It's alive!

I did the unthinkable on Friday.  I spilled a full glass of ice water on my lap top!  I was working at the table, and I turned to see what Jordan was doing as I placed my glass on the coaster.  I know; multi-tasking isn’t always a good thing!  As you can imagined, I panicked, tried to dump the water off the computer, and called Henry at work right away.  As I waited for him to answer, the computer began sizzling (I kid you not!), and then the screen went black.  I’d killed my computer!  I felt awful.

 

But, there are advantages to having an IT Director in the family!  After the lap top had dried, Henry was able to get it to boot; he’d resurrected it!  It was looking like the computer itself was okay, but the keyboard was shot.  He brought a “dead” and abandoned lap top home from the office, put that computer’s battery & keyboard in mine, and, marvel of marvels, it began working as good as new!

 

Now you know why I married a computer geek.  (Ha ha!)

 

They're back!

Now that the rains have diminished considerably (not completely, mind you, as we had an all day drizzle yesterday), some of our favorite foods are back!  When the “veggie guys” came today, fresh cantaloupe, ripe strawberries, and mangos were on their truck.  Yippee!  It tastes like summer again. J

 

That's what friends are for.

The earthquake that shook Costa Rica like a boat at high tide on Jan. 8, was big news all over Central America. Several of our friends in Honduras emailed to make sure we were okay. Liliana, our beloved Spanish teacher, even called us that night. We felt so loved, and we were so grateful to be able to say, "We're okay!"

Another friend, Carlos, called tonight, because he'd heard that there had been other earthquakes. While that's true, the recent quakes have been so much less severe that we look at each other and say, "Did you feel that or did I imagine it?" But it still means so much to us that Carlos and other friends like him are thinking of us!

We are thankful for every one of our wonderful friends who are praying for us. May the Lord bless you for your faithfulness!

Oh, Baby!

We have exciting news from our Honduran friends!

Carlos & Wendy happily welcomed their third child into their lives on Nov. 23! Little Carla was born nearly 4 weeks early, but she & mommy are both doing well. We are so grateful to God for giving this wonderful couple the child they'd prayed for! Please pray for the family as they raise their 3 girls and struggle to make ends meet.

And Fernando & Jannina just wrote to tell us that they are expecting! We are so excited! Their oldest daughter, Janina Michell, will soon be 9, and little Gloria Kristine will be 2 in August. Each child has been a miracle baby, so this little one is both a surprise and a great blessing. Please pray that Jannina would be able to carry the baby to full term and that the baby would be born strong & healthy.

Looks like "Aunt Marcette" and "Uncle Henry" will have to make another trip to Honduras this year, doesn't it?

Mmmm, Rico, rico!

I made a surprising discovery today: Jordan likes green tea! Granted, it is flavored with green apple, but still, it’s a bit unusual. Don’t you think? I was filling my glass at lunch when she asked for some. I gave her a sip, telling her that she probably wouldn’t like it. She promptly sat back, smacked her lips, and said, “Mmmm, rico, rico!” (“Rico” means “rich,” but it is most often used to say something is delicious.) We have a tea lover in the family!

We're Alright!

Some of you have expressed concern for our safety after the earthquake that hit Costa Rica this afternoon. Thank you! We want you all to know that we are safe and well. At 1:21PM a 6.2 (Richter scale) earthquake hit the area of Alajuela, Heredia, and the Central Valley where San José (the capital of Costa Rica) is located. The epicenter of the earthquake was a few miles from the Poas Volcano.

Our family was at Lindsay’s school at the time. The building began shaking and continued shaking, as if it were swaying on a wave of water, for quite some time (40 seconds according to some reports)! We have become accustomed to feeling small quakes from time to time, mostly at night, but this was much stronger and lasted a lot longer that anything previous. We just heard on the news that this was the strongest tornado felt in the area in the past 20 years.

Reports say that two young girls selling candy to tourists on the road near Poas were killed when they were covered by a mudslide, but we haven’t heard of any other fatalities. Damage in the area around the volcano is pretty severe with dozens of homes damaged or destroyed, 100’s hurt and more than 35 KM of roads destroyed. Reports of damage in the city of San José have been minimal.

We are thankful that Meghan flew out of Costa Rica early this morning, long before the earthquake hit, and is now safely in Chicago. If anything more develops here, we’ll keep you posted.

Please pray that the Lord would protect, especially those who live in unsafe houses.

Grateful for your prayers!
Henry, Marcette, Lindsay & Jordan

A Hike to the Cross (of Alajuelita)

Yesterday was the last opportunity to really get out and do something before vacation ended and, having no takers, I decided to try to hike to the cross of Alajuelita. In actuality, there are three crosses, which you can see if you click on the link to see the album that added.

The first and most interesting thing that I saw was a sloth! Beyond that, the views were outstanding! The hike was tougher than I thought it would be (for a desk jockey), but I'm glad that I went. I ran into a group of guys at the start of the hike and they graciously allowed me to hike with them and we enjoyed goofing around during the hike. The young man who was leading the group knew the "back way" down, which yielded more gorgeous views and, after hundreds of meters of walking down the steep side of the mountain, we came to the river, which we followed back to the starting point.

A tiring day, but well worth the effort.

A Day at the Fun Park

We went to the Parque de Diversiones this morning which is a fun park kind of like a small Great America (complete with fuzzy characters walking around!). Meghan and Lindsay went one way while Cette, Jordan, and I went to the small kids section. Jordan had a blast riding the "bullet train,", the semi's, the Tea Cups, and her very first roller coaster! The older girls had fun also, but the lines were so long, they were only able to ride a couple before Jordan was worn out.

Are you an Office fan?

We were slow to come around, but we (Henry and Lindsay primarily) have become fans of the Office. Here is a funny compilation of pranks Jim has pulled on Dwight. Enjoy!