Visit from Dad and Jan

Dad and Jan came to visit us this last week and we had a great time showing them the ministry that the Lord is doing here. We also celebrated mine and my Dad's birthdays as well as Thomas's baptism. We had a great time with them and were sad to see them go. Here are a few pictures from our time together...

Thomas's Baptism

Yesterday we had a church-wide baptism and dessert at our house and what a celebration it was!! We had 9 that were baptized and the most wonderful part of it all for us was that Thomas, our 6 year old, was baptized!! We were so blessed and are so excited that Thomas chose to invite Jesus into his heart a year ago and was baptized. He was so excited to be baptized and has actually asked us for months when he could do it. Even more, my Dad and Jan were here to be a part of the celebration and that was so special for us as well!! What an emotional afternoon for all of us and such an awesome testimony of what the Lord is doing here in Jaco. Praise God!!!

5 months today!

Micah is growing so fast....he turns 5 months today! We are so in love!!!

Volunteers Banquet

We had a wonderful time hosting a dinner at a local restaurant for all if the volunteers who have served in the church this year. It was a great time of fellowship and such a blessing to see all of the faithful volunteers that have helped with the different ministries. We definitely could not do what we do without all of these wonderful people--we are so blessed!!! Here are a few pictures of the night...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! God bless you!

Micah-- 4 months

I can't believe how big my sweet baby is!! Micah turned 4 months this week and time is passing way too quickly with him!! Here are a few pix I took of him today--his first time in the excersaucer...

Tamales

A Christmas tradition here in Costa Rica is making tamales. Tamales are made of masa (like a cornmeal) with vegetables, different types of meat--usually pork--and different seasonings. The mixture is then placed into banana tree leaves that have been cut and cleaned. They are folded into a small rectangular shape and tied off with a thin rope. They then need to be boiled or steamed before eating. Every person makes them a little bit different using their own "family recipe." Many families get together and spend hours upon hours making them and many give them as gifts, share them as a Christmas meal and sell them on the streets everywhere. The talk of the town here at Christmas time is the making of tamales--it really is a such a beautiful family tradition for the locals here. We were blessed today by friends who attend our church. Jose and Rosa invited us over to pick up some tamales that they had made this week. They have been talking about them for a month and we look forward to eating them tomorrow. We love being here and experiencing the local traditions of a completely different culture than our own. We have chosen to really embrace this culture as our own and participate in it with our local tico families when at all possible. We have also shared our traditions with the locals so that they get a taste of a different culture as well. We made cinnamon swirl bread for all of our friends and "family" here and distributed it today...what a blessing it was to "share traditions" with each other. God is so good. We are so very blessed!!! We pray that all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year! We are so very thankful for each of you!!!

Here is a picture of me with Rosa and her tamales.