100 Things About Language School

In honor of our 100th blog....I am going to tell you 100 things about language school. Some are sad, happy, funny, crazy....but one thing is for sure they are all true. So I hope that you enjoy reading it and thanks for sticking with us on our journey. We have 23 days as of tomorrow before we head back to Tampa to gather our belongings and move to Honduras. Here goes and they are in no particular order.

1. Flying to a new country, with 3 kids and 13 suitcases
2. Kids that have more stamps in their passports than most average adults
3. Not having a car
4. Going to the pharmacy to get a presciption without a doctors note(wow what a blessing that is)
5. Bread store around the corner (open 24 hours)
6. gates and walls everywhere
7. Living in a beautiful country
8. Sharing a gospel track with a taxi driver, bus drivers and other people
9. Learning to navigate a city with no street signs
10. an entire season of non stop rain
11. Hunter...literally walking his shoes to death
12. Loving Saturday mornings for the "feria" farmers market
13. having no heat or air condition (it can be done folks)
14. washing your dishes in cold water
15. Sharing a plate of food with a homeless man
16. Walking to the post office to get your mail
17. Wondering if you will ever see Wal-Mart again or the special end cap clearance sales at Target
18. NO BLACK FRIDAY
19. Turkeys that are $35 each (b/c they don't celebrate Thanksgiving)
20. Walking past a sleeping homeless person laying on a used pizza box
21. Looking out our window observing the beauty that God has created
22. Hearing our children speak in Spanish
23. Making friends with people from all over the world and will end up somewhere different than they came.
24. Meeting people in Costa Rica from our hometown in NC
25.Learning to count in Colones......starting with 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 and then it gets to the paper money
26. Gallo pinto/ famous beans and rice
27. wondering how I can make my own cheddar since it is $11 a block
28. watching Josiah greet people on the street with a sweet smile and Buenas Dias
29. Not being able to sing in the choir
30. Buying strawberries for $1 a pint
31. buying Christmas presents on-line and having someone bring them to us b/c they are to expensive here
32. Not being able to make a lunch date with a dear friend
33. Having tons of family fun nights playing games that include; scrabble, clue or cards
34. using public transportation
35. losing water or electricity for no reason and wondering when you will get it back on
36. loving Care Packages
37. not being able to console a hurting friend in the states
38. Missing out on weddings and baby showers of friends and family
39. paying almost $40 for Tide or Gain laundry detergent b/c your spouse is allegic to everything else
40.  Buying eggs from a man on the street selling them from his car
41. Wishing that Burger King and McDonalds here had a "Dollar Menu"
42. Learning to create new recipes
43. Excited to get mail, or email or any news from home
44. Conversing with SKYPE
45. Kissing people on the cheek when you meet
46. Getting calls from telemarketers in SPANISH
47. Arroz con pollo (chicken and rice)
48. Buying cleaning products and soap in a plastic bag (so you can refill the bottles you have)
49. Loving that you can always get fresh fruit and veggies
50. Watching out for holes in the road or sidewalks
51. Having some of the best teachers to help us learn Spanish
52. Waking up in the middle of the night b/c we just had an earthquake
53. Family Time with SMORES using Costa Rican Chiky cookies
54. Excited to have friends and family come to visit
55. Going shopping and loving the Costa Rican BOGO....it could mean buying a blender and getting a soccer ball for FREE
56. NO carpet anywhere
57. Learning to read the Bible in Spanish
58. Hearing birds and chickens awake at 4:30 in the morning
59. First Sunday here....sitting in church....wondering if we will ever understand Spanish
60. starting a new tradition of our Missionary Christmas Tree....by putting up our friends prayer cards
61. Forgetting how to read and spell in English b/c we think so much in Spanish
62. being 34 and 39 and having homework
63. there is still pressure in taking a TEST
64. Cafesito
65. Following the Chile Miners story with friends that are from there
66. Not missing the rising gas prices in the states
67. having to watch UNC football and basketball on the CPU but being thankful that it is on there
68. walking in the store seeing an Aerospace shirt that cost more than the Aeropostale shirt in the states
69. Taking the term "Window Shopping" to a whole new level
70. Walking in the rain with an umbrella and still getting soaked (Forrest Gump Rain....lol)
71. Showing your family around...that has not yet learned the money exchange and they think that they saw something for $25 but in fact it was 2,500 colones or $5
72. Having geckos on your ceiling
73. Keeping your windows closed during dinner so moths don't dive bomb in your plate
74. Having moths land on your wall the size of a small bat
75. Homeschooling Taylor and Hunter for the first time and trying to do our own school work
76. Taking Visa Trips
77. Disliking the border of Nicaragua
78. Potty training your child and teaching him to put toilet paper in the trash can
79. Having a cat come in your house b/c you have no door
80. Happy that we can hear sermons in English online
81. Having a security guard each night on our street
82. Walking to church
83. A family who loves Flip-Flops
84. POPs Ice Cream
85. Our greatest find here was the day we found A-1 Sauce
86. Learning to enjoy hot tea and for Mark...good coffee
87. Cooking Chayote
88. Missing Bojangles and Chick-fi-la
89. Steps, steps and more steps...we have 32+ steps in our house
90. Praying in Spanish
91. God giving us another miracle....a new baby to be born in late May early June
92. Being Blessed by faithful people who support our ministry
93. Being humbled by the fact that we are still in the baby stage of Spanish
94. But grateful that our friends remind us that it will come once on the field
95. Going to miss all the friends that we have made over the past 11 months
96. Thankful for the oppotunity that God has given us to live and learn in Costa Rica
97. Seeing how excited Josiah gets when it is time to go to school...his class is all Spanish
98. Josiah asking me to sing him a song in Spanish
99. Enjoying warm sunny days and not having a winter
100. Making at least 100 New memories here in Costa Rica