Off we Go!

We head to the airport momentarily to fly to Guatemala. We are both excited and nervous at the same time. We aren't sure what our email and internet access will be once we get there but we will keep in touch to the best of our ability. Love you all!

Graduation

On April 23rd we graduated from the Spanish Language Institute along with 61 other people going to 14 other countries! We all marched down the aisle either carrying or following the flag of the country where we will serve. The graduation service was much like a commissioning service as the school sent out more missionaries equiped to speak the language alot better than we were when we came in!


Our tica mom Flora and us:

Hogar de Vida in Costa Rica

We got to go to Atenas (about an hour away from where we live) this weekend to visit the Hogar de Vida here in Costa Rica and bid our good-byes before we head to Guatemala.

Norman and I holding Harold and Vincent The home here is set up in 3 houses with around 10 kids and a head mom and "tias" (aunts) in every house. The head mom in one of the houses is Noemy. Noemy used to be the director of Hogar de Vida in Guatemala and we have known her for the last 10 years and love her dearly. We got a chance to visit with her for a long time on Saturday and she shared some very valuable cultural information about Guatemala and differences between Guatemala and Costa Rica that we hadn't previously known. There is a difference between being there for 10-30 days verses living there.

Noemy, Harold and Vickie
Norman feeding Harold We are so thankful for this time and the great information Noemy gave us. As you can see, while visiting we got a chance to hold a couple of babies that are in her home and play with the kids. Don't forget to laugh and enjoy life like the little ones do!

From Wallowing to Blessings

Hello everyone. Yes we are still here. I know it has been a long time since we have written. Sorry about that. We will try to do better but once we get to Guatemala we're not sure what our internet capability will be so bare with us then.

I (Vickie) was feeling a little, okay alot, down today just from feeling overwhelmed by life in general and the bad thing was I didn't care, I wanted to wallow in it. Norman tried to encourage me but it didn't help because I was enjoying my mud bath of self-pity. I tried to call a friend so I could "download" my self-pity on her but she wasn't available. Soooo, my self-pity continued with the thought of I don't have anyone to talk to. But then a still quiet voice spoke to my heart and said, I am here. I am always here. Come to me. Now I had thought of going to God earlier but I knew I couldn't wallow any more if I did that so I was avoiding it. But by this time I could see that wallowing wasn't getting me anywhere so I gave in and picked up my Bible. I started with the Psalms and ended up in chapter 62, specifically verses 5-8 which says:

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God, He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people, pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge."

So in my mind I climbed into His lap and found rest in Him alone. I poured out my heart to Him and one by one I took all my burdens, no matter how big or small, and laid them in His hands and let Him deal with them because He is much better equiped than I am. And you know what? He replaced that self-pity and sadness with a peace that passeth all understanding! (Phil 4:7) Our God is so good. So as we finish up our time of language preparation here in Costa Rica and get ready to head to Guatemala and a bunch of unknowns, I know that I can be confident that He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion. (Phil 1:6) Praise the Lord that He didn't bring us this far to leave us! So as you face your tough day or changes and a bunch of unknowns, I pray that you too will find encouragement and rest in God alone! For our hope comes from Him!

Now on a lighter note, after I gave my burdens to God I had room to think about the blessings that God has given us, both little and small and I wanted to share one with you. Just so you know ahead of time, this is a small, enjoy life, blessing. Now for you non-dog lovers you aren't going to get this, but that's okay. The family we are living with got a new little puppy this past weekend and it is adorable and I love puppies! So every day after school this week I have gotten to cuddle with a 6 week old Dachsund who is very little and adorable and whenever I pick him up he snuggles into my neck and takes a nap. So "Salchi" is one of my blessings this week. His name is short for salchichon which is spanish for sausage. Pretty cute huh? Below is a picture of our new house mate! The second one is of him next to Norman's shoe so you can get an idea of how small he is. (Norman says he is a foot long hot dog!)




God bless you all and thanks for letting me share my heart with you! Love you guys!