It Gets Better!

Here's a quick update on a few things I mentioned in my last post.
Blogging and just verbally processing was very helpful, as you can see the difference in tone from the way my blog started to the way it ended. I can hate things the way they are and get all angry and rant and what not, but that doesn't change a thing, and it doesn't do me any good, so there's really no need to bother.
Anyway. THE NEWS: Bad news is, the lady didn't call yesterday as promised. She didn't even call today. But I asked my friend to make sure the lady had my number right. He just talked with her and gave her my number again, and (Here's the GOOD NEWS) she said that she has all the information together and that tomorrow (Friday) she'll be meeting with her boss asking permission to take over my case and be the one to resolve it!! This is so encouraging to me! I'm not forgotten! The ball is rolling! Maybe not as fast as I'd want it to, but it's moving forward, and that is a definite cause for rejoicing! Please pray for the meeting to actually happen tomorrow (meetings have a way of getting postponed here...) and for the lady to get permission to resolve my case! Thanks so much for all your prayers so far!
In other zones of stress, the material I need to get together for the house moms for the month of June still isn't close to ready, but I'm not going to stress about that. I'm just going to push the date back a little.
One of my hermeneutics lectures got posted today, and it's the one I'm more interested in seeing, so I won't write much longer so I can go see that and hopefully get a little more work done this evening.
The blessed ice creams for the Bible club? Well, that was really stressful for a little bit. There were some ice creams there in the kitchen, but they are for AWANA on Sunday. It was looking like we weren't going to have anything, or I was going to have to get a taxi to the center of town and buy all the local little grocery/convenience stores out of chocolates. Ay ay ay. Not planning ahead really sucks. But, then there was a change of plans and someone was able to bring us cheap, relatively tasty ice creams and novelties! Praise God! And, all the houses that had to present did their presentations and they turned out really well! One was about a city with no rules and was all messy and the people learned to make rules and get themselves organized. Another was a fantastic skit the Arco Iris house made up about sin. They compared it to having fleas. All we have to do is accept the free flea spray (say that 10x fast!) and we will be flea-free! Of course, that relates to us being sinful and in need of God's grace and forgiveness. We can't get rid of fleas on our own. And the gift of flea spray makes us clean and presentable before God. Talk about a creative skit!! And, the last presentation was singing "Oh be careful little eyes what you see," since it tied in PER-FECT-LY with this month's Bible lesson of "What are you watching?" I'd wanted us to sing the song, but didn't know all the words in Spanish very well. So, God worked it all out. And all the kids were really well behaved today! Oh, and we finished by playing a review game of what we've learned so far this year. The kids did great and it was a lot of fun. So, though there were some really stressful moments earlier in the day, things have gotten way better, and I'm so encouraged with things in migration! And I found out I have Monday off since I'll be working all weekend. That makes life a lot easier too!
Please keep praying for that and for this weekend. I almost have everything ready for my 3 lessons on Abraham!
Off to watch the OT narrative lecture!

PS CONSTRUCTION OF THE LOS GUIDO CHILD CARE CENTER OFFICIALLY BEGAN ON MONDAY!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

Tico Tuesday, May 28th

Tuesday greetings from San José de la Montaña!
I'm going make a confession. I like to be in control. I like to know what's going on, who is doing what, when things are happening (or when they will happen by), and feel like I have some power or sway in making sure everything turns out right. That's the way it should be, right? Well, that's sure not the case in Costa Rica. I sort of learned this lesson when I studied abroad here in 2007. I can't control things, and therefore it does me absolutely no good to stress about them. That's fine when it comes to a trip to Nicaragua, but when it comes to the legal process of my residency in Costa Rica, it's a little bit harder to let go.

