June 29: R&R in Orlando

We are so thankful for a few days of rest, relaxation and play here in Orlando.  We arrived here Tuesday evening from San José and have been staying in a great condo that our friends, Ha and David, arranged for us.  We've been enjoying the pool, exercise room, basketball court, racquetball (!) court, play area, and 4 hole mini-golf green.

I had spent a couple of months researching and investigating how to spend a day at Disney's Magic Kingdom since our family has never been to Disney and thought it was the perfect chance since we'd be in Orlando a few days.  Once we got here, though, we just couldn't justify spending so much money for one day, knowing it's the busiest time of year and there would be huge lines for everything.  Sophia was particularly disappointed so we decided to go to Downtown Disney for an afternoon (an area of shopping, dining and entertainment) since it's free to walk around.  However, the extravagant prices on everything was a real turnoff coming from a year of simpler living so we didn't spend much time there either.  The kids were feeling disappointed so we looked for another option for our family.  Found it and we highly recommend it if you're going to Orlando!  Fun Spot Attractions is a small amusement park with 2 roller coasters, 4 go-kart tracks and lots of carnival-like rides.  It's less than half the cost of Disney and NO LINES!!!!  We could walk up to almost every ride - including the roller coasters - and get right on.  The only wait we had all day was for the one go-kart track that just opened yesterday when we were there.  The kids said over and over they were so glad we did this instead of Disney because we didn't have to deal with crowds and lines.

Since we didn't spend money at Disney, we also decided to spend a day at a factory outlet mall.  It was the first time our family has ever done that and our kids were thrilled...as Nathan put it:  This is the first time in my life I can actually wear new clothes to school :)!  That's probably pretty accurate since I'm a huge thrift store and garage sale shopper.  We never go to the mall as a family and the kids rarely have brand new clothes so they were thrilled and so were we because we really did find some great deals.  Our wardrobes took a beating this past year so it was exciting for all of us to get a few new things.

Tomorrow morning we plan to leave early on our way to Atlanta so we can visit my nephew and his wife and then continue on to my brother's family in Chattanooga, TN for two nights.  Lord willing, we'll return to Zeeland on Tuesday!!

If you're a regular reader of the blog and wondering if we bought a car in Orlando.....nope.  We did some looking but nothing seemed like the right fit and/or within our budget so we'll drive our rental van back to MI and look some more when we get home.

To any Vander Beeks reading this....we're remembering you all today as you celebrate Byron & Aletha's wedding in Calgary (the 4th wedding of nieces and nephews that we've missed this year :(.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you all!

Look for a final reflective blog post next week.

June 24: Brokenness & Beauty; Friends & Flood

Our last day in Quepos, Costa Rica reminds us of some of life's juxtapositions:  brokenness and beauty, celebration and struggle.

Brokenness and beauty
This morning I was helping Sophia pack her suitcase in her bedroom.  The girls' room has a window facing the street and when I looked out I saw a homeless man walk by and look at our garbage bags on the sidewalk.  He then stopped to bend down and examine them closer.  He couldn't see what was in the black garbage bag but he spotted water melon rinds in the white one.   As Sophia and I watched him open up the bag and take out the rinds that still had some edible fruit, I stood there in a paralyzed gawking stance.

Less than an hour later, just feet away from where the man had opened up our garbage bags, I discovered this absolutely stunning iguana (lizard?) in the rose bush in front of our house.

This juxtaposition of brokenness and beauty seems common in Quepos. The natural beauty surrounding the area is amazing, yet the city of Quepos is home to a lot of brokenness: drugs, prostitution, homelessness, broken families etc.  This year, through our involvement at El Puente Christian School, Casa de Amor rehab center and Seeds of Hope,  God had allowed us to see how He and His servants are at work to bring shalom, restoration and hope to a city in need of His presence, power and grace.

