Tico Tuesday, February 26th

It's Tico Wednesday again because the internet was down in my apartment last night and still is down today! :-( So, without further ado: Tico Tuesday/Wednesday live from the Bible Home!

This weekend was amazing. I don't like sleeping poorly (especially on hard ground in a tent with rain and strong winds throughout the night) and I despise all biting/stinging/blood-sucking insects, but the camping trip with some of the core members of the young adult group from church (known as Arbolitos) this weekend was a blast. I was really looking forward to this opportunity to get to know some of them better and just bond with each other, and I believe that definitely happened! We went to Rincon de la Vieja (a volcano and National Park I'd been wanting to go to ever since I studied abroad here in 2007!) and Playa del Coco (a beautiful beach). I had some difficult moments leading up to the trip since I am a type A planner and ticos generally AREN'T. But, I just had to let go and remember I was not in control and that I would have fun and enjoy being with everyone wherever we went. I think it all worked out for the best anyway.

Highlights: snuggling with Jess and Naty as we tried to sleep in the van, A GORGEOUS WATERFALL, having Jessica along, a great talk with a girl named Sussy who is one of the group's main leaders, the hilarious dance/karaoke party we had, seeing tons of stars at night, playing in the ocean, napping on the beach, and sleeping in my warm, soft, bug-free bed with 4 solid walls around me when I got home!

I am really grateful to God for the group of Arbolitos, and I look forward to getting to know them even more and deepening our relationships with one another and with God! Please continue to pray for better, deeper community for me here, since that has been something very hard for me to find!

May God bless you with good sleep and great community tonight, throughout this week and beyond!

Love,

Carrie

Tico Tuesday, February 18th

Happy Tuesday! (Or at least what's left of it)
I've mentioned before that personnel meetings at Roblealto are fun, but here is proof.

We played with a parachute and did all sorts of different stuff, including a hilarious game of cat and mouse pictured here. But, playing with a parachute really is a great team building exercise too. We did a couple different things that required leaning outward and trusting everyone else to be pulling too so we wouldn't fall. It was really neat. I just wished that I had brought a hair elastic...the wind has been blowing very powerfully lately!
Anyway, I'm excited for this year at the Bible Home. I'm looking forward to seeing everything God will do in the children and their families, and in the personnel as well. Please pray for God to continue to provide us with the personnel we need. Thanks be to God we are opening another house this week, and some of the new children arrived today! Please pray for the personnel to be stable: we had a number of changes last year that were very difficult for the children. While praying for personnel, you can also pray for health, unity, good communication, and great sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Without God's strength, grace, guidance, and love, we can do nothing.
Thank you so much!
May God send you some unexpected fun this week and meet all your needs!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, February 12th

Hi Everyone!
So, I'm really trying to not let this become a habit, but yesterday was just too full to squeeze a Tico Tuesday in. I ended up working again, so that caused a change in a few other plans. But, the workshop we had on our model of discipline was a very good investment of time, so I have no regrets.

This past Friday we combined a pizza party with our first group of volunteers of the year with our annual welcome bonfire. So, it was a very full, fun night. During the pizza party part, a group of girls did an interpretive dance to "Follow You" by Leeland. The volunteers were very touched to have the girls perform to a song in English. They did a great job! Then, in the bonfire, each house did a special presentation. Some sang, some did interpretive movement, one house had the mom dress up like an old granny and tell a story, etc. It was a lot of fun. I interpreted for the volunteers as necessary like I usually do at pizza parties. Opportunities to interpret are always a highlight!
2 other quick notes (life has been so full I could write a Chronicle every week!). 1) This weekend, I had to say a sudden good bye to my Filipino friends here. Due to circumstances outside their control, they are leaving the country this week instead of in May. I am sad to see them go. Please pray for them in their current transition and further transitions that will come in a few months as they return to the Philippines and determine their new assignment. 2) The Pioneer Girls ministry at my church in Maine invited me to be their special speaker via Skype for their Father/Daughter Cake Decorating Contest on Monday.  That was a really neat, fun opportunity. Let me know if you ever want me to speak or tune in to something via Skype! Also, the contest inspired me: yesterday I mentioned the idea of decorating cakes for a Bible Club to my director and she thought it was a great idea! I'll let you know how that comes together!
May God fill you with his peace and surround you with his love this week!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, February 5th

Hey Everyone,
Happy day-after-Tuesday to you! I ended up in San José for a couple meetings yesterday and had to take care of several other important errands and some homework last night. As you can see, life is flying full speed ahead once more. My semester has started, we just had our first meeting for camp, I made a quick trip to Isla Venado since I hadn't been in 7 months, I've started meeting with my mentor for Mentored Ministry (part of my seminary requirements), and that was all just in the past week! Today I had to go in to work for a workshop all day, so thankfully I am off the rest of the week to catch up on my studies and maybe put away the laundry I washed on Friday...

Delicious Rice and Shrimp dish at Isla Venado!

