This morning I woke up to the sounds of a lovely tropical bird singing away. I lay in bed, praising God for the bird, for my good night’s sleep (yeah!), and for the situation and safety of our family. As I prayed, God was gracious to me, and showed me the blessings of an optimistic spirit. I listened to Him, and I listened to the sounds under the lovely bird’s song . . . large trucks roaring past our bedroom window on our “residential street”, parked car’s alarms responding to those trucks near misses, sirens, stray dogs yipping and fighting; it is amazing how quickly we have become so accustomed to these “normal” San Jose noises.
We praise God for how well the family is adjusting! We're meeting people in our neighborhood. Also, some of San Jose’s amenities make adjusting easier . . . . garbage pick-up (the streets are generally clean and the stray dogs don’t hang around too much), potable water (not only does this make our life much easier in this house, brushing teeth, etc, but knowing that each San Jose premises has safe drinking water means that we can drink tea or punch elsewhere and eat salads and vegetables at local restaurants knowing they’ve been washed in safe water). This is a great transition place for our family, before we head to a more rural spot in South America.
Today we are going to the local market. We have been looking forward to this all week, as we can hardly wait to buy fresh fruit!! We arrived on Sunday. Since then, we’ve walked in each direction, finding local stores, restaurants, and parks. We are extremely fortunate, in that our house is one block from the language training school, where Don and I will begin Spanish classes on Monday. Everything seems very expensive here . . . eggs, bread, milk, all cost the same or more than they would at Safeway, in St Albert. The first few days we made porridge, peanut butter sandwiches, omelettes, and pasta with sauce. Now we’re beginning to branch out into more “tico” (Costa Rican) food, like beans, rice, and chicken. We’re only in Costa Rica for another seven weeks, so we don’t want to buy too much for spices, etc
The ants keep us humble. They really like our kitchen counter and table. Because of the ants, we only need five of each thing . . . five forks, five bowls, five plates, because we can’t put a dirty dish down anywhere, the ants find it and swarm. We do feel blessed to have a fridge, stove, washing machines, beds, and a kitchen table. Now we have internet too! Having internet in the house is more than we’d ever hoped for!! This week, we’ve been skyping with family for free, and we had expected to be phoning them from a roadside payphone. What a tremendous blessing, to stay connected and be able to reassure friends and family at home!!!
This afternoon, we’ll meet our tico nanny. She is going to come to the house each weekday to care for the children while we are in language classes. The kids Grandma Helen had planned to come and take care of them, but her white-blood-cell count changed days before we flew here, and she has had to stay home. We’re praying for her; she feels healthy, but her condition is a puzzle to her doctors, so please keep her in your prayers. Also pray for our children, please, as they adjust to being cared for each afternoon by Lisbeth; she doesn’t speak English, so this is a wonderful opportunity for the children! I will homeschool them each morning, then they will have the afternoon at the house (and hopefully at the park) with Lisbeth. She comes highly recommended from missionaries who have previously attended the language school we’ll be at each afternoon.
So far, it has rained most afternoons. Katelyn calls it the glorious rain, because she doesn’t like to feel hot. She dances out in our gated front yard in the rain.
We have gates and locks and bars everywhere. We’ve gotten used to it requiring fourteen key turns to go out for a walk . . . the door, the gate (like a screen door, with no screen), and the other gate (like a fence). Each has a built –in deadbolt, then the fence-gate has a secondary deadbolt that you attach. As we lock each section at night, I am reminded that our trust is in the Lord, and we are thankful for the locks, and window bars, and walls, and barbed wire, but we trust in God for security. He has certainly been gracious to us.
Well, I am in danger of writing a novel instead of a blog post. Thank you so much for your support and prayers! Blessings to you, as you begin a new school year. We’re praying for you, too.
Love from the Murrays and our ever-changing-catch-and-release pet geckos.
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