We haven’t gotten to the stage of, “Oh yeah, a gecko… hum-de-dum…” Or not noticing. We still notice, the children think it’s awesome, and they try to tell each other whose it was the last time they caught it or where it was last seen. and THEY KNOW too.

We interrupt this post for an important activity announcement: As I type, LucyLillie jumps up and yells, “It’s a LIZARD! It’s a big one! It moved!”. Now, she is insisting I need to get it for her.  Ahhh… Eric came in and is going after it… oh, he missed it. Sorry Lu! — ok, back to regular typing…

So, what are Hannah and Eric doing right now at 10pm? Well, if you give a child a lizard, you can be sure they will ask you to use one of your jars to go outside RIGHT NOW and find some bugs. You will say something like, “I don’t want bugs in my good jars; you need to let the lizard go anyway,” but they will soften you up with, “But I want to see how it eats Mom….”

Because, after all, life is made up of each Living Learning Moment the Father gives us, isn’t it? And they NEED to know how a lizard eats… So, that is what they are doing… feeding the geckos.

Don’t miss an opportunity like this to take a trip to the library or search the internet with them and check out all of the interesting information about whatever they have found to set their interests on.

Shalom!

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But, I feel like I haven’t had my groove for a year… expecting Samuel in Nov. of last year, then researching and planning the move to Costa Rica, no, maybe Israel, no, that would take too long, back to Costa Rica… spending all of that time going through twenty-two years’ worth of our lives and our children’s live, deciding what we weren’t keeping and what we were that would fit into a 6′x12′ UHaul. Selling, selling, selling and giving away everything basically beginning in October and lasting until April when we said good-bye to our home and land we loved, then spending a week in the van and hotels across the US, then selling our van in FL before we flew here…. And it isn’t like life stopped for those six months either. That was what we did in addition to the normal everyday life things. Threw things way out of whack.

On top of that, like any move, we miss our neighbor and our family and friends.

It’s just time to get back into the groove of things!

Groove? What groove? Maybe I just need to find a new groove altogether.

And now would be the time to do it, to find a new groove and a new schedule. We live in a beautiful home here in this quaint little town. It really is nice. Ceramic tile floors, five bedrooms, flowers in the yard, the house is furnished… We have great fruit trees in our yard, a swing for our children, plenty of yard… our children are not wanting for things to do. They love to be outside, look for lizards, play with the pup some friends gave us when they left to return to the States… They want to start school so bad, but everything’s not quite ready yet. They love to read, draw, write, play ball, cook, bake, so I figure they are learning quite enough as it is.  Life is pretty much like it was at home. Except for the goats. and the chickens – though we have friends taking a trip to the States and Israel whose chickens we will be sitting for here – so FRESH EGGS! woot! Some friends of ours here have goats, and I have been meaning to see if they have extra raw milk. I miss it too. It’s so good for you anyway.

Spanish is going well. It’s a good thing we learned some Espanol before we left! I have fond memories of sitting around the table at home when I was a child and my dad would go through basic Spanish at the dinner table, just to teach it to us – and no, he wasn’t of Spanish origin. He just wanted to expand our horizons and loved to teach us things like that. We all did that at the end of last year, beginning of this, for several weeks, reading out of a basic Spanish book I have, learning some simple phrases and words. Of course, you can learn Spanish online by searching for it, and even YouTube has some good videos with correct pronunciation, etc.

I have had the most Spanish, in high school and college, so I can pretty much carry on a conversation with a Tico when they come to the gate. Even when we arrived, at the airport Immigracion in San Jose, the young man clearing our passports asked me about our family, if all of the children were ours and how old I was, etc., just small talk in Espanol, and Eric stood there watching and listening to me reply back wondering if I was going to be able to and if I knew what he – or I – was saying. Of course, I think that until you have a chance to practice it irl, it is easier to understand than to speak it, especially if you are unsure of yourself. So, we continue to learn. And then again, who thinks they will use their high school foreign language? To most high schoolers, it is just a requirement to fulfill. Nope. Learn it well.

Speaking of learning, we are learning more about eating raw foods and how healthful they are for our bodies. Mr. Paul Nison sent Rachel some of his books to review, and I began reading 2 of his books tonight. Yeah, I couldn’t decide which one to start with. We have been interested in them for some time. Good thing Ra’chel had the other one in her room! I read the first chapter of each of them and they are very good! A Lot of good material and info. You can expect to hear more about the info here and on our other family blogs. If you are interested in them, you will find them in his Raw-Life Store.

