A Reflection on 2010

As we look back on the year of 2010 God has allowed us to have and see many blessings. First, of all we started out the year living at Hope Children's Home in Tampa Florida where God really laid upon our hearts the ministry of children. We fell in love with all of the kids at Hope and staff that we shared our daily lives with. Not to far into the new year was a time where we needed to pack up our belongings and start to pack and prepare for one of our biggest moves in our lives. In late April, we packed up 13 suitcases and 4 back-packs and headed to the airport. We would begin our new life in just a few short hours in a new country. A country where we had no friends, could not speak the language and had no clue what to really expect. However, with bad weather somewhere in the US...lol the Miami airport canceled many flights out of their airport and we had to stay the night in a hotel. But bright and early the next day we made our way to San Jose, Costa Rica. We were greeted at the airport by our "big brother", Carla Ackerman and her daughter Madie. I can honestly say that I do not remember much about the car ride to our new home other than it was raining. The next few days and weeks we would get adjusted to our new home and it's surroundings. Now for us it seems as if we have always been there, and we actually miss our small little world of Costa Rica.

In August, we had the pleasure of guests when our director Pastor Mike and his son Ryan came for a visit. They brought with them some comforts from home and we were so excited to see the contents of the four suitcases that they brought along.  In late September, we took our second VISA trip so that we could renew our 90 day Visa's. We packed up and headed out with the Ragland Family to the country of Nicaragua. It was only a few short days after our return from that trip that we discovered we were expecting BABY # 4.  God has allowed us so many blessings and also allowed us to make many new friends. One of the most important things is that we have been able to pick up the language. We are now more than ever ....ready to hit the ground in Honduras. Due to the arrival of our little one in late May we are leaving Costa Rica in late March instead of late April. We also had a wonderful Christmas gift from a couple that supports us...they purchased airfare for us all to fly back home and spend Christmas with our families. It was a surprise for them all because no-one knew that we were coming home. We were also blessed with many care packages and many special monetary gifts this Christmas. It is such a blessing to know that we have many who not only take the time to pray for us but send our family and our kiddos gifts. They have enjoyed them all.

While in North Carolina we have enjoyed many comforts from home including some Bojangles Chicken and Biscuits, Chick-Fil-A, Max's Pizza and other places. We were even able to see SNOW!!!! Josiah had a blast playing in the snow and did not even want to come back inside. We say goodbye to the year 2010 and welcome 2011 and pray that we are blessed with another great and wonderful year. We want to thank you all for reading our newsletters and updates, supporting our family and most importantly praying for us.
We love you all and WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sincerely Serving Him,
The Coats Family

Merry CHRISTmas To ALL

Well, we are so thankful and happy to be blogging from the great state of North Carolina. A huge "thank you" to a couple that supports us for buying our family tickets to fly back home to N.C. to spend with our families. After much planning and keeping secrets we managed to surprise all of our friends and family with out them ever having a clue that we were here. This is going to be a "Christmas to Remember" for our family. We get to spend time with family and friends and visit our home church "Hilltop" and celebrate the reason why we are doing what we are doing. If it were not for Christ coming on that first Christmas to save a world of lost....we would never have been called..."TO GO"...and "TELL". We hope that you all take time to remember and reflect on what truly makes Christmas..."CHRIST". While being with family and friends is so wonderful without Christ we would not have this season to gather together. So from our family to yours....

WE WISH YOU A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Sincerely Serving Him,
Mark, Amy, Taylor, Hunter, Josiah and Baby(BOY)

Visitors, Surprise Care Packages (Doctor Visits) and Sugar Cookies

WOW! It has been a busy time for us here in Costa Rica. We have had fun showing Mark's parents around San Jose and getting their feet ready for all the walking. Then, we had three more guests to arrive. Mark's sister Wendy, her husband Terry and their daughter Alyssa arrived to spend a few days here with us as well. It was so nice to have some family here with us. The kids loved it and already hate that the time was no longer. But with that said we all ventured to downtown San Jose with look a little like the streets of NYC on a normal day. People everywhere.....They got to experience their first ride on public transportation and we ate a 2 story Pizza Hut that I am sure was against Fire Code with all the heads that were inside(LOL). While they all were here we received 2 Christmas Care packages from the States. Josiah received a Thomas the train set that he is in LOVE with.   He plays with it everyday. The kids have been playing "catch phrase" and we have all jumped into to the game for some great laughs. I think that we know every phrase in the game now....b/c we have played so much. Then we received another goodie box....with the ingredients to make HayStacks....the kids have loved eating them. It is the little things that make you feel like home. On Monday of this week it was a bitter sweet day....we had to say goodbye to Wendy and her family....but later that day we discovered that God has Blessed us with ANOTHER BOY!!! WOW 3 boys....whatever will Taylor and I do????? I guess that means we will both always be the "Princesses" of the house. Then on Wednesday night we listened to a wonderful sermon from Brother Jeff (our Pastor in NC) and made wonderful homemade sugar cookies. We searched and searched but could not find cookie cutters so we made ornaments and candy canes by hand. The kids had a blast. Thanks to all of you who have kept supporting our family through this Christmas Season. This is always a time that is difficult as funds become low or people have other obligations. Thank the Lord for how HE always Provides. Until next time...which is only a few days away...I promise...:)