Friends and Flood
We spent the day packing but also hanging out with friends.  Laly came by the house after teaching her first block classes at El Puente (she joined El Puente's staff this semester and taught Spanish and Social Studies to the 4th/5th graders and Nathan).  She was up for learning a new game so we squeezed in one last game of Settlers of Catan before leaving.

Then after she was done with Kids Club at church this afternoon, she met us at our favorite local eatery for patacones (fried plantains).  We were also joined by our best friend of the year, Laura, her two kids and Nikki (former student of mine and good friend of director Anna at El Puente) who's in Quepos for a few weeks.

As we were enjoying the great food and fellowship we did comment about the heavy rain shower and said we hoped it wasn't flooding our house like it has twice before.  We continued on in the downpour to the ice-cream shop a block from our house.  It was open even though electricity had just gone out in our section of the city.  George said he'd run home to check on the house......in the darkness, he found it with water rushing through from back to front door and worse than the two previous times.

  

Needless to say, it was definitely not the last night we had expected in our Quepos home. Again, a reminder of how one moment you can be celebrating new friends made and in the next you're struggling with a challenge or unexpected annoyance.  That's been typical of our life here this year through the ups and downs.  But through it all, God's faithfulness continues.

Laura graciously invited us to crash at her house so we ended up spending our last night (dry!) in the company of our best friends of the year.

June 23: Community Farewell

Our feelings of sadness and gladness continue as we go through our time of farewells.  Sadness comes with having to say goodbye to so many different people that God has allowed us to meet this year and gladness that we get to reconnect with family and friends back home soon.

Today our church family bid farewell to us...so humbling to be prayed over by these hermanos en Cristo (brothers/siblings in Christ).  It's hard to leave because we're finally feeling like we're making some deeper connections with church members.  For months, we didn't feel that at all.

This afternoon we headed over to our friend Laura's house.  She graciously hosted a farewell open house for us. We spent hours feasting on a buffet of delicious foods brought by the guests and enjoying the bicultural gathering.  It was a wonderful opportunity to see our various communities all in one place:  school, church, Seeds of Hope, and Casa de Amor (not the guys but the church members who often go with us on Sunday afternoons).

 What does an American-Tico Buffet look like?:  banana bread, lemon poppy seed cake, brownies, deviled eggs, bread with olive oil dipping sauce, tortilla chips with guacamole/salsa/black beans, watermelon, picadillo de papas, pejibaye dip for tortilla chips and arroz con leche

 It was wonderful to have such a great mix of Americans and Costa Ricans at the same gathering.  We were constantly switching between Spanish and English since some folks only spoke Spanish, others only English and some both.

 Marshall and Penny (on the left) own Sancho's Mexican restaurant where we went Friday night to celebrate our start to summer vacation.  Debbie (on the right) and her husband are missionaries here and organize the once a month English service at our church.

Seeds of Hope staff members, Penny and Chris, were able to come because another  staff member  graciously offered to cover the classes with the girls today.

Our kids learned how to play Clue 

June 21: Final Day at El Puente

A morning surprise
This morning started like no other this whole year....when we stepped out of the house this morning we heard some loud bird calls in the trees above our house.  We looked up to find two toucans singing in the trees!    We've seen them only a handful of times this year and never from our house.  What a beautiful way to start the day!

With Thanksgiving
We have so much to be thankful for.  Nathan returned yesterday from traveling with the Zeeland Christian group for 10 days.  He had a wonderful time and says it was the best part of the year.  Some major highlights were staying with a host family near the Poas volcano, meeting and interacting with some middle school students from there, ziplining, white water rafting and a big overnight jungle hike and campout.

Our last day at El Puente was definitely bittersweet.  Of course there's many reasons why we're looking forward to returning to Michigan but it was hard to say goodbye to the El Puente community today.  They totally loved on us and there was no way I could hold back the tears.

