Happy New Year!

As declared in the prayer letter we sent out, I'm going to do my best to try and update the blog a bit more often. TBD how this promise (for the second time actually...) shakes out.
We had a very busy December as we finished up moving (again) to our new house. We had been living on the Campus of La Palabra de Vida at the English house. It was a very convenient in that when we were teaching we could simply wake up, throw on some clothes and go teach (okay...slight more was involved) - however - it was time to move out. In mid-January there is another family coming down to help teach and they will be staying there. Also, although we enjoyed being close to the school and Matt & Lisa, we were excited to have a 'space of our own' that we could arrange just so. Luckily, we found a house that we can rent for a reasonable low rate given the normal expenses in the Belen area - and also it is only 1km away from the school (thats about 1/2 mile for all my American amigos). This means I can walk to the school every day without any hassle - giving Christy flexibility by not having to wake up and take me to work and also by having the car. The neighborhood is loaded with kids, which is exciting, if not tiring. Everyday Lizzy says, 'Can I go play with my friends?!?!?'

We moved in early December, and after what seemed like only a few days to unpack, we fly back to the United States. We spent some time in Colorado, Illinois and also Michigan. Although it would have been fun to see everyone - we quickly realized that two weeks in the states quickly gets taken up by not only time with family - but also travel. we spent close to 3.5 days of our short trip home either in car rides or planes. I think next year, if possible, we will try to take a longer trip back to the states so that we can see more of our supporters and be slightly less rushed.

We flew back into Costa Rica on New Years Eve and thankfully had no problems with customs or immigration. Actually, we might have set a record by making it through immigration, getting our bags, and going through customs. I can not imagine it took us any more than 30 minutes to do all of that - incredible! We had 8 bags crammed full of goodies that we brought back from the states - including two army duffels. Given the new airline rules on bags, we had heard that they might try to charge us more for those bags as they were outside the size limits - but our check in lady did not even mention it. God certainly was watching over us as we made our travels to the states and back.

Over yesterday and today we have been trying to finish unpacking boxes (and the stuff we brought back from the states) and make our house a perfect home. We have been hanging towel bars, mirrors, baskets, etc - trying to get everything just so. Starting next Monday I'm going to try and hit the books hard to start planning for the 2009 school year. This was something I had hoped to do on our short trip to the states but surprise surprise - I did not get to it. Also next week I need to take our car into the shop with our friend Walter because the turbo (it is a diesel, do not get too excited) is not working. Likely this will cost us around $1000 to fix - ugh. However, the little extra power is a) Nice to have around San Jose and b) almost necessary when you drive through the mountains. The last thing you want to do is stall out on one of the very steep mountain curves because you do not have enough power.

Anyway, this post is a bit dry as it is more of an update - but, and least you all know what we are up to now. I'll try to snap some pictures of our house for everyone to see what we are seeing (where we live, our beautiful view of the escazu mountain range, etc).

Thanks again everyone for your continued support and prayers as we are down here. As Christy and I venture into yet another stage of live as I full time teach and she begins to home school Elizabeth - we will need the continued support.

Blessings to all.