nuts, beans and fried banana or platano chips. It's salty and tasty. It's sort of like the chips and salsa of the Pastaza region of Ecuador.
It is good, but personally it doesn't compare with chips and salsa. =)

Puyo River Walk

2010-10-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, after 4 days without internet--we are back on line. And now I know how to fix the problem. Flip the switch and reset the router that is located in our neighbors carport. I wish I would have known that 4 days ago. =) But at least we are back on line for the time being. We lost the internet because of some serious rain. Yes, the true Shell weather has arrived--just in time for us to host our first visitor. More on that in a future blog.

Last weekend we had a field trip, paseo in spanish, with some of the other missionaries to Puyo. The "big" city located about 6 km down the road. They have a nice river walk--along the river, obviously--that we enjoyed as a group. Then we climbed the lookout tower for a view of the river and the city. And we finished the mornings adventures with a yummy lunch--a local specialty that you can't find anywhere else in Ecuador.

The kids and Mike enjoyed swinging on the vines and contemplating some cliff jumps into the river. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the river is very shallow in most places so there wasn't much opportunity. It was a fun day and after almost 2 months of getting settled and spending the majority of our time in Shell--it was a great to get out and see just a bit more of this beautiful country and enjoy time with our new missionary friends and colleagues.

Angel

2010-10-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

We want to introduce you to Angel (pronounced "on-hell" in spanish). He is a little boy who lives at Casa de Fe (House of Faith)--an orphanage in town. We don't really know much about him--he was left at the orphanage without a lot of information a little over a month ago. He came from one of the towns in the jungle and is somewhere between 18 months and 2 years old. But a little hard to tell because he was malnourished when he arrived.

Mike drove up to Quito with the director of the orphanage 2 weeks ago--so they had 10 hours in the car to talk about what goes on at the orphanage. At times Patty-Sue tries to find missionaries to "foster" or care for some of the kids who need a little extra attention for some reason. They have some very good caregivers, "tias" or aunties in spanish, that look after the kids the majority of the time. They have also recently started a school for the kids as well. I've added a link to their website on this blog if you want to know more. Anyways, we got to "baby-sit" Angel the last 2 Saturdays.

It's been very fun to have Angel in our house. Sydney absolutely loves being like a big sister or babysitter. Sam's not too sure still--but he enjoyed reading to him and teaching him some spanish and english. Of course our house no longer has many baby toys so we made due with laundry baskets, buckets, tupperware and balls.

So any visitors that need a baby-fix--Come On Down! There are lots of opportunities to love on kids.

Dying

2010-10-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

Both of the kids just finished a studying seeds and plants in science. They each planted some kernels of corn (choclo in spanish) and had fun watching them germinate and grow. As they finished the subject last week, they each brought their seedlings home and now we have to find a place to plant them at home.

But these same plants were a sort of object lesson this morning at church. The preacher spoke from John. John 12:24-25 says "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

What a challenge! No one wants to die to themselves. I know I don't like it--I like to fight for my rights and for what I think I "deserve" in life. But until I am able to give that up for the sake of God--my Lord--and die, I will never be fruitful. It is a good reminder to daily die to self and surrender to our Lord who loves us. Our God who died for us when he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us.

Oh, and by the way. We had our first tarantula in the house yesterday. No, no one "died" but we were all a bit freaked out by the fuzzy spider by our front door.

Sydney's room

2010-09-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

Here is Sydney's room makeover. We have very white walls in our house. And for years, Sydney has been asking us to paint her room--but since we have a habit of moving every few years we just haven't done it. So we told her that when we get to Shell we would paint her room. She held us to our promise and I (Heather) painted her room.
I've never painted before. Mike has been our resident painter since that was his summer job for years during college. So I just took it for granted that one day you had a white wall and the next it was a nice, pretty color.

Well, it was a bit harder than that. And I have great respect for all of you who love to paint and change the colors in your houses from time to time. Maybe it was the first day--when me and the kids decided to paint while Mike was on call. Painting with kids is not easy! We managed to keep most of the paint on the walls and not too much on each other or the furniture. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have a ladder and kept climbing up on a chair to reach the ceiling. But after the first day/ the first coat--I was less than impressed. Streaky and messy looking. But look what a difference a second coat makes--and this time without help from the kids =)
Well, you know what's next. Sam's room. I'm taking a break for a day or two. Then we'll try and tackle that one.

