School's Out!!!

Woo Hoo!

School's Out!

We don't have any more school until after New Years!

I don't know about you, but I remember saying and thinking those very words when I was a kid and we got out of school for the two-week Christmas break!

It felt so good to be free...even if it was for just a short time.

Who would have thought that I would feel that way again as an adult, but I do.

The last two months have been full and busy with Spanish. (hence my lack of blog posts ;D) My brain is on overload causing even my English not to work most of the time. I open my mouth and the mixture of Spanish and English that tries to come out just ends up sounding like a bunch of gibberish.

Last Thursday was the last day of school for the entire family until after New Years when a whole new group of people come in to join us.

Friday was graduation for many of our new friends who have been here learning Spanish, anywhere from 4 months to 1 year.

Saying goodbye is always hard, but we know that they are moving to the next phase of the journey...the one to which we are all called...our country of service.

We made forever friends who are serving God in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Peru, Argentina, El Salvador & Venezuela!

Now, for the next few weeks, we will rest from our studies, and celebrate our first Christmas in a foreign land. 

We are very thankful to those missionaries who have lived in our house before us and left their Christmas decorations. Adding to them a few of our own and some new things we purchased here and our house is now decorated for the celebration of Christmas & New Years!

We even had the opportunity to celebrate with a parade, Costa-Rican style, with the "Festival De La Luz" or "Festival of the Lights." 

The parade started at 6pm, but we didn't see anything until around 9:30pm. 

We live in Latin America, where there is nothing but "time" here. Each band must have stopped every few feet to give a performance. We thought the parade would never reach us, but eventually it did and the floats and costumes were worth the wait. 

WOW! What an experience! We finally went home around 10:30pm but the parade was far from over. We have no idea what time it ended, but we had some very tired children and parents who all needed some sleep, even if San Jose stayed up all night.

We are hard at work preparing for our first Christmas meal in our new home and what we will be able to find that resembles home-cooked traditions, but we are sure that whatever we end up eating, it will be delicious...even if it includes new foods that are not normally on the traditional "Christmas meal" menu.

Just like our Thanksgiving meal for this year, we may not be able to eat what we always have in the past, but what we put together will be a feast in and of itself. 

New place...New country...New experiences...New lives...New traditions...New journey that will always be changing...always transforming...but the one thing that will always stay the same...the reason for our very existence...the reason we celebrate this season...

JESUS

With all the newness and change that our life continues to bring us, the foundation is firm and our reason for celebrating is clearer than ever. 

May you rejoice with us in this amazing season of His birth!

Merry Christmas from Costa Rica!