Home, Sweet Home!

We had an amazing trip to Costa Rica! It was not without it's foibles ... pushing us to truly rely on God for answers since man did not seem to be coming through!

An uneventful drive to www.pillars2.com to stay with our friends, Nancy and Lamont who graciously fed us and took us to the airport after breakfast.

Our flight was on time when we arrived but by boarding time, it was obvious it wasn't going to stay that way. The plane was there and everyone had disembarked, we thought. For some reason, there were still elderly people on the plane and I'm guessing only one skycap to escort each one off? The cleaners couldn't begin their job (not that they did a very good one) until the last passenger was off... meanwhile, we waited.

Finally boarded and waited again! Then a thunderstorm delayed us and by the time we arrived to meet our plane in Atlanta, our 1 hour layover turned into a "missed our plane by 25 minutes." ... or so we thought. No one seemed to know! Our next flight wasn't even on the monitors! After MUCH discussion as to who was to blame, the airline or the weather, we were finally given hotel and meal vouchers and then they realized that our flight had never left, but was postponed til the following morning! However, even that was messed up as one person said the flight was 5:45 AM and another said 7:00 AM ... So we got to the airport 2 1/2 hours early (international flight) and found out it was a 7:00 AM flight ... we could have stayed in bed and asleep for longer than 3 hours. BIG SIGH! This was all a not so gentle reminder that "it is not about us." Many others were inconvenienced as well ... we made the most of it; making friends with a woman who spoke no English and making sure she got to her hotel and turned her over to people who spoke Spanish better than us :-)

We managed to get to our conference JUST in time for Bill to speak! He had just enough time to pull out his laptop, go over his notes, find a translator and begin. He did a very good job! He spoke on police ethics and it was well received. I spoke next with the wives of police officers, and Bill was told I was "over the top." ... I guess that means I did a good job :-)

We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. The hotel was a classic, old style but nicely maintained. www.hotelamericacr.com Great food and pleasant staff. We were on the 2nd floor. The rooms have no AC but each had a fan and open louvered windows way up high ... you needed to keep them open but then you could hear all that goes on in the hallway... and they could hear you!

While we were there on Saturday, Bill's 92 year old dad (back in the States) had the opportunity to fly to Washington, DC to see the WW2 Monument!! Richie Lindmark, a former Sunday School Student of Dad's, helped organize the local contingent and "chaperoned" the group down and back. He posted pictures on Facebook and we got to see them Saturday night. We were both in tears and found ourselves having to explain it to our friends with our limited Spanish! YIKES!

When the conference was over, we rented a car and bravely made our way out of the city of Herredia (near San Jose) and over the mountains and down the west coast along the Pacific Ocean, traveling to Quepos/Manuel Antonio National Park to www.hotelparador.com Wow!

Met with a cold washcloth for our faces and a cool passion fruit drink (non alcoholic) to sip ...we followed our bellhop to our upgraded room overlooking the monkey trail/ocean view and immediately saw the monkeys playing in the trees :-) It was raining but we didn't care! In fact, it rained all but about 6 hours for the two days we were there and we still didn't care! Good food, good music, a nice pool (for when it only misted out) and pretty neat hiking trail that was absolutely soaking wet (but we had umbrellas) and did I mention the food? We hiked down to the beach when the rain stopped for a few hours and swam in the Pacific Ocean ... warm water with cool currents (probably from all the rain) .. did I mention the food? :-)

I was concerned with all the rain; mudslides we saw on the way down ... and sure enough; we had to wait in traffic on the mountain for over 2 hours for them to clear a BIG one ... 12 ambulances left the mountain but only 3 had their lights on. We're not sure how many were hurt/ killed but he rocks were HUGE; one the size of our living room. We did not see any damaged cars, so figure only the workers were affected. Prayed a long time for these workers.

The same rain that poured on our conference and vacation is the same rain that eventually formed Hurricane Rena. We were home by then with very minor delays and a warm welcome back at www.pillars2.com a delicious supper, great company and a good night's sleep! We slept in the next morning, breakfasting with our friends and returning home later in the afternoon.

It was a great week sharing with other Christians, encouraging them in their walk with the Lord and in the Word!

UhOh

UhOh ... I can't remember my last post! I'm sure it was before Christmas and I'm afraid I may have been whining :-( I was not feeling well for a while, but antibiotics have brought me around and I'm good to go! Good thing, too!

We had a very nice Christmas, with no baking done on my part (I rested a lot) but the tree got trimmed and the presents (bought through Amazon, mostly, 'cause I couldn't shop) were wrapped on time!

Christmas Eve found us at church with Bill and I along with two teens doing a comedic skit on travelers stranded on Christmas Eve (that told the Christmas story in a wonderfully funny way) and then singing in the choir's cantata. I'm so glad I was well enough to participate in all of it! We also had the Children's choir sing with us on a few numbers and they performed a couple of songs with hand bells. The brass ensemble started us off and the praise team finished us up with silent night, everyone holding a candle in the darkness. Praise be to God for His unspeakable gift!

Two days after Christmas, Bill and I headed for Lancaster Co with our 10 year old granddaughter to take in two presentations at Sight and Sound Theatre ... what a super time! She was quite taken by the performances and loved seeing the horses trot right up the aisle. I heard her actually exclaim "OH!" out loud when the first angel showed up in the air overhead during "Miracle of Christmas." ... She loved the music and prefered the CD of that show over "Voices of Christmas" which were familiar carols. She surprised me!

We ate a lot ... too much... at Millers and Hershey Farms but our favorite place was the Bird-in- Hand Bakery; too scrumptious to talk about here as I would drool on the keyboard!

Something new: Found many Amish riding on large wheeled scooters ... very intersting things that can move almost as fast as a bicycle since the wheels are larger than traditional scooters.

Stayed at the Sleep Inn in Ronks that borders on farmland ... perfect for this country girl!

Time for bed ...way too tired for typing and afraid my spelling may have suffered. I already checked to make sure my "wrapped presents" were indeed, wrapped and not warpped. Good night all ... have a safe New Year's Eve.