After normal morning classes, at 11:30 there was a special farewell gathering of students, staff and parents.
I started by showing a 13 minute music video with pictures that highlighted what we've experienced together at El Puente this year.  Then director Anna called the kids up to thank them for being a part of El Puente and gave them each a gift bag, including a small note pad in which students, teachers and parents wrote down personal messages and goodbyes.
Then George and I were called up and were given gifts to remember our time at El Puente, including a very beautiful and personalized scrapbook that details our time here......tears......more generous gifts and kind words from students and parents.....tears.... students and Anna prayed for us....tears.  

We borrowed a projector screen from our friend Laura and threw a sheet over the chalkboard for our movie screen.

Enough tears....bring on the celebration!  Thanks to Anna and some of the parents we enjoyed grilled hot dogs for the El Puente community lunch...

and Teacher Ashley made delicious cupcakes for a sweet treat afterwards.

El Puente staff and students (minus a few preschoolers)

Our El Puente colleagues (three Americans and two Costa Ricans)

Twin sisters, Celeste and María, were two of my four second grade English students.    They're new to El Puente this semester and it's been so great getting to know them and their family. The twins became good friends with Sophia and their grandma is the one who fixed us the wonderful meal last week.

Prayer items:
We appreciate so much your prayers for us in this emotionally draining, but rewarding and meaningful week.  The goodbyes continue as we gather with our small group from church for the last time tomorrow night and then on Sunday afternoon our friend Laura is hosting an open house/farewell party for us after church.

June 19: Last Hump Day Hallelujah in Costa Rica

Today marks our last 'hump day' in Costa Rica so it's fitting to try to share praises from our whole year rather than just from the week.  However, it's really hard to try to summarize all the reasons we have to give thanks today but here's some obvious ones:

• for you, are supporters:  for everyone who has prayed for us, written a note of encouragement, followed the blog, or contributed to our fundraising
• for overall good health:  we have not had health insurance this year so we are extremely thankful that God has spared us from serious injury or illness
• for safety:  we've traveled many miles through three Central American countries and are grateful for God's protection over us. 
• for our home: although small, we have always felt safe and secure in our Quepos home which is a huge blessing.  It's central location allowed us to walk or bus to places since we didn't have a vehicle

And there are hundreds more.  In thinking about all that we could give thanks for I was reminded of the song 'We will remember' which was the theme song at Holland Christian a couple of years ago.  It seems fitting to share the lyrics as an offering of praise as we seek to tell His story in our lives this year:

We will remember, we will remember

We will remember the works of Your hands

We will stop and give you praise

For great is Thy faithfulness

You're our creator, our life sustainer

Deliverer, our comfort, our joy

Throughout the ages You've been our shelter

Our peace in the midst of the storm

With signs and wonders You've shown Your power

With precious blood You showed us Your grace

You've been our helper, our liberator

The giver of life with no end

[Chorus]

When we walk through life's darkest valleys

We will look back at all You have done

And we will shout, our God is good

And He is the faithful One

Bridge

Hallelujah, hallelujah

To the one from whom all blessings flow

Hallelujah, hallelujah

To the one whose glory has been shown

June 18: A week of 'lasts'

This week is an emotional week as each day we are reminded that it's our last time doing it before we leave Quepos a week from today.

Yesterday it was my last time leading music class.  Each Monday morning I've lead the El Puente students in 30 minutes of singing and worship.  It's been fun listening to them singing the songs during other parts of the day as well.

Last night marked the first -and likely last - time our family got invited to an El Puente's family house.  We were served a delicious dinner of pork chops, mashed potatoes, veggies, rice and fresh fruit punch. The grandma that prepared and served it made us think of Grandma's food that we look forward to enjoying in a couple of weeks!!  We were greatly blessed by the family's hospitality and deeply appreciated this opportunity to enter a Tica home.  We had to wait over 10 months for such an offer but we now have entered three homes in our final few weeks (the other two invites were from church).

Today was George's last PE class with the El Puente students.  Time to beat the heat and bring out the water balloons!

