Tico Tuesday, October 30th

Happy Tuesday to you!

It's true, there's never really a dull moment at the Bible Home. This Sunday we had a condensed version of AWANA since it was a special Family Bonding day. It was a lot like the one we had in February, with all the kids, house families, biological families/guardians, plus Roblealto staff and volunteers all playing together. Thank God our days of heavy rain from Sandy were over! After playing volleyball, 3-legged soccer, kickball (with a buddy I wasn't allowed to let go of!), and other bonding activities, we headed up to the houses to eat and keep sharing. The Porvenir house chose me to hang out with them. I had a great time! The house parents and all the kids in the house just came in July, so it was a perfect opportunity to get to know them all better! As the afternoon came to a close, the children performed "Trading My Sorrow" for their parents, and then we went outside under a tree to give thanks to God together. I thought we'd all just go around the circle and say something we were thankful for, but everyone did it more like a prayer. It was a really sweet moment. I'm so thankful for Roblealto, the opportunity to serve the children and families at the Bible Home, and for everything God is doing in them! Thank you for making this possible!
I challenge us all do some family bonding this week!
God's peace and joy be with you,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, October 23rd

Happy Tuesday from San José de la Montaña!

This past Friday was a special evening, the Annual Prayer Vigil at the Bible Home. Every year we celebrate God's faithfulness, give Him thanks, and present our requests to him. We usually do it in or near our most recently built or renovated space. That means we had the vigil in the Arco Iris house!!! It is so awesome. The original Arco Iris house was razed before I came to Roblealto in 2010, but I got to see almost the whole construction process and work with volunteers whose sweat and love helped build the new house. There are now 11 boys and a house family (parents pictured here) living in this beautiful miraculous gift from God. It fills me with joy to see this house and know it is allowing us to serve more children and have their lives transformed by God at the Bible Home.
Just as God provided the resources to build the new Arco Iris house (please read the story below!!), I know he will provide me with the resources I need to continue serving him here. You can join me! Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who sent me your mailing address. The LAM is helping me with a special mailing for you!
May we all continue to celebrate God's thankfulness, praise him, and present our requests to him!
Carrie

The Story of God Providing for the Arco Iris House
This is such a good story, I have to tell it again! It was late March. Volunteers had been coming to the Bible Home and working tremendously hard putting up wallboard, spackling, installing ceiling tiles, putting in molding, etc. But they were gone, and so was the money. We were hoping to open the new house in about 3 months. We needed $XX,000 in order to finish construction. Roblealto's executive director was about to call the contractor and tell him to halt construction, but my supervisor Pam asked for one week to knock on some doors and see what God would do. Pam and I worked together, writing facebook statuses and letters, and the response BLEW US AWAY!!! Someone wrote saying they would give the exact Very Large Sum of $XX,000 that we needed! We cried with joy and raised our hands and voices in praise to God. But it didn't stop there!! Another e-mail came in... offering over half the sum we needed, another one saying we'll give $10,000, and another with another significant donation. Within about 48 hours, we had almost DOUBLE the original amount we needed!!! NOTHING is difficult for God! I had never seen Him move in such a way before in my life, and it was one of the most joyous, exciting experiences I've ever had.
Right now, I have a pretty significant financial need. I'm praying and knocking on doors, waiting to see what God will do. I know that if God can provide so easily for the Arco Iris house, he can surely do the same for me. Maybe it will be through you?

Tico Tuesday, October 16th

Tuesday Greetings from Costa Rica! Before I proceed:
PLEASE RESPOND to this e-mail. I need to update my contact list (include mailing addresses!) immediately. So, especially if you have changed your mailing address at any point in the past 4 years and/or gotten married or prefer that I use a different e-mail address, PLEASE send me your new contact info right away! Thank You!!!