In October 2012, 11 months into my residency renewal process, Migration told me they would have a resolution for me in February. In February, Migration asked me for more papers from Roblealto and told me to come back in 3 months. When I told them that wasn't a resolution they told me it was a partial one.
Today, 18 months after I started this process and 11 weeks after my driver's license expired (which I can't renew without a valid residency card) I went back to Migration to find that there is STILL NO RESOLUTION for my stinking residency! Migration has NO EXCUSE to take so stinking long with their lousy, inefficient system. 18 months, Migration! That's a year and a half! My first residency card was only good for 2 years!
Anyway, there is good news. I now have contact with someone from the inside! An acquaintance of a friend... I'll take it! She was able to look me up in the system and see that my case is still not resolved. But, she has enough power that she sent the minions out to search for my file (I'm imagining some 90s computer game with large pixels and the little player searching through rooms and rooms for my treasure-like file). She is supposed to call me tomorrow. I hate waiting. So, I'm bummed that my case isn't resolved, but to have someone on the inside that is helping me is a very good thing, and for that I am truly grateful.
But, what guarantee do I have that she'll actually call me? Only her word. What will she say? Will she have good news? I have no idea. I HATE not having control!
I've been thinking of rewriting a hymn I truly love:

Tis so hard to trust in Jesus,
just to take him (and the lady from Migration) at his word,
Just to rest upon his promise,
when I know, I've no control,

Jesus, Jesus, tough to trust him
though he's proven o'er and o'er
Jesus Jesus precious Jesus, 
Oh for grace to trust you more!

Anybody else ever feel this way? (As my dear pastor Ethan says, you can raise your hand in your heart if you do). Just bein' honest, people.

And the irony is: I've had to learn this trusting thing before. If he can take care of our trip to Nicaragua when everything goes wrong. If he can provide for me financially as a missionary for 4+ years. If he can keep me safe and protect me from any serious health concerns. If he can move mountains, change children's hearts, give sight to the blind, cast out demons, make the lame to walk, rise from the dead...then of course he can take care of a little bit of legal paperwork in a retarded broken system!
The other ironic piece is that, as scary as it is to let go, trusting God really does bring freedom. Freedom and peace that are way better than stressing. Stressing never did anybody any good anyway.
Stress. Want to know the rest of it? Well, there's a Bible club on Thursday and I haven't really planned it and I don't think the houses that are supposed to present are going to be ready. I forgot to order the ice creams, and I haven't told anyone we're thinking about having it in a different place and I need to talk to doña Magaly about changing the time we start. I still have a ton of stuff to prepare for this weekend as I'm in charge of Christian Education for the child care program we're offering for the kids of moms who are going to the camp for moms this weekend (Fri afternoon through Sun late afternoon). I have materials to prepare, stuff to gather and pack, lessons to review, etc. And next week we are supposed to give to the moms the material for the month of June. That's not close to ready either. I still have to put all the doctrines in plastic sleeves, and stick labels on the back of every visual (8*12), I think I need more copies of the right or responsibility and I need to reorganize the materials for the Bible lesson. Plus I need to make the cover sheet for the envelopes I put all the materials in. Oh, and I need to make the banner. crap. Then there's my studies. This week's lectures still haven't been posted and I want to have as much time as possible to do my assignment, especially since this weekend is shot and today I didn't get much done since I was at Migration this morning. Deep breath. God is bigger and higher than all of this. It's all going to be ok, and even if EVERYTHING goes wrong and I have to start my residency process from scratch (I can't imagine that happening and don't even know if it's possible, but if so, Lord, please have mercy!), I am still the accepted, beloved child of the King of all. He will continue to be faithful and care for and provide for me. His love for me will never change, and that's what I care about most.
Ok, I'm starting to feel less anxious already. I feel like I should list you a host of good things I'm grateful for now (probably starting with the awesome chocolate chip cookies I made the other night. It's really tempting to devour the ones I didn't give away Cookie Monster style!). But, being thankful for God's love and the ability to truly trust him is enough. And I need to go exercise. Billy Blanks is like a therapist to me.
Thanks for reading and taking a glance into this wild life. I beg you for your prayers, for everything I've mentioned, but especially for my residency renewal and for the activities of this weekend, including the 2 devotionals and 3 Bible lessons I'll be leading.
May Jesus remind us every day of how sweet it is to trust him each day!
Carrie

PS Instead of posting a picture of me looking wild and pulling my hair out, I've decided to share this blue crowned motmot with you instead. It has an awesome name. And one posed just like this outside my window the other day. And google enabled me to identify it. God is good. He's even better than google.

