Saturday

Have a little down time this morn while everyone is zip-lining. I'm waiting for them to come back and pick me up for lunch. The food here is really good.....lots of beans and rice...Yum. I am looking forward to the spag and meatballs Chuck is making for me when I get home tomorrow night.....I also want a pizza. I'll be curious to get on the scale when I get home.....I've kinda been eating a lot of candy and snacky foods. Altho we did burn a ton of calories with all the digging we did! Well, gotta go....off to the waterfalls!

Ola!

All is well here...we just got done with our final day of digging. I´m filthy and so is everything I brought. I´ve been having a great time altho yesterday I accidentally erased about 150 pix I had taken. Boy that sure took the wind out of my sails......I feel so dumb for doing it. Someone said that maybe they are retreivable....I don´t think so. I was really bummed for the rest of the afternoon. Fortunatly I woke up this am feeling better and started reshooting pix. We have been ssssssooooo busy with the digging project, there hasn´t been much time for anything else......ie crafting, napping, etc. We went to church last night for their Wed night service and the people were so exuberant. I could´nt understand anything they were saying but it was so great watching them. At the end, they all want to hug and kiss us.....they were lining up to give us kisses....so fun! I don´t think I´m going zip-lining with the gang tomorrow morning. I really need some down time and my body is so beat up.... I just don´t have the energy. I just want to sit and enjuoy how beautiful it is here. I will be going to the waterfalls and butterfly garden tomorrow afternoon so I´m looking forward to that.

My big adventure!

So....I finally got on a computer. Here's a short update. I am having an awesome time here. It is so incredably beautiful. The travel day on Sunday was really long....all day. We did'nt get to the hotel until 1130p. We jumped right into work on Monday.....we're digging a 4 foot deep by 2 feet wide trench for the foundation for the new church. I now know the meaning of hard labor! Everyone has been so friendly and loving. Its been great getting to know them.....they're all such good people. I'm having a great time. The local people are so welcoming .....we've been eating a lot of beans and rice and the fruit is amazing. Well, I don't want to tie up the computer for too long....I'll try to give another update in a day or two.

He is Risen!

^{He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Matthew 28:6}

Went to Willow Creek Easter service yesterday....so inspiring. Chuck and I are really enjoying going there. Happy, Happy Easter everyone. Have a beautiful day. I'll think of you all as I'm enjoying 80 degree weather! (of course I'll be doing hard labor while enjoying it!) Much love on this joyous Easter morning....Karen

Costa Rica

So, its off to CR tomorrow morning. I'm really excited. I've wanted to do a missions trip for sssoooo long. We all meet tomorrow at the church and then we'll head over to Ohare. Our flight is around 11am. We have a stopover in Texas for a few hours then on to CR. Its going to be a long day. We don't get to CR until 845p. Then its on the work site by 8a the next morning! I'll try to blog while I'm there if I get a chance. Send some extra prayers up for me....

Bubba helping me pack my art supplies.

Packing all my stuff....

Stuff for the kids in Costa Rica

Candy Land

Me and Jackie playing a mean game of Candy Land......he kicked my butt!!

Winter Wonderland? on the 2nd day of spring?????

I'm sssssoooo over this winter.

Sweet

Grace, her friend Olivia and Jessica drew some sweet spring pics for me yesterday.
I love graces little people she drew....so cute.

- 18.6

................I'm melting.............

Happy St. Pat's to all my Irish relatives and soon to be relatives.....(a day late....)

- 17.0

- 16.8

....its coming off a little slower now....

- 16.4

............how did - 1.0 lb happen overnight...sheesh. Not that I mind.......

Sweetness

Mom in kindergarten, 1952. ooops....mom just called to say "thats not me, its my sister Karen!" I guess I should have figured that out as mom would have been a really old kindergartener in 1952!

- 15.4

Finally, another milestone! 15+ lbs gone....bye-bye.....thats the size of the pic above!!! (Its a 15lb turkey in case you are wondering) Feeling great! Altho, I'm a little (a lot) nervous about being able to keep the weight off. Since I've started this new health/fitness/weight loss quest I've immersed myself in health/fitness/weight loss books, mags, articles , etc. All the studies show that 95-97% of people gain the weight back once their goal weight has been reached. That is such a discouraging stat. From what I've been reading, it seems that the body has a 'set weight' that it likes to be at comfortably.....anything less or more is extremely hard to maintain. I'm hoping my 'set weight' is not the 163 lbs I started at.......!

The 2008 Costa Rica team

Here are 9 of the 12 of us who are going to CR. Everyone is really nice and I'm looking forward to getting to knowing them better.

Spaghetti dinner.

So the team that is going to Costa Rica had a small fundraiser last night and it went really well. About 50-60 folks showed up. We stuffed them all with spaghetti and garlic bread.

Beautiful

Lunch @ Manny's

So we all went out to lunch at the world famous Manny's Deli yesterday in the south loop. Here are some photos. We had a nice time.

Family Shmamly

Fun Times

Sweet

Future Decorative CEO......