Another fave health resource of ours is the Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil book. I was looking for some some health info today in it, and it is also a very good resource. (It must be, since it is here with us out of all the books I took to consignment shop or gave away!). Something amazing to me is that there is no virgin coconut oil in a country where there are coconut trees every 10-15 feet! I have had several people who have been here for a year or two mention that it’s just not here. Too bad we can’t distribute for Tropical Traditions here. We love all of their products. They said it would sell like hotcakes.  Other than the VCO, we have only not been able to find a couple of other things we use for our health: Sea Salt and Hydrogen Peroxide. Now, we know all the city water in America is fluoridated, and we never worried about that, since we had well water, but here, the salt here is fluoridated! Needless to say, we do not use it, but we can’t find sea salt. No, we aren’t near the ocean… not that that is the same… The peroxide we use as mouthwash. (Which is actually funny, because we had some mouthwash I brought along to use as an antiseptic! Mouthwash is REALLY bad for you!)

Well, I am really trying to get on a better schedule and I have a sleeping baby right now, so I better get to bed. I need to get up in the am and take the Littles out to the school room and give them something to work on for ’school’.

Shalom to you,

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We also shipped the Shabbat glasses we use each Friday and Saturday nights.  They were my Great-Grandmother’s.  On my mother’s side. Some of them, Amanda sought out and bought at the Goodwill, and some my mother bought. About half of them made the trip. I should have packed them better.

We had celebrated two Shabbats here using the china and the glasses, and Hannah washed them and set them out to dry. When Eric got the bottle of honey out, he had no idea it would slip out of his hands, right down onto the Shabbat glasses and break four of them. Yes, FOUR! I have to admit I cried. It wasn’t that they are so important, but probably more that these were the glasses we had used when we were all together in our HOME, having Shabbat, and now they were gone. We brought so little of what we had, and it was just too much at that moment. Just an emotional thing, I suppose.

Things can be an emotional for us humans, can’t they? We can get attached to our things and think we can’t live without them. I get attached to all of the memories of all we have done with our things.  A lot of the things I left in the States I had a hard time parting with because one of my children had bought it for me – or made it for me.  I did bring a few things like that, probably more than I planned, because, when you get right down to it, they are important to me. Like a piece of that child at that moment in time. Granted, I left a whole lot that held dear memories for me too, but when I look around here, I am surprised at all we did get to bring.

As I thought about the broken Shabbat glasses, I had the same feeling I have every time something like this happens. After I cry and think of all the memories attached to it, I have to say, “They are only things, Jacque; just things.” I had a bowl, several years back, from the dinner set we got for our wedding, and about fifteen years later, I think I just had the one bowl left and a few plates and coffee cups.  One of the children broke the last bowl, and I was very upset. It was, after all, the last one I had, and it was special to me.

But it was just things.

After overreacting, and feeling horrible that I did, I did something to remind myself how much more important my children are to me than my things are, precious or not, memories or not. I glued all the pieces back together and wrote on the inside of the bowl. Some were sayings and some was Scripture. I would show you a picture of it, but I don’t have the bowl anymore. It didn’t make the cut of things to leave the States with. My children did make the cut. All but one of them came with us.

I daily look around and think of something else we had to leave in the States. A week after we arrived here in this new home, Caleb wasn’t listening, and he broke a glass piece I had brought with us. Again,  another broken thing. When we were on our way to Florida to take our things to ship to Costa Rica and fly out from Ft. Lauderdale, I can tell you that it was very emotional. We all were thinking of our animals, our home, our family and friends… all we were leaving.

We left a lot. We gave away a lot. One day, it hit me that of all the things I left in the States, there is nothing more dear to me that I left behind than my daughter. Of all the things I will never have again because it was broken, I would say the hardest thing I deal with is my broken heart. And hers. I would leave all of these things there to have her here with us.

So, broken things, they all teach us a lesson. And that is the way to live: learning from each and every moment that comes into our lives. Brokenness is a good thing in the Father’s eyes. It is when we are broken that we are able to be molded into what the Father has for our lives. He wants us broken, not to our detriment, but to our good and his glory. We can be cool, smart, pretty, whatever, but that’s when we are seeing ourselves. When we see him is when we are broken and at our end, and he can be what we and others see.

That is what Yehoshua did. If he were a composer or artist, we would deem that as his “magnum opus”. He had finished all he was purposed here for, to teach us how to walk in the Father’s ways and to give his life to ransom us from the stronghold of sin. He was broken. He was beaten, degraded and broken, and that was when he said it was finished.  He had accomplished his purpose for that time.

We will live lives, some of us with broken hearts, broken things, broken marriages, broken relationships, broken bodies, etc. etc… and this is the time he can be seen best if we place it in his hands. I am not always so good with fixing broken things. There always seems to be missing pieces, and it never looks the same with glue. There are always cracks that stay visible to the eye… But the Father, well, he can make those scars heal or leave them there, and still heal us. He takes broken things and makes them his and creates in them something we could never imagine.

