School in September......A late start......

I don't think that our kids have ever been happier to start school. We finally received all of the materials for them to start home schooling yesterday.  Thanks to some friends here at school for each taking a box with their name on it...we were able to have all 6 boxes shipped at the same time. They were suppose to arrive in Tampa back when we had a visit from Pastor Mike however, they missed the delivery by like 30 minutes of his departure time at the airport. (Taylor was really bummed). But, then Mr. Dave at Hope had them all placed in different boxes and shipped out. However, the gentleman working at the airport in Tampa did not even prepare the packages correctly and Dave received a call a week or so later saying that the packages were in the Post Office and needed to be pickup....Thankfully he found a man that knew what he was doing and sent our packages out. Taylor and Hunter have both finished 2 days of school so far....YEAH!!!! They are eager to get the ball rolling and catch up their work....Thanks for those of you who prayed for the safe arrival of the boxes.

Feliz Dia de Independencia and a trip to the Dentist....

 Well, we picked Josiah up on Tuesday to find that he had chipped his front tooth. That would be one down fall to a house in Latin America...no carpet. We knew that we would probably not be able to see the dentist until Thursday due to the start of the Independence Day Celebration here in Costa Rica. In the evening of the 14th at exactly 6 pm everyone in the country starts singing the National Anthem. It does not matter where they are; school, store, bus or in a car.

After they finish singing their beautiful song it is time for the children to parade their drums and lanterns. Here the children try to create the most unique and beautiful lantern to earn a prize. I believe our teacher said that prize is like 5,000 colones or $10. Some of them had candles inside while others chose a safer form of light with a flashlight or Christmas lights.

We went to a local public school about a 5 minute walk from our house. It was amazing to see and hear all of the drums beating in tune. There were even fireworks off in the distance. The next morning we left the house to see the children of the entire school parade down the street. This day it reminded me a little of home because almost all of the people here were wearing some form of RED, WHITE, and BLUE. It was nice to see how everyone came out for the parades and show how much they loved their country.

   Well, today was a day of going back to school and also a trip to the dentist for little man. Thank goodness she was able to fix his little tooth. He was not to happy with the process because of the way we had to hold his poor little mouth open. I told him if he would let us finish we would go buy him a Buzz.....lol....so that will be the adventure for the weekend. The wonderful thing was that while sometimes you never know what things are going to cost the dentist visit was not that bad only 12,000 colones. (for those of you who don't know the conversion it was $24) Please pray that he does not have any damage to his permenant tooth. Thank you all for the prayers that you send up and have a wonderful day.

It is well with My Soul.......

This has been a very interesting week here in Costa Rica. Classes are going well and the work load has more than doubled from last trimester. However, the assignments are really pushing me to think and use my vocabulary. This week Mark was able to give a 20+ minute devotion in Spanish in his class and discuse the differnce between our church here and our church in the states. As for me this week I had many assignments but 2 of my favorite were describing a famous persons biography and if I could interview someone who would it be.

When thinking of a biography we were told that the person had to be a writer, actor, sports fiquire ect. So, I began to think of who I could write about and Horatio Spafford came to my mind. For those of you who may not know he is the one who wrote the words to the timeless hymnal "It is well with my soul". He was an excellent lawyer who also loved to study the word of God. It was amazing to read the life of Horatio and how those words to that song were born. Here is a man who lost his son, he had  recently purchased real estateand it was destroyed in a large fire in Chicago. First, a son and then all of the property that he had invested in. Two years after the fire he planned a family trip to Europe, however due to a last minute job he was unable to travel with his wife and 4 daughters.

Horatio received word that the boat his family was in had been hit by another and sank and his daughters had drowned. However, he looked to the Lord and never lost his faith.  What a testimony he had. I love the words to the song as well.

When peace like a river attendeth my way
when sorrows like sea billows roll
what ever my lot thou has taught me to say
"it is well, it is well, with my soul"

The other assignment that I had was to interview someone.
I thought about who I would choose. There are so many options people of today and people from the past but I finally concluded on Moses. My three questions for him would be:
1. Describe for me what you saw and how you felt when you crossed the Red Sea.
2. How did you feel when the Lord told you that you could not go to The Promise Land?
3. How does it make you feel to know that the Lord loved you so much that he had Michael the Arch Angel fighting with the Devil over your body?

I was able to study these topics in English and then translate my thoughts and opinions and of course the facts in Spanish. I challenge you this week to think of a song you love or a person that you want to interview and find out some information on them. As for the song, it may just give more meaning behind the words that the writer wrote. Happy learning!

The Perspective of Life on the field from a Teen's View

Okay for all you readers this is going to be a little different. We know that alot of you have children so I asked Taylor and Hunter to give you a little view of their perspective of life here in Costa Rica. I hope that you read this with your children and if they have any questions for any of us please list them in the comment section below.

From the heart of Taylor:

Some of my experiences in Costa Rica: The biggest thing would be walking. It is hard getting use to walking everywhere you go. The next thing would be going in the mountains to church.

