Happy Birthday!!!

This past weekend was Allison’s 29th birthday! YAY!!! So, for her birthday, we went out to dinner (a very special treat) at an Italian restaurant (even MORE special!). We drove out to the small town where the restaurant supposedly was and as we drove into town, there were lights and banners all around explaining that this weekend was founder’s day for this sleepy little town. What luck! We sat down at the Italian restaurant and began to speak with our waiter. He asked where we were from and, upon hearing that we were living in a town about 30 minutes away, asked how we found the place. We told him that we’d ran across it on the internet and he soon returned with his boss, the owner of the restaurant. We were pleased to find that the owner and his wife were originally from Florence, Italy and that they’d moved here about 5 years ago to open a restaurant. He was formally a pit reporter in Formula One racing and proceeded to tell about his times with Michael Shumacher and other drivers on the circuit. He proudly pointed to photos on the wall of himself and the drivers. His Spanish had a peculiar Italian ring to it. His white hair and Italian features certainly set him apart in a sea of dark faces and black hair! We took his business card, assured him we’d back, and promised that we’d spread the word for his new restaurant. After lasagna and parpadelle, they were even thoughtful enough to whip up some homemade tiramisu with a birthday candle in it! The waiter and I struggled through “Happy Birthday” in Spanish, Alli made a wish, and blew out the candle. What an awesome birthday dinner!

As if that weren’t enough, we drove down to the little downtown area of this Costa Rican Mayberry and found a full-blown fair going on that night! The fair was just like any country fair you or I would know from the States, complete with coke-bottle games, ferris wheel, bumper cars, fair food (all sorts of grilled meats on sticks, cotton-candy, candied-apples, and fried pies), and a stage where children performed in front of judges for prizes (a make-shift Latin American Idol). From what we could tell, the mayor of the town even stood on the stage to address his people. We walked around for a while and enjoyed the small taste (or smell) of home. They’d even scheduled fireworks for later that night! It was quite a treat!

Today was spent at the police department getting fingerprinted for our residency paperwork. What fun! As of today, our paperwork is in the process and we hope to have an appointment with the immigration office sometime in the next couple of months. We’ve also begun to meet people at church. A few Sunday’s ago, we were blessed enough to be placed in a small prayer group with Gabi and David - a young Costa Rican couple, and father-daughter duo. We had the privilege to pray with them and we hope we can continue to develop these relationships in the future.

Prayer Requests:

(1) Continue to pray for language school and that the language would continue to come to us. We have made huge strides in the last month. We have one more month to go of the Intensive Course, then a break in August, and we begin the Regular Course again on September 1st.

(2) Transition – We will be moving again, from the host home to our temporary apartment here close to the school where we will finish out language school. Pray that this goes smoothly and that we end well with the host family.

(3) Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. We are enjoying good health, energy, and we’ve been able to settle in and make this as much of a home as possible.

We look forward to hearing from you soon! Let us know how we can pray for you!