the miscellaneous musings of a mama missionary.

There's been a lot of different things on my mind lately. I thought today I might take a minute to collect all of them here in one spot....a sort of hodgepodge collection of my observations, thoughts, musings, etc...over the past couple weeks. They are listed below in no particular order.

1. I planned to make pot roast for dinner last night (yes, pot roast in Costa Rica!) We were so excited to have a big beefy dinner, but it turns out it wasn't even close to being done by the time we needed to eat. You see, we had invited our our neighbors over to play games. Plan B - chocolate chip cookies (yes, chocolate chip cookies in Costa Rica! What a TREAT!)! It was a truly "american" meal for us last night. We also ate some leftovers with the chocolate chip cookies. And yes, we shared some cookies with our neighbors. And don't worry, the pot roast was not wasted. We are having it today for lunch.

                     

 

 2. While getting ready to prepare 'said' pot roast (see above), I realized I needed to run to the store to get beef stock. With Kaia in tow (in our stroller) I headed to the supermarket while Jim finished his homework. On the way we passed by an old man, probably in his mid 70's who was working as a security guard in front of someone's house. There was an old bicycle next to the security 'hut' that he was trying to fix. Next to the bike on the sidewalk there was a grease stained towel  filled with hundreds and hundreds of screws, nuts, bolts, etc...As I walked by I noticed the care and attention he gave to each and every bolt as he looked through the pile to find the right one he needed. Although I am ordinarily an observant person, I was particularly struck by the patience, beauty, and ease in which this man slowly put together his bike. I continued to think about him until I arrived at the store and then quickly forgot as my shopping list took over the recesses of my brain.

Today, I passed by the same house and what did I see, but that same elderly gentleman riding up and down the street on the very same bike he had been repairing yesterday. I wanted to acknowledge his perseverance. I wanted to walk up to him and tell him "Job well done, I saw you repairing this bike yesterday!" But then of course I couldn't remember the proper conjugation for the past tense of the verb "to see" in spanish and walked by him in silence. Don't you hate it when that happens? When you're silenced because you can't remember the conjugation for the past tense form of a verb? It happens to all of us right? Oh, wait....

We look forward to the day when that won't be an issue...

3. As many of you have seen through photos and videos, Kaia is starting to grow up pretty quickly. So many mothers and fathers have told us to enjoy her while she is a baby because this stage goes by SO quickly. However, in the first three months I can honestly say that I didn't quite get that feeling of urgency. Not until this week. Now she is 4 months old and has finally grown into a new size of clothes. She arches her back and rolls to her side and then brings her legs forward, pushes on them and then lays on her back again - successfully completing a 45 degree rotation in her play yard. She has successfully sat on her own for 7 whole seconds and wants to practice standing all the time. Already I feel like she is cooing at me so "matter of factly"...(you know how little girls can be so "matter of fact").

But beyond that she has started to pick up her toys with ease and grace; she is so much more confident in her hand-eye coordination.  There's just something so grown up about having good hand-eye coordination. It's like she's reached stage 2 of her existence. From here on out we imagine it's going to be a roller coaster of a ride and we are going to do our best to enjoy absolutely every second we have with her!

4. I'm reading a book called "The Gospel According to Jesus: Living a life of authentic faith". It's been a great read so far and I've been really challenged to consider what it means to be a true worshipper of God. The book introduces the word "doulos" which means slave. According to this book there are several places in the English translations of the New Testament where the word "servant" is substituted and used instead of "slave" when "doulos" is used in the original text. The difference between being a servant to Christ and a slave of Christ are actually quite significant. As a servant, I am choosing to serve on my own accord. There is room for arrogance and boasting with service because I have ownership of the decision to choose to serve.

However, when I am a slave I am serving my Lord and Master who has all control of my life. In order for me to be a true worshipper I need to confess the reality of my sin (no sugar coating or making excuses) and enslave myself to THE Lord of my life...with all that I am. It's one thing to say that and an entirely different thing to actually live it. 

5. One of the things that I really love about Costa Rican culture is that they love, love, love, lovE, LOVE, LOVE, babies and children. Everywhere we go with Kaia she is greeted with smiles, hugs, laughs, and people talking with her. It's not just Kaia...I've seen them do this with ALL babies. I remember when Kaia was born how lifted up in prayer we felt and how there were literally hundreds of people that truly love and pray for her. I have thanked God continually for this and now we arrive in Costa Rica and there's a whole country that loves her! She truly is a blessed little nina!!

Anyway, I had an experience last Friday that I think sums up Costa Rica's love for children. I needed to take Kaia to the doctor in downtown San Jose, which required me to take a public bus for about a 20 minute ride. I decided to keep the stroller at home and take her in the Ergo carrier. Admittedly, I was feeling the tiniest bit nervous about going on my own and venturing into the spanish speaking medical world on my own. It turns out I was getting on the bus right at the height of commuter traffic. The bus was packed when I got on. The entire middle aisle was filled with people standing. This was the first time I had seen so many people on one bus here. After paying the bus driver I walked one step forward before running into the mass of people. I was a soccer player in college and was somewhat confident that I'd be able to carry both Kaia and I for the duration of the bus ride...but then I happened to make eye contact with 5 different individuals, all of whom were on the verge of getting up from their seats...just then the bus driver called out to ask, "Who's going to give up their seat for this mother and baby?!" Immediately a seat was offered.

What strikes me about this is that Kaia and I are clearly not Costa Rican. We are foreigners and there are plenty of places around the world that would pay no attention to us just for that reason. How many countries have you been to where a public bus driver takes the initiative to look out for his children passengers? I was touched and grateful for the seat as the ride ended up being about 30 minutes due to traffic. Just one of the many ways God continues to take care of us in Costa Rica.

Ok, hope you enjoyed these miscellaneous musings from a mama missionary. Tune in next week for more updates!
-Suzy<><