Healing

2010-09-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

One reason both Mike and I went into Family Practice is the chance to get to work with and get to know families. To make relationships with patients that go beyond the results of their blood tests--and to help in times of sickness, both physical and emotional. The latter always being more challenging and more delicate.
I had my first taste of working with a family yesterday in clinic--that definitely pushed my limits and forced me to cry out to God for the wisdom and words to say to help this broken family. A dear little girl, her mother who is still reeling from the death of her first-born son 3 years ago and the toll that has taken on her, her marriage and her family, and the dear abuelita (grandmother) with some serious health problems of her own, but a bigger concern for the well-being of her daughter.
I know that God's Spirit was present during our visit--and yet my spanish seemed so inadequate and my wisdom so limited to speak into her life. Please pray for this dear family--that God's presence would be real and would continue to heal their broken lives with His peace and His love.

Back at work

2010-09-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well we now have a couple of weeks under our belts back at work as doctors. We have felt many emotions during the transition (which I'm sure will last a lot longer than 2 weeks). I have really enjoyed being back in clinic, sitting in on morning report, talking about patients and using the "medical" part of my brain once again. But I have found that after a morning or full day of trying to communicate well with my patients in Spanish I am beat, worn-out, exhausted. Sadly, the other day at clinic I think my fatigue caught up with me and I could not keep my dates straight--saying noviembre (november) instead of septiembre(september) over and over--which greatly confused my pregnant patient who was hoping to have her baby in september (her due date) and not wait another 2 months!
And while I am sure in Malawi many of our patients had parasitic infections--they are rampant here. Itoo succumbed to a one of the wonderful stomach bugs--and have responded to medicine. Luckily I did not experience what many of our patients experience here in the hospital--that when they are sick and not eating--their parasites/worms start crawling out of their mouths or coming out their bottoms. Kind of gross--yes. But super common! Mike even had a patient in the hospital with so many worms in his intestines that they plugged up his gall bladder and the surgeon had to remove his gallbladder along with all of his worms.
All to say, it's good to be practicing medicine and it's definitely interesting.

"firsts"

2010-09-08T12:53:00.001-07:00

Well, we have a few new "firsts" today. It's the first day of school for Sydney and Sam. Sydney is starting 3rd grade and Sam is in 2nd grade. They are attending Nate Saint Memorial School--a missionary school that was the vision of Nate Saint, a missionary who was martyred in the jungles east of Shell in the 50's. There are about 30 kids in the whole school (grade 1-8). Sam is in a room with 1st and 2nd graders and Sydney is in the 3rd and 4th grade classroom.

Mike also has a "first" of his own today. He is taking call today for the first time at the hospital. It is his first call night in about 4 years since we only did clinic work in Malawi. It is also his first call in Spanish--thankfully he has some very good medical students and residents working alongside him tonight to show him the ropes.

We are thankful to God for his blessings--to get us here to Ecuador and to guide us through the adjustments of living and working in another country and culture.

Saturday morning walk

2010-09-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

We had a beautiful Saturday morning this weekend. The sun was out and we could see the "big"mountains in the distance. Usually these snowcapped mountains are covered by clouds--but every once in awhile we get a pretty view. Sangay is in fact a volcano and is one of the active volcanoes here in Ecuador.

Another interesting site this morning was the recent slaughter of a pig by one of the local butchers. Isn't he huge! Sorry, if you get a bit queasy in the stomach don't look at the pic.

This isn't the butcher we have been using--although we could have had some fresh pork that day I guess.

You know you are in Shell

2010-08-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

You know you are in Shell when a 3 course lunch costs $1

Having lunch with our "big brothers"--Steve and Diane Wilson

You know you are in Shell, when after one day of playing outside your legs are covered with bites from "no-see-ums"

Bites not withstanding, the kids are loving living in Shell.

The move

2010-08-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

Cotopaxi--one of the beautiful views on the way to Shell

Thankfully we had a pretty uneventful move from Quito to Shell last week. We ended up traveling with one other family on a big bus--because we were transporting half a house--furniture, appliances and all of our suitcases as well as us.

Mike loading one of our many suitcases onto the bus

Thankfully it all fit and we rode in style as we left the mountains around Quito and descended towards the Oriente--the jungle where Shell is located. We had a beautifully clear day and were able to see many of the big mountains and volcanoes that pass through the central corridor of Ecuador. We spent the next week finding our way around Shell--which is not too big and would be very hard to get lost in--and getting settled. The mess at the end of the trip

We sat in on morning report at the hospital which made us quickly realize that although our spanish has come a long way--we still have a ways to go in order to understand and communicate at such a high and rapid level. But we are so excited to get to work and thankfully we are joining a very welcoming and supportive team of people at Hospital Vozandes del Oriente.

