A lot of things have changed in my life in the past year. I am a different person because of those changes. Oh, I still seek the Father, love him, love my family  and strive to walk in his Way… but, as I have tried to warn my children and encourage them in life: We are all always still the same person, just with more learning experiences: I am still the same person I was at 4, 10, 16, 25, etc… just different.

Here is the email. Chances are you have also received it.

‘The happiest of people don’t necessarily
Have the best of everything;
They just make the most of everything they have.

I Believe…
That just because two people argue,
It doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.
And just because they don’t argue,
It doesn’t mean they do love each other.

I Believe…
That we don’t have to change friends if
We understand that friends change.

I Believe….
That no matter how good a friend is,
They’re going to hurt you every once in a while
And you must forgive them for that.

I Believe…
That true friendship continues to grow,
Even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.

I Believe…
That you can do something in an instant
That will give you heartache for life.

I Believe….
That it’s taking me a long time
To become the person I want to be.

I Believe…
That you should always leave loved ones with
Loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe….
That you can keep going long after you think you can’t.

I Believe….
That we are responsible for what
We do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe…
That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe…
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I Believe….
That my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I Believe….
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe…
That sometimes when I’m angry
I have the right to be angry,
But that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe….
That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many Birthdays you’ve celebrated.

I Believe….
That it isn’t always enough,
To be forgiven by others.
Sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I Believe…
That no matter how bad your heart is broken
The world doesn’t stop for your grief..

I Believe….
That our background and circumstances
May have influenced who we are,
But, we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe…
That you shouldn’t be so eager to find
Out a secret. It could change your life Forever.

I Believe…..
Two people can look at the exact same
Thing and see something totally different.

I Believe….
That your life can be changed in a matter of
Hours by people who don’t even know you.

I Believe….
That even when you think you have no more to give,
When a friend cries out to you -
You will find the strength to help.

I Believe…
That credentials on the wall
Do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe…
That the people you care about most in life
Are taken from you too soon.

Needless to say, I still have a lot to learn…

Shalom to you and may you be blessed because of these words~

We are in Costa Rica, in case you haven’t heard. We have also created a main site for all of our ministries and blogs. You will find that here:
Dixon Family Ministries http://dixonhomestead.com

I hope to get on a better schedule blogging soon, but I am on FaceBook right now. Yeah, FB isn’t blogging, and I can’t believe I am on there rather than here, because I LOVE to keep memories and journaling all together HERE. Alas, my friends are there. I have family there, and Jocelyn and Rachel keep me company too!

It is also easy to post links there and share really quickly what I believe. I need to just do that here. That will be coming soon!

You will find Dixon Family Ministries on FB here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dixon-Family-Ministries/129843340377805?v=wall&ref=ts

I am working on Newsletter updates, but for now, I am going to just post it here, there, somewhere… lol

We are settling into a new place few hours northwest of Heredia, where we had been for the past couple of months.  It was quite a trip here. So, I will be officially posting CR updates on the DFM site, but I want to share it here too…

We so appreciate the support in love and prayers we have gotten from friends! Believe me, on the trip down here from Heredia, we sure needed them! We loaded up our belongings onto a 20ft. box trailer that Wednesday and slept on the floor on blankets that night (those of us who actually slept that is!). Then, at 4:30am Thursday, we woke up the Littles to go to meet the bus to San Jose by 5am. We were not sure we were going to make it. LucyLillie, Samuel, and Hannah had been feverish and feeling sick for the two previous days, and that night before, Caleb had come down with a fever. We had a last-minute decision to make to either catch the bus or wait to see if they were better the next day. We were meeting the movers the next day and had literally nothing there at the house to eat or sleep on or do. I had made some Goot and rubbed it onto their faces, their chests and feet late that night, hoping it would infuse into their systems and give them enough to keep them going that day.

It was a tough decision, but we decided to go ahead and wake up Caleb and the others and go. Caleb got up and was fine and ready to go. After that, we woke up the others, and we were assigning and grabbing bags and heading out the gate just in time to walk to the bus stop, just a short distance away. I still can’t believe we managed to do it.

We boarded the bus from Heredia to San Jose, and soon the sun was coming up. We were looking forward to finding the bus to Tilaran and getting on our way. One thing I will remember to do on the next trip is to pack plenty of rags, wet cloths, and plastic bags… as we had several get carsick on the trip. Caleb and Lucy started before we got off the bus to San Jose.

Once in San Jose, Matt had the task of remembering where in the world the bus station was downtown. He had made the trip a few days before to sign the rental agreement, but all the shops were open then, and he had gotten off from a different location than we arrived at. On that day, at 6am, the closed shops all looked the same with their gates and large metal garage doors! Needless to say, we walked around for a little while, asking where it was before it all became familiar.

Once we found it, we had plenty of time before the bus was leaving for Tilaran at 7:30am. It didn’t seem quite so long, and we took the time to have get our faces washed and get some water and a snack before we were to get on the bus. Matt bought the tickets: it came out to 3320 colones or about $6-$6.50 per person. We were looking at a 4 hour trip. Considering the lack of sleep most of us had, we were incredibly cheery and awake! When 7:15 rolled around, we took our luggage over to be put under the bus and headed to our seats.

