Tico Tuesday, July 6th

Happy 6^th of July! I trust you all had an enjoyable and safe Independence Day weekend!

The 4^th is a bit of a bittersweet day for me since we used to always spend it with my Grandparents Smith and Grammy died almost 9 years ago. But it is full of lots of happy memories and traditions. And I kept in line, even here in Costa Rica, wearing my Red, White and Blue and making an American flag cake! (ok it was actually Rice Krispy treats-with coconut, strawberries, and the stars are apple chunks since the marshmallow pieces got WAY too sticky). I just realized I made a boo boo with the flag. Can you tell what's wrong with it? I'll tell you on the blog!

Two other things of note- 1. Yesterday was my wonderful Daddy's birthday. I had a fantastic time Skyping with him and Mommy. I can't WAIT to see them next month!

2. IMPORTANT PRAYER REQUEST: this weekend is the youth retreat. We have close to 50 kids signed up. Please be praying for the retreat this weekend, the speakers, the youth, and most of all for God to have His way in us!

Thanks be to God for the freedom we have through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Carrie

Well, I'd tell you about all those happy fourths in Falmouth, MA with Grammy and Grandpa, but apparently I did that last year . I never get sick of it though, with the minutemen and gun salute and town chorus on the Green, biking in the sun by the beach, and grilling out and having such a great time together as a family. Sometimes we'd also made up a little program, sing patriotic songs and hymns and play our instruments. We'd also play card or board games, lawn bowling or badminton. And of course, the fireworks at Surf Drive was one of the highlights of the year. So, all that, plus the 4^th being Uncle Mike's birthday and the 5^th Daddy's birthday, it was always a big couple of days.

So, my 4^th this year. Well, it was a full day. In the morning I watch Rafa Nadal win the Wimbledon final and then scurried around to get ready for church at 10. Church was a bit different this weekend because it was CCI's 8^th anniversary. So we had lots and lots of music (including Happy Birthday CCI with a cake), congregational proclamations and a pastoral testimony/vision casting chat instead of a sermon.

In the afternoon my friend Albeiro helped me make the Patriotic Dessert. I'll tell you, boy was it hard to try to figure out what to do without blueberries!!! I MISS THEM A LOT!! Now, yes, here I have mangos regularly, avocados, mamones chinos (rambutan), a lime tree in my back yard, amazing pineapples pretty much every week, etc, so I know I really can't complain too much. But none of those are BLUE!!! It took quite a bit of online research, seeking inspiration for what to do without blueberries. I thought I was going to have to settle with berry blue jello. That wouldn't be a bad option. Maybe next year I'll make a sort of trifle with blue jello. But, the blue coconut idea seemed MUCH more appealing to me. And YIKES!! The a boo-boo on the flag!! Can you tell what's wrong? That row of strawberries immediately under the blue part shouldn't be there!! OOPS!! The middle row of strawberries should stop runs into the blue. Hmm, I'll have to keep that in mind for next year.

Anyway, this was the first time I had every made Rice Krispy treats without the supervision of an adult older than me. (Well Sofía was there, but she wasn't supervising anything, we were just all in the kitchen together). And there wasn't a big enough bowl to melt the marshmallows in the microwave, so it was also the first time I made them on top of the stove! I forgot just how incredible sticky they are and that you have to use wax paper to flatten the treats in the dish. We had to grease a plastic baggy, because our spoons and plastic spatulas were not going to get us anywhere! But it worked out. Well, other than the marshmallow pieces I cut up getting too sticky. But the apple made just fine stars. And really, not having blueberries worked and made the cake more accurate (minus my striping mistake) because the background is blue, not the stars. I'm okay with sacrificing that for the sake of blueberries though.

So, after lunch and enjoying our yummy Patriotic Dessert we read a chapter of Narnia and talked until church. As soon as we got home from church Samuel sat with me as we watched the Macy's Fireworks celebration in New York with all sorts of Patriotic and semi-Patriotic songs. That was really nice. Then We watched Pops goes the 4^th (in Boston), though apparently they don't call it “Pops goes the 4th” anymore. Whatever. It was fun to see the Hatch Shell. I don't care much for Toby Keith, but I don't really have anything against him either. I don't know if the deal was the different channel or what, but the Macy's thing didn't have any ads (that I recall), and the Pops seemed to have as many commercials as they did actual programming! But their version of Stars and Stripes Forever is SO GREAT!!!!! (the muppet version is pretty hilarious too though!!!). I don't know what happened to finishing with the 1812 Overture... I thought they always did, but this year they didn't. And some of the songs that played during the fireworks were not even close to patriotic at all!! “I can go the distance” from Hercules??? Really?? Come on!! But, whatever. I guess you can't get much more American than Disney.

Well, thank you God for the liberties You have given us. Forgive us for taking too much advantage of them and for robbing others of their deserved freedom. Guide our government and teach us to trust You once more. In Jesus' name. Amen.