Protege

God has provided us with an office that is attached to our house. It has a large meeting room that we use for staff meetings and we would also like to use it to host various other training events and networking events for people and organizations we work with. Last week we hosted our first training in the office. It was a two day event last Wednesday and Saturday.

We have been invited to join a network for those working to protect children and working with children at risk. So the training we hosted was in conjunction with this network. The folks in the network were invited, our entire staff team came, and we also invited some of our key partners. Some of the organizations represented were: Students International (of course), Food for the Hungry Costa Rica, YWAM, Viva, and La Iglesia Cristiana Reformada de Los Guidos.

The training was one which Viva provides called Protege. The topic was a sobering topic as we learned about and discussed what constitutes abuse, how we can work to prevent it, how to recognize it, and what laws and systems are in place to deal with abuse in Costa Rica. Two amazing, gifted, and knowledgeable women taught us. Gabriella works in a large city in a city office working with abused women and Cristina works for Viva training and providing resources for people working with children at risk in Costa Rica. While it is not an easy topic to talk about it is an important one. It was extremely helpful to learn what options are available to us as we seek to walk along side those we work with when abuse takes place.

Here are a couple of pictures from the training time. As you can see I had help setting up the tables and chairs :).

"Just like you, right?"

We face many pressures and stresses in life these days: pioneering a new ministry, program development, leading a staff team, and navigating a second culture and language to list a few. But perhaps the most pressure comes from being a parent. One of the many ways that life is not all that different for us than it is for our friends in the States.

This morning Sawyer and I were up a while before Tracey and Olivia. We had a great time together! We made and drank coffee together, got ready for church, and simply hung out. As Sawyer followed me around the house we we did various things like get dressed, brush our teeth, and yes get our coffee ready he would say things like, "I'm going to wear pants. Just like you, right?" "I'm going to brush my teeth. Just like you, right?" "I'm going to button my shirt. Just like you, right?" You get the idea.

(On a brief side note both Olivia and Sawyer have taken to using the word right almost like a question mark to punctuate their sentences. My guess is it is a cross over from a grammatical structure in Spanish. It is interesting to see how their Spanish is affecting their English. But that is another blog post. Heck that could be a dissertation topic.)

I want to tell Sawyer, "Look I know me, and believe me you really don't want to be like me." Yet I read the Apostle Paul and I see him telling his readers to follow him as he followed Christ. So I am learning that in many roles right now, especially in parenting, I need to embrace Sawyer wanting to be like me. I also need to ensure that being like me means seeking after Jesus. Now that's pressure, right?

From October 2009