The good with the bad

Sarah: Well we're definitely back in the swing of things since our summer trip home. Seems like a day or two after we got here, it felt like we'd never left and we were back to working hard, practically non-stop. We've been doing lots of work outside - weeding, yard work, land maintenance including having a backhoe come in and do some leveling, and David's been working on projects in preparation for researchers and professors and students to come down. On top of that, we're preparing to do some recruiting for our semester program, and the semester program alone takes a lot of prep work and time!

One exciting thing since we got back was that our friend Pam, her husband, and a few friends came on vacation to Costa Rica and spent a little bit of time in the valley here with us. We studied with Pam here in Costa Rica 7 1/2 years ago, and have only seen her a handful of times since then, so it was great to spend some time with her again. This picture is most of the group up at Laura's Bakery, visiting with Larue (Laura's cousin's husband). Pam is next to Larue.

Last weekend was also very eventful. August 15th is Mother's Day here in Costa Rica (last Saturday), so on Sunday we were invited over to our friend Nancy's house for a big lunch to celebrate. Nancy is our cook during the semester program and she's become a good friend to us over the last 8 months. We had a good typical Nicaraguan meal, cake, and spent a good part of the afternoon just sitting around chatting. Nancy and her husband Clemente have 3 kids, Belen (8), Angelica (3), and Brittany (1). Pictured here are the adorable Belen and Angelica.

We also have some sad news to share. Our friend Laura, who owns the bakery up the road and has been a good friend for us for 3 years now, has been diagnosed with cancer. It's melanoma (skin cancer), but unfortunately it is internal and has already started attacking her lymphatic system in her body. It's fairly serious at this point already, but Laura has been in the hospital this week getting a pet scan in order to find the original source, and to have surgery to remove as much (or all) of the cancer they can. We don't know the results of the scan yet, but we do know that the surgery went well and that she has responded positively. Please keep her and her husband Mario and daughter Erica in your prayers!

And to end with some great news, my sister Emily and her husband Greg had their first baby this week! Thursday, August 20th, Asher William Ford entered the world weighing in at 8 lbs. 5 oz. and 21 inches long. This is the first baby on my side of the family, and we are all very excited for them!

Summer Lovin'

Sarah: Our apologies for our long absence from the blog. We spent the entire month of July traveling in the USA visiting family and friends, and are finally back in the swing of things here at QERC.

Our time in the States was relaxing and of course went by too quickly. As much as we love Costa Rica, we miss our friends and family and soak up the time we have with them. We spent the first half of July in Spokane, with David's family. The first week was the Hille family vacation up at Loon Lake, where they rent a cabin each summer. David's parents, older sister and husband (Jordan and Rusty), and their 3 kids were with us the majority of the time, and his younger sister Jenna was able to come spend a long weekend with us. We enjoyed our time as a family and spent much of our times keeping the kids entertained. :)

Our second week was a busy week in Spokane. David's parents recently moved into a new house so we enjoyed getting to know the new home, and they now live down the street from Jordan and Rusty so we saw their family almost every day as well. The long summer days that we are not used to provided some good time to eat dinner outside and visit until late. We also had David's 10-year high school reunion, which was fun as he was able to connect with many classmates he hadn't been in touch with for years. On one Sunday we had a baby shower that was great for us to be able to get together with lots of people we otherwise may not have seen! And we also took a 2-day trip over to Montana to visit the University of Montana, where David may have a potential of being a grad student at in the future. We were able to stay the night with Jenna, and were accompanied by Matt Chitwood who had flown over from Portland to spend a few days with us.

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from our visit to the States I'm realizing! I suppose that could be attributed to us having so much fun with friends and family in both Washington and Iowa that I didn't even stop to think about taking pictures.....right?

Following our 2 weeks in Spokane we flew to Des Moines to spend the second half of July with my family. My dad had taken off a week of work to hang out with us, so we enjoyed visiting some nearby areas to walk around. And being that it's summer, my mom only worked in the mornings, so we enjoyed pie time and movies with her. My youngest sister Rachel had just gotten back from an internship in Mississippi and was jobless, so we also had lots of time to hang out with her - playing Wii, feeding the ducks at the pond, lounging by the pool, and playing games that David made up outside. My other younger sister Katie lives near my family and works in Des Moines, so she was able to join us for Wii and outside games during her free hours and days. As a family we took a trip to a Kansas City Royals game and had a few evenings of playing Scene It.

We also had a baby shower in Iowa and were extremely thankful again for the gifts people gave to help us stock up on our necessities in a few months. It was a great time for me to see some old friends and family all at the same time. I'm also happy that one of my dearest friends Theresa lives near my family, so we got to see her and her husband Jefferson and their new baby James a number of times.

And finally, as we were traveling back to Costa Rica at the end of July, we had an unexpected bonus. We had the opportunity to catch a later flight out of Atlanta, which meant we had a long enough day in the Atlanta airport that my sister Emily and her husband Greg were able to drive over from Chattanooga and visit with us for the afternoon! Emily is also pregnant with her first baby and due in just a couple weeks, so it was fun to spend some pregnant time together.

So here we are, back in Costa Rica. Today was a beautiful sunny morning with a rainy afternoon, and all seems normal. The first morning back I saw both a quetzal and a toucanet outside the kitchen window, as if welcoming us back home.