Put Your Feet Up!

Well, put your foot up, might be a better title! Here are details of my recent foot surgery for those who are interested...

Some of you know that the last time I had an endoscopy, I started my own IV. Well, I decided to do it again! So, Woody was my assistant once again, and we got it started on the first poke! Yeah! I decided to give it a try again since my veins virtually disappear when I am cold or nervous.

Woody drove me to the hospital by 6AM so that we could sign papers and have me ready for surgery by 7. The doctors were pretty impressed with the IV. The doctors – surgeon, family MD, and anesthesiologist – all seemed very good, and we were pleased. I was in surgery for about an hour. They dissected the two nerves in the area, which looked normal. So, they decided to investigate a bit deeper and found a small mass close to the nerve and bone (4mm diameter). They weren’t sure if it was a “foreign body” or nerve tissue or some other type of small mass. They removed it and sent it to pathology. (No report as of yet.) They feel quite certain the surgery will correct my foot pain.

I’ve already been able to put a bit of weight on my heel or the side of my foot. For two days I will mostly be lying down with my foot up.

When we returned home after a long day at the hospital and a slow drive home through Christmas traffic jams, Brian and Stephanie had fixed us a lovely trout dinner. Our team riends had left a beautiful fresh flower bouquet, graced by a really nice card.

Woody has been my ANGEL during all of this! What would I do without him!?!?

Thanks for your prayers. Continue to pray for me during this recovery… that the surgery might truly correct the problem; for grace for Woody and me as I am so dependent on him; for relative freedom from pain; for the ability to rest.

Book Club

Today I got up bright and early in order to make bread dough before taking off with Woody for a two hour pre-marital counseling appointment with Pablo and Jenny. By the time we got back, I had just enough time to rush along my home-made rolls as a contribution to our final book club of the year.

I have really enjoyed reading this year. Book Club has helped motivate me, and we’ve come up with some winners! I’ve read over 20 books this year. Among my favorites have been Suite Francais; Cry, the Beloved Country; A Journey to Victorious Praying; The Kite Runner; One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; The Hiding Place; and Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.

We had a great book to conclude the year. We read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Though I have read it before, it is one of those books that you can read again and again and still enjoy.

Some of our book club meetings this have been a bit dull. But today’s club was the most fun of all of them so far. Karen hosted the party, and she is a fantastic hostess! When we arrived, she had a Christmas craft ready for all of us. We made plates, decoupaged with Christmas fabrics she had brought from the USA. It was really fun!

Lunch was sumptuous! My rolls turned out great, for one. J Karen had fixed grilled chicken salad. You can’t beat a fresh Costa Rican fruit salad, including oranges, pineapple, mango, papaya, bananas, passion fruit, grapes and pecans! As we ate, we each had a chance to share a special Christmas memory.

We had a couple of special guests who also read the book in order to join our group today. Helen, a new intern from England, and Carol, a friend of Stephanie, were a great addition to the book discussion! Karen had each of us come prepared with a discussion question, so the dialog was animated.

Karen’s incredible home-made desserts were the icing on the cake. Birds nest cookies, fudge, and pecan snowballs were the perfect touch for a book club finale. As we washed up the dishes, I asked, “Are we going to have book club again next year?”

The group responded in unison, “OF COURSE!!!”

Thanksgiving 2006

Seven people didn't show to our team Thanksgiving Dinner. So, we had only 41 people on Friday! I'll try to attach a photo later. The two huge turkeys were more than enough, and we are still enjoying leftovers. I also had almost two whole leftover pumpkin pies! Thanks to Reynold's Turkey Roasting Bags, the job was a breeze. We had wonderful conversations with many of our Tico friends. The day was a huge success! Several stayed after just to talk about how precious the day was for them and how grateful they were to celebrate the day with us. :)

Emotional Limitations

In yesterday's blog I spoke of being weary. In that weariness, I have chosen to pour out my heart to Him.

Today, my reading from A Journey to Praying Victoriously dove-tailed with yesterday's thoughts on weariness. Bill Thrasher comments, "In Jesus' humanity, He had emotional limitations."

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed." Mark 1:35

Evidently, the term used here for "prayed" does not refer primarily to intercession, but to the outpouring of His own soul to the Father for renewal and refreshment. It's refreshing to know that Jesus Himself had to pour out His thoughts and emotions to the Father!

Weary!

Lately I have felt weary. Between the intensity of investing our lives in the Formation missionaries, having surgery, other health issues, insomnia, and Woody’s travels, I have simply felt needy and weary.