I'm taking a class this semester called Spiritual Formation. I'm really excited about it. I know I have a hard time saying "no" to people, and I love to be busy and social. But all too often, I let time at the HB, time to study, time to run, time to have a social life, time to grocery shop and cook and clean all invade my time with God, instead of having my time with God permeate everything else I do. I am excited to develop a more intentional, focused life and deepen my relationship with God. Not that I need a class to do so, but I'm sure it will be extremely beneficial to me. It never hurts to have some extra motivation. So, I appreciate your prayers for me over the course of this semester.
May God draw each of up into a deeper relationship with him this week!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, January 28th

It's that time of year again when sunsets are phenomenal! It is so nice to have it be dry season! I've spotted a couple great sunrises too on my early morning runs. I loved the rays of light that were so well-defined in this sunset. It was gorgeous!

One thing I often pray for is that God's love would flow freely through me and that other people would be able to see his light in and through me. I'm not sure how often this actually happens, but I think there was definitely something going on this past Friday. 5 new children (4 of them being siblings) had just arrived the day before to the Jardin house (and I get to be like an aunt there again! Yaay!). One of the 4 siblings needs a lot of special attention and he is handing his transition process by being very aggressive. Our director asked me to stay by his side all morning while the kids all participated in an activity led by a youth group from a local church. Sometimes he participated in the activity, sometimes he was wreaking havoc, and sometimes he decided he just wanted to do something else. In the past, I would have tried to force him to join the activity since that's what all the kids were supposed to be doing. But, I've learned I can't force anyone to do anything. And if he wasn't making any trouble, why not just let him be and try to engage with him and get to know him better? It was hard. He tried my patience. He got mad at me. But, I know that God gave me grace and sooooo much patience! Those of you who know me relatively well know that I am NOT a patient person. That is usually one of the last words I would use to describe myself. I'm impulsive. I like to be right. I like to be in control. But, even after kicking me and trying to hit me with a stick, at the end of the day, this boy was hugging me, calling me "mami,"and wanting to go home with me. That didn't keep him from blowing a raspberry in my face on Sunday but...one day at a time. I thank God that I'm not who I was a year ago and that he has helped me learn to work with the children better. I know I still have a very long ways to go, but I think at least a little bit of God's light was able to make it through the other day, and for that I give him thanks and praise!
Please continue to pray for the children as they adjust, and especially for this boy and his siblings. And pray for the house moms and staff as well!
May God's light shine brightly in each of us this week!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, January 21st

They're Back!!!!
My kiddos are back at the Bible Home!!! :-) Thanks be to God! I was so happy to hug them yesterday, I'll confess I didn't even think to take any pictures. And I'm ok with that. So here's a picture (from Independence Day last year) of two of my loves who are still sticking around the HB.

When I went to their house to say hi, the screen door was locked shut, and the boy was pressing close on the door and telling his new house mom to open the door as quickly as possible as she fumbled for the key. It's so good to know that I am loved and have love expressed so clearly to me. (For those of you familiar with the 5 love languages, physical touch is definitely my top one. I would be happy to be hugged and held in someone's arms forever!)
Last week, I think I was sinking a little emotionally. I don't know if I wasn't getting enough hugs, if I was missing the kids, if I was missing my friend Jessica who still hadn't come back to the country yet, if it was the "man ache" for a husband, something else, or if it was some wild combo of the above. I gotta say, I really do get lonely here sometimes. It's the straight out truth. Building community is just hard. And I'm just starting to come to terms with this. That's a post for another day though. I'm grateful for all that God is doing in and around me and for the things that are finally starting to click now that I've been here almost 5 years! And I really am thrilled to have the kids back, and for reasons beyond my own selfish ones!
Thank you for your continued prayers for new personnel and for the new children coming in. We had several join us today! And please continue to pray for me as I seek to build and develop better friendships/community here, especially with ticos.
May God surround you with his love this week!
Carrie

Tico Tuesday, January 14th

Welcome back to Tico Tuesday!
With Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve (a day I traveled), and last Tuesday as another travel day for me, Tico Tuesday has had almost a full month break! I won't try to make up for lost time here though. After a wonderful visit with my parents for Christmas, I headed to St. Louis to visit my brother and his family. I had a great time with them: playing games, going to the children's museum, enjoying use of a real fireplace, going to their church for glorious "high church" worship (if you don't know what that is, it's ok. Just know I really like the rich way they worship there!), reading in the warmth of the afternoon sun, eating my sister-in-law's wonderful food, talking with her and my brother, and I even enjoyed playing in the snow with the 4 oldest of my brother and sister-in-law's 5 children! (The picture here is of the Gateway Arch, if you were wondering). We got two snowfalls and had a day when the highest temperature was about 3F.

While I was very happy to come back to the wonderful warm, humid tropics (my skin is still recovering from the dryness!), I got quite a knot in my throat on the plane when I thought about how long it might be until I get to see my niece and nephews again. The kids come back to the Bible Home this coming Sunday, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again, but they have their own special place in my heart and definitely can't replace my brother and sister-in-law's children. Another cool part of my trip was getting to see Kiki, a fellow missionary here. Her family lives less than 3 miles away from my brother! We had a hilarious evening together.
Now I'm back in Costa Rica, gearing up for the new semester, and this week, I have training and meetings in preparation for the year ahead of us. Thank you for your continued prayers for the personnel needs we have and for the new children who will be joining us in the next couple weeks!
And just a reminder: the Latin America Mission is now fully united with the United World Mission! I thank God for what he is doing and going to do through this new powerful, more efficient joined organization. If you have any questions about this or are unsure where to direct your gifts, please let me know!
Thank you!
Carrie