GETTING CAUGHT UP

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. We’ve had a few challenges with our internet connection at our place. It appears as though the issues have been resolved for the most part. And…let’s be honest…OK, let me be honest…I’ve been a little lazy with the blog. Its not you, its me. I promise I'll try harder. Forgive me. So finally, here’s a quick update on some of what’s been happening over the last couple weeks. Pics will follow.

WE'RE IN...STILL
Well, the fact that we re still in Panama means that we successfully acquired our visa extensions. Here’s how it works here. You enter the country, pay $5 per person for 30 day tourist cards/visas, then prior to the 30 day mark you apply for an extension of up to 60 days (which we did), and at the end of the 60 extension period, you’re required to leave the country for 72 hours and then rinse and repeat, and so on and so on.

So at this point, we’re planning our “required” 3 night-4 day trip to Costa Rica on Jan 4-7 as our 60 visa cards expire on Jan 9. Then it’s off to the Immigration Office again to apply for another 60 day extension, probably on or around Feb 1 and then we’ll be off to Bocas Del Toro, Panama on Feb 2 for 32 days.

THE GIFT OF NEW FRIENDS
We’ve been so excited to make some great connections over the last month. How they’ve come about is actually kind of cool as well. One morning, about 3 weeks ago, I drove down to our favorite coffee shop, Café Ruiz, to get a $.50 coffee before I went out hunting for a local travel agent to help us plan our “required” trip to Costa Rica. At the coffee shop I met a retired pastor and his wife from Arizona. I had actually emailed them about a week earlier in my hunt to find a church to attend. It took a few minutes before we realized who each other were. Long story short (LSS), they told me about the English church they are part of and two new families who just started attending and how they thought it might be a place to make some good connections for ourselves and the kids. We finished our coffees and conversation and I headed to a business area in Boquete looking for a travel agent. I parked my car, and with no idea where I was going I started walking, right past the front of an open office where I overheard a woman and older gentleman asking for directions to the airport in David. I could see there was a little confusion about how to get there, so I jumped in and drew them a map. LLS, the young woman, Sharon, was the wife/mother of one of the young families the retired pastor told me about. What are the odds? Boquete is small, but not that small. She was with her father-in-law, who was also a semi-retired pastor from the States. What are the odds of meeting two pastors back to back? We talked about our families, our kids, a bit about our journeys to Panama, and thought it would be great to get together. We exchanged telephone numbers and I continued my hunt to find a travel agent. LSS, a few days later we found ourselves at a potluck with four or five families, including Sharon (and her husband, Bruce), at the house of some new great friends, Steve and Jenni (the other family the retired pastor told me about). It was so great to connect with some fantastic people. They’ve all been a God-send for us. Since then we’ve been hanging out every once in a while. The kids all get along really well. And…it turns out a few of the guys are actually musician-songwriters and have been talking about putting some music together, and maybe a band, and they need a bass player. Uhhm, again, what are the odds?

SPANISH CHOIR
The Spanish church we’ve been attending has a Spanish children’s choir. Syd and Josh were invited to participate. So a couple weeks ago they just jumped in and did great. You should have seen Josh, arms at his side, chest out, shoulders back, chin up, mouth in the proper oval singing position with cheeks puckered, pounding out doh-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-doh and holding the final “doh” with authority and conviction. It was priceless.

HOME SCHOOLING “OLD SCHOOL”
The home schooling is going well, mostly due to my incredible wife, Linda. The kids usually take their time getting up and getting breakfast, then it’s into the school work for the day. Linda has the school day laid out, with a task list, assignments to be completed, etc. And we both help them along (I know what you’re thinking, let’s be honest, its mostly Linda isn’t it? OK, it’s mostly Linda. Like I said, she’s amazing). We decided to add a little literature component into the curriculum, the Bible. So I’ve been introducing them to the Bible. 66 books, Old and New Testaments….I began introducing them to the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible). So we talked about Moses, who is credited by most with being the author of the Torah. In the second session I introduced and explained the 10 commandments. Then we did a quick review. They recalled the first seven commandments, then I asked, “And the 8th commandment is (pause)? Do not…” And without missing a beat, Josh says, “go in there” (a classic Ace Ventura line). I was on the floor.