Yesterday I had a very full day after very little sleep. I started out my day just after 4AM, enjoying a long time with my Lord. Even though I felt my heart would burst with emotions and thoughts, I decided to not give in to the temptation to look for a friend to pour out my heart, but to depend totally on Him. Throughout the day I cried out to Him. As I did market shopping for next week’s Formation meals, my eyelids were heavy, but I cried out to Him. As I struggled through reimbursement requests and budget calculations with a splitting headache, I cried out to Him. As I made phone calls and juggled menus for next week’s Thanksgiving Bash, I cried out to Him.

It was wonderful to spend my day leaning SO hard on Him. It made me think of our Great Dane, Celeste. She is such a people-dog! She will stand next to me and affectionately lean into me – with all 115 pounds of bone and muscle! That’s how I want to lean into God.

Yesterday evening, after a “leaning day,” my friend and team mate, Michelle, showed up at my door to talk to me. Oh, what a blessing as we had a heart-to-heart share time! I felt like God honored my choice to depend only on Him, rewarding me with a flesh-and-blood friend to encourage me.

The morning dawned bright and clear after a night of tropical rainstorms. My Celestial prayer walk this morning definitely had a Spirit-led theme. Let me share with you two passages– one from my prayer book and one from my Scripture memorization review.

Phrases from Is. 40:28-31 “He does not become weary;” He gives strength to the weary; though youths grow weary; they will walk and not become weary.”

Isaiah 50:4 “The Sovereign Lord [gives the word] that sustains the weary.”

Photos of Woody in Spain

Woody at La Alhambra

Flyweight Wrestling

This morning I had a round of tag-team flyweight wrestling. I actually looked up the old wrestling terms to see what weight category Celeste fits into! The frog and I combined probably outweighed Celeste, but the frog really didn’t throw his weight into the match. Let me explain. This morning on my Celestial walk, Celeste spotted a frog on the road and lunged for it. I sensed we were in for big trouble, and I didn’t want to let her loose to get in trouble alone. Within a second, I realized it was a frog she was after. The frogs we have on campus are deadly for dogs. (We think that’s how Chester died.) So, I literally wrestled Celeste to the ground with a move I learned from “The Crusher.” I held her in a choke grip around the neck. It took us a few minutes – all three of us on the ground before the match was called.

The frog and I won!

Actually, Celeste won, whether she realizes it or not. The frog may be featherweight, but his poison would have knocked out a Super-Heavyweight!

Blah, Blah, Blah...

Some of you may recall an amazing story of one of my elderly friends from the Albernia Home for the Elderly. Dona Clemencia has some sort of dementia and spends much of her day mumbling sounds that make no sense. When I visited her with a group of women from Barrington, Illinois, I had a very lucid conversation with her and a time of prayer.

Today I spoke again with Clemencia. She had been blabbering, "Blah, blah, blah," and the nursing home staff had been trying to get her to repeat some kind of meaningful sound instead. I walked over to her, looked lovingly in her eyes and asked if she remembered me.

"Si," she replied.

Once again, I had a lucid conversation with her and told her about Jesus' love. She assured me that she understood me and kept looking lovingly into my eyes. Her words were few, but deliberate.

As I walked away, she resumed her earlier talk, "Blah, blah, blah."

Next, I pulled out a magic marker and huge pad of paper to try to communicate with Don Carlos, my friend who is deaf and almost blind. With great effort he was able to read my words. I held a Reader's Digest version of a Bible study on Luke 22 with him. He was thrilled! Day after day he lives isolated in his own dark, soundless world. But God's light shone on him today!

(The photo is of Don Carlos as I visited him today.)

All Over Town

Last week I put together a number of our extra t-shirts and gave them to “Colli Loco.” Colli is a young man who has some handicaps. The town people call him “loco” because he is a bit off in the head and slow on the uptake. Over the years we’ve made friends with Colli and have even had opportunities to share the gospel with him. He earns a little bit of money by guarding cars near our old apartment in downtown San Isidro.

Yesterday I had to laugh when I went into town to do errands!!

First, as I parked our car, I ran into Colli. He was wearing a t-shirt from the Bolivian Youth Leaders Convention we spoke at two years ago. He grinned as he showed off his new clothes to me.

Then, I went into the vegetable stand. The young man who waited on me was wearing a t-shirt that came from someone we’d met from a short-term team from California.

As I drove away, I saw another needy man from town. He was wearing another one of Woody’s t-shirts!