It is different seeing people going to get water because they are out. Then with all the roads messed up and not knowing how to get out of certain places (because there are no road signs). It is also weird seeing people sleeping all over the place at anytime of the day. It is nice to have parks really close by. I thinik that my favorite thing that we have done was go to La Cumbre. (a camp in the mountains). It was cold but beautiful. It was cool getting to see the mountains and birds. (I dont

remember the name of the type of bird it was) It was really fun being there and seeing all that God's created. I know that this was not in Costa Rica but I really liked our trip to Panama. (We have to leave the country every 90 days to get our Visa's stamped) It was really pretty and a lot of fun. The starfish beach was amazing and weird to see so many starfish in one place. They were also huge and it was amazing seeing how big they can get.

 I really enjoy going downtown  as well. There are also alot of beautiful flowers in Costa Rica as well, as a lot of ugly dogs.

From the Heart of Hunter

I have gone to two countries. First is Costa Rica and second is Panama. We go to church up in the mountains in Los Guidos. Since we have been here I have fallen in love with soccer or here they call it futbol. I have eaten some weird stuff that I would not have eaten in the states. 

    Everything here   (fruits and veggies) are really cheap.     On Saturdays we go to a market at the park. We have been able to go to many parks and meet new people and kids. We even went to a beach in Panama and got to visit an island called Starfish Island.   

 It was so cool because we got to pick them up and hold them.    Soon we might even be able to visit a volcano. We can not do much right now because it is the rainy season and it is boring because it rains from like 12 noon to 6.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our lives. It is not alot but just the point of view from a teen. If you have questions about our lives please feel free to leave it in a comment below.      Also, we are trying to see how many followers we have so be sure to leave a comment and join our family blog for a chance to win some yummy Costa Rican Coffee. (you can read the last blog for more details on chances to win)

Starting a New Family Tradition

  Over the last year or so we have adopted a few new family traditions. We moved from North Carolina to Florida and then to our home now in Costa Rica. We will again have a new home next May in Honduras as we prepare the start of Hope of Honduras Children's Home. The holiday season is a big one for starting or carrying on family traditions.  Since we have been on the field we have learned that things in other countries are not always like they are in the states. We have already started to think about Christmas as this will be the first Christmas that we will be completly away from our families. When we moved there were things that we of coarse did not bring and one of those things were Christmas deorations. I have been talking to some friends and they gave me a few great ideas on starting "new traditions". I know that our family is not the only missionary family that you know and just like you all we have friends that are missionaries that we pray for and suppport. So, I have listed a few new ideas that I think would be a great new start for you all and know that we are starting the same ones. I am doing this blog early I know but it gives you plenty of time to prepare....:)

1. Decorate your Christmas Tree with prayers cards of missionaries that have been to your church or that you know and support.

2. Place prayer cards in your napkin holder on your table and each night pull out one to pray for as you pray for your meal.

3. Have a prayer board (we use a whiteboard) and write down prayer requests and praises

4. Place prayer cards in a 4x6 photo album and use as a reminder for birthdays, anniversaries and simply praying  for their families.

5. Include your whole family in prayer there are five of us and all 5 pray including our 2 yr old little Josiah.

6. We have also started a tradition that we as parents only buy 3 gifts for our children for Christmas. Seems fitting Jesus received 3 gifts so that is the number we will buy for our kids. We usually buy 1 really nice gift and 2 smaller ones.

I hope that this helps to start some new traditions in your homes since the Holiday Season (meaning Thanksgiving and Christmas) is really just right around the corner. I would love to hear your family traditions so please post a comment and share. I also want to see how many readers I do have and so I am going to do a drawing. You can get your name in the drawing by doing the following:
              1. post and leave a comment
              2. Become a follower
              3. Suggest my blog to a friend (have them leave a comment w/your name)
              (saying that you suggested they follow and learn more about H.O.H.)

At the end of  November the winner will be picked and a bag of wonderful Costa Rican Coffee will be mailed to you. **Those who are already followers have their name in the pot already. So keep reading and good luck to you all...
Thanks to you all who already pray and support our family and ministry.....it is because of you we can carry out the Lord's Plans.(BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWERS LINK) and add yourself as a follower.

Trying to be Light for the Lord......

Since we have been living here in Costa Rica our lives as we knew them in the states have been turned upside down. When we lived in North Carolina we were all very active in our church. Mark and I sung in the choir, attended Sunday School, helped in our Wednesday night Awana program Mark was an usher and I served as a nursery captain we also went out on Soul Winning Visitation. Taylor and Hunter were also active in church activities as well and went out on Teen Soul Winning. When we moved to Tampa we jumped right in to the minitries there and went on Soul Winning on Saturdays when we were home and not out on deputation. It is so amazing that others do not take advantage of sharing the Gospel in our native tongue.  It is so easy to hand a track out or ask a person where they will spend eternity when they day in English if we only step out of our comfort zone.


