Tico Tuesday, December 28th

Ode To Cranberry

Oh Cranberry, thy taste to my tongue brings great delight

Dried, fresh, baked or otherwise prepared

Mixed with orange, apple, rolls or squash

Oh Cranberry, native to my beloved New England thou art

Oh Cranberry, thou bringest joy to my heart!!

Ok, so I’m a real fan of cranberries! On Christmas Day my Ode to Cranberry was even longer and sillier. And I’ll openly admit, I’m not the best off-the-top-of-my-head poet. But, the apple-cranberry pie I helped Mommy make for dessert Christmas Day was good enough to inspire anyone to try to be

Frost or Longfellow for at least a few minutes… jijiji.

It was a wonderful Christmas full of love, fresh Arizona air, Scripture and talking and sharing with those I love most. I hope yours was just as good, if not better! (more about mine on the blog!)

Much love,

Carrie

I had a wonderful week in Arizona! Mommy and I put on the miles as we did the Bisbee stairs route one morning (the new, longer versión, but we still did it faster than we did in August!), hiked almost 14 miles in the Chiricahua Nat’l Monument on

Christmas Eve, biked about 10 miles on Christmas morning, hiked through a gorgeous place called the Narrows, and walked around the Sonoran Desert Museum and swam in our hotel’s pool for a good 30-40min.

Christmas Day was not the most traditional. NO more acting out the Christmas story- it would be a bit difficult as a one man show for me to put on (if you didn’t know, my brothers and I used to always act it out every year as Daddy read it out loud for us on Christmas morning). We still read the Christmas story though. After stockings and breakfast in the morning Mommy and I biked over to a nearby park where they have a collection of Santas –they are all hand painted (on big wooden slabs) and each Santa has a different theme. We saw German, Norwegian, British, Australian, New England, and dwarf-like Santas. It was a very fun, cultural experience. When we got home we finished making and then thoroughly enjoyed our tur

key FEAST!!!! YES it is worth making a turkey for 3 people! Oh it was so delicious! And over the course of the day, I got to talk to, my brother Dan, his wife, and his 3 kids who are old enough to talk, my brother Zach, my Grandma and one of my cousins. Oh yeah, and my boyfriend. J

The next day after Mommy went to hike for church I got to play cribbage for the first time in AGES with Daddy (and then Mommy). He beat me, but then I beat Mommy. It was great fun! Daddy whooped Mommy and me at 10-9-8 (up and down the river) that night too. So mean of him to pick on us girls!!!

Other highlights of the trip were dinner with Marty & Jack, good friends of Mommy and Daddy. We actually had a little birthday party for me and MOMMY MADE ME A CAKE!!!! I am SO SPOILED!!! I LOVE IT!!! The other highlight was lunch with abuelito Jack & Mary Anne, retired missionaries of the LAM and true lovers of God. I want to be like them when I grow up!

Thanks be to God for the wonderful people He places in our lives and the wonderful ways He blesses us and cares for us-from cranberries to family, and of course, the best Gift ever-JESUS!!!

Tico Tuesday, December 21st

Happy Tuesday!
This is the Christmas tree we had at the office. Pretty nice, isn't it? Friday morning we had a birthday/Christmas party/breakfast. It was really nice. We played chubby bunny (which was the most hilarious thing I have seen in ages), had delicious tamales for breakfast, sang Happy Birthday, revealed our Secret Santas and received nice gift baskets from the association. It was great! More pictures will be coming soon, but I'm currently enjoying my favorite Christmas tree in the world at my parents' place in Arizona. I'm more a homemade ornament colored light kind of girl... I'll be sure to post a picture of our tree later, but right now it's late and I need to sleeeeeep!
Have a blessed Christmas week!!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, December 14th

Tuesday greetings to you all!

This weekend I went on an adventure to mountain paradise! Fabián and I hiked the Barva volcano. It is considered extinct, so it isn't quite as exciting as the 3 more famous ones-Arenal, Poás & Irazú. But, it is closer. The morning was sunny and beautifully clear and the views of the Central Valley got better and better as we gained altitude. We had all day, so we took our time, walking along, talking and taking lots of pictures! We took an hour at a picnic table to read the Bible, pray and worship together. It was great! Then we headed into the cloud forest and wandered amongst the poor man's umbrella's (for a picture head to the blog) until we got to the crater. I'll confess, it doesn't look terribly impressive, but it is still really cool to think about the fact that you're standing in (what used to be) a volcano.

So, it was a great adventure with lots of natural beauty and wonderful views... and really good company!

More pictures and the story of my first time to Volcán Barva on the blog!

Blessings on the rest of your week!

Carrie

My first time to Volcán Barva was almost 4 years ago now, when I was a student here. I remember driving up in a little microbus with the 7 other girls in my program, our program director, and our fun chauffeur who was so cool I decided to adopt him as my tico uncle. We drove right up to the park entrance, so we didn't have very far to hike. I much preferred the walk up from where the bus left us! It was even foggier (cloudier) that day, but there were more cool flowers out. I remember it poured and we ate lunch by the park entrance. That experience definitely doesn't compare with this one! Adventures are always more fun with people you know and feel more comfortable around. I never felt that comfortable with or got that close to any of the other girls in my program. But, boy did God have His purpose for having me in Costa Rica then. If it weren't for that I sure wouldn't be here now!

Tico Tuesday, December 7th

This past Sunday I had a special treat. A whole bunch of fellow LAM missionaries and I got together to sing hymns! I loved it! And I got to meet some really wonderful people! There were hundreds of years of missionary experience in that house we met in!! I felt so honored to be there! And I sang until I almost because hoarse. We stopped just in time and it's a good thing we did, though I still wanted to sing at least 3 more that I really like. We sang a few Christmas carols too. That was nice. Anyway, the view in the picture is actually from the Bible Home and where we had the hymn sing is actually high up and so not only can you look down and see the whole valley, you can also see part of Roblealto's Farm, Bible Home and Camp!!! So cool! Pictures of that should be coming, I hope. I was so taken with the people, hymns and loving the beautiful house we were in and its view that I didn't get to pull my camera out. Oh well.

A few more thoughts on the blog! Blessings on the rest of your week!

Carrie

I think this is the year in which I have listened to less Christmas music. I'm not sure how I feel about that. The Christmas music that I have is all quite old and it makes me really nostalgic. A Mannheim Steamroller album brings me back to our living room in New Jersey and me dancing around with my best friend at the time. A more recent Smitty album takes me back to our living room in Auburn, ME next tot he Christmas tree wrapped up in the blue blanket from Aunt Nancy in Daddy's red leather chair, a cup of hot in hand and the Guidepost Christmas Treasury on my lap. I used to read through the whole book every Christmas season. Yes, Christmas is a nostalgic time, and it's kind of hard, because more than anything I wish it could just go back to the way it was, with all 5 of us together, each of us in our robes and on our bean bags on Christmas morning. I'm a sucker for tradition. But I know, Dan has his family now, Zach has his life, and I'm here in Costa Rica living it up and loving it all. I will get to be with my parents for Christmas this year... for the first time since 2007. Wow. Has my life been an adventure!! I'd tell more but I'm falling asleep. I'll do my best to post again before next Tuesday!