Tico Tuesday, September 16th

While knowing life and loving two very different countries can be hard, it is fun to get to experience and participate in the traditions and celebrations of Costa Rica. Yesterday was the 193rd anniversary of Costa Rica's independence from Spain. It was fun explaining to one of the kids at the Bible Home a little bit of how the US' independence is different from Costa Rica's. Traditional Independence Day celebrations here mean, the torch of freedom comes on the 14th (after leaving Guatemala a couple days previous), and we get the flame and run it up the mountain to the Bible Home. Quite literally, run. Last year, we took it pretty easy and had lots of time. This year, the torch was running a bit late and so we did have to push a little harder to get up the mountain faster, but it wasn't too bad. The kids were great troopers! Then, we did our annual little march around the Bible Home with faroles (homemade lanterns that all represent something typical or a national symbol, or just something with red, white and blue on it!). This year Magali came out front to keep us from going too fast. I was at the front with all the kids who had ran with the torch and we all still had lots of energy and were moving at a pace much quicker than we were supposed to.

Then yesterday, Chrissy (my roomie) and her boyfriend Gera (Gerardo) joined me up in S Jose de la Montaña to watch the parade. I just love to watch my kids march by! They did a great job again this year! We joined one of the houses for lunch and had 2 desserts: arroz con leche (rice pudding) one girl's grandma made, and... ice cream made from Roblealto's farm!! Yum! It's no Hood or Turkey Hill, but it's a lot better than other brands of ice cream I've had here.
So, all is well. Work is still a bit crazy with prep for our quality certification and I have a lot of other things going on too, but life is good, God is good, and I'm trying to take it all one thing, one day at a time.
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for me!
Viva Costa Rica!
Carrie