Costa Rica

So my colleague and I took a group of 10 students to Costa Rica for spring break! I have never been before and absolutely loved it! I think I could certainly live there! It is pretty clean since they are a "go green" type country. It is a very educated country and technologically advanced as well. I loved the rain forest and different animals that I saw! We got to do lots of different things like rain forests, volcanos, hot springs, horse back riding, zip line, and relax on the beach! If you get the opportunity to go I would definitely encourage it!


Represent Costa Rica!


Beautiful tucan!

My colleague Kathy and myself
on the hanging bridge


Kathy and I at the volcano

Having a nice little pina colada!


Yummy dish with rice and all different kinds of seafood

Rachel, me, Lisa and Janelle


Petie, Kathy, Mark and me

I wish Josh could have come!

The scariest freakin' wood bridge!

Makin' me a snow cone

It was BLAZING hot so the snow cone hit the spot!



Best cook on the beach

The best meal in Costa Rica!


This monkey was right in front of me....they are all over the beach!


Costa Rica has so many types of fruit

Scary!!!!! Crocodiles!

Me, Estarles (our driver), Kathy, and Gustavo (our guide)
the morning we left San Jose :-(

Little Trip to Richmond

I drove to Richmond to meet Josh for lunch since he was not able to come home this weekend. Our best friends Mac and Hannah also came up too. We all drove close to two hours to see Josh so I know that meant a lot to him... well especially for Mac and Hannah to do that since they aren't married to him. We ate at a French restaurant called Can Can and it was so delish! Josh was only able to stay for about 2 hours but at this point I will take what I can get!

Here are a couple of pictures. I also took a couple of pics of the dogs just before I left who were really sad and missing their Dad. :-)


Josh and I

Don't you remember playing "Hot Cross Buns" on the recorder?

Mac and Hannah


Annie and Sadie missing their Dad

Thanks for your prayers

My best friend Kelly found out that she is pregnant thanks to InVitro! Praise God! She and her husband are going to be such wonderful parents! And I get to be another aunt! :-)

Please continue to pray for Kelly and the baby.

Also please continue praying for my other best friend, Hannah and Mac and their adoption process!

My two best friends: Kelly and Hannah

I have been thinking a lot about my two very best friends (both who I grew up with) and the struggles that they have had in trying to have a child. I have definitely known a couple of good friends who have also struggled with this at some point in their lives and I have never understood God's reasoning. Now that my best friends are going through the same thing I find myself struggling once again with God's reasoning. (I mean, I know God's timing/will/etc but I still struggle!)

I guess it just seems that more and more women are having difficulty getting pregnant, which is so scary. I see the measure that my best friends are taking to have a child and it just doesn't make sense for any women to have to do that. I also get frustrated hearing/seeing news coverage of abused kids or (careless) women who have abortions. I just think it's selfish. (Sorry if I step on anyone's toes with the topic of abortion.) I just think...there are so many women who can't have children so why be SO selfish? I know if it were myself who could not have a child I would be frustrated with those "careless" women and surely doubtful to God.

I wrote all of this because as I mentioned before, my best friends Kelly and Hannah have been trying to get pregnant for a while, they have been to the doctors and been on medicine, yet still no luck. After a couple of years of trying, Kelly and her husband Ryan have prayed about In-Vitro and feel that God has led them in this direction. She started the process a couple of weeks ago and as of yesterday she had surgery to retrieve the eggs and they took out 10...which is great! On Thursday the doctors will see how many embryo formed and they will insert (2) embryos inside of her. Please keep her in your prayers.

My other best friend Hannah (and her husband Mac) have also struggled with getting pregnant for a year or so. After much prayer, they have decided to seek adoption and feel God has led them to adopting in Russia. They are in the process of lots of paperwork and will hopefully be in full swing pretty soon in hopes of getting a little Russian boy to love on!

I know that some of you reading have also dealt with this struggle in your own life or know close friends that have dealt with this as well. Please take a brief moment to pray for my two best friends that God will continue His work and they will bring home a precious baby. I am very excited about all of this!

Heather came for a Visit

My sister Heather came into town this past Thursday-Tuesday to spend my B-day and V-day with me since Josh is gone...we had a good time touring DC, seeing Amish country, getting pedicures and manicures, eating out, watching movies, and just spending time together! I've added just a couple of pics!

Also, while we were gone one day my dog Sadie decided she would bite through her crate (well really is our friends Hannah and Mac's crate)....Sorry you guys! Well, she wiggled her way through the hole and escaped the crate! I attached that video...pretty funny!



After our pedicures and manicures!

Eating at my favorite restaurant in No. Virginia...Arties!



Where Sadie bit through the crate



She hadn't seen snow in a while!



haha...had to take of a picture of Miz Nail...no we didn't get our pedi's here but I had to take a picture!




Being goofy at Hallmark



Sadie getting out of her crate that she bit through!

Truro Church

This past Sunday I decided to visit Truro Church (an Anglican church here in Fairfax) with some good friends Jim and Nadine Maxwell. I have never been to an Anglican church so it was interesting and much different than any church I have visited. The rector, associate rector, and clergy wore robes, which was also very different. Communion is given to you at the front of the church by members of the congregation (maybe clergy?), and there were many interactive prayers and readings that the leader would read and the then the people would read as a whole. There were organs, pianos, drums and other instruments and the music and singing was beautiful. The people sang very loudly and it was obvious people were so glad to be there to worship the Lord.

What struck me the most was this....I learned that at this church there was a couple who decided to make meals for the homeless. Not only did they make these meals but they invited these people in their home! Numbers grew and eventually they had to move the meal to the church because there were just too many people. Now each Sunday, homeless people come to be fed and to hear a message at the church. As we left church yesterday there was a long line of homeless people forming as they waited to come in for services. I will not deny that if I saw (100 or so) homeless people in my neighborhood or church I would feel scared, afraid, or paranoid...but isn't that what Jesus did? Isn't that what we are called to do?

Josh is gone...

I just quickly want to solicit your prayers as Josh is gone for 5 months for training. He can come home occasionally during that 5 months, although not often and typically if he does, he is home no more than 30 hours. It is a pretty strict training and stressful at that so please say a prayer for him! I already miss him and he has only been gone 4 days.....