Quotable Moments with 5 year old Jordan

This summer, Jordan has amazed us with her whimsical attitude toward life and her eccentric use of the English language.  Some of her most recent quotes have just been too good not to share.  Here they are:

 

“Grandma has some flowers called ‘hello-biscus’ (meaning hibiscus, of course). That’s my favorite flower.”

 

That’s my favorite place! (Said as she pointed out the car window at a cemetery – must have been all the flowers!)

 

And my personal favorite:

“Mom, what do you call this?”

“Cantaloupe or musk melon.”

“I can’t remember that. Can I just call it ‘Joe’?”

 

 

 

ProMETA's First Graduation

On April 30, the work that began as an idea over 13 years ago culminated in the first graduation of ProMETA students ever!  Two Costa Rican students were present for the event (the third was in Colombia, putting his education to use by training leaders) here in San José, and three others attended “virtually” from their native Venezuela. There were some 50 guests in attendance, and we were joined by an estimated 100+ others who watched the live stream of the ceremony online.


The students gave testimony to the impact that ProMETA has had on their lives and ministries, and their families proudly rejoiced with them as they received their diplomas. The graduates have spent upwards of 2500 hours in study, work, and prayer to reach the goal of receiving their master’s degrees. Along the way, there have been many trials and tribulations on the part of both the ProMETA team and our graduating students, but God has been faithful, as He always is. May this be the first of many graduations, and may our graduates continue to impact the Spanish speaking Church for the glory of God!
If would like to see more of the day (even though the videos are in Spanish), take a look here:

http://www.pro-meta.org/fotos-de-la-graduacion

Good Friday Activities

On Good Friday, Lindsay and I decided to take a ride on the motorcycle out of town to get some fresh air and some big views of the beautiful Costa Rican countryside.  Being Good Friday, a most important day in the life of the Catholic Church in Latin America, we came across a re-enactment of trial and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus in every small town that we passed through.  Below are scenes from three such events.

The Moon: It's so big and round....

It's really nice to have someone in the house with a nice camera.  While finishing up dinner tonight, I saw the moon rising and it was really clear and bright.  So, we broke out Lindsay's camera and started shooting.  16 shots later, we hit the right combination that yielded this:

Conversation with Jordan

Conversation at the doctor's office today:

Jordan:  Did you take care of me when I was a baby?

Cette:  Yes.

Jordan:  Did you take care of me sometimes instead of Meghan and Lindsay?

Cette: Yes.

Jordan:  Because you like me best?

Cette:  No, I like all three of my girls the same.

Jordan:  But, I'm the cutest.  Look at me.

More from the 'Things that make you go "Hmmm" department'

It goes under the "I'm not sure what this does, but I think I want one" subcategory:

Things that make you go "Hmmm" department

Interesting quote from churchit.com speaking about Moore's Law:  "The computer chips found in singing birthday cards have more computer power than the entire Allied forces of 1945."  And what do we do with that power?  We listen to the music and then throw the card away.

Robotics Ministry?

Last week, Henry had the opportunity to visit a ministry in a poor neighborhood of San José called La Carpio.  (You can read more about the ministry in La Carpio at www.lacarpio.com)  One of the things that this particular ministry does is run a computer lab where neighborhood kids can learn about computers, programming, etc. each week from a friend of Henry's.  Previously, the kids had learned how to put one of the robots (Lego Mindstorm) together and this week, they were going beyond the basics of remote controlling it to programming it perform a specific task or two.  In the video below, you can see how the project turned out as the robot is (pretty much) following the black line using the color sensor attached to the front of the robot.  Later in the day, they learn how to make it shoot little colored balls (you can see the shooter on the front of the robot) when it came across a specific color (red).  It was a great time of learning and fun for everyone.

'Things that make you go "Hmmm" department

A Special 'Rock-a-bye Baby'

Jordan broke out her song writing abilities while I was finishing her bath last night and I wanted to make sure that I captured it!

Another beautiful CR sunset

This photo was taken on phone and doesn't do the view justice!

The Bungalow

At the end of January, we had the opportunity to take a couple of days at the beach inexpensively.  We rented a bungalow that almost had an ocean view.  (The beach was right across the street in front of the bungalows!)  What a beautiful and tranquil location to spend a couple of days with the family!

How far would you drive for coffee?

I don't mean just a cup of coffee (though we've been know to drive about 20 miles for a good cup!), I mean about 20 lbs of coffee!  OK, not all of it was for us, we were buying for some others.  Though the primary purpose of our 3. 5 hour (round trip) drive was to  buy coffee, the secondary purpose was almost as important, which was to get out of the city and enjoy the beautiful countryside of Costa Rica.  Though the pictures below don't do justice to the beauty of this major coffee growing area of the country, the trip was a huge success on both accounts!

Ever get that sinking feeling?

When was the last time you saw an alert like this pop up on your GPS?!?  I guess the road must have been in this state for quite some time and the map makers decided it would be worth warning the users.

Our 'Paper Ninja'

After watching a video clip of  "real life 'Fruit Ninjas,'"  Jordan showed us her "Paper Ninja!"