Nanny and Papa come for a Visit

Well, for the first time in 8 months other than seeing family via Skype we got to see family in person. Mark's parents arrived Thursday, December 2nd for a visit. However, not just a short trip, they get to spend an entire month with us. The kids were so excited as we all anxiously waited at the glass window outside the airport. It has been so long since we have seen our families. This is one of the most challenging things about the lives of missionaries. Sure, we have different customs, food, and climates to get use to. But the biggest thing of all is being away from our friends and family back in the States. "Pero Gracias a Dios" (but thanks be to God) they were able to come and see us. We are so excited as Christmas is rapidly approaching and we only have 3 more days of school left in our second trimester. We also, have many other exciting things happening this month. One big item on the agenda...finding out whether or not we will be having a girl or boy...We find out this news next Monday. So, many things to be thankful for and yet some how the Lord continues to find more and more ways to Bless our family. May God Bless you all and until I blog again happy reading.

Gracias a Dios por TODAS COSAS.......

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL. We have had a very interesting week. We had all of our things ready for Thanksgiving until we woke up early Tuesday morning to discover that our freezer and fridge were broken. Everything in the freezer EXCEPT for the 16lb turkey we had bought for Christmas had defrosted. So, needless to say we had to cook all of the meat in our freezer on Tuesday. However, it is amazing how everything works out for God's glory. We tried to find another small turkey breast for Thanksgiving but no such luck. We are, however, thankful for the turkey we already had in the freezer.

The Twins from the Children's Home

Early in the month we adopted 5 kids to buy presents for Christmas that are in a local Children's Home here in Costa Rica. This home had over 100 kids living in it. They were all so sweet and there were even a few that had special needs. Seeing those kids made our hearts eager to hit the field in Honduras so that we could care for the same kind of children.....children who need a home, a family, and just to be loved. It made me tear up many times seeing the happiness in their eyes while they played games in the gym and then opened their presents. All but one of the 5 we had adopted were there that night. One of the boys I believe was sick. A quick story if just how the LORD works. We picked a name off the wall...a 5 year old little girl plus 4 others. Mark and I were shopping for our groceries in Pricemart when I saw the cutest little baby. She was like a really nice baby doll you would buy in the States...complete with a diaper, P.J's, booties, dress and a pillow. That day at the party my friend Tricia and I were talking about which little girl could possible be ours. She had chosen a 5 year old as well. Then, she proceeded to tell me that she bought a doll from Pricemart. With a "Really, We bought the same doll for our little girl too". You see Tricia and I are in the same class and we see each other everyday but never discussed the kids we had picked or the gifts we had bought. It was not until later when the kids were opening their gifts that we realized that the little girls were TWINS.....it brings tears to my eyes even now.......thinking that God lead us to that doll and we each bought one and the girls are twins and can have playtime together.

We had such a wonderful time sharing our "thanks" with two of our teachers from the Institute Graciela and Lissette and our wonderful empleada Etelvina and her daughter Rachel. I so enjoyed cooking ......a huge meal...it reminded me of home. We had a wonderful lunch and it was almost all in Spanish.....Gracias a Dios....we can now talk and carry on a conversation.....who would have every thought that we would have had 4 Ticos(Costa Ricans) at our table for Thanksgiving and we could actually communicate with them. We are so thankful for so many things....our salvation, our family and friends, our ministry, our health, our new baby, our supporters and our list could go on and on for miles. We hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we love you all....       



