Poco a Poco

*It's crazy to think that we've been in Costa Rica for well over a month now. Sorry for the lack of updates; we're learning how to juggle our many hats.*

Whenever I speak to a Costa Rican and tell them I'm learning Spanish, they always respond "poco a  poco" (little by little). This is so true not only for my experience learning Spanish but also for our adjustment to Costa Rica. It's been an extremely smooth transition, but there are many little and big ways we're making adjustments. Little by little we're feeling more at home and less confused by the difference (many of them positive) in living.

It is very evident that we have people praying for us, because we know the peace we have in the midst of the craziness can only come from the Lord. Language school is going extremely well. I'm learning Spanish! I'm so thankful for my classmates who are encouraging as we all wade through directions in Spanish. All of my classes are solely in Spanish, so we're constantly asking each other to verify we understood our instructions. Spanish for us is a team effort.

Jonathan is so happy to finally be in full-time ministry. He's meeting with a couple of guys one-on-one and is leading the boy's Bible Study. He's loving building relationships with the students and answering their eager questions. Last Friday we had a pancake night at our house with 31 students. It was a blast to be able to host them. They've gone 3 years without youth directors, so they were really excited to have a fun event other than their usual Saturday meeting.

It's really weird for me to have to be hands off to much of our ministry so that I can focus on Spanish. I'm thankful that so much ministry happens in our home, but it is weird not having time to invest in students lives because of language school. I have to remind myself that this is a time for concentrated Spanish study that I won't have a year from now when I'm fully engaged in ministry. It's also weird that for the first time in our married lives, Jonathan and I have two different responsibilities. I love working with him, so it's weird that we have to actually sit down and share what's going on in each of our worlds.

There are many things that we're loving about Costa Rica:

• We love that I payed our phone bill at the grocery store while checking out
• We love all the fresh fruits and vegetables at very good prices. We just bought 3 Kilos of tomatoes for $2 (It's ok to be jealous about this)
• We love that we finally have our own home and can host students
• We love the warm weather, breeze, and mountain view
• We love the kindness of all the Ticos we've met
• We love that we're just 50 meters north of a park

There are also a few challenges that we're starting to adjust to:

• We have to go to 5 different stores to get our "essentials" that would only require one stop at Kroger
• Walking everywhere since we sold our car. Patrick is developing Costa Rican legs!
• It gets dark here around 5:30 and it's safest to do everything before dark, which doesn't leave you much time
• Making most things from scratch. It's nice knowing exactly what goes into your food, but it takes much more time
• Being busy. With Jonathan and my different schedule and many things taking longer to do here, we have extremely full days

It is such a blessing to finally be in Costa Rica and for it to feel more and more like home. We're so thankful for everyone who prays for us and for those who enable us to be here. Oh yeah, we have one more piece of exciting news...

We're having a baby girl!