Despedidas y Saludas (Goodbyes and Hellos)

2010-08-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

After a week of goodbyes in Costa Rica--with lots of tears once again on my part--we embarked on the next step of our adventure. Ecuador! We were welcomed by many HCJB missionaries in Quito who helped us do all of the shopping for outfitting our house in Shell--driving us around, feeding us, and helping us out with the kids. We are very grateful.Sydney and Sam with Iveth--their wonderful Sunday school teacher

saying goodbye to my wonderful translation class

more goodbyes with Lucia, our empleada

Then we took an interesting 5-hour bus trip down to Shell with all of our stuff and started moving into our house. I'll save those pics for the next blog! Thanks for your prayers--our move has been relatively uneventful and we are thankfully all healthy.

Vamos a Bailar

2010-07-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

Vamos a Bailar or Let's Dance! The girls

I love this picture of Sydney. She looks like a princess.

Well, we did it! Sydney, Sam and I danced in a cultural presentation--twice! The first time for the school, and last night for the surrounding neighborhood and friends. All of it to celebrate a Tico holiday--the annexation of Guanacaste. This is when Costa Rica annexed all of the north-west part of the country from Nicaragua. For us it meant the chance to dress in twirly skirts and perform. What fun!

One of our teachers coordinated and choreographed all of the dances--and we had been practing for about 2 months in preparation for the big day. It was all beautiful and I was so proud of my kids--they did a great job.

Rollerskating

2010-07-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are still in school but there isn't much to blog about when it comes to our day-to-day schedule of classes and homework. And definitely nothing picture-worthy. And I know that's what people really want to see--pictures. So must of what we have to write about is family events and happenings. We hope to have more stories about ministry when we get to Shell.

Well, Sam's 7th birthday is on Friday and he decided he wanted to go rollerskating for his birthday. So we did just that--and for all of our peers, you can imagine stepping back into the early 80's with vintage rollerskates, Michael Jackson music, strobe lights and tight flourescent jeans (yes, apparently they are back in style). We had a lot of fun and luckily had no major injuries. It was a memorable outing--one that I'm pretty sure that we won't have in Shell. =)

rainy season

2010-07-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, you think we'd be use to the big rainstorms after a few years in Malawi and 2 rainy seasons in Costa Rica. But it still amazes us how much water can fall out of the sky in such a short time. We are very thankful for big umbrellas and a warm & dry house to escape from the rain. But sometimes you just have to go outside and get wet! That's what we did this weekend. We'll let you know if we all come down with colds this week, because in Costa Rica: wet feet=get sick.

Visas!

2010-06-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was a vacation day at school so we took advantage of the day to go to the Ecuadorian consulate and get our visas. Although we thought we had all of the required paperwork, pictures, etc. we were a bit doubtful that everything would work and we would get the visa in only one trip, since that is often the case. But--we were successful! And we are officially cleared to live and work in Ecuador for the next two years! Yay!

Thankfully it was a dry day because after arriving at the consulate and turning in our papers we had to walk to a nearby bank to pay for the visas. We were told to return in about 2 hours so Mike hobbled along on crutches to the bank and then we stopped at a nearby mall to pass the time. One of the stores in the mall is a grocery store that sort of specializes in American types of food--so we found bagels. What a treat. We definitely are not suffering food-wise hear, but every once in awhile an American treat just hits the spot.

We returned to the consulate at the appointed time--and instead of 2 hours, the wait was more like 4 hours. But we were able to hang out on their porch (the consulate is located in a house) and watch the World Cup soccer match--Spain vs. Chile--on the big screen as we waited. Not a bad day at all.

Well, actually having our visas in hand makes us much more excited and makes the upcoming move feel more real. The Ecuadorian consul (the man from Ecuador who helped us with our visas) was very friendly and encouraging and very familiar with HCJB Global our mission agency--telling us as we got our visas that he is very thankful for the work the missionaries do in Ecuador. It feels good to feel welcomed to our new country.

End of school year fun

2010-06-24T01:26:00.000-07:00

Sam with his teacher Ms. Bedortha--who is getting married for the first time in August

Well the kids have officially finished their school year--so this week they got to stay home while mom and dad went to school. No fair!