So, it is not so bad a thing to be broken. To be a broken thing in Yah’s sight is a precious thing. It is the time when I am ready to be his and allow him to work his work in me. I imagine, just like when I have had things broken, that all of a sudden, their value is seen more greatly by me, just as our being broken is a valuable thing to the Father and its value is seen better by others then through his hands too.

I need to get better at being broken and allowing him to fix me. What about you?

Shalom~

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Ok, so we are a little worried about the bugs in Costa Rica!

A week ago, Lucy was playing near me on the floor, when I hear her say, “OOOHHHHHH!! That, That!!!”, pointing at the floor.
Wondering if she was overreacting or if there really was one of the giant wolf spiders hiding under the stool,I asked, “What?”.
“THAT, right there!” she said, rather excited.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s a, it’s a THING!” she stammered.

[I still thought she was overreacting...]

Since I was holding Samuel, I called Rachel in, and after close inspection and Lucy continuing to go on and on about “the thing”, Rachel allays all of our fears by saying,

“IT’S A HAIRBALL, Lucy!”.

Internet

We bought a 3G wireless USB plugin and a wireless router so we could do all of our online work at the same time, rather than in shifts, late into the night. It was a great plan, and it would have worked perfectly, had we had all the directions. (or maybe it had something to do with the directions being in Espanol, though I doubt it, since we weren’t the only ones who couldn’t figure it out!) Even the guys on the other end of the 1-800 Latin America, Costa Rica division number hadn’t heard of this model, and it was only sold in Costa Rica!

However, after going over directions over and over and following through online at D-Link, Jocelyn was finished with it, and we were using the 3G USB individually anyway for a couple of weeks….

July 21st rolled around, and we still had limited internet access. Then, Matt called the D-Link guys back and after disabling the password code on the USB, it was all set! So, we were all so glad that Matt got the network hooked up.

Planning our visa renewal trip…
We have known since we got here to Tilaran area that we would be making this trip to Nicaragua before the end of July. Little did we know that the Father had it all set up that Joel from CLMinistries would also need to go.
As for when we had too leave, most of the countries I had checked on, in relations with US citizens, are every 90 days you leave the country. You do NOT have to return to the States. You can go to whatever country you choose. Costa Rica is this way. We need to renew our visas every 90 days until we leave the country.
We talked about a couple of places and were looking for what they call hostels there. There were some in the other towns, but not in Rivas. We chose Rivas due to ease of getting there by bus and taxi. So, after looking , we made reservations at The Hotel California”. Yep, it was weird to me, and I couldn’t get that stupid song out of my head for days. erghhhh.

Paypal
This went on for a couple of weeks that Paypal limited our acct. Our crime? we have been accessing it from CR. We had NOT TAKEN ANY MONEY OUT, mind you, but ACCESSED it. WHAT?!?!?!?!?
So, for a couple of weeks, we couldn’t get the money out of it. Paypal’s idea to confirm our location – where we hadn’t even taken any money out of – was to send us a letter, we had to take a pic of it (yeah, right! Our camera was stolen!) to prove it’s our acct and that we are here…
ACKK!!

Thanks to my sister, Jen, for taking that photo and emailing it to us so we could send it to them and clear our good name!

I heard about this new HR5741 on Friday.
“To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and
42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed
services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense
and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the
uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements
of the uniformed services, and for other purposes.”
One thing I began to understand in the past 2 years is this: We have to go through these times. The world WILL get worse, and the GOV, both – all- parties, will be party to its demise. I mean, let’s face it, it will be the systems of the world against Yah. THAT is what we are looking at to happen.
SO…. there will come a time when the people will be ignored and the GOV will press on against the people into the one world anti-messiah system.
I believe that is already happening. So many things will be happening that we don’t expect….
The Father is ready to allow these things to happen, and we need to be prepared as all these things come to pass…..
It’s just Matt. 24, in the words of our Messiah…

Making the Trip to Nicaragua

We hand-washed most of the laundry for the 3 days before we left, and on Thursday, Rachel went with Matt to a friends’ and finished up a few loads before our trip to Nicaragua.

Got up early on Friday morning and caught a bus at 5am. Someone (I won’t mention Jocelyn’s name) left two of the passports in the printer, but we checked for them at the but stop and had time to run(literally) home and get them before the bus came….
(more to come on that whole Exit Trip thing….)

