August 12, 2006 - Part A

Dear Friends and Family:

(Note that this update is two postings – Part A and Part B.)

Happy 2nd Birthday to Calvin!!!

It was great to see our friends and family in the US in May and June. It was somewhat of a whirlwind tour including California, Oregon, Washington and North Carolina. One of the highlights was spending time with our grandson, Calvin. And,,,, Calvin is expected to be a ‘big brother’ in February!

We spent our first 12 days sharing a house on the campus of La Palabra de Vida school. It was a good way to get to know Sarah, another missionary/teacher from the states. And we met other visitors in the house, such as a lizard who liked the living room sofa. School had not started yet, so most of our time was spent looking for a permanent place to live. We found a nice furnished house to rent about 10 to 15 minutes from the school. It has three bedrooms, we use one for an “office” for school prep work, but we still have plenty of room for guests, so if you are interested in visiting, we would love to have you! Really!!

Your tax dollars at work? (Well officially it is done by donations). The US embassy threw a picnic on the 4th of July with free hot dogs, bagels, drinks, cotton candy, entertainment and games for the kids. To attend, all you needed was a US passport. It was nice to see some fellow Americans, and there are a lot of us down here!

Soon after that, school started and we got to work. Adrienne is teaching three English classes (9th, 10th and 11th graders) and a 5th grade science class. Mark is teaching English to 8th graders, repairing computers and helping to build a computer network for the school. We did a typical ‘Tico’ dance with a few other staff members at an all-school assembly a few weeks ago, and this last week, Adrienne shared her testimony during a staff devotional time.