Sydney with her friends at field day

The school year ended with a flurry of activities. The kids had a gymnastics program, field day, end of school year parties and lots of fun. Of course with the end of the school year also comes many goodbyes as teachers and students with their families move on to new places.

sam at soccer practice

When we did our missionary training 3 years ago, one of the things we focused on was how to do good-byes. Up until then I had never really thought of it--and as we did the training I was only thinking about our goodbyes to our families as we left for Malawi. But we are coming to realize the life of a missionary is full of goodbyes and transitions. And I don't think that gets any easier with time. Especially for me, who cries at the drop of a hat.
As we left Malawi a year ago--Sydney would say to me, "mom, are you crying again?" You need to add your own rolling of the eyes to get the full effect. Now my tears has become the big joke of the family. But with each transition their are not only goodbyes--but hellos. We look forward to the new people we will meet and the experiences we will have when we arrive in Ecuador while we treasure the imprints that people have made and are making on our lives through every part of this journey.

A preview of things to come: Heather and Sydney are learning and practicing the cultural dance of Costa Rica for a holiday presentation in July. More pics to come. Sydney and the girls learning cultural dancing in Costa Rica.

Update

2010-05-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

Volcan Arenal

So since the last blog update we have finished a trimester of studying, enjoyed a visit from Heather's parents, and embarked on our final trimester of classes at the institute. When we first arrived in Costa Rica, a year seemed like such a long time to learn a language. But now that we have only 3 more months to learn what we need to know to communicate well with patients, the pressure is on once again.

Heather's lenguaje class--what a great group of ladies!

We were a bit burnt out at the end of the last trimester--apparently this is quite common for language students that about mid-way through their studies they sort of hit the wall. So a week of vacation with nana and papa was very refreshing. Hard to beat the beautiful views of Volcan Arenal--an active volcano in the central part of Costa Rica. The kids enjoyed swimming in the natural hot pools at the hotel, too.

We are fortunate that Mike and I are together in a lenguaje class this trimester that focuses on medical terms this trimester. It already has proved very useful for discussions about "fun" medical problems like constipation, peptic ulcer disease and diarrhea. Can you tell we just finished studying the digestive system? =) We know this is preparing us well for what awaits us in Shell so we will push forward in this slow process of language-learning with God's grace and your prayers sustaining us. Thank you!

Easter--American Style

2010-04-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

After a week of Catholic traditions, we added our own American traditions to Easter with the dying of eggs and subsequent easter egg hunt. Certainly this tradition doesn't have anything to do with the real meaning of Easter, but it was fun to color eggs and eat some jelly beans that my mom had sent to us.

We had heard that many of the Evangelical churches did not do much to celebrate Easter sort of as a backlash to the ceremonies and traditions of the Catholic church. So we were happy that the church we attended had a wonderful worship team celebrating the resurrection of Jesus! The real reason for Easter. Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!

Semana Santa--Holy Week

2010-04-06T12:11:00.000-07:00

As you may know, the majority of the population in Latin America is Catholic. This is true of Costa Rica and was very evident during the week leading up to Easter--Semana Santa or Holy Week. Throughout the week there were different celebrations, processions and dramatizations that told the story of Jesus and his crucifixion. We attended a drama on the steps of the local Cathedral that depicted the trial of Jesus before Herod and Pilate, his subsequent condemnation to be crucified and it ended with a processional being led by Jesus carrying his cross. It was quite powerful and only one of many such depictions of the crucifixion of Christ that occurred during Holy Week.

Thursday and Friday were national holidays, so if you weren't attending one of the many celebrations you were at the beach enjoying a long weekend. We avoided the crowds at the beach and stayed in San José.

El Pasaporte--or an answer to prayer

2010-03-20T01:38:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have heard Sam's passport saga, but I need to share it again because we have been overwhelmed by God's goodness to us as He has answered our prayers very specifically and with perfect timing. Let me explain....