For me, today meant the last visit to Seeds of Hope.  I was deeply touched when the staff invited me to come for lunch before classes today.  I thought it would be just them but they invited whatever girls were available to come as well.  It has been such an honor to teach these girls English once a week and so very humbling to hear them each say a prayer for me and our family before we began our meal together.
In addition to teaching the girls for the last time, there were also eight other visitors who came to observe how I teach the class and to sneak in one final TPRS training session with me after the girls' class was finished.  It was tiring (mostly because of the emotions involved) with the extra folks and class but also rewarding to know that people are interested in knowing how they can teach using TPRS.
Although I'll no longer be here physically, the SOH staff is inviting me to be their English Program Director so I covet your prayers about what that might look like in the future.

Katia, dishing up food on the left,  is the newest Seeds of Hope staff member.  She  is  a wonderful Christian Costa Rican woman hired to be one of the two tías (= aunts....or house moms) at the SOH shelter.  They hope to receive their first two girls (who will live there 24/7) next week!

The Seeds of Hope staff members and girls who loved on me today.

Final hug with the girls = tears

Prayer Items:
1.  For strength and encouragement during an emotional week of goodbyes - especially on Friday which will be our last day at El Puente Christian School.
2.  Praise that Nathan is enjoying his time traveling with the Zeeland Christian student group.  Pray for safety as he travels back to Quepos on Thursday from San José with our friend Laura.  Pray too for his health.  When we saw him briefly on Saturday he was complaining of cramps (a possible sign of parasites which he's had before here so we got him medication on Sunday morning before he left again).
3.  For wisdom whether or not to buy a vehicle in Orlando next week.

June 16: Casa de Amor....indeed a House of Love

I took you from the ends of the earth,

    from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, ‘You are my servant’;

    I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

10 

So do not fear, for I am with you;

    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41: 9-10

Today we heard these verses twice....first from the visiting pastor from Panama who preached on them this morning at church and then this evening when Mauricio, one of the guys at the Casa de Amor rehab center, read them from his hand written letter to us before we left the center for the last time.  

Oh the tears!  Tears of joy because we can testify that God has indeed strengthened us and upheld us this year when it just didn't seem like we could go on.  The first six months in particular were a huge struggle as we adjusted to school and life here in Quepos.  When I asked Sophia this week to describe our first semester here, she called it 'horrendous'.  It certainly felt like that as we quickly realized our expectations of what it would be like was drastically different than reality.  Yet, God brought us through what seemed like a 'desert' time for our family.  One of those ways has been our involvement with the guys at Casa de Amor every other Sunday.  It has been where we have found the greatest sense of community, fellowship and worship this year.

Since they have blessed us so much, it was very humbling to hear their words of blessing and thanksgiving for us tonight.  They thanked us for choosing to spend our family time with a bunch of addicts and that really struck me.  To us, we look at them as family and friends because of their warmth and hospitality.  We're all broken and scarred, but society seems to have different 'categories' of brokenness and often we hesitate to involve ourselves with anyone too 'broken' or 'different'.  But tonight, as we listened to the men love on us through their kind words, I was reminded how God can work so mightily when we simply try to be obedient.  For us that meant we brought games, George led Bible study and I supplied desserts.  For them it meant providing gracious hospitality and a willingness to share stories of brokenness and restoration.  Simple yet significant acts of service that gave us all a clearer sense of what the body of Christ looks like when we recognize we're all broken, we all have 'desert' times in our lives and that we are all in need of the Bread of Life.

The guys NEVER got tired of playing Uno - it was their favorite game this year .

Love these guys!!  We're also thankful for our friend, Laura (black dress), who started this ministry with her husband Kim a number of years ago.  It was her idea to start the Sunday afternoon gatherings after we got here and invited us to be a part of them.  Next to Angelina is Nikki (a former student of mine) who is staying in Quepos for 5 weeks.  She'll be helping out at El Puente a lot and is staying with Laura.  Great to have her here!