January 08 Update

Hola from la Familia Dennett!  

We wanted to send out a brief update on what is going on here in Costa Rica, since we arrived on January 1st.  We will be able to share more and start keeping our blog updated once we have internet access, possibly next week.  We were told by the company it would be 8 days.  We have heard now from most that 8 days could mean 30 days.  We hope that is not the case as we really want to call our family and start being more in touch.

Costa Rica is beautiful.  The weather has been perfecto so this has definately helped to calm alot of the distress we have experienced in adjusting to our first week in this new strange culture.  Some of what we have experienced:

We now live in the city, so sleeping has been a challenge, with barking dogs and sometimes a windstorm at night that blows things around the house (there are really not many bugs like mosquitos here in the city because of the high altitude - around 4,000 feet - so our windows don't really close and some of our house is open to the outside...this is nice but it can get a bit breezy at times)  We hear that we'll adjust to the noisy nights eventually.  Last night was wonderful...the kids all stayed in their beds and the noisy perro didn't bark much.

Our day begins at 5:30 each morning getting breakfast and lunches ready for the kids.  We leave for school at around 7 - 7:10 and must be in our classrooms by 7:30... they do not accept anything for tardiness other than a doctors note.  Needless to say our early mornings are a bit frenzied with 5 kids.

Mary and I both love our teachers (we are in all different classes with different teachers) and our classes.  They are all mature christians with a real heart to prepare us for the field with language.  Some of the classes are very intimidating with reciting things and getting up and writing, etc... In my Fonetica class today we played with blocks and recited the alphabet the entire period.  I have been reduced to preschool!!!  :)

We have had many blessings, like one of the school counselors coming up to us yesterday explaining that a woman she knows shared with her (via email) that she was praying daily for Brian and Mary Dennett and their children, and wondered if she knew them.  This woman is a perfect stranger from Pennsylvani, but read about us in an AMG mailing.  God is indeed faithful to provide prayer-warriors for us!  What a blessing!

With 5 children, simple tasks like grocery shopping are quite difficult without a car.  The first excursion out was in  the "Taxi Grande"which was a van that was more expensive than a regular taxi.  The next few trips, I made alone or with a few of the children by walking out to the busy highway, flagging down a taxi and then attempting to tell him in very broken spanish where we wanted to go.  The first time out alone it was VERY INTIMIDATING to try and direct a taxi from the super mercado back to my home.  We eventually got there and I fell into bed exausted.

We love our landlord, Orlando and his wife, Yvonne.  They have come over to help with our homework and have been so good about helping us out with acquiring things, etc..  Yvonne brought us her baby bathtub last night, which she raised her 3 children in.  She teared up thinking back at them in it!

I gardened a bit yesterday afternoon.  In the middle of our house is a small indoor garden!  It was badly in need of weeding and watering, so I spruced it up a bit.  That was an excellent diversion from studying.

Please pray that we get all the documents that we need back from the Costa Rican government for student visas.  We were missing a few things and would rather not have to leave the country every 4 months to clear our visas.  We had thought about taking little trips to Panama but the school has told us that this would be VERY difficult with 5 kids.

Our children are adjusting well to school.  They like their teachers and classes and have not had too much homework yet.  Eve and Brody are both doing well being in nursery mornings and the ladies just love EVE!  Their care for our children is just wonderful.  (many of the ladies have worked here for 20 - 30 years!!)  Jordan starts soccer tonight and Abbie has added guitar to her musical pursuits.  There are also several students here for her to play violin with.  The kids love to play in our yard in the afternoon and it is enclosed by a high wall and very safe for them.

Well, that is all for now.  Mary is taking a tico cooking class at 1:00 so I need to go pick up Brody and Eve to watch during the class.  

Thank you all so much for your prayers and we will look forward to sharing more in the near future.

In Christ,

Brian, Mary and Family