When we arrived in Costa Rica we applied for student visas. But immigration refused to stamp Sam's passport because as it turns out, after using his passport for 3 years in at least 6 different countries, the order of his name was incorrect. All the right names, but in the wrong order: Tacheny Samuel Michael instead of Samuel Michael Tacheny.
OK, after 3 trips to the American Embassy, a request for another official birth certificate from Washington state, some money and a few more weeks of waiting, we had his new passport. But unfortunately not in enough time to send it back to immigration for his Visa before we had to leave for the states in December.
Sooo,
In February, after we returned to Costa Rica, we gave Sam's passport to the school who then takes care of bringing it to immigration--all the paperwork, etc. It is a huge help! We went back to pick up his passport a week later and it wasn't there, a week later--and still not there, a few days later and now we are getting a bit worried...and for the first time in the history of the school (and I don't know how many hundreds or even thousands of passports and trips to immigration) Sam's passport had been lost! It seemed to have disappeared into a black hole somewhere between our school and the immigration offices.
So no big deal, right? Just another trip to the embassy for another passport--no big deal except for the fact that we had just received all of our documentation for our Ecuadorian visas and all of them included Sam's old passport number. And now we were running short on time as we had planned on leaving Costa Rica in several weeks, and with a delay in getting a new passport and then receiving new documents for the visa---it wouldn't happen in time. Ugh!
Well, we began praying that his passport would show up. It was possible we knew, but truly I didn't think it would show up so we began making plans for a trip to the Embassy. We decided we could wait until the end of the week before we went to the Embassy for his new passport. So every day we would pray that the passport would be found and every day we would ask at the office---no luck.
On Thursday we expected the same thing. We prayed that it would be found. But forgive me God, but I just didn't think it would happen. We did however have peace that even if we had to go through the headache of getting a new passport and new documents, etc. that it would all work out in God's timing. And we were ok with that. So Thursday we went to the office and asked again--and guess what? It had been found!
Get this, it had been accidently given to another family at the school. Now that's fine, but they had put it away 2 weeks previously, not realizing that they had Sam's passport too. They happened to be traveling out of the country on Thursday of this week and just happened to check through all of their documents that morning when they found the passport. There are so many "what ifs" in this situation. What if they hadn't been traveling that day? What if they hadn't checked their passports until they got to the airport and couldn't let us know that they had found it?--they didn't know that we needed it. Either way, we would have been on our way to the Embassy on Friday or possibly even that afternoon to start the whole process over.
Isn't God's timing perfect!
Well, his passport is on the way to immigration again--he still is not officially stamped. So keep praying. But we praise God for his provision! He is so good!

Valentine's parties

2010-02-26T07:09:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share some pictures of the kids classrooms here. Sojourn Academy has been a great school for the kids this year--there is about a 50/50 mix of missionary kids and Ticos. So while our kids are studying spanish, the Ticos are taking EFL (English as a Foreign Language).

Although in general, Valentine's Day is not nearly as big here in Costa Rica, the kids still celebrated with a party in their class--thus all the treats, red and pink clothes, and smiles.

Elections

2010-02-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, Costa Rica held its presidential elections. And for the first time, they elected a female president--Laura Chinchilla. We decided to check out the voting procedures as a family, so we walked down to the local school amidst many honking cars and waving flags. It felt like a party! Each political party had a booth outside the polling areas with their respective flags flying. Fortunately it was all very peaceful and orderly.

The kids were given their own flags to wave--as you can see in the picture. It was an interesting cultural experience for us--not too different from our own in the US--but definitely with its own Costa Rican flair!

Another month closer to Shell

2010-02-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

Well it's been another month since I've updated the blog. While our life has been a lot of the same--going to school, studying, going to school, studying, taking a nap when the brain is overwhelmed, going to school again. There hasn't been much exciting to write about. But we are thankful for the mundane at times. We are thankful for all of the blessings God has given us--our family, our house, the opportunity to study and learn something new.
And certainly there has been plenty going on in the world around us that has drawn our attention--earthquakes in Haiti, tragedies and celebrations in the lives of friends and family, hellos and goodbyes. So somehow although our schedule doesn't seem to change much, there is always something new going on around us that keeps us busy.
There have been a few highlights in the last month though--Mike's new language course has been a blessing and a success so far. He is out in the community a bit more--talking and making relationships with people in our neighborhood and it helping so much with his ability to hear and to communicate in Spanish. He might not see a difference, but I can be the proud wife as he is becoming more and more comfortable communicating in Spanish.
We have a house waiting for us in Shell! How exciting to know that, God-willing--we will be settled in that house in just a few months. Although the thought of moving and setting-up house again is daunting, it is so encouraging to have this concrete goal to be working towards as we go about our day-to-day learning in spanish.
Lastly, Mike and I have started focusing more directly on medical spanish this trimester. This also is encouraging, because we have a good base of the general language on which to build, but now we are learning the words and phrases that we will be using every day with patients. This also breathes new life into the learning as we can obviously see the practical application of what we are learning.
Oh, I thought of one more thing. Ultimate frisbee! We have finally found a venue and a core group of people who are willing to get up on a saturday morning to play. It has been a lot of fun to be playing ultimate again after an 8 month hiatus since we left Malawi.
So that's our month in a nutshell. Sorry, no pictures right now to add. But I will work on that.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T06:24:00.001-08:00

I just looked at our last post from warm and greet Costa Rica. And I thought I should share the contrast we are experiencing here in MN. Cold and white. Today is super cold--17 below zero when we woke up. Luckily the temps were a bit milder when we first arrived and the kids could actually enjoy being outside--making snowmen, sledding, skiing, and in this picture ice-skating with their Auntie Katie. We are enjoying the winter wonderland.