I commented to our gardener about seeing our clothes all over town. He laughed as he told me about a trip he’d taken to a poor community on the Sarapiqui River. He’d taken a couple of bags of clothes we’d donated for the poor. He said, “I’ve seen people wearing your clothes in at least three other towns!”

Let’s pray that the light of Christ might spread across this country – just like our old t-shirts!

Little Known Facts About Costa Rica

-Mother’s Day is August 15th and is a national holiday.

-On August 2nd up to 2,000,000 people will be making a pilgrimage by foot to honor the Virgen of Los Angeles. That’s almost half the population of the country!)

-McDonalds here “McPinto” for breakfast… beans and rice.

-Also, McDonalds have “McInternet” which gives you a free half hour on line with the purchase of a combo meal.

-There is no self-serve gas in the country.

-If you want to install a phone line in your house, the wait for a line can be up to two years.

-All bars and liquor stores in the country are closed on Election Day and Good Friday.

-Just a few miles from here, the average annual rainfall is 312 inches.

-On the hottest day of the year we have temps around 88 degrees. Our coldest night of the year - about 59 degrees.

-For obvious reasons, homes do not have furnaces or air conditioners.

-We have very few mosquitoes. We don’t even have screens on our windows!

-On Wednesdays the movie theaters in the country all offer 2 for 1 tickets.

-Some movie theaters have VIP seating – leather recliners with waiters who serve almost anything you want, including sushi!

-Costa Rica has the third highest per capita accident rate in the world.

When we pulled the moving van up to our house in September of 2005 there was a four month old Harlequin Great Dane sitting on the doorstep awaiting us. She hung around with us all day. It was obvious she had an owner, but she was wearing no tags and seemed delighted to just be with us. She was just about the sweetest, gentlest puppy I'd ever met.

As we took a coffee break and sat with her at our feet, Woody casually asked me, "What do you think her name is?"

I took a look into her sky blue eyes and answered, "Celeste."

He thought that was pretty funny. A huge dog like that with such a gentle name! The puppy must have found its own way home that evening and didn't reappear for another week or so. This time she had tags on. Guess what? Her name was CELESTE!!

Celeste kept appearing on and off. Because we had to call them so often, we eventually got to know her owners. We enjoyed the dog so much that we told Daniel and Andrea, "If you ever need to find her another home, we'll take her!"

In late April, we got a phone call. "We are moving to Canada and can't take Celeste with us. Could you take her?"

So, we now are the proud owners of an eleven month old "PUPPY!" She must weigh about 100 pounds. She looks very intimidating. But, don't tell potential thieves that she has a tender heart. The biggest risk she poses is leaning into you too hard for affection.

(By the way, since that first day I discovered that Celeste has only one sky blue eye. The other is green!)

Thirty-One-Derful Years!

As I sat, trying to come up with a creative card idea for our 31st wedding anniversary, I suddenly remembered that Baskin Robbins boasts “31 flavors.” My card to Woody said, “Life with you has had more variety than 31 flavors of ice cream; sweeter than Cadbury chocolate milk (see photo); and more satisfying than a pound of Oreos.” Thanks, Woody, for being the joy of my life!

A Fellow Hiker

On Good Friday we took two new team mates, Brian and Sara Weyandt, for a hike in the Braulio Carillo National Forest - just a five minute drive from our house. Walking along the trail we encountered a "fellow-hiker." I've learned a lot about tarantulas since we got to observe this one close-up. There are over 800 species of tarantula, so it shouldn't surprise you that we aren't sure of the name of this one! We think it might be a "Costa Rican Red-legged Tarantula." It's legspan was about 6 inches. The body was very black and velvety and the "knees" were bright red.

Here are some of the interesting facts I learned about tarantulas. The male usually lives from 2 months to 3 1/2 years. The female can live over 20! They feed on insects and baby rodents. They have very small brains and are fragile - can be killed by a fall. They are venomous, but there are no recorded deaths of humans caused by a tarantula. They have itch-causing hairs, particularly on their abdomens, and some can kick these hairs into the air to defend themselves. They grow by molting. During the molting process they lay upside down. Rarely does the female kill the male, but just in case, once the mating is done, the male makes a quick dash to avoid possibile demise at the "hands" of his lover. During mating, he grasps her fangs to keep her from attacking him. They have poor eyesight, but their hairs are sensors for temperature changes, smell, and detecting vibrations in the air. The largest tarantula recorded had a 13 inch legspan!

That's probably more than you wanted to know about tarantulas. So far, we have never seen one near our house, so don't let the photo of this one keep you from visiting!