5 days in

In efforts to share a little of our "car fast" experience, I'm going to try and blog a little more frequently.

We started our experience last Wednesday, and knew that our carpool deal with some neighbors was going to be challenged, as well as it being almost technically impossible. Sydney gets out of school at 12:15PM and Elijah gets out at 2:30PM. We picked up Sydney at 12:15 and got on the bus to get home - we made it home by 2:15. Obviously, there is no way to use the bus system to get back to the school from our house to pick up Elijah and Jose Rubén (the neighbor's son). Thankfully, on Wednesday, we had already arranged that the other family would bring the boys home, so it didn't affect us too much. After talking about the arrangement and the conviction that we have, we've decided that we will use the car only for getting the kids to and from school. So far, it seems to be working alright.

We've learned a lot about how the bus system works in San José. We already knew some stuff, but doing it makes it more real. :) The system here works on a "wagon wheel spoke" system. Meaning that every bus from any town around San José goes into San José - from there you have to find the next bus that goes to the town that you want to go to. This is a system that works, but takes SO long when the town that you want to get to is "right next door". For example - the office is in Guadelupe and our house in is Tibás. When we drive it, it usually takes about 15 minutes, because we take secondary routes, and they are "neighbors" to each other. With taking the bus to San José first, and then transferring to the Tibás bus, it takes about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

You can clearly see that we have more time on our hands - which has been good for our relationship (Scott's and mine). We have more time to just sit next to each other and talk. It's also increased our physical activity on a daily basis - a bus comes pretty close to our house (about 3 blocks) to go into San José, but once there, the walk could be anywhere from 5 - 14 blocks, depending on what part of town we are going to. When it's just the 2 of us, it's not a problem, but having the kids with us has been interesting...

Believe it or not, the kids are starting to get a little used to it already. We still hear a lot of complaining from Sydney that she's tired, can't walk as fast as we do, why don't we just use our car, but it's been a good teaching experience to help her understand a little bit more about Jesus' sacrifice for us on the cross. Unfortunately she's usually with us from the school bus stop or the church bus stop - and those 2 are the furthest away from our home bus stop in San José. I'm interested to hear if her attitude changes at all, as we continue in this experience.

Taking advantage of this space - Sydney and Elijah have asked if they could be baptized. We talked with our pastor yesterday, and he said that he's planning a baptism in 3 weeks. PERFECT TIMING! He said that he would love to have Scott help him, as well as let Scott have the honor of baptizing the kids. We look forward to celebrating with them.

Ash Wednesday

It's obvious that I didn't keep up with my "once a week blogging" resolution. As much as I would love to keep up that much, I just don't see it happening.

Today is Ash Wednesday on the Christian Calendar. In our family, we take the 40 days leading up to Easter very seriously and almost always decide to "sacrifice" something that affects our daily lives. Usually this is a bad habit or something edible, but this year I felt the Lord asking me to give up something extreme. After praying about it and talking it over with Scott, we've decided as a family to give up using our car for 40 days. The public transportation system is very reliable here in Costa Rica, so we will be learning bus routes well, as well as investing more time into transit daily. We are praying that the Lord uses this specific "fast" to help us focus on his sacrifice on the cross. Obviously, we will be bringing the kids along on this 40 day adventure - we pray that God opens their eyes in a new way as well.

The past few weeks brought Sydney's 5th birthday and first days of school for everyone except Scott. The kids started officially this past monday and are already enjoying their new classes and teachers. Elijah has to wear dress shoes everyday, and his major complaint is about sore feet - after wearing Crocs all summer, I'm not surprised that his feet are sore!!! I also started my on-line class with Nazarene Theological Seminary. I'm studying "Introduction to Christian Theology". It's an interesting format being online and I'm enjoying the "study at your own pace" pace. :) My first paper is due next week - here's to hoping I remember how to footnote correctly!!! Thankfully Scott is a walking grammar goalie - not too much get's by him. I'll have to have him edit, I'm sure!

I've been trying a few new things in the kitchen - last week I made "gallo pinto" - Costa Rican version of bean and rice. It turned out alright, but I need to make some adjustments. I also made some YUMMY spicy chicken empanadas, some homemade pita bread and hummus. The pita bread and hummus made a HUGE hit with the kids - they loved it.

I'll try and keep you updated on what's going on with school and all. OH - we got to watch the KU/Texas A&M game - we felt like God was especially smiling on us on Monday. :) Love to all!