We are here in Costa Rica!

PURA VIDA! That is the Costa Rican way to say that all is well. In fact, even if someone asks how you are, the proper response is "pura vida" (pure life). That will take a while to get used to saying, I think. :)

We make it to Costa Rica exactly one week ago, and I'm finally able to slow down enough to send some news your way. Needless to say, we've been busy. I've sent the link of pictures of the house to family members, so that I don't overload this blog with that stuff - if you didn't get it, and want to see, just let me know, and I can send it to you. We are slowing making the house a home, but without our shipment here yet, things still feel a little "temporary" - like we are just here for a while. We should be getting our things in about 2 weeks, we hope.

We've gone to the grocery store twice and Scott went out today to look for a potential car. He thinks that he's found one, but until we get permission and go through all the processes, we can't purchase it. If the purchase goes through, we'll take a picture and post it in the next few weeks. Grocery shopping here is much like it was in Guatemala - lots of the same type of foods available. One difference is that there are TONS of grocery stores - in Guate there were only 2 main ones that were even close to where we lived. This morning I went with another missionary who has lived in CR for a long time to the produce market - I'll definitely be buying there every week. There is a lot more selection and the prices are a little bit lower. Speaking of prices - things here are MUCH more expensive. I think the hardest thing to get used to will be the price of cheese - for 10 pieces of sliced cheese, you can easily pay $4.00. For a block of cheese, prices are around $6-$10. The exchange rate has been kinda hard to get used to - it's 550 colones to 1 dollar - it's been interesting trying to figure out how much I'm spending to buy things.

The weather here is pretty nice - it's always sunny and warm in the morning and by the afternoon it cools down considerably. We usually have long sleeves or jackets on by early evening. You probably all know about the earthquake that happened a few days ago - it was pretty big. The newspapers are still carrying it as the front page story. No damage happened here on campus - we are very thankful for that.

Elijah and Sydney are LOVING being outside all the time. There are about 15 MKs all within a stones throw from our front door. About 6 of them are younger (6 and younger). Needless to say, they have found some new friends pretty easily. The older kids are enjoying playing with them too - Elijah like to play soccer with them, when they let him. He comes in crying almost everynight that he's not ready to stop playing. I don't think that he really understands that we live here, and that when he wakes up, everybody will still be here. :)

Well - lots to say, but don't want to bore you with everything. We have got an internet connection in our house, so feel free to send an e-mail. We should be able to get to it soon. We want to go to the kids school on Tuesday and get them registered and buy books and uniforms. We have a scheduled power outtage all day on Tuesday, so we figure it's the perfect time to get stuff like that done. Lots of love to all of you.

em