All I want for Christmas.........

"All I want for Christmas ....." Can you finish the phrase? "is my 2 front teeth!"

She has now lost BOTH of her front teeth and the tooth fairy is looking to get a LOAN!!!

I can't help myself.......I ask her to say she is "selling seashells by the seashore." It is so precious!

My little one just thinks the idea of cashing in on some teeth is too cool. I am not quite sure that she wants to use her OWN teeth, though.....gotta watch that little one!

Did you have a "clean" week?

Today was my day for the "House of Restoration". We had a really good Bible Study with about 10 ladies this week and Tasha and I feel like the women are beginning to warm up to us a little bit now. One young lady shared how yesterday, she accepted the Lord and she was able to give a brief testimony of how God has changed her mind and heart already. How important is that for us as believers to verbally share what God has done in our lives? It IS the beginning of true discipleship! I hang my head to think how long I have known the Lord and how STILL I back off from opportunities to testify about God in my life. I learn many things from these women.

I also was able to ask how did your week go (meaning are you still clean....remember this is a house for addicts, prostitutes, alcoholics, etc.)? On the way home, I begin to think about how my week had gone. Could I answer that for one more week I was clean ...spiritually speaking? Sure, my addictions and strongholds are not the same sins but sins all the same! They have a victory when they make it one day, one week, one month clean from their particular flavor of "sin that so easily entangles" but what is my flavor? Did I have the victory of a "clean"week?

"No donuts....enjoy your bandaids."

I know the title of this blog post sounds like a line from "Mommy Dearest" but let me explain:

Yes, we do have bandaids in Costa Rica but just in case you are wondering WHY I would put that on our wish list......here goes.....my girls are totally into bandaids right now for every scratch or nick in the skin. We must have a bandaid on it! My girls decided that I didn't have any cool bandaids...I only have the regular bandaids ...SSSSOOO at the mall we stopped by the pharmacy to pick up a box of bandaids to their liking. I thought I would break my bill for smaller change for the cab ride home and pick up their bandaids all at once......that's a Mom thinking huh?

At the checkout...for 2 boxes of bandaids (one Mickey and one Princess) the bill was $10!!!!
Trust me when I say I needed a bandaid for my feelings after that.....needless to say the girls asked for donuts from the little donut shop just outside the pharmacy and my response ......"no donuts.....enjoy your bandaids"

Quote of the Day

"I am immortal till my work is accomplished," David Livingstone

House of Restoration

Today was my first official Bible Study (outside of the classroom as an assignment) in SPANISH!!! Tasha and I went to the House of Restoration and as you can imagine....it seems that every distraction possible happened. However, one lady gave a "testabite" of how God had changed her thinking and her heart, how he had compassion and mercy. This lady went on to say that she had been clean from drugs for about 1 month now PTL!

As much of a failure as I felt with my ability to communicate both culturally and verbally, if we had not had the Bible Study then this woman may not have had the opportunity to testify about how good God is.

I have to remind myself that God can use obedience above skill.

Crescent rolls and corned beef hash

Today I went to buy some groceries because all I had in my freezer was a bag of coffee (absolute essential!) and ICE!!! (before you call.........no Mom and Dad ....we DO NOT NEED MONEY FOR FOOD). I went to my favorite grocery store SIN HIJAS Y ESPOSO (alone without kids and hubby) for an enjoyable afternoon in the store that carries imported but expensive grocery items.

It was like Christmas because I found Corned beef hash so that I can make stuffed bell peppers!!! God is so good! :) You don't always find the same items every time, for example today I didn't find any pepper jack cheese so no stuffed Mexican chicken at least until after next payday. This store is a once a "payday store":(

OK, here goes the drama of the day.....I spotted them (background music starts).....only 3 cans left of Pillsbury Crescent rolls. PAUSE: do you have any idea how many different ways I can use crescent rolls?! Ok, the ex-pat "ex-patriot" man is standing in front of me right in front of the crescent rolls!!! YIKES......he could be some insane ex-pat that would buy ALL 3 CANS!!! What do I do? Do I bump him with my buggy? Do I yell "immigration"? I HAVE to have crescent rolls! It turns out, he didn't buy any of them and I got all 3 cans! Turns out I probably would have gotten them without the "Jet Li" move but why take chances?!

It's the simple things in life that we have found God uses to show us his touch sometimes......little girls without head injuries, crescent rolls and corned beef hash!

Here we go again~

The Emergency Room seems to be the favorite tourist attraction of the Hobson Family because we manage to get there quite often. Yesterday after leaving a meeting, Mark was carrying "baby sister" on his shoulders (as he always does so we can hold on to her!) and he slipped and fell. They BOTH went crashing to the sidewalk and she hit her head fairly hard on the sidewalk.....SO off to the ER we go for skull xrays! She is fine and Mark (I think) mainly hurt his pride! Of course, last night we got to wake her up EVERY 1 1/2 HOURS ......OH THE JOY!!

As if that wasn't enough........"big sister" goes to get a drink in the waiting room of the xray department and I turn around only to see my daughter drinking from some plastic cup that she found sitting on TOP OF THE WATER COOLER BOTTLE.........YIKES!!! If you know me very well you know how much of a germ freak I am.....of course this sent me into overload!! I begin to think of every communicable disease known to man that she could possibly get and don't think I didn't at least consider HOW I might could disinfect her mouth!!!!!!

Kitchen Help

My girls LOVE to help in the kitchen so I had lots of help tonight as we made supper and pudding! They grow up so fast ....I wish I could capture every smile and word on video but at least here are a couple of photos of my precious babies!

