Orphans, Crocodiles, and Beaches oh My!!

I know, I know the title for this post seems completely random and silly right?  I know but do you realize how hard it is to come up with a Title for these posts sometimes?  Not as easy as it looks. Sometimes it is harder to come up with those few words for a title than it is to type the whole post!!!

Monday morning came along, and Kalina and I headed over to Hogar de Vida while Sherry and Lindsey stayed at the house with the kids.  We spent several hours talking to Tim and Dina, they are the couple that started the Hogar de Vida children's home over 10 years ago.  We talked about a lot of different things that we might be able to help with while we were there.  They were very cautious and made sure we knew all the rules before any of us could come to help.  They had a whole list of rules that we heartily agreed to, such as no immodest clothing, no piercings besides earrings, no cursing, etc.  This place was structured around providing a Christian atmosphere for these kids, and they were very serious about it.  They have had a lot of struggles lately with financial support because of the economic situation in Costa Rica and in the USA.  They don't have any large supporters. They mostly depend on a lot of small donations from lots of places.  So while they obviously needed help, they wanted to make sure we were not just wanting to come for a photo op with the kids or that we would cause more problems.  They explained several problems they have had in the past with groups that have come to help but ended up causing more problems than they fixed. 

























This was the view from just inside the gate of Hogar de Vida.

We were looking for something we could do for them in a day or two but we also had Kathia with us.  She is one of our Costa Rican friends that has helped us so much.  She was interested in getting involved in a continual effort to help the orphanage.  She has several of her friends and family that could help with making clothes for the kids or even just yard work.

So when we were done we had agreed to come back the next day and Kalina, Sherry, Lindsey, and Olivia along with Kathia's group would work on cleaning windows and folding laundry.  I planned on taking Logan with me to go buy supplies for the orphanage and hopefully be back by lunch time.

Well it was lunch time and we had the rest of the day free.  This was the only time we would have for just "fun" and it was time to fulfill a promise we had made to Logan and Olivia.  It was time to go see the Crocodiles and then the Beach.  We headed west toward the pacific coast and in about 40 minutes we arrived at what we have started calling the Crocodile Bridge.  The kids were both absolutely amazed to see crocodiles that were not in a cage.  I think before this they had only seen one small crocodile at the Memphis zoo and in pictures.  There was one of them laying in the sun that was at least 15 feet long.  There was probably 15-20 of them swimming or laying right below us.  Most of them were just laying there soaking up the sun and Logan just could not stand it.  He kept yelling at them, "CROCODILES WAKE UP" over and over again.  He was very disappointed that none of them seemed to notice his wake up calls.

From the Crocodile Bridge we headed a little farther south to a beach that we had heard about from Kathia's husband Jason.  It was not a place you could get to unless you knew where you were going, luckily we had the inside info.  You had to take a right off the highway at an unmarked dirt road and drive about 10 minutes until you entered into the back gate of some kind of Resort community.  Then you drive thru the middle of the compound of condos until you get to another dirt road that goes another 300 feet where you have to park and then walk the last little bit thru the trees and over a very treacherous looking bridge over a small creek and there you are.  Easy right?  I am sure you can find it now all on your own.....Anyway it was a nice quiet beach, there were only 4 other people there besides us.  The kids had a great time playing in the water and the girls had a blast sifting thru tons of pieces of coral reef.

We stayed a few hours at the beach then we had to head back so we could fix something to eat and I had to be at the Airport to pick up Keith at 8:15.
I arrived at the airport right on time and wonder of wonders Keith's flight was on time.  I was even able to stake out a good spot to wait on him to get outside and I was able to swoop in and save him from the mob of taxi and shuttle drivers eagerly waiting to devour unsuspecting tourists.  I was excited about the possibilities of Keith being along for this trip especially since he is much more fluent than myself with Spanish.  I have gotten a lot better but it takes time.
Once we got back to the house we all spent some time talking about Costa Rica and the days ahead but we all went to bed pretty early so we would be rested for a hard days work at Hogar de

-David

The Lords Day in Costa Rica

So once we actually made it to the airport the flights all went fine, including a 9 hour layover in Denver.  Luckily my Aunt and Uncle live in Denver and they came and picked us up.  It just happened to be the same night of my cousins graduation party so we got to see everyone for a little while which was nice.

This was the view from the house we were staying in.  This was still the beginning of the rainy season and everything was still pretty brown.

So we arrived in Costa Rica on time and made it to the house we were renting in Atenas and got settled in.  We ventured into town and found a gem of a restaraunt that we did not know about the last time we were here.  Kay's is the only place that we have found in Costa Rica that you can find american style breakfast.  She serves just about anything you could find at a Ihop, Waffle House or from your Mom's kitchen.  Kay has apparently been a waitress for over 40 years and you could tell, she was a real pleasure to be around.

