Tico Tuesday, September 25th

Happy Tuesday!
A few months ago when I moved into my new apartment here in Costa Rica, it was a disaster. There was stuff and dust everywhere. Not anymore! I love having this nice little space all to myself. The best part is having my own kitchen and getting to cook for myself. That has been so much fun!
 I'd like to decorate the walls a little more, but I stay so busy, that hasn't really been a priority. I'm still working on getting a desk or table to study at in my room. It's quieter back there. (To see what that and the rest of my apartment looks like, head to facebook.) For now, I use the setup depicted here. It's actually pretty comfy, except for the legs of the ironing board in the way of my feet.
Let us all thank God for the roof we have over our heads and the solid walls we have around us this night!
Love,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, September 18th

This past weekend was full of fun and time spent with the kids at the Bible Home. Friday evening it started with the arrival of the torch.
 A flame of liberty started at the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua about 2 days beforehand. Students run the torch from town to town-Olympic flame/Pony Express style-until it reaches Cartago, the former capital of Costa Rica. It splits off though, and the flame arrive to different towns all over the country. A group of kids from the Bible Home was selected to run the torch up from Barva (the town 4k down the mountain). They arrived drenched from the rain, but with smiling and with torch in hand. We had a little civic ceremony with pretty much every patriotic song Costa Rica has and then marched around the Bible Home with the homemade lanterns (most made of shoeboxes) with real candles inside. Thankfully not too many fingers and lanterns were burnt. After the march, a whole bunch of kids from the Jardin house hung their lanterns on a tree outside. Our Independence Tree looked so cool! (I've never been near real candles on a Christmas tree that I'm aware of, so this was neat to see). Then Saturday we had the Independence Day parade in the morning and the kids' parents came up to watch them and have a picnic lunch afterward. Thank God it didn't rain! More pictures are on my facebook!
Blessings on your week!
Love,
Carrie

P.S. Random aside: to see a live performance of a hit pop song arranged for choir and orchestra by one of my good friends from high school, watch The Today Show on Friday!

Tico Tuesday, September 11th

Hello, dear family and friends.

This picture is one that shows some of the damage from last week's earthquake. 

Compared to other places that have had earthquakes of this magnitude, Costa Rica made out extremely well. But, among the list of damage, a hospital has been condemned and hundreds of people lost their houses. Thankfully, they are hundreds and not thousands, but still, those hundreds of people are in need of new homes. We continue to have a copious number of light aftershocks each day (there were over 1200 within the first 3 days!). It's just a slight shaking of the ground, but I'm getting rather sick of them. Anyway, for the past week, the earthquake has been a topic of conversation with pretty much everyone I've seen. Kind of like what happened 11 years ago on this very day. It was even a Tuesday. 

I had the opportunity to go to the 9/11 memorial when I was in the States in April, and 11 years seems like a long time in some ways, but for many, I'm sure it feels like it was just last week. It's hard to fathom all the disasters and catastrophes in this world, and how deeply so many, many people are affected by them. The only thing that comes to my mind is this: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

May God comfort each of us where we hurt, that we may in turn be able to comfort others,

Carrie

Tico Tuesday, September 4th

On two occasions in the past couple weeks I've been asked to take care of most of the kids in the picture. (I took it in January and there have been a few changes since then).
By "take care," what I really mean is "babysit 11 children from the ages of 2-11." Yup, this house is on overload right now with 11 kids. Whenever there are special activities for the house moms, like on Mother's Day (August 15th in Costa Rica) or meetings for house couples, the Bible Home calls on people to keep an eye on the kids in each house. I consider it an honor that they would call me. When I think about it as babysitting 11 children with emotional and behavioral problems at no charge, I think it sounds crazy!!! But I truly consider it an honor and an Enormous Responsibility to watch out for these kids, even though they may be just be watching a movie and then going to bed. The second time I went to "babysit" (I don't feel like that term is really adequate here), one of the girls asked me why I wasn't their house mom. HA!!! It was flattering, to be sure. I could handle her, but the rest of them? Day in and day out? At this point in my life, it would undoubtedly be damaging for us all. Is being a house mom somewhere in my future? I don't know. Getting started is like jumping into a fire, and from what I've seen, being a house mom is one of the most difficult things ever. But it's there in the furnace where the broken can be restored and be made beautiful.
Thank you for praying with me not only for the children of Roblealto, but also for the valiant house parents who dedicate their lives and entire families to serving "the least of these."
May God's love and joy abound in you and your family,
Carrie