As I sit here and type, the bus trip is all a blur. Imagine traveling from 80mph down to 40mph around curves, on the side of a mountain, through traffic, uphill, downhill, starting and stopping in an instant. And carsickness! Out of the ten of us who made the trip, four of us got carsick. All but one of us slept at least part of the trip, and several of us slept most of the trip. Samuel, almost 8months old, slept and nursed a lot, so that was a blessing for him and all of us on the bus!
The trip was all right, and the people were friendly. We had a break in the middle at a large outdoor cantina for a bathroom and snack break for a few minutes. Eric and I got to take a look out across the most breathtaking view. I so wished I had a camera at that time. Green, green, green hills, trees, farm land. We could see garden plots and sheep grazing. It was beautiful.

As we got closer to Guanacaste province, the landscape had changed. It was green with farmland and the homes were further apart. When we started seeing cows all over, I knew we had to be close! It was a good thing, too, since it was getting so warm on the bus that the rest of us were getting pretty uncomfortable. Even Samuel had woke up and did not like sitting with the back of the seat in his face. I felt so bad for the passengers who kept having to hear our children get sick, but as a man and woman and their little girl exited and she looked like she was not going to make it off the bus without being sick, I knew it wasn’t just us. It was a rough ride there!! I felt so bad for our children. We tried to get them to sleep as much as possible to deter their carsickness… but we were so thankful when the bus finally rolled into the stop in Tilaran…

Can you say, “AAAHhhhhhhhhhhh……………..”?

Matt got two taxis and our driver was over to get our things right away. Soon we were again traveling down the road, heading to our place, anxiously awaiting a nice, quiet, cool place with water to just relax and let our bodies catch up with the experience we had just had. We arrived, and ohh! how I wanted to have a camera to share the moment with you all!

Before we got there, we knew there were coconut trees. We knew there was a gate and plenty of tall bushes surrounding the one acre the home sits on. We knew it was a single level home. What we didn’t know was that we would open the door to furniture!! Just a little info Matt kept to himself as a surprise….

We were awaiting the arrival of the moving truck, looking forward to the rest of our things arriving. Shortly thereafter, as we were still discussing the land, the fireplace, the furniture – BEDS! – we were greeted with a most wonderful surprise. We already knew that Joel and Gaby of Crucified Life Ministries would be coming over. They were so gracious to help us as we were looking and emailing before we came. We were looking forward to meeting them and their family. When the doorbell rang,  it was Mr. Hemingway who introduced himself and let us know that he and his wife were friends of Joel and Gaby’s and were there to welcome us to the neighborhood. They brought some drinks and ice! Then came a few more new friends and Joel’s family and his mother and grandmother also came. How awesome is that?!?

We have not gotten everything unpacked but we are doing well unpacking. We have bedrooms all situated, the kitchen tubs are unpacked, and we are working on getting school books out and organized. There is a bookshelf here, which is presently holding our Scriptures and references, Spanish books, and some books for the Littles, Battleship, and a large checkers game.

We are still in need of a washer, and can you believe it? An OVEN!? Matt overlooked the fact that the stove is a stoveTOP and not a stove when he came and looked at the house – OOPS! He has been looking, but there is no used appliance store here in this area that he has found. So, needless to say, we have had no baked goods… and I am getting pretty good at hand-washing clothes… [no comment] Actually, I will be going over to the Hemingway’s to do a couple of loads tomorrow.

I still have much to tell you about the creatures and plants here, how it compares to Indiana, the fact that Samuel is 8 MONTHS OLD!!! OH MY! Where did that time go?!

Hopefully, in the near future, I will be able to get some semblance of order to be able to post about the trip to Miami when we left the States. And, I STILL owe the awesome folks at Tropical Traditions a bunch of reviews!! -which is GREAT for you all, because that means GIVEAWAYS!! But, I will be doing that at The DFM Store!

As always, you can keep up with our lives through our multiple websites. Hopefully we will get a new camera soon so we can share photos!

Shalom~

When we made our plans to move to Costa Rica public online, the common question was:

Are you going to be missionaries?

The simple answer before we left and even when we arrived was NO. Here is our belief about missionary work: we believe that every person called by YHVH is called to share Scripture and build relationships with everyone they meet. We are called to share him, Torah and Messiah with everyone… READ MORE

Things have changed quite a bit since we arrived, and as all things are, some were expected and some were not. We have been staying with some Believers who were already here and we met online. It has been about 6 weeks, and we have been looking for our own place. As of today, we think we found a place that is adequate, but now, due to unforeseen circumstances, lack the finances. That would be all right, except that we were told that it is ok to work in Costa Rica as Profesores de Ingles(English teachers), and planned to do that. However, we found that this is not exactly true, and we want to do it right – legally.

Question is, we are here, and we need to work, so what is the right thing for us right now?

Before we left, we were trying to set up a main Dixon Family page to gather all of our ministry sites and a store to sell our own products as well as post affiliate links for products we like and can recommend as an income of sorts. Online is the only way we had come up with to support ourselves without a work visa – that and donations.

