Costa Rica and ... back to school

Costa Rica 2007

So, here are ALL (beware... there's 473 pictures) of our trip to Costa Rica. We stayed in small "suburb" of San Jose, called Cedros (which is in San Pedro). We traveled 40 km (which in the mountains takes 1.5-2 hours) to Gaurcima everyday. We worshiped there and that's the church that we helped. The church is going to receive funds from their government to build a new building to have classes for new mothers and high school drop outs. The drop out rate is very high in CR. We helped the church clean up, paint and prepare to raise the roof and add a second floor to their "Sunday School" building. The Costa Ricans were lovely people with such passion and love for God. We did have a few days off, in which we did a zipline over the canopy (actually 7 different lines... I felt like I was on the Amazing Race) and we did hike to the top of a crater volcano (Poas). It was such a wonderful time. The weather was amazing... needless to say I was very disappointed to come back to such hot weather. I can't wait to return next summer (hopefully earlier in the summer).

School started this week (which most of you know). It seems I'm going to have a wonderful class. Actually, a few of us are switching classes this year. SO, I am teaching math to FOUR classes. And, all classes seem very sweet. I'm very excited about this new plan and am actually looking forward to getting more into the routine (and used to being on my feet all day again)... My feet are KILLING ME! :)

Quick post...

We made it safely back from Costa Rica. We had a wonderful trip and were definitely blessed by God while we were there. The country is beautiful, people are wonderful and the food is fabulous. Here's a picture to tide ya'll over. We got back Sunday night (10:30) and I started back to school yesterday, so a bit busy. The first picture is a little boy that I just thought was adorable. We passed out sunglasses and glasses last Sunday (7/29). The second picture is our Mission Team plus a few kids, Ivonne and Isaiah, Guido and Sara.

Prayers for Costa Rica

Chris and I leave in the morning for Costa Rica. We are going on a mission trip with a team from our church. We're going to be staying in San Jose and we're not very sure exactly what we're going to be doing.

Our church sends teams to Brazil every year(which Chris and I had the blessing of going to Manaus and the Amazon a few years ago), and we are on the first team to go to Costa Rica.

Please pray for safe travels and safety in whatever we're doing, as well as good health. If you've ever been to a Central America or South American country, you know ... there's not much schedule planning. :)

We arrive the night before I have to go back to school for preplanning... (So keep that in your prayers too).

Thanks!!!

Update on the house...

So, my wonderful husband FINALLY hung my window treatments. I've had them for a while now ... Now the rooms are almost complete (just need to hang pictures). If you remember (it my be on my old blog) all the updates and painting we've been doing to our house... Here's the latest. Our next big project is the master bathroom. As we begin to work on it, I'll post pictures.
The first two pictures are in the kitchen (in case you can't tell) and the bottom two pictures are in our "family/front" room. In case you're curious... my "new Aunt Cindy" (Sue's, my stepmother, sister) made them... she's awesome if you need some window treatments.

Muddy Buddy???

I had never heard of Muddy Buddy until just recently. For those of you that don't know, it's an event sponsored by REI. You pair up with someone about your size, one starts riding a mountain bike, while the other runs. When you get to an obstacle course, you complete it and then switch (If you were on the bike, you'll now run and vice versa). It's a 6 mile course and at the end, the buddies have to make their way through a mud pit. I have to admit, the mud put looked tres fun! :) Anyway, this is how we spent our Sunday morning. Karen is a friend that participated with Chris. In the middle is a picture of the mud pit BEFORE the race started.

Festival of Flowers

This past Sunday, Chris participated in his second triathalon. He finished in about the same amount of time and did well. It was HOT! He's joined the Peachtree Tri Club and will continue to train. His next event will be in Chattanooga next month.

Whew! What a month!

May went by so fast, but while it was happening it seemed that it would be forever before school was out. We started out the month with a Cinco de Mayo party (the first picture) and ended the month with a birthday bash (well, sort of) for Chris! His birthday was on Memorial Day this year, which was perfect because he LOVES patriotic holidays! Cinco De MayoEveryone hanging out for Memorial Day/Chris's birthdayChris's birthday cake from Cold StoneEveryone eating cake! :)

May kept us busy. I had my grad school class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, ALL month! The end of the school year is always crazy, hectic busy. To add to the craziness I had to move my classroom (I haven't moved in about 4 years) AND I was in charge of all the NEW 5th grade "celebration" activities. We were told we had to change what we've always done, so it was definitely a learning experience... talk about STRESS!

I enjoyed my week off last week, as next week I begin classes full time Monday-Thursday for two weeks. (Then the last two weeks, I have class just at night Monday-Thursday). Let's just say I am going to enjoy my Fridays and am looking forward to July!