Remembering 2011

Truly, when I think back over the 2011, it seems like a decade of life passed by in a blink of the eye.
That slowly.

That quickly.

So much happened in these 12 months, and yet images of people and places flash by and change at rapid fire pace.

We started 2011 in the canopy and rain forest of Costa Rica. We traveled a bumpy twisty road on a standing room only bus to reach Monteverde. We watched cheese being made by Quaker ex-pats and listened to a European wax eloquent about the declining bat population and marveled at how very dark the sky can be once you journey outside the city. We flew, really- suspended only by cables and ropes,  over the tree canopy and walked across bridges through the canopy and hiked on paths under the canopy. And we shared it all with a rare visitor from home, a dear friend who brought mousse and Crest and a cheerful try-anything-once spirit that quickly endeared her as one of our favorite guests of all time.

Visitors in Costa Rica were rare, but so precious! I had the opportunity to guide my college roommate’s parents and their travel companions through the streets of San Jose one day and watch them capably negotiate souvenir prices. Then later in the spring I picked up my college roommate and her family, bleary-eyed after an overnight flight, and saw them leave after a week of travels, confident, with stories to spare. We piled four of our family into a taxi to meet one of my Summerbaby internet pals and her family in downtown San Jose and share impressions of the country in their hotel bar.

Faces of our friends from language school flood my mental album- those who we learned with day in and out, who heard more stories of our families then we realized we knew, all told in Spanish bits and pieces. I hear the voices of our teachers who taught us with such skill and patience. I see the faces of my ESL students who cheered me week by week. I recognize our brothers and sisters at church who unfailingly greeted us with kisses on each cheek and worshipped beside us with wholehearted passion in the most simple of places.

Costa Rican memories are colored with a palette of green, so many shades I cannot begin to describe how they differ. The greens are accented by the sandy browns of the beach and the blues of the sky on a clear morning and of the ocean off the coast of Panama. The scenes are accentuated with bursts of color, from bright flowers and iridescent birds and day-glow frogs, to red taxis and multi-hued signs, and even include the rainbow of painted houses on our street.

As planned, right as the first quarter of 2011 finished, we packed all our belongings in 14 bags, flew out of rainy Costa Rica and landed in sunny south Texas. The temperature was warm and getting warmer. The scenery was brown and would become even more so. We moved a household of belongings from north to south, and once again, we never would have completed it without our church family. We initially floundered in our new place… ready to respond in Spanish, the sun doesn’t rise and set at 5?, the stores are so big..., flush toilet paper?

Through the summer and into the fall, we settled into this new place. We were welcomed by many. We were reunited in brief visits with family. And little by little, we relearned normal.

I traveled this year, more than I deserve. I ate good food and savored sweet fellowship. I knew the comfort and ease of being with true friends. I rested in the unwavering lovingkindness, limitless mercy and unending grace of my Savior, especially through struggles and hurt that come while living in the brokenness of this world.

Highlights?

Sitting on a bus next to Nicki.

Meeting the Kayes, and then the Loews, in Costa Rican hotel lobbies.

Dinner on a Manuel Antonio street with the Hoovers.

Experiencing Central America with my family.

Joining the Youngs and the BEAMM team.

A birthday surprise for Beth.

The first prayer meeting with the ladies here.

An evening meeting the homeless of Laredo.

One near perfect Sunday in Omaha in August.

A return to teaching others to teach ESL.

The arrival of a fearfully and wonderfully made grandson.

My last minute roommate at the WIC conference.

An anniversary overnight at the beach.

Meeting Stella for coffee, whenever, wherever.

Real letters in the mail.

Unexpected email and text notes.

A suprising November morning when hope showed up.

A very slow and lazy Thanksgiving day with family.

The ever present promise of tomorrow- plans to give you a future and a hope

(photo credit: all but the first from the 2011 archives...)