Happy 2010 everyone!

Paseo--field trip

2009-12-06T18:17:00.001-08:00

Mike and I had a fun day today. A dear couple from church, Victor and Marlen, invited us on a paseo with them. Sort of a field trip. We opted to leave the kids at home as we spent quite a lot of time in the car and Sydney doesn't do well driving through the mountains. So thanks to friends who watched Sydney and Sam, we were able to enjoy the time without distractions.

They took us into the mountains south and east of San José. The hills are covered with coffee--small little farms, and big plantations. It is absolutely beautiful. And the whole area is dotted

with small pueblos that are very scenic. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the countryside.

We also visited the first Spanish settlements in Costa Rica. So we saw the ruins of a church circa 1540.

Not to mention all of the beautiful foliage. It was a beautiful day--lindo, bonito, perfecto as far as spanish goes.

Roblealto Christmas party

2009-11-30T17:50:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday the whole family had the opportunity to help out with a Christmas fair for a local orphanage. Our family was in charge of a bowling game--and we had lots of fun!

There was all sorts of games, face painting, piñatas and presents for all of the children.

In addition, the kids put on a small production of the gospel story that was amazing. There were lots of happy kids and tired hosts at the end of the day. But it was a fun opportunity to serve together as a family. Thanks for all of the pictures, Curtis.

Tuesday Bible Studies

2009-11-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

kids playing

Karla and Davíd

Andrea and her kids

Suzanne holding David

I (Heather) have had a wonderful opportunity to get involved in a Bible Study on Tuesday afternoons. It originally started as an outreach to young pregnant ladies--but has evolved to include moms with small kids. We've had a small but committed group of ladies the last few weeks and it has been a blessing and an encouragement to study the book of Luke together. Many of the ladies come from very religious, mostly Catholic backgrounds--but they have never really had the opportunity to study the Bible. A small group of students from the Language Institute take turns leading the study and watching the kids which has been great Spanish practice. But we are all thankful that the word of God and the Holy Spirit can have an impact despite our less-than-perfect spanish.

Culture Day

2009-10-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

So, I'm a little behind on my blogging. These pictures were taken on October 12--Columbus Day. This is a celebrated holiday here in Costa Rica--remembering when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered the Americas in 1492. (Anybody remember the little rhyme?=) Anyways, at the school Columbus Day has transformed into a World Cultures Day and each class in both the Language Institute and in Sojourn Academy was assigned to a country. We had to put on a display for each country--sharing information about the country, sharing food from the country and dressing in the colors or national wear of the country.
Can you tell what each of our countries was?
Mine was Costa Rica and my grammar teacher had this great dress for me to borrow for the day. What fun! She even taught me a few dance moves.
Sydney's class had Malawi--so we were able to use our chitenje and help provide information for her class. But no nsima.
Lastly, Sam's class had USA. Thus the red, white and blue clothing.
It was a fun celebration of all of the cultures and people of the world--and a reminder of the great diversity of people God has made--all for whom Christ came and died.

Iglesia (Church)

2009-09-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

Displaying the traditional dress--aren't they pretty!

We have been blessed to find a small church that meets just around the corner from our house. Friends of ours from school are involved there and invited us to join them. It is a small congregation--about 50 people or so. Although all of the service is in spanish--the praise songs are often translated from the english, so even if we don't understand all the works--we at least know the general message.

Last week, in honor of Independence Day, everyone dressed in traditional Costa Rican dress--or Costa Rican colors (red, white, blue). A few people even performed a traditional dance.

Sydney and Kendyll ( a friend from school)

La Paz park

2009-09-19T16:41:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday was a national holiday in Costa Rica, celebrating its independence. We took advantage of the beautiful and hot day, by walking to a nearby park with a big hill in the center. As you can see, there is a different kind of sledding done at this park.

Sorry, this first video, you may get a bit sea sick--since I forget that a video camera can't take a vertical picture like the camera can.