And now back to your regular Tico Tuesday.
Two Bible Bees? Yup. A week ago I wrote to your about our local Bible Bee at the Bible Home. This past Friday, we had the Roblealto-wide Bible Bee, with representatives from all 3 child care centers and the Bible Home. It was delightful to see some of the children and personnel from other centers I hadn't gotten to see in a long time. The Roblealto Child Care Association is full of sweet amazing people! But I must confess, my heart swelled with pride and love when the kids from the Bible Home arrived. Of course I knew they were coming, but I was so glad to see them... I don't feel like I really have words to express it. It must feel something like having your child chosen to play on a Little League All-Star team. Have I ever told you how crazy I am about these kids?
Anyway, thanks be to God, the activity went well. It was very different from the previous week's Bee at the Bible Home. Lily and I were in charge of a game in which the children had to act out Bible stories. Except the first 2 times, it didn't go so well. There was chaos, and not enough time... or too much time. Plus, the kids didn't really get the whole acting part and it was too noisy to hear much of anything. So, we ended up making it a type of guessing game. (Who knew the story of Esther could be boiled down to "Pray! Pray! We're going to die!") Too bad there were only 4 teams. We were just starting to really get it down as the last team came around! At least now we know for the future!
Please remember to make sure I have your updated contact info!
Thanks, and have a joyous rest of the week!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, October 9th

Whew! This past Friday was a big day! I spent the last 6 weeks or so preparing, organizing, and coordinating everything for the Annual Bible Bee. 

I was very happy to do so, and praise God I can report that the activity was a great success! Though it was all over in one brief morning, every minute of preparation and planning was worth it (and much needed)! I learned a lot, and now that I've done it once, future years should be much easier. The kids enjoyed the games, answered lots of questions, and practiced good team membership (well, some more than others...). One leader told me a girl told her that the activity was really fun! Thank God! The team leaders and school teachers brought everything together and did a great job decorating, motivating the kids and just making it a special day.

I think my favorite game was the one pictured: the kids had to jump into a kiddie pool filled with shredded paper and dig out a little wooden block. I couldn't believe how well those little blocks hid themselves! (Look carefully for the little bit of paper in the hair of the boy in the periwinkle shirt at the table. I love it!)

Note to self: next time buy enough chocolates ahead of time for both winning teams (one from K-3 and one from 4-6). I had to send out our administrator to buy more in a race against the clock. Thankfully he made it back in time for us to award the kids without a moment's delay, and no one to suspect what happened. Jijiji ;-)

Thank you for your prayers and support. Through God's grace, it's because of you that I'm here with the LAM and that the Bible Bee was able to happen. My co-worker Lily is currently in evaluation meetings 3 days a week and unable to do much more than get ready for the next day of meetings and stay on top of her other normal responsibilities. God worked it out perfectly for me to be here and work alongside her!

Praise God and Thank YOU!

Rejoicing in Him,

Carrie

Tico Tuesday, October 2nd

Happy Tuesday once again, dear family and friends!
I'm not sure if you remember me raving about how wonderful our AWANA Missions Day was last year, but it was truly one of the highlights. This past weekend was this year's Missions Day, and it did not disappoint! This year, our Sparkies club did Austria. One of our leaders and her husband made a fantastic informational video, one of our Sparks girls did an interpretive dance with a couple leaders to a missionsy song, and 5 of us leaders (with some help earlier in the evening with a few other leaders) spent The Whole Night Friday making our Austrian castle display. I hadn't been that sleep-deprived, since coming back from Austria with my mom in May! The moral of the story: have a sketch of what's going to be on the outside AND inside of the display before the time comes to start putting the stand together!
This is also helping me learn more about tico culture too, though. I still haven't quite figured this out, but there is something about ticos and incredible excellence/perfectionism/detail. Seriously, I think they even outdo elementary education majors at Grove City College. Having grown up in a practical Yankee home being what I would consider a rather practical not-many-frills gal, these things are quite foreign to me, and create some tension inside. Not that I don't believe in excellence or details at all, but not always to this extent. (The cool thing about all the time and little details that went into our display is that looked superb! Russia and Romania looked really good too, but I'm a bit biased...) Anyway, all the work is worth it 100% for the kids at the Bible Home. I'm happy to sacrifice a night of sleep for them to learn, grow and have an enjoyable experience.
I invite you to head to facebook for more pictures of our lovely stand, my amazing fellow leaders, and some of my sweetie pies!
May we all share God's love with those around us, this week and always!
Love,
Carrie