Honduras Team Picture

Above: Our most recent team photo, Mike, Erin, and Madison Pettengill, Lindsey, Tica, Lucy, and Sean McCann.

Today is quite an exciting day for our church planting team as we are about to arrive in La Ceiba, Honduras and begin our work there. No, we have not completed language studies yet, nor have we abandoned them to go to La Ceiba early. Rather our teammates, the Pettengills, left San Jose, Costa Rica this morning at 4 am and now are in our future home.

It has been amazing to see the Lord work in bringing our families together over the last 2 years or so. Separately, he placed Honduras on both of our hearts and then united us together as a team with one vision, simply to see God glorified in Honduras however he sees fit. We have ministered, traveled, and trained with them in New York, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras during the past year and we cannot wait for the times to come.

If you would like to see pictures of La Ceiba and our future ministry work, they will be updating both their website and personal blog as they get settled in our new home.

The Ladies

Above: A couple beautiful girls chillin’ on the porch, and if you look close, you can see three beautiful girls.

That’s right, after a month of delay because our modest baby had her legs crossed, we’ve just found out this afternoon that we’re having another girl.

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From a fathers standpoint, I could not be more thrilled. I have loved Lucy more than I ever imagined as she has stolen my heart. I have loved her pretty hair, her pink dresses, her playing with baby dolls, her cuddling, and her love for her daddy. Having another beautiful girl who I can protect, care for, and love with all my heart truly is a dream come true.

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I have always said I wanted lots of boys, but I cannot imagine life now without my three amazing women.

English as a Second Language

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Above: A view of San Jose from the hills north of Alajuela. (The picture has nothing to do with the classes, its just pretty!)

Over the past two months here in San Jose, we have been volunteering at a local community center teaching English to Costa Ricans with a desire to learn. The students have been great and they all speak much more English than we speak Spanish.

The classes meet every Wednesday night for two hours, with a 20 minute break for coffee, singing, and a bible message. We have been alternating teaching the same class, intermediate English. Usually Lindsey goes for the first hour, Sean brings Lucy for the break, and then the girls go home and Sean teaches the second hour. Though we have taught certain themes and subjects, by far the favorite thing for the students is to talk, talk, and talk. Unlike us, who interact with Spanish speakers constantly throughout the week, most of our students only speak English on Wednesday nights.

We have really enjoyed our time teaching, it has been great to make some friends in the neighborhood, practice our Spanish, and learn more about a ministry we hope to implement in Honduras.

Tubs and Taxis

Above: Lucy enjoying her first real bath in 4 months.

This weekend we had a couple firsts in our time here in Costa Rica. One of the tougher adjustments for us and for Lu is the lack of bathtubs in this country. Lucy has had to adjust to bathing in a Tupperware bucket that is fast become to small for her. This weekend we went to a hotel near San Jose, and were thrilled to find a tub! Lu wasn’t quite sure what to do at first, but then enjoyed just hanging out and bathing herself in her newfound, roomy tub.

Above: A taxi line in Central San Jose

Another first for us this week was chatting up various taxi drivers. Of course we’ve taken dozens of taxis since we’ve been here, and we’ve talked with most of the drivers, but this week was different as we actually conversed and held long conversations without the driver kicking us out for butchering his language. For some that might not seem like such a big deal, but for us it was an assurance that we might in fact learn Spanish after all.

Mountain Vacation

Above: Lucy, Sean, and Lindsey in front of Volcano Poas.

Sorry for the lack of posting early this week, we’ve just returned from a family vacation to the mountains and volcanoes above San Jose. Sean’s parents, Gannie and Mac, flew down Thursday for a quick vacation and some much needed time with grandparents. We rented a car, escaped the San Jose traffic and rain, and made it out of the city and into the hills.

One of the stops on our trip was Volcano Poas, a volcano with a huge crater, aqua blue lake, and constant steam rising from the depths. Despite the constant sulfur smell, we had a great time hiking around the Volcano.

Above: The family huddled together under one of many waterfalls at La Paz.

Another morning, we headed to La Paz, a park full of gardens, animals, and trails along many waterfalls. Lucy loved especially enjoyed the bird and butterfly houses, the monkeys, and the soothing sounds of the waterfalls, which put her right to sleep. The park is filled with all the nature and wildlife Costa Rica has to offer, and we throughly enjoyed hiking around and exploring all morning.

Above: Mac, Gannie, Sean, and Lucy in front of the toucan cage in the bird house at La Paz.

Despite all the beautiful sights and fun walks, the best part of the weekend by far has been time with family. Lucy has truly loved being around her Gannie and Mac, and we cherish the time we can all spend together as family.

House Tour – Kitchen (La Cocina)

Part 5 in a series on our apartment in San Jose.

Above: The kitchen.

Our most frequented part of the house is also our biggest reminder that we no longer live in the United States.

First the good. Our kitchen has been great, it is much bigger than many of the other kitchens in Costa Rica. It has lots of cabinets, good counter space, and a big, hot stove. Our microwave works great, our fridge is always cold, and the freezer never frosts over like some others.

Now what is interesting about out kitchen is how much time we have to spend in it because of a lack of appliances. The most glaring omissions are the dishwasher and clothes dryer, while others include a garbage disposal and an ice maker. We never quite realized how much time and energy these things save until now.

Some things of note:
– You can see a small blue stickie note on one of the cabinets, it has the Spanish word for “cabinet” on it. We’ve tried this throughout our house to learn the Spanish words, though by now most of the stickies have blown off.

– On the corner of one of the counters is all of our sweets. Interestingly, almost all the foods here go bad very quickly, so we have to keep all perishables sealed in Ziploc bags.

– Lastly, you’ll notice the blender on the left, with which we love to make fresh pineapple smoothies!

The above picture is from our kitchen looking out on our laundry room/patio. The first thing that jumps out from the picture is that there is no door. Our kitchen leads straight out onto our patio area with nothing between inside and outside but a few iron bars. When we moved in we were assured that this was normal, though we have yet to meet anyone else with such an arrangement, or meet a Tico who thinks it is infact normal. And yet despite the apparent oddity, we have come to enjoy our “open” kitchen. We always have a great breeze, our house stays cool, and our clothes dry quick while staying dryer.

All in all we have really come to enjoy our kitchen, especially our open windows!