The kids were both a bit tired and you may see the beginning of some outbursts at the end of the videos. But they both pulled it together and we enjoyed the day--flying kites, sliding and picnicking--with another family from school. Hope you enjoy my first attempts at uploading video. I'm so not tech-ie.

Mike and Heather's First Week of School

2009-09-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have officially finished our first week of school and it's been a whirlwind. At times we think we are making such great progress and other days we are ready to pack our bags and go home because we don't understand anything. Please pray for endurance, patience with our language learning, each other and the kids, and for continued good health.

Mike and I are in different classes. We each have a class of 4 students--yes, four!! It's a great teacher-student ratio. We spend 1 hour in language class, 2 hours in grammar class, and 1 hour in phonetics class each day. We are hopefully going to get into a routine with our schedule and the kids schedule, sometime soon--but we are still struggling to figure out when all of us should be doing our homework. Thanks for the prayers.

First day of school

2009-09-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

It was the kids first day of school on Monday, the 31st. Fortunately, they were already familiar with the school as they attended camp there this summer. They did awesome considering it was their 3rd school, in 3 years, in 3 different countries!

Sam is in 1st grade. He has 16 kids in his class and a seemingly wonderful, experienced teacher.

Sydney is in 2nd grade now. Her class is the largest in the school with 24 kids. She has two teachers--one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Their core classes--reading, writing, math--are taught in English. They have a spanish class every day. And their music class and PE are also taught in Spanish. They are both starting to pick up a little spanish and repeat things they've heard even if they don't understand what they are saying. But it is a challenge for them--it seems their first question when we are going to do anything new, or meet someone new is..."Do they speak spanish or english?"

Heather and Mike had their first day of school today. But sorry--no pictures with our backpacks for you =)

Walk to school

2009-08-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our neighborhood and our walk to school. The walls, gates and bars on the windows are already familiar to us after living in Malawi. And just like Malawi--the tropical trees and plants are beautiful! Here in San José, we have the added beauty of the mountains surrounding the city.

As I mentioned in the last blog--we have to be on the watch for "gringo-catchers". For some reason the tops to manholes and the grates on storm drains are hot-commodities and if you are not careful when you are walking, you could disappear down one of the holes. This is no laughing matter as a previous student apparently fell in one and broke both his legs.

Mi casa es su casa

2009-08-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

The entrance to our downstairs apartment

We have a new house--actually it is an apartment. We moved last week and are finally feeling a bit more settled. It's a great location--about 3 blocks from the school. So it's a pretty easy commute to and from school. We are living in a 4-plex of apartments. Two of which are Tico (Costa Ricans) families and two which are gringos--other students.

The yard and the kids playing with our neighbor

As in most cities, green space is a hot commodity and quite rare with the houses in the area. So we feel blessed to have a common "yard"where the kids can play and even swing! Not to mention the park that is 2 blocks down the street with a field, a BB court, and playground equipment. We are enjoying the convenience of city life--with a grocery store, bank, and bakery all just around the corner.

Sam sitting on his bed on moving-in day

We are happy to be settled in our own place at last--it makes it feel a bit more like home--even if only for the next few months. Stay tuned for some pics of our walk to school and the infamous "gringo-catchers."

Our 12th Anniversary!

2009-08-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Wow! Has it really been 12 years?! All I can say is, "God is good" to have given me such a wonderful, faithful husband. And such great kids. We celebrated as a family this year. We all got dressed up and had a fancy dinner together of kid-friendly foods--hamburgers, corn, ice cream. But it was tasty and it was fun! The kids even surprised us with a little after-dinner entertainment--a song and dance.

For those of you who have prayed for our family and marriage over the years, thank you. May you be blessed as you have blessed us.

Waterfall Gardens

2009-07-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

A traditional Costa Rican ox-cart

One of the beautiful waterfalls

Feeding the hummingbirds

The rain forest

If you only looked at our blog, you would think we were on vacation. It's hard to blog about the day-to-day activities like studying, going to school, laundry, grocery shopping and rainstorms.

After a week of the kids being home from school and mostly being stuck at home because of rain, we awoke on Sunday morning to bright sun and decided to take a day trip to some Waterfall gardens that were recommended to us.

The drive was incredible. A windy road through the mountains of coffee plantations. When we arrived at the gardens we found out that half of the trails were closed due to an earthquake in January. As a result, we were only able to hike to 2 waterfalls instead of 5. But we got a discount which was fabulous, since we've found that the tourist attractions can be quite spendy here.