This has been such a challenge for us since we have been in Costa Rica. Not only could we not speak the language when we arrived but we did not even have the material to hand to someone so that they could read it for themselves. Mark and I knew that even here we could be doing more to reach the people of Costa Rica for Christ. We began to pray that God would put people in our path to witness too. You know that God does answer prayers if you only ask, it may not always be the answer that we want or expect but he always answers. I told you a few weeks back about a lady named Ms. Anna. Well, after meeting and talking in Spanish for over 2 hours and comforting her with God's love and mercy while she witnessed a loss right before our eyes we knew that God had placed us there. The very next day we were getting ready for school just like any other day and had Josiah ready and everything and at the last minute decided to let him stay home with Taylor and Hunter.

Later that afternoon when classes were over we walked down to pick him up from class....forgetting that we had broken our daily pattern and left him home. Instead of walking out of the bottom gate which we were standing about 20 ft from we decided to walk all the way back up to the top of the hill to the main gate. Once we were at the top of the gate we saw an older lady sitting on the ground with a few bags and a man standing over top of her. The man helped her to her feet and handed her the bags. I looked and Mark and we both agreed that we should go over to help her for we could tell that she was having difficulty caring the bags and she was not using her left arm at all. When we approached her she began to tell us with pain in her eyes that she thought she had broken her arm. Mark understood alot of what she said because of all of his training in the fire service. We helped her to her house and as she pulled out her keys Mark noticed that during her fall she broke all of her eggs in her purse. We helped her inside and asked her name "Alisa" (we think.... she gave another name but this was the short version) We told her that we would be praying for her and she was so thankful. We walked home and grabbed a bag of eggs that we had in the fridge and quickly ran them back to her house. Her son had called the ambulance and asked "how much for the eggs" we told them they were a gift. They seemed very surprised and thankful.

We have tried many times to go and see her but she has not been home. We did found out though that she in fact broke her arm and look each day to see if she is home so we can visit.  During both of these encounters we would have loved to had a track to hand out so that they could read about the Roman's Road or The Plan of Salvation. That all changed though this past week when our director Pastor Mike Higgins brought us some Spanish Gospel Tracts. What a praise item for us. Even though we are still not fluent enough in Spanish to present the plan of Salvation we can hand out a track and plant the seed for someone to water. We make it a habit now for all of us to take 2-3 tracks with us where ever we go and hand them out. Whether we are in a cab, grocery store or passing someone on the street we try to hand them out.

Today we were walking back from a visit out for breakfast and the park and went a different route than normal. Again, God will direct your paths if you let HIM...and he let us to an older man sitting on his front step reading the paper. Mark greeted the man with "?Como esta?" The man jumped to his feet and began a conversation with us. We began to talk and he started to tell us that he had lived in the US for 5 years and traveled all over the world. After talking to him for a while we told him that we must be heading home and handed him a track. Mark asked him if he could read it when he had time and he happily excepted and began to talk some more. He looked at us and asked if we were Ticos? We giggled and said no...he said your Spanish is so good and we laughed again. What a nice thing to say...but we still have much work and learning ahead. He continues to talk to us and say the he was a boxer in his younger days and that he is a member of the World Boxer Org. how cool was that. As we concluded our conversation he said You and I are now friends and I want you to come inside for coffee. We had to turn him down but promised to return. It is so amazing at how God opens the doors and leads you down the path that he has paved. We now have 3 open doors not only to plant the seed for the Lord but great ways to help improve our Spanish.  Please help us by praying that the Lord will continue to give us opportunities to reach the people of Costa Rica with the Gospel.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:4-6 

God's Blessings

Well, we have finished our first trimester in language school and are now on our 2 week break. It has gone by so fast. I am happy though for the amount of language we have picked up in those three months. We have adapted to the culture and are fairing well. Last week was a busy week for us but very exciting! Our director Pastor Mike Higgins and his son Ryan flew from Tampa for a two day visit with us. It was so nice to have some faces from home here to talk with.

 We were also able to look at the plans for the future cottage that we will be living in.We just had a great time of fellowship with people from home.  Pastor Mike was here last year for the intensive coarse of study and stayed with a local family here. We were able to go and visit with them and have lunch. Then we headed down town where Ryan got to experience his first out of country bus ride. We had a lot of fun showing them around San Jose. We hate that they were only able to stay for a short time but pray that they will be able to visit again at Christmas. 

The Lord has truly blessed us during the past 4 months and he has used you all as our readers to do so. Thank you to Hilltop our home church in NC for the wonderful love offering that you sent. That helped take a huge chunk out of our language school expenses for the year. We have about $7,000 more to raise for the year to be paid for. We know that God is in control and will supply all of our needs. It is so awesome to think that the amount we needed was around $32K and now we only need that small about of $7. God is so good. Our funds are continuing to grow and we all have been healthy and well. Please pray for us as the kids are going to start home school this month. So please pray for that transition and that it will not hurt our studies. We just felt that home schooling was the best for our family and it will be the same studies that they will do in Honduras. We also have a dear family The Tatum's that delivered their baby girl Emma today by emergency C-section. Please pray for Emma she weighs 2.5 lbs and was due in October. I know that our God is the ultimate physician but I am asking that all of our friends, family and readers take five minutes of their time to pray for her and her family. Thank you to you all for your prayers and support. We could not do what we have been called to do without you all.