Dessert with the Dixons!

We have been greatly enjoying our time in the States visiting friends, family, and supporters. And Olivia and Sawyer have LOVED playing in the snow! We are amazed and encouraged by the amount of incredible people God has brought into our lives. We have been blessed.

For those of you in CA we are having a dessert to be able to connect with you and to share what God is doing in Costa Rica.

When: Friday January 22, 2010
Time: 7:00 pm
Where: Savior's Community Church (in the Mill)
515 E. Center
Visalia, CA

If you need directions please email us.

We hope to see you there!

In the States/Open Houses

On Sunday we traveled from San Jose to Minneapolis where we are enjoying spending time with Tracey's family and friends. Olvia and Sawyer are enjoying the snow! At every opportunity Olivia wants to bundle up and head outside. Sawyer was a little nervous about playing in the snow, but now that we are here seems to enjoy it. From MN we head to CO and from CO to CA.

We would like to connect with as many friends and supporters as possible during our time in the States. So we will be having open houses. We have ones scheduled in MN and CO and will let people know the details of the one in CA when we know them. Here are the details for the two in MN and CO:

Minnesota
When: Saturday January 2, 2010
Time: 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Where: Tracey's parents house in Ham Lake, MN
For directions please email us

Colorado
When: Sunday January 10, 2010
Time: 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Where: Jeff's parents house in Littleton, CO
For directions please email us

2009 Video

Below is a video slideshow that recaps 2009. We realized that we don't have a lot of great pictures of the various ministry sites we are involved in, but the ones included in the last section should give you a good idea of what we are up to. The first section shows some of the beauty of Costa Rica and a few shots of our family. Enjoy!

Lucy

A few weeks ago we added a new member to our family. Lucy, a beagle puppy, joined us. She is very sweet, sometimes hyper, and all-around fun to have around. The kids love her (sometimes a little too much. . .) Here's some pictures of her:

She likes to snuggle Mommy.

From Lucy

From Lucy

Bad dog! But so cute, hiding in the closet and making a 'nest' in the clothes.

From Lucy

The Luxury of Options

I get to spend Thursdays in the community of Las Fuentes. This is where Cailah Pritchard (there is a link to her blog on the right) works in a variety of activities. On Thursdays she has an after school type of program. Well actually since children go to school in either the morning or the afternoon, she has two sessions. One before school for those who go in the afternoon and one after school for those who go to to school in the morning.

I usually take the bus from our house to Las Fuentes, so that Tracey can have the car. In order to get there for the 10am start time I need to leave our house at 9am as I need to take 2 buses to get there. The total bus fare is about $0.80. Last week I had a few things I needed to get done before going to Las Fuentes. So I decided to take a taxi instead of riding the bus. I looked at the clock as I walked out the door 9:48am. I arrived right on time and the total cab fare was about $2.65.

Having options is a luxury that most of the people we work with do not have. Many will never have the option to decide to take a taxi instead of the bus even though the difference in the fares is usually less than $2.00. I started to think about many of the options I have in my life that many do not. Here are just a few of the options I have each day. I have multiple options of what to wear. I can open the refrigerator and choose what I want to eat. I can choose to watch TV, a movie, surf the web, read a book, play a game, etc. for entertainment. We can choose private or public schools for our kids. I can choose to take a taxi or a bus.

Do I feel guilty for having options? Sometimes. Should you feel guilty? No, that's not the point. The question I think we should ask is what is God calling me to do with the options he has given me? What options should I choose so that His kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven?

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