In addition to waterfalls, there was a small "zoo" of rainforest animals---monkeys, frogs, snakes, butterflies, birds, and our favorite the hummingbirds. They were amazing!! How is it possible that their wings beat 60 times per second. It was so nice to get away from the city for the day. And the rains held off until after lunch--what did we expect, it is a rainforest! =)

Field Trip

2009-07-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Our tour guide, showing us one of the many stores of wood. This is "purple heart"as you can tell by its' natural purple color
Mike--busy with his small project =)

Mike's class had a field trip on Friday. It was billed as a chance to learn and use their spanish and see a local business in action. But mostly it was a chance to buy curios from the gift store =) Although walking through the factory was quite interesting--and the amount of wood was unbelievable. It was amazing what they could make out of the wood--And we (and you) are probably happy to here that for every tree that has been cut down, ten more have been planted.

Happy 6th Birthday Sam!

2009-07-16T19:27:00.001-07:00

Today was Sam's 6th Birthday! Here is a snapshot of our day!!
We had dinner at McDonald's with a playland!

Sam and Alton played on the playground after school. It's Alton's 6th birthday today, too!

Sam had a special muffin for breakfast and those are all the signs we made for him to celebrate his big day!

'Here his class is singing "Happy Birthday" to him in English and then in Spanish. Then the class enjoyed cupcakes.

It was a very fun day! And we are thankful for Sam and the blessing he is to our family!

Lankester gardens

2009-07-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

Can you tell what we did this weekend? We thought about making a trip to the beach but instead we stayed locally and visited Lankester gardens. It was a beautiful get-away without really getting away. We saw beautiful plants, trees, and forest and enjoyed the quiet setting.

Walking through the forest

Syd and I in the orchid collections

We were blessed to have dry weather which is unusual this time of year. But we did find the mosquitoes--but thankfully, no malaria to worry about--just itching.

"Our" first house in CR

2009-07-10T11:07:00.001-07:00

The road leaving our cul-de-sac

The kids in front of the house

Abby and the kids

Here are some pictures of the house where we are staying in San José. We will be living here until mid-August. The Happ family has been very generous to us--in exchange for watching their house and their dachsund, Abby, we are blessed with the use of their house and their car. This house is about 15 minutes away from school by car, depending on traffic.

In August, when the Happs return, we will be moving closer to school. We found an apartment that is about 3 blocks from school. It has a big common green space which is a bit unusual for the city. And as it is rainy season, and the rain always seems to come about the time the kids are finished with school, it will be nice to be so close for the wet walk home.

Volcán Irazu

2009-07-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

Sam and Mike at the main crater
The lake at the bottom of the main crater

Sydney and I --happy that we have some jackets to block the wind

After just one week, we were already feeling the need to get out of the city for awhile. So on Saturday we headed east out of San José to Volcán Irazu. It is the highest mountain in Costa Rica and thankfully, it is currently dormant. Luckily we read the guide book before we went which told us to go early before the clouds moved in, and to bring warm clothes. Because it was freezing! And just after we took these pictures the clouds moved in and we could barely see more than 10 meters ahead of us. Since we couldn't see anything after that, we headed back home and were home for lunch. It was a nice opportunity to begin to see more of this beautiful country.

Costa Rica!

2009-07-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

The kids at school

Me at Instituto de Lengua Espanola--what a view!

Well, my blogging is back by "popular" demand. At least my mom likes to read about our adventures. But because we are no longer in Malawi--we have changed the blogs name to match our newsletters. Peaks and Valleys.

We arrived safely in San Jose, Costa Rica last Sunday after a whirlwind 2 weeks of leaving Malawi, visiting friends in London, and hanging out with family and friends in Minnesota. We have hit the ground running as Mike and the kids started school on Monday. Mike is studying in a 1-month intensive course and he kids are attending a day-camp. I am just trying to help keep things in order for the time being.

We are very grateful to be house-sitting in Costa Rica for our first 8 weeks. It was nice to move into a furnished house--it has made this first week a little easier. We will be looking for a house or an apartment closer to school starting mid-August.

So far the biggest adventure has been driving to and from school. It's a busy city with lots of cars and not a lot of great roadways. It's different than Malawi where you have to avoid the pedestrians and bikes. Here it's just a lot of other cars on very narrow roads. And because we are new, if we make a wrong turn, we get easily lost. So far, nothing horrible.

On the other hand, we live close to a big store--HiperMas. It's like Wal-Mart and outside is a little stand that sells McDonalds ice cream cones. That has been our treat after 12 hour days at school this week.