YHVH gave us some these ideas and others of ways we can generate an income online through this website. We did not, however, have time and get it set up until recently. Since we have been working on this and also are going to try to get a work visa to work here legally, Father has set in our hearts that we need to establish our online websites/ministries as well as the in real life ones he has planned for us on this site also and set it up as a ministry website. After all, this is what we do. This is what we live.

So, these websites are what we have been working on for the past few weeks. It is amazing how life can get in the way and the important things go by the wayside. Because we do not have internet upstairs where we are at in this house,  it has been rather difficult to accomplish a lot online, but we are finally set up and have a FaceBook page too.

Please take the time to peruse the site and read about our plans and updates. I am also working on getting a newsletter sign-up, so be looking for that. If you feel so lead, we would love to have your support and sponsorship. Please consider if you can give even a small monthly gift of as little as $5 or $10 to help us defray the costs of our online and irl ministries.

Please also pray for me. I don’t know why today has been especially hard, but I am really missing Amanda today. Unless you have experienced it, you wouldn’t believe how much it hurts. I just want to see her beautiful face, hear her voice and put my arms around her and tell her I love her.

Shalom friends! and thanks~

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Please know how terribly much we appreciate all the love and prayer covering here in our home. We are so blessed by the friends who are not talking or advising, but just praying and directing us to Him. Thank you. This is our goal, to be closer to Him. When I fall, as I do very often, and daily, sometimes minute-ly, my goal is always to seek him and his ways and to walk in them as best as I am able. I am learning so many things. I am learning so many things I don’t want to learn. Being broken hurts. It hurts worse than a physical breaking. – But sometimes we must be broken to hear and see HIS way. To see our sins and to repent. Thanks for your prayers friends. Yah is working, and I am thankful.

We can all rest assured that the learning and the breaking never stops when you follow Yah. He commands us to be perfect and set apart for him – to keep striving to be – and we will never get to be without all the breaking and carving up our sinfulness. Oh, does it hurt though!

We know we really have to go through this. This is what is necessary for us at this time in our lives. We may not like it, we may lash out, but he is our refuge and our hope, and without him and his Torah to lead us and make clear the narrow path, we are lost in our own ways.

Passover is soon going to be here. We are preparing as best we can with all of this and our moving. Our friends from Consider His Ways came down and shared a beautiful Spring day with us on Tuesday. They have sent their devotional on Passover-Pesach, and I can’t wait to read it all together so we can begin to prepare our hearts for this time. I find it amazing how our lives, at this time, are lining up with Israel in Egypt and their exodus as well as the Messiah’s time as he prepared to go and have his life broken for us on the cross. This is truly a time Yah has set for our family – all of us – and I know he is working it into each of our lives for his glory and plans.

The garage sales have gone ok. We are looking at taking all the rest to a place and just donate it all. I have the name of a home school consignment shop to call tomorrow, and we are hoping we will be able to do that with a few things.

They took the swingset today. Enough said.

Our children are handling things remarkably well with all we are selling. Even better than Mom is, I think. Whoever said that children are resilient is right. Most things, they are resilient to and will learn to live around, survive on and go on to trust us as their parents and learn to trust in Yah. I am thankful for that, as this is the hardest thing we have ever been called to do.

Samuel is getting so big! He is reaching out for things and loves to sit in the little exersaucer. Such a big little guy! All smiley, looking up and around… it is so fun and so joyful to watch him and love on him, but so sad too, at this moment.

Would a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Though they forget, I never forget you. “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are always before Me. Yeshayahu (Isaiah)49:15-16

Thankful for all of the blessings in my life. You know, we are called to be joyful, even when our hearts are breaking. I have learned more and more through the years what this means. We are his people. He does have us in the palm of his hand. I was left a note and the above graphic on my YahSpace Wall a few weeks ago, not knowing how desperately I would need to cling to it just now today.

I just want to tell each of my daughters the same thing: He has you inscribed on the palm of his hand. And you are all inscribed in the depths of my heart.

Shalom my friends. May his peace – the peace that calms our hearts in the storm and keeps us in him even when it looks like he is not in control or not even hearing us- may that peace be in your hearts and homes forever.

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Sometimes we don’t “feel loved”. It is at that time we need to know we “are loved” the most!

Anyway, I received a list of post links about the Doorposts If/Then Chart from Erica on the Doorposts Group I belong to. It was funny that two of the mom bloggers on there are friends of mine, so I just must post them!

I know it is going to be helpful to you.

http://www.raisingarrows.net/2009/09/ifthen-chart.html

http://plainhomesteading.blogspot.com/2009/11/our-if-then-chart-beginnings.html

http://ourbusyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2009/10/wfmw-ifthen-chart.html

http://ladypilgrim.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-ifthen-chart.html

If you are interested in purchasing a Doorposts If/Then Chart, you will find one at their store: Doorposts If/Then Chart

If you use this chart or a similar one and you posted about it, leave your link to your post in the comments, and I will add it!

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