I am not cheating....lol

      OKAY Time to announce the WINNERS of our Costa Rican Coffee Give-Away. Josiah was the drawer and we have a picture of him drawing with his eyes closed. We were so thankful that we have many readers, followers and those who read and leave comments that we picked 2 names from each group. We picked 2 from the Followers Group and 2 from the list of Comments. So to the people below I need to get your address so that you can receive your coffee. However, because things don't make it out of here in the mail very well....it will go home with friends back to the States and get mailed from there.
The WINNERS ARE:( In Random Order)
Lalania Hall
George Miser
Stephanie Ulm
Sarah Duke
Thanks for reading and being followers. I may do another one before we leave so be sure to keep reading and leaving your comments.

Sincerely Serving Him in Love,

The Coats Family

Oh There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays

      You know with the Holiday’s approaching the thought runs through our minds “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holiday’s”. It is not just true of our family but the thousands of missionaries around the world. For us this year has been very different. We really do miss family and friends back home because we have not yet planted our permanent roots in Honduras. Costa Rica is merely just a year in limbo so to speak. While here though we have made some wonderful friends and just like us they are in their year of limbo…not with family and not yet put in the field they will be living and working in for many years to come.
I mentioned a few blogs back about starting new family traditions. We have very few ornaments on our tree this year. We bought a few red and gold colored balls, 3 sets of lights and a matching ribbon. The remainder of empty spaces are occupied with prayer cards from Missionary Friends that we have met through our home church in NC as well as many friends that we have met here in Costa Rica. All of us have the same purpose to reach the world with the Gospel of Christ. While we do not have a prayer card for every one of missionary friends we are going to write their names on slips of paper so that we can remember them just the same. Every night after our family devotion each person in our family will pick a different family to pray for personally. We will do this every night until we put away the tree for the year and then….all the names and cards will return to their home in a photo album that we keep on the coffee table.
Please continue to remember not only our family during this Holiday Season but all of the missionaries around the world who are away from their families as well.
Thank you all for everything and your continued prayers and support. Just a quick update on the baby…all seems to be going well and my baby bump grows a little more each day…lol. I will be 14 weeks this week. Praise the Lord my sickness has now come to an end. We are very excited we found out what the baby is in about 24 more days. We can not wait.
Also, this is your last chance for the current Costa Rican Coffee Give-Away. Be sure to leave a comment or join our Blog Followers for a chance to WIN. It is very possible that I choose 2 winners. 1 from the comments side and 1 from the Followers Side. So be sure to enter.
Sincerely Serving Him in Love,

The Coats Family

A Much Needed Day of Family Fun.....

On Friday the Spanish Institute was closed so that those students in need of getting their VISA's stamped could leave country. Considering, that Mark and I are always studying and the kids have been working super hard to finish up their first 9 weeks we decide to take a "FAMILY DAY".  This was a much needed day for us just to relax and be a family. Our wonderful grammar teacher told us about "El Parque de Diversiones"...or Costa Rican Disney World. Well, it was no Disney World but it was a ton of fun. With no charge to enter the park I was able to walk in since I can not ride any rides anyway. Mark, Taylor, Hunter and Josiah bought the special pass that let them ride everything for as many times as they wanted. . Even better the wrist band was on $13. The above picture of Josiah was of a leaf bug he tried to squish before I saved the little critter. Then I noticed that he only had one back leg so I convinced him to hold it and he loved it. The other picture is of Mark and the kids riding a disk ride. Pretty cool, we have never seen such a ride before. If you look carefully you will notice that there are people with their hands up...Yep...that is all the Americans...a.k.a "Gringos"...seems that holding your hands up is a little much for the locals. We said that some of those kids would leave a ride with wet pants if they rode a giant roller coaster in the states. Some of the little things that we never even think about. Most of the people in the park that day will never venture to another place let alone visit the states....so to them this is a really big deal and a really big and exciting place.

Not bad at all. They had a small roller coaster and the park is set on many acres of land...similar to our state fairs back home without the hassle of "carnies". Plus all the proceeds go to fund the local children's hospital. With the N.C. fair just a few short weeks ago reading all about my family and friends back home eating fair food left a real sweet tooth in my mouth. Searching through the park to see if they would even have anything close to real fair goodies......and to our surprise.....I saw a small booth with two teenage boys making "Cotton Candy". Yes, you read correctly COTTON CANDY.....

and even better I got each bag for $1.20......not the $3-8 in the states. Needless to say we bought 4 bags. We are so thankful that the Lord blessed us with a beautiful day as well as great friends and classmates here at the school that went with us. If you are ever here in Costa Rica check it out but not on  New Year's Day....(expected attendance this day is over 10,000 people). Our family had many laughs and found a new refreshing spirit to get us through until our family arrives on December 2. Thank you for all of your prayers and support.

We love you all.