Finally Friday!

Today was a special "optional" day at school so we "opted" to stay home and I can't even say what time I got up~!!! Que Verguenza!!!! (That's embarassing!)

Anyhow, we are having a relaxing day around the house doing some cleaning out of closets and other stuff. The Lord knows when our minds and bodies are in need of major rest and He provided a time for that this weekend.

Please remember to pray for Mark....he found out last night that my parents have bought tickets for a 2 week visit in August!!!! He layed out in ashes and sackcloth this morning ....HAHA .....just teasin Mom and Dad....he is really very excited :) and so are us girls!!

Friends

God always seem to know when you need a little extra encouragement and I have already explained that this weekend was one of those times. We have some really good friends who keep in very close contact with us and we talked to them today. They always know exactly what to say to encourage us and remind us that they are praying for our family.

Thank you Tony, Susan and the kidos (Resingers) for your friendship. You may never know how important you all have been to us. Thanks for calling, writing, praying and listening.

We love you guys!

Not so Happy July 4th

Ok, I guess I can admit (though my strong will says "no") that everybody here was a little...ok a lot bumbed out about July 4th. I don't mean the kids.....they really don't know any difference ....I am talking about my M friends. I thought it was just me until tonight which really made me feel better because at least now I am know....I was actually feeling quite par for the course!

We have not had water consistently now for 3 days and probably will not tomorrow either. We miss our American food, BBQ, friends, patriotism.....I could go on and on but I won't. I missed Dad's Birthday. You name it and we had reason to cry about it this weekend, or so we thought.

My friend, Tessa has not had a shower in 4 days!!! Today her husband Bob actually took a shower in the rain in the backyard soap and all! And I do mean ALL! Fortunately none of their neighbors can see into their yard!

On a lighter note, Mark actually got to DRIVE tonight! He was so excited. He got behind the wheel of a 1986 Nissan Sentra and was lovin it. It is our friends car and he drove us home from the party and let Mark drive. Mark hasn't driven since December 27!

Tooth be gone!

Olivia finally lost that front tooth this morning. I don't know who was more excited ...Olivia for getting it out or Claire for seeing that it was out! Looks like we will be getting a visit from the tooth fairy this weekend!

Here a picture.....yes it's kind of gross but necessary to really EXPERIENCE the moment with us!haha

AND I LIVE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY

Okay....can I just have a minute here to say this has not been the best day so far? For day 3....we have no water. I do have to say that there is enough that we all had a shower under a trickle this morning and I was able to wash a few dishes but rumor has it that it is going out again sometime today.

I am trying to fix food for the BBQ and my chocolate cake has fallen apart in the middle while removing it from a BORROWED pan (just have to add that because I miss my stuff). Of course, I can't fix more than one thing at a time being that I am boiling MORE WATER to have for later.

AND I LIVE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY!!!!!! (drama queen enter stage right)

Today I guess the Lord gave me this verse because He already knew about the cake and every other train wreck of this day.....Eccl 7:14

"When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider God has made the one as well as the other".

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Today is my Dad's Birthday! I won't say how old he is but let me put it this way......as a gift ...I checked into having his Titanic ticket framed for him.....HAHA....not really.

Sorry we couldn't be there Dad but we thought about you, talked about you and wished you a very happy day....you deserve it.

Thanks for being the absolute best Dad ever and Happy Birthday!

Ok, you and Mom go eat a buffet on us.

We love you all the way around.

Happy 4th of July!

Ok, we had a different but good 4th! Can't say I have ever had a July 4th like this one! We haven't had water in 2 days.....yesterday we found out at 7 am that there would be no water until sometime last night........today was just a bonus, I suppose. There has been no water today either! Fortunately, we have large drinkable water bottles (and we keep a couple in stock just in case days like today) but that doesn't help for showers and dishes. SSSSOOOOO since there was no water.....we headed out to a mall about 15 minutes from our house to eat and see Kungfu Panda.

Cultural note: This theatre has a "VIP" entrance and 3 "VIP" theatres. Cost a little more but the seats are leather recliner-like and they bring you your food!!!

About our July 4th BBQ...hopefully tomorrow......if we have water!

P.S. It just wouldn't be July 4th WITHOUT hearing Lee Greenwood so I posted it to my playlist.

New pictures!

The girls graciously posed for a couple of new photos tonight.

Olivia is preparing for her big "stage performance" coming in September with her ballet school. This is serious stuff! She has decided that she doesn't like to be called "Liv" .......only "Olivia".

Ok, don't say I didn't warn ya!

Claire is excited because she has finally learned how to write her ENTIRE name.....ok...except Elizabeth but no sense in stressing out the cutie. Just recently she started including the I and R because she said there just wasn't enough room. She is a true lefty with the old marker!

Mark has finally learned how to introduce himself in Spanish and we are so proud of him. "Baby steps!" I always say....who could say this has been a wasted 6 months? Seriously, Mark is doing good with his language. I'm just teasin'.

Thanks for looking!

WOW...I love my new counter!! It is the simple things in life that fascinate me, I know, but it is so cool to check out who's checking us out. I had no idea that people actually read this besides my parents, of course!
I will have to try to be more entertaining now that I know people are looking in on us HAHA....which I guess means more stories about Mark and his Spanish.....always a joke in the making there!

Thanks so much for watching our life. This is one of the easiest and most efficient ways of staying in touch with you all and we really appreciate the interest you take to see what is going on here in CR. My girls are always asking me to take pictures and post them and THEY check in as well to see who is looking at our notes. It means alot to them to know people are interested in our family life. GRACIAS!!!