Tico Tuesday, May 21st

It came! The long awaited start of the 2013 AWANA season finally came! Sunday morning we had a special service and ceremony at the Bible Home to celebrate the beginning of AWANA this year. I'm helping out in our Sparks club once more, and am looking forward to building relationships with these 4 sweeties and sharing God's truth and love with them and helping them not just hide God's Word in their hearts, but understand it and encourage them to put it into practice every day. I was working with 2 of these kiddos in manual time, and they had to memorize the Sparks key verse, John 3:16. I asked them what the verse was about, and they weren't able or willing to say anything. So, I got to explain the verse to them, piece by piece. They both say they've accepted Jesus as their Savior, but I'm not sure they really understand what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. Please pray for them, and pray for me as I work with these kids.

I have another prayer request too. The Roblealto-wide camp for moms is coming up May 31-June 2. While the moms are at camp, we have cuido, a sort of mini-camp for the children of these mothers. I was originally going to go to the camp with the moms, but Carmen, the Christian Ed. coordinator/mom camp director, called me the other week and asked me to help out at the cuido instead and take charge of Christian education there. It turns out this means I have to prepare 2 30-minute devotionals, plus 3 90-minute Bible lessons on Abraham. There are going to be about 40 kids there, ranging from 1 year to 11. I feel capable of doing this (thank God he qualifies the called!), and am very honored that Carmen believes I can do a good job, but am definitely feeling the weight of this big responsibility. Please pray for everything to come together and go well. I'm excited to see what God will do in that weekend!
Thanks so much!
Love,
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, May 14th

Happy Tuesday to you!
I feel like I could write you another Chronicle again already. This weekend, I was finally able to get back to Isla Venado again. It was a great trip, but I came back with a heavy heart. There are some really difficult family situations people I know and love there are facing. On a more positive note, I learned how to make the delicious frozen coconut treats (apretados) and my little freezer is full of them! And as Jessica and I were saying good bye to Pastor Eladio and doña Epi, an idea came to me: what if we had a "Family Conference" for the people on the island and have different sessions on marital relationships, parenting, and how children can honor their parents? I'm talking with someone here about leading this, and ask you to join me in praying for it to come together!

But back to the heavy heart. Apart from the prayer requests I mention for the Bible Home, I feel like I often paint the Bible Home in pretty rosy tones. I genuinely believe it is a wonderful place and everyone who comes can feel God's presence. But, some really sad, tough stuff happens too. House parents get tired, sick, and burnt out. Some children talk and laugh through devotions and prayer. Today I was in one of the houses, and when I got up for a moment a kid wrote a bad word in my textbook I'd been reading. Sometimes my coworkers and I have miscommunications. The kids steal, lie, are violent, defiant, disrespectful, and disobedient. They can be so sweet and loving though, that sometimes it's all too easy for me to forget the extremely difficult realities these kids are coming from. It is good for me to remember the kids' backgrounds, and that they are in desperate need of love, acceptance, and comprehensive help. So, my heart is heavy for all these things too.
Life is hard, and with a lot of really tough stuff. I'm so grateful for the hope we have in Jesus and for God's amazing love and grace!
God's peace and joy be with you whatever you're currently facing. There is hope and you are loved!
Love,
Carrie

Boston Girl!

I know, maybe this seems a little late, but I've been meaning to post about this as I gather my own thoughts and feelings about the bombings at the Boston Marathon a couple weeks ago. Having spent 3 years living in Massachusetts when I was little, 7 in Maine, and a lot of trips to Mass to visit my grandparents when we lived in WV and NJ, this hit me a lot closer to home than it might have for someone from, say, North Dakota. Oh, and a number of college friends are living in the Boston area, one of whom works in a building just a few hundred yards from the explosions.
I heard/saw a few people (non-New Englanders) claim that the bombing wasn't such a big deal, especially since only 3 people died. Well, THANK GOD only 3 people died! Over 200 were injured though, and many of them are going through the painful process of amputation, prosthetics, phantom pain, learning to get stared at, and trying to deal with the psychological trauma of the event.
Also, most of the US doesn't know about Patriot's Day. They think it's that new holiday that we celebrate on 9/11 now. No, Patriot's Day goes back to the midnight ride of Paul Revere and the birth pangs of the USA. It is celebrated on the 3rd Monday of April ONLY in Massachusetts and Maine, since Maine used to be part of Massachusetts.