After we refueled we went back to the house and had our Sunday worship service.  It was another beautiful day in Costa Rica to worship the lord.  It is impossible to not be in awe of his creation when you are surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscape you have ever seen.
























This was on the way to Escazu, A big mud slide had covered the road and they had only cleared it enough for the adventurous that did not mind doing some off roading.

I made several phone calls to our contacts in Costa Rica while the kids took a much needed nap.  Once that was all taken care of we took a 30 minute drive to Gringoville, Costa Rica (aka Escazu).  This town is probably home to the most rich, affluent and upper class of Costa Rica.  It does not at all resemble the rest of Costa Rica, in fact it looks mostly like a city in the USA.  Our reason for visiting Escazu is because they had the closest Walmart, yes that is right, Walmart.  This was a new developement that had just occured in the last couple weeks, and there are only a handlful of them in the whole country.  So the questions to ask would be is this a good thing that Walmart has set it's sights on Costa Rica?  I hope so, but only time will tell.  Anyway we had some supplies to buy and this would be one of the cheapest places to buy the things we needed.  Well this was a Sunday night and if any of you shop at Walmart on the weekend you know that is usually the busiest and worst time to go.  Well I don't know if it was because of the weekend or because it was new but this place was jam packed.  This was a supercenter and it was probably larger than some in the USA, but there was still not enough room for the masses.  I don't know for sure how many people were their but it had to be somewhere between 2000 - 5000.  It looked like a crowd you would see packed into a stadium for a sold out concert except for the shelves and shopping carts.  It was insane, I am not really sure how we made it out alive.

We did make it out in one piece and we did not even lose either of the kids!!  That is about all there is to tell about Sunday but we were a bit exhausted and everyone went to bed pretty early to be ready for the next day.  Kalina and I were scheduled to meet with the Director of Hogar de Vida in the morning.  Hogar de Vita is a childrens home in Atenas and we wanted to talk to them to see what we could do to help.

-David

What a trip!!!

Well since I have some time while I wait for our delayed flight from Denver to Dallas I wanted to give everyone a brief update.

We are halfway back to Arkansas, so far so good. I am ready to get back and see Carson and Leia and I already miss Costa Rica.

For anyone who has not heard already, we had a bit of a hiccup on the road to Costa Rica. Well lets put aside the metaphors and tell it like it is, or was.... It was actually a small log that was in the middle of the Interstate. We were driving from Benton to Dallas to get on the first flight that would take us to Denver. Yes I did say Denver, you thought we were going to Costa Rica? Well that's what we thought too and we are still a bit confused by the logic of it all. Somewhere there is a guy that sits behind his computer comes up with these crazy flight plans. While the rest of us would assume a direct flight from Dallas to Costa Rica would be cheaper, he has other ideas. Silly mortals, don't you know that there is some kind of law of Aeronautics that dictates that a straight line is not always the best or most economical way to get somewhere. While 2 wrongs don't make a right, 3 lefts do.....Such is the logic of commercial airlines.

But anyway, I digress. We were a few miles past Sulpher Springs Texas when we came over a hill and there was a log right in the middle of my lane. I had nowhere to go with an 18 wheeler beside me in the right lane, so in the split second I had, I centered up over the log hoping we would clear it. The very loud bang and the alarming noises and smoke coming from the engine told me that was false hope on my part. Well we pulled over and after several frantic phone calls to friends in the area as well as tow trucks, car rental agencies, even a couple limosine companies, we were able to get back on the road. Thank the Lord that we had a brother in Christ and a friend of his that lived sort of close by that were able to help us get to the airport without missing our flight!!! God bless you for sacrificing your Saturday to come help us.

So our vehicle has not been fixed yet and there is a chance it may be totalled by the insurance company. I did not think the damage was that substantial, but the insurance company only cares about how much the damage costs based on how much the vehicle is worth. We have a rental car waiting in Dallas that will get us home. Keep us in your prayers that something will work out to resolve that problem. We were so busy in Costa Rica that we did not have time to even think about it but now we have no choice. Oh well, such is life.

That one thing was but the first of many memorable things that happened on this trip. If I was a pessimist then all the things that happened to us would have been disasterous. However, God is good and he watched over us and protected us through all the trials and tribulations and he also blessed us beyond all expectation.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says; There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Did he ever give us a way to escape and bear it all with ease. The people we met and snuck into our hearts made it all worth it.

I better wrap up this so called brief update, our airplane is finally here. I will fill you in on more details later. Hasta Luego and Dios les Bendiga!!

-David