WORKING OUT THE KINKS
A couple weeks ago, after nearly 6 weeks of little to no working out, I decided to go in search of a gym here in Boquete. I found two. First, imagine an oversized garage, in modest “garage” state, free weight equipment that was probably made in the late 60's, including some of the classic light green powder filled plastic cylinders, and three cardio machines that look like “McDonald’s hamburgers” (e.g. a combination of leftovers from at least 100 other machines). The second, a modest but well kept renovated house with Bowflex machines (no free weights), with 5 or 6 decent cardio machines, a nice stretching area with mats and workout balls. LSS, I’m now a member there at a grand total price of $35 per month. They provide me with a certified trainer who prepares my workout schedules, prepares every machine before I use it, and wipes the machines down after I sweat all over it. Not bad for $35, eh?

THE CREEPS
So you may be wondering, are there any interesting critters in Panama? The short answer, yes. The longer answer, we’ve seen some, and heard about lots of others. Like the other night, Linda and I were in bed and felt like we we’re being watched. We turn on the light and Linda immediately said, “kill that thing”. It was a black spider, probably 4.5 inches from toe to toe, locked in the “freeze” position (like it was trying to trick us and subtly blend into the off white walls) about 18 inches above Linda’s pillow. I said a quick prayer and quickly ushered it into spider heaven. We’re still looking for the scorpions, tarantulas (some as big as a 8-12 inches wide), coral snakes, and little monkeys that we are told are on our property, all of which we “definitely will see” in January and February along with the occasional earthquake. Fun! We’ll keep you posted and hopefully get a few good pics for you to view.

AN EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFT
We just returned from five days at the Playa Blanca Resort on the Pacific coast with our good friends, the Schmulands. They’re heading to Canada for a white Christmas in a couple weeks, so we thought we’d get together with them to have an early Christmas, Panama style. It was great. We spent hours talking, eating, swimming, eating, sunbathing, eating, more talking, and of course more eating, playing in the rain, and well, more eating. Josh was in his glory at meal time. He would pace himself through his 3 and 4 courses each meal. It was awesome to behold. To mix things up a bit, we rented quads on a couple days and some sea-doos another day. We all had a blast. Well, actually, everyone else had a blast quading and seadooing while I stood and watched doing the “wise thing” by not aggravating my back any more than it was already. I know, boohoo. But it was fun watching Linda and Trent wipe out on the seadoo, and very cool witnessing Josh find a new love, quads.

Josh loving quading on his own, he only flipped twice!

Linda, Jody, Syd, Eatson and Emma waiting their turn to sea-doo on the Pacific

The Schmulands and the Days at Playa Blanca- Good times.

Sydney at Playa Blanca with a resident Tucan-so beautiful

THE POWER OF LAUNDRY
So after a couple months, how are things going? Good question. Things have changed a fair bit for us. When we left Canada in search of rest, we hoped for a slower pace and fewer things to worry about. I think we’ve found it. In fact, there are times when it probably gets a little too slow and laid back for our liking. This was crystallized for us the other day when we had to admit to ourselves that the linchpin of our schedule is….laundry. Yes, laundry. Each day finds its order only after we ask that critical question, is today a laundry day? First we ask, do we have enough laundry in the basket to do laundry? Second, is it sunny and windy enough to dry the clothes if we wash them (as there is no clothes dryer here at the house)? Third, do we have any other plans already in place? Actually that’s kind of a throw away question. We just felt we needed at least three questions to feel good about the decision making process. So after careful consideration of these questions, which we don’t even pretend to approach until after we’ve enjoyed our morning coffee, we pray, ask God for guidance (and the occasional fleece), then make a decision and hope we’ve chosen correctly. Yah, laundry, uhmm. Who would have thought laundry would play such a pivotal role in our lives?

Well, its getting late. Talk to you soon.

Paul