Patriot's Day is when the Red Sox play an 11am game and as everyone now knows, it's Marathon Day. The Boston Marathon is the oldest marathon in the US and has become very prestigious around the world. Whether the T brothers realized it or not, in a way, they made an international attack.
But, why in Boston? I don't know! I don't get it. Boston has always been my favorite city. I used to wonder why it was never listed with New York, Chicago, and LA. It's smaller, and it's just about as old and historic as you can get. But, it is pretty much the capital of all New England (and don't you dare even try to think New York could EVER be considered part of New England). It's a big sports town, which makes it a lot of fun. I went to a Sox game in Boston a year ago April and had a blast talking about the Sox with random people my former Sunday School teacher and I met on the T. As we witnessed after the explosions, a ton of people ran towards the danger in order to help others. Strangers. It didn't even matter if they were "from away" or not.
T Brothers 1 and 2 were hoping to go to New York and set of some more bombs in Times Square. And then, the bit came out that they had originally planned on setting off their bombs on July 4th and just moved it up to Patriot's Day since it didn't take them as long as they expected to make their bombs. SICK-OS!! Thank God they were impatient rats! I'm curious to see what else they can drag out of T Brother 2. He's got to be mentally sick or have some real hate issues gripping his heart.
So, my points in all this are: Boston is a great city; the marathon explosions were truly a big deal; thanks be to God for his grace in that relatively/proportionately few people were hurt and killed and that the attacks didn't take place on Independence Day.

So what? Well, this has also hit me close because I love to run. Ever since my brother Zach did a marathon last year (and finished with a time that left him qualified for the Boston!), I've told myself that if he can do it, I can do it! So, I'm setting my sights on Boston. 2015 or 2016.
This past Saturday I got some pre-race jitters for the 10k I ran on Sunday. While I was trying to fall back asleep at 2am, I remembered how so many people have been running in honor of Boston. I wished I had a Red Sox hat that was made of breathable material, or a shirt or something. I thought about just writing "Boston Strong" on my arms in permanent marker, but since I was going to church later that morning I decided against it. I'll come up with something for my next race though: my first half marathon ever, 7/7/2013.
Let's remember to keep on praying for the victims of these attacks and those of Sandy Hook, Aurora, Columbine, Paducah, 9/11, etc. And as much as T Brother 2 deserves to burn in hell, so do I. May he come to know God's saving grace as well!

Tico Tuesday, May 7th

Happy Tuesday!
This Tuesday, I'm much less stressed than I was last week. I've now submitted everything for my Church History I course and gotten off to a good start with my Biblical Interpretation class, finishing all the week's work between yesterday and today so tomorrow I can start Church History II. I'm excited about Biblical Interp. I love studying the Bible, and though the final project is going to be the biggest I've ever done (20 pages), I get to do it on Ruth! Ruth is one of my absolute favorite books and people in the Bible! I appreciate your continued prayers for my studies (and for my health. My tummy is waaay better, but still not quite 100%).

I was just thinking about stressing out yesterday. In the culture that is so much more tranquila, this little wound up gringa is still a packet of sometimes-hidden stress and worry all too often. The other week after our ladies group, one of the other ladies said to me, "Carrie, you know worrying is sin." Ouch. Yeah. She's right. Stress and worry are damaging spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, physically, mentally (and maybe more). I don't want that! Please join me in praying for God's grace in this particular area of my life. I know it can't change without him!
May each of us be known for our love and may God make our joy in him abound this week!
Love,
Carrie

PS. One more prayer request: I'll be sharing the reflection at our staff devotional at the Bible Home Thursday morning. May God give me his words and use me to bless my co-workers!