Behind Every Great Man is