A quote

"While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation"..Maya Angelou

Dear Lord,
Take a cast iron brander and burn it on my soul!

Moss

"Let all the heavens resound with His name; let all the earth sing His glory and fame. Ocean and mountain, stream, forest, and flower echo His praises and tell of His power" ("Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power" Horatius Bonar)

I took this photo in Feb. when back home in N.C. they were having snow storms. The particles of moss up close reminded me of the intricacies of each snowflake that falls. (You can click on the picture for a closer view). They say that no two are alike. I was also captivated by the colors of the moss. This, coming from a person who likes to snap pictures of rust! Simple moss...a declaration of His artistry!

Isaiah 40:8

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever".

"Small" Group is...

...getting "larger" Praise the Lord! This is the small group that began meeting in our house this past November, twice a month. It's a group of kids that attend the Youth Group of our church on Saturday nights; but the entire Youth Group is compromised of members from 4 small area towns. Each small town now has their own "small group" which also meets twice a month in a home, in addition to meeting with the large Youth Group every Saturday night. This picture is of the teens that meet at our house in our town, La Alegria, across the river from Orosi. It started in November with 5 kids and it has been growing ever since! Last night we had 17 attend. Heather and our Youth Pastor have planning meetings and have a strategy for the direction of each small group meeting held in our home, but last night it was outside in our garage because of the games they were playing. Before eating snack which we provide for them, they got into a circle to share individually something that they were thankful for and to pray! Please continue to pray for these teens, and for our Youth Pastor and Heather as they share the Word of God through these meetings!

Getting caught up!

I just realized it has been a little while since I have posted on here. What have I been doing? Well, getting caught up on some things. We are supposed to send an update letter to our supporters every four months through Global Outreach Mission. I am a little behind (sarcastically). Like, a year behind! Our last letter went out last March when I wrote it from my Mom's hospital room and sent it into the Mission. As most of you know, my Mom then passed away in July. We also had the wedding last May, and I guess I just lost my "groove" much to the dismay of Global. Some of you may have already received our March 2010 update. Then, there's tax "season" back in the States and so, of course I had to prepare those in order to get them back in time. And, we are in the process of working on the logistics for a medical team coming for one week in May. Then, there's camp business to assist Ken with, homeschooling, Spanish lessons with homework, and the household "stuff" too. It all helps to keep us busy and more importantly, out of trouble!

Chile - Far Reaching

We had a rental group scheduled for this weekend. When we made a "confirmation" phone call this morning we found out that the group would not be coming after all and that the person who did call us from this group a couple of days ago was supposed to let us know that, though they had forgotten. Apparently, the group that was renting the camp for the entire weekend, while a Costa Rican church, had invited a group of Men from another church in the same denominition located in Chile to have a retreat at the camp here with them this weekend. At least that is what the Costa Rican church had planned for until the earthquake hit in Chile. While all of the Men from Chile who were supposed to come are safe; at this time, they cannot make the trip and the Men's Retreat is postponed until they can coordinate another date together in the future; we will just roll-over this weekend's deposit into their next date.

Please, don't forget to pray for Chile!

Inside the "Crater"

I check the web cam located 600 km. on the east side of the crater of Volcan Turrialba at least once a day. Just a few minutes ago, while it is cloudy and overcast down here in the Valley, the sun is apparently still shining on the Volcan, though getting ready to set! Today is a quiet day from the crater as you can see just a bit of gray smoke rising on the left side. We have that once in a while. Cross your fingers, and maybe on a smoldering day I can get a clear picture off the web cam!

Sick, another team is here and....

It's been a couple of days of bleh! Got the Hickory Grove team to the airport and off on Thursday morning. On the way home from the airport we did the grocery shopping for the small team arriving on Sunday morning. By early evening I was beginning to not feel "so great", but with a rental group arriving Friday late afternoon at the camp; I continued to help get things organized for their arrival. During the early morning hours of Friday morning it hit me and hard. I got the same "bug" that some of the members of the Hickory Grove team had, what I really think was rotavirus from past experience with one of our kids having it and today, I feel, FINALLY, a bit better, though still having some stomach pains. Anyway, the rental group never showed up which proved to be a blessing in disguise and the small team arrived safely and are now working at the camp. I haven't met them yet; thought I'd stick it out one more day at home and not share my "cooties" with them. This morning was very special here in Costa Rica for our family! Via Skype we saw sonogram video of our grandchild, ultrasound photos and we got the special news that our first grandchild will be a boy! We are so excited and happy for especially Brad who wanted a boy! In our family, we could careless...boy or girl no matter, just healthy and for that, we thank our Heavenly Father that all things seem to be going well for the development of this baby!