It was hot and muggy in Nicaragua. We were told that there are fewer ants, but many more mosquitoes!! And the mosquitoes are on full alert. Yikes!
To me, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and prob most of the world, look just like other parts of the world to me. No culture shock for any of us. The grassy roads reminded us of home and cities are cities, you know… peaceful, like our country road. More horses, cows, goats, chickens and dogs in the road, but reminded me of good ‘ole Pook Rd.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm!! One thing we ate plenty of in Nicaragua was messy, sloppy, sweet watermelon. It was only about 0.75US, so it was a good deal, especially for those of us who love it!! Let’s face it: watermelon is delicious in any country!! We did get sick of eating chicken hot dogs, bread and turkey sandwiches, though… but we aren’t complaining. There were plenty of fruits: oranges, apples, and watermelon, so it was all good!

The trip went well. Not so much puking this time, but a little more waiting. We did have trouble getting back into Costa Rica, but that was our fault, and it just delayed things was all.

Shabbat – Torah

For Shabbat, I watched this video. If you want to know more about the Narrow Way, YHVH has given us the directions, all we have to do is to set ourselves apart and do them.
It is a Scripture study this week by Paul Nison.
Torah Parashah 45: Obedience to Yahweh

Jocelyn has been looking for some jewelry for us all to wear now for awhile that says the Sh’ma, to wear them on our wrists and found these: http://www.etsy.com/listing/6633581/white-shofar-sterling-silver-and-white

Family Accomplishments

Samuel’s been working on the Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma for a few weeks, getting that and putting the hand across the side of the chin(he actually just bends his fingers to me)… and today, he has the Mamamamammamamaaa down instead of just the bending the fingers to call me.

And, check out these photos of the girls from before we left the States:
A Pondering Heart » Do Something… I Dunno… Weird.

I will leave you with a quote from my friend, Ruth McLean, at But First, We Have Coffee:
“Real love is an act of the will, a determination you make in your mind that it is what you will do in spite of your feelings.”

Shalom~

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I have gotten into the habit of checking email, posting on my FaceBook Wall and updating the DFM FaceBook page. I need to get back into the habit of updating here and DFM instead. However, we are currently using a 3G Broadband USB for internet. It is what you have to use here for high-speed. We brought our router, but it is not for 3G, so we had to buy another router. Yeah, and we haven’t been able to get it set up yet – and we can take it back for credit, but not for our colones back. SO, all that said to make the point that Jocelyn, Rachel, Hannah and I, who blog and run businesses online, as well as Matt, who gets online to research and read… are doing it on the one connection.

As I went to update my FaceBook Wall today, I thought, why am I not just writing about this here on my blog? [that's easy: it's just so easy to post on FB, and I have instantaneous replies from friends!] A friend posted what she did today for school, and I thought, hmmm…. what have we done for school? Barn chores and cooking/baking as life’s lessons have changed dramatically since we arrived here. We have no barn and no oven presently. Kinda’ hard to do that as Living Learning Moments, huh? Time for a new Home School Schedule 2010…

So I pondered what we did today for learning. I updated our Passports and have been trying to take it easy with a sore back. Of course, all day, I am nursing, holding, playing with/caring for Samuel. Matt and Eric went into Tilaran to get groceries, and I know that Eric always learns when he goes, because he has to think converting colones to dollars to find out how much it is, not to mention that everything is en Espanol, so he learns as he reads it and hears it. He always has a story to tell me.

Isaac and Caleb are learning how to read by sounding out letters ALL DAY. Isaac has gotten into the habit of answering me, “Si’, M-O-M.” Or my personal favourite, “Gracias Senorita M-o-m!” They count all day, en Espanol. Lucy even counts in Espanol. Grammar in our home is a given. I have workbooks, but haven’t delved into them quite yet, becuse at any moment we can have a discussion about their grammar or even Espanol.

Presently, we are planning our visa renewal trip to Nicaragua, which made me think we need to get back to our clases de Espanol, and then Eric asked me the same thing yesterday. So, confirmation, and will do. The Master Bedroom is actually outside, though still attached to the house, and we have most of  play things and school books out there. I really wanted to give Jocelyn and Eric their own rooms, but this is how it worked out.I really had hoped to give all the girls the master bedroom when we moved, so they had plenty of room, but I’m not ready to have all the girls out there with an outside entrance when there is not one to the house. Weird. But, it will be nice for guests! ; )

So, a good reason to keep up on our Espanol is because we will be going to Nicaraugua before the end of the month. We get to go with a friend who has to renew his visa also and who has already been there, so that’s really nice.  I can’t believe it has been 90 days. In a way, it’s as if  “it has already been 90 days?” and then, in a way, too, it’s like, “It’s only been 90 days??” Life is just life here, but it is so different not being life. If that makes sense…

All righty, well, I need to go. There is a gecko everyone is all excited about that is chasing a bug around. I’d better go see… Living Learning Moments are alive and well in the Dixon household!

[I do miss having a camera though... hopefully we can get another soon!]

Shalom friends!

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