Dry!!!

Well, our daily life has been much more at a subsistence level lately than at any time since we arrived. We are still basically out of water and have a month and a half to go of dry season. Fortunately, it rained last night and we were able to capture some water in barrels. Amy and I were running around in the dark putting jugs and a barrel under a tarp so that we could collect rainwater. Several episodes of "Survivor" went through my mind. At least we could laugh about it. The worst thing is not having enough water to flush. That gets old very quickly. Between this situation and the need to be present at our construction site, we have very little time for anything else. For those of you that prefer to receive newsletters... I am far behind on sending out a new one but we have been so busy trying to get by that it has been all but impossible. Please bear with us and we'll be back on track eventually.

Latest view of the house as the walls begin to go up. We are using steel construction with walls made of styrofoam and concrete. Hopefully, this will help us avoid the termite problems that are so prevalent here.

This past Saturday night, we had a guest speaker join us to give a presentation at the end of the skate session. His name is Jacob and he is a professional yo-yo'er. He put on a great show and used the yo yo to present the gospel. Many of the smaller kids stayed to see the show and really enjoyed themselves.

I also just returned from San Jose a couple of days ago from picking up Whit Hazleton. Whit is joining our team for the long haul and will be working with me in the youth program and I am sure, with our house church. We are happy to have him with us and are looking forward to working and serving with him. Please continue to pray for our team as we look to add three more members over the next few months.

One last note... Costa Rica celebrated it's independence from Spain on the 15th. Because she attends the public school, Makena participated (partially) in the celebration. Both she and Maili made torches to carry in the night-time parade that takes place on the evening before Independence day and they both marched through town with all of the other children and families. The next day, there were traditional dances, food and hang out time at the school and Makena was on hand in the traditional dress. Here's a couple of photos from Independence Day. It was a fun time and something we look forward to each year.

Going Up

We started going vertical on the house this week. It is definitely exciting but it sure takes a lot of time to oversee things. Right now, we are trying to get water to mix into the concrete and we're dealing with three dry wells. Our well is dry, the well for the house we're renting is dry and the well of our neighbor is dry. I am having to go to the house we used to rent to pick up water in barrels and bring it back so that the guys can keep working. I never thought we'd have such water problems in the rainforest. Crazy and challenging. Here are a couple of photos of the house as it goes up.

Photo of Don Guillermo, our builder, as he puzzles over the water problem with me.

layout of the foundation and holes for the posts that will support the house.

The steel begins to go vertical. Exciting times...if only we had water (stinky times too).

During the past week, we also had a tragedy take place in town. A local builder named Bobby, died in a motorcycle accident on his way home from Limon, the larger town one hour north of Puerto Viejo. It was a pretty bad accident and he apparently died instantly. Bobby was a really friendly guy and even though we didn't know him well, we know many of the members of his family. Two of his younger kids were in the OANSA program on Sundays for several years and his older daughter was a helper there for a while. He is survived by his wife and six children in addition to three grand children. We went to the funeral on Tuesday and it seemed like half the town turned out. It's hard to see a family go through the pain of losing a loved one but many of them are Christians and at the very least, they have God to turn to. Please pray for his family...that God will bring them peace and comfort.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Maili's 9th birthday at the skatepark. It is hard to believe that she will be 9. Time passes so quickly. She was only 51/2 when we moved here and now she's 9 and Costa Rica is home.

We are also going to be joined soon by Whit Hazleton. He's coming into town on the 16th of this month and will begin serving with us here in Puerto. I'm personally looking forward to working with him and I believe he will be a great addition to our team. Please pray for him as he makes this transition and please pray that as we begin to rebuild our team that God will guide our steps and that we'll soon be able to move out of maintenance mode into a season of growth and greater effectiveness. Thanks for making the journey with us.