Our First Visitors

We were excited to welcome Ken and Candy as our first visitors in January! They stayed with us for about 10 days and got a taste of what our life is like these days, including car trouble, our new house, early mornings to get the kids to school, the feria to get our fruits and veggies, gallo pinto (rice and beans Tico-style), and a trip to Manuel Antonio beach and national park (we WISH that was a REGULAR part of life!!) It was really fun to have them here. The kids were ecstatic to have Grandma and Grandpa visiting (I think Olivia was worried no one would ever come to see us.) We were all blessed by their presence and helpfulness. As Ken would say, a fun time was had by all! Here are a few pictures of their time with us, complete with one of Olivia's favorite songs!

Email Update

We sent out an email update this week. If you did not get it and would like to get future updates please send your email address to thedixonz@gmail.com. If you would like to get the PDF file click here.

We will post some pictures soon as well as a ministry update.

We moved into our new home about 3 weeks ago. We like the house and the location. However, we are still waiting on our internet connection to be hooked up, so our communication is a bit limited and sporadic these days. When we are hooked up we will post a more detailed post with an update on what all is going on.

If you have heard of the earthquake a little over a week ago here we felt it in our home, but did not have any damage. Parts of the country are pretty devastated, so please keep Costa Rica in your prayers. Hopefully we will post soon with more info for all of you who faithfully follow our blog. Hopefully our internet will be connected in the next few days.

Christmas Reflection

Christmas was a bit different for us this year. Obviously! It was the first Christmas where I could look out my front door and see palm trees. It was also my first Christmas since I left home for college 12 1/2 years ago that did not involve some sort of travel to see family. It felt strange not to be packing up to go some where. It was also the first Christmas in which I did virtually no Christmas shopping. When we were in MN seeing Tracey's grandma we purchased the kid's Christmas presents. For some reason shopping in October does not seem like Christmas shopping. Yet while we were thousands of miles away from most of our friends and family Christmas was still special. We had a great time both Christmas Eve and Christmas with our good friends and teammates the Janzens. We had a fun celebration with just the four of us Christmas morning and enjoyed visiting with family via the phone (We love our Magic Jack!).

I think what makes Christmas so special is stopping to reflect on the fact that we are celebrating Jesus moving into our neighborhood as Eugene Peterson translates John 1 in The Message. When I stop to reflect on the God of the universe choosing to move into our stinky, smelly neighborhood it is pretty overwhelming. It makes our moving to Costa Rica no big deal. We moved across a border, Jesus moved across the universe! He moved so that we might have abundant life and so that we would be able to have a close, intimate relationship with him. It is amazing that God would pursue you and I so intently.

So while Christmas is different this year it is no less special. We have enjoyed and continue to enjoy the celebrations here in San José (I can hear fireworks going off as I type). There will be celebrations through the 4th or 5th of January here. What makes Christmas special is remembering that God reached out to you and me in the form of a baby. Unfortunately it takes a holiday to remind us of this. May we live every day of the new year remembering what God did for us and allowing that to drive how we live. Merry Christmas!

"I do it myself"

From December 2008

From December 2008

At first glance these photos are pictures of a two-year old sitting at a messy desk. However, the other day when I was in the shower I heard podcasts begin to play on the computer. I thought, "Tracey must have gotten up with the kids." When I got out of the shower I discovered Tracey and Olivia still sound asleep and Sawyer at the computer. When he heard me coming he turned around and said, "I do it myself!" He had grabbed the remote for our iMac and found the "Blue's Clues" podcasts and was watching one after another. Not bad for a two-year old. If you are reading this and wondering what a podcast is just ask Sawyer, he would be happy to explain it to you.

Exciting Times!!

We are super-excited to announce that we have signed papers to rent a HOUSE in Desamparados!!!! We actually have the keys and will start moving stuff in during the next couple of weeks! It is a beautiful house that we consider a blessing straight from heaven! It has plenty of space for guests, a big garage, even an ample office/potential-future-semester-program-classroom space! The only thing it lacks is a yard, but there is still plenty of room for the kids to play--actually it'll be a killer hide-n-seek house! The location is perfect, the rent is great--the Lord has provided. Thank you for praying with us in this!

We will also be getting a vehicle on Thursday, assuming everything goes as planned. We are buying a 1995 Hyundai Galloper in great condition, with very few miles on it. It's diesel and manual (cheaper to run and insure), and holds up to 7 passengers. So, we can haul around people that might want to visit us. . .hint, hint! We've negotiated a good price, and we are praying that this car lasts a very, very long time! I'm also praying for the courage and ability to drive stick again. . .in San José!

One other bit of exciting news is that Jeff and I have finished ("graduated from") language school! We will very likely find a tutor to work with us on polishing our Spanish in the future, but for now we're done. And it feels good.

Here's a picture of us at graduation.

From December 2008

We'll get pictures up of the house and car soon. Thanks again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!

Christmas Programs

Here are some videos from the kids' school Christmas programs. Sawyer's is on top and Olivia's is on the bottom. Enjoy!