Language School

    We have now been in Language School in Costa Rica for a little more than 2 months.  Things are going well.  Mickey T is learning, still with some difficulty, but he has such a positive attitude! He has found a local gym to work out in and this also helps relieve some stress and frustration that comes along with learning spanish.
   We have enjoyed doing different projects, outings where we must use our spanish, and most recently a field trip to Cartago.  We are learning alot about the Costa Rican culture and enjoying some new foods!
   The kids are plugging away at school.  Brooklyn is the only ninth grade student, so she has some classes by herself and others with the upper grades.  She is also taking Russian!  She remains connected with friends back home through facebook, instagram, and snapchat.  She is also making some new friends here--which seem to be boys!  Cole, has had a rocky start to the school year but making adjustment and adapting to his new surroundings.  He and Mickey have been playing alot of ultimate frisbee out in the street with other students here.  Of course, he also has been shooting everything he can around here with his Airsoft gun!
   Next weekend we are heading to the beach to get away from the city for awhile.  The kids are excited since that is where they feel most at home.  We are planning a get together with all the families here for Thanksgiving.  Not sure we will be able to afford having turkey here but we will be with good company.  Christmas is just around the corner and since they don't celebrate thanksgiving here we went ahead and decorated for Christmas!  It is really a Charlie Brown christmas.  Our tree is about 3 feet tall and we have strung some colored lights around our living room!  Since we can't get home for Christmas, we are going to spend Christmas week at the beach.
   We are excited for the days to come but in the meantime we are finding purpose and fulfillment here in San Jose!!

The basillica in Cartago that we visited.

                                                        Jen celebrated her 40th bday in Oct.

Cultural day at school

                                                   Cole making cookies.
                                                          

                                                      The train we took to Cartago.  Only cost $1.
             

                                   The museum we visited and mural below inside the museum

Departure.....
     Final days of summer are upon us!  We have had a great summer.  We spent the end of July and beginning of August at a Retreat for all the missionaries in the Andean Region.  We met at St. Simons Island in Georgia and shared a week of worship, the word of God, encouragement, and just fun hanging out with each other. 
      We are finishing up our itinerating and just have 3 church services left.  Mickey is doing some fishing and crabbing and I will only have 3 shifts left at the hospital.  I am going to miss all the great people at Outer Banks Hospital! The kids are enjoying their last few weeks with friends and enjoying some time at the beach.
     We have our departure date, which will be September 4th!  We will be flying to Costa Rica that day and the kids will start school the next day.  We are looking forward to getting there, but in the same moment we will miss all our family friends here. 
    Our next newsletter will be out soon and will include our address in Costa Rica.  Our home phone number will stay the same so you can reach us at that number!

Some of our directors retiring from their positions

St Simons Island Georgia

 

                                                    Cole enjoying the surf

                                                 Brooklyn with her cousin and best friend

Clearance...

We got the word this week to get our visa clearance!!!!!!  This means we will be leaving for Costa Rica in September to begin and end our language training.   Needless to say we are so.... excited! Until then, we will be finishing up our itineration schedule through the end of August, visiting family, and getting the house ready for renters.  We still have some monthly commitments to finishing raising but we are confident in the Lord that He will provide all that we need!  We will keep you posted as the summer progresses of our departure date!

Boat Ride

 

Took the afternoon and went on a boat ride with the kids.  They decided they needed a break from school and well we agreed!  It was beautiful day and we stopped to check on one of Mickey's nets and saw he had a bullnose skate in it.  He helped him get free and off he went. 

We have been busy lately.  The kids are finishing up this month in school.  Brooklyn had school trip to Washington DC which I got to chaperone for.  We enjoyed visiting many of the museums, riding the subway, and visiting Arlington cemetery.  Cole is just counting down the days of school left but I think in his mind he has already checked out!

Mickey has been on the road traveling to South Carolina the past month visiting churches and pastors.  I go when I can and am still working some shifts at the hospital. I also had the opportunity in March to take a two week medical missions class through EQUIP International.  I learned lots of new skills like placing sutures and relocating dislocations along with lots of other great information on tropical medicine.  I am looking forward to all I learned in the jungles of Ecuador!   We are currently a little over 80% on our monthly commitments(Lack about $1400).  Our next date for departure is early September.  This is when the next semester of language school starts.  We have services booked for all of May and June from NC to VA and SC.  If you would like to help us get there by supporting us with a monthly commitment you can let us know by email(jenniferdaniels@rocketmail.com), or go to www.giving.ag.org and enter our acct number 2945723.  No amount is too small or big!!  You can choose to pay it all up front or yearly if you prefer.  We are ready to go!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Bullnose skate in Mickey's set net

OK, I had high hopes to doing better with this blog!  I am so excited that spring is upon us! The weather has been beautiful here on the coast of North Carolina.  The trees now have leaves once again and the flowers and plants in my flower beds are once again sprouting up.  I just love this time of the year, new growth and a breath a fresh air!  We are at about 80% of our budget.  We only need 20% more in monthly commitments!   That is about $2000/mo.  We only have about 3weeks till our next deadline to make it to Costa Rica for language school otherwise we won't be able to leave until September which is the next start date.  Mickey continues to travel and meet with pastors to help us meet our goal.  We have exhausted most of North Carolina so we are traveling to churches in South Carolina and Virgina.  I continue to work at the hospital and the kids are finishing up there school year!  We are excited about leaving this year and looking forward to all that God has for us to do in Ecuador but also thankful for the opportunities he has given us here to share and encourage others to reach out to those he puts in our path everyday.  There are so many all around us that are hurting, broken hearted, sick, hopeless,bound, and need of Christ's love and redeeming power!  The fields are ripe onto harvest, won't you join God in the work He is doing and reach out to those he has strategically placed in your path!
   Now, keep me accountable to this blog--send me an email if I get behind again!!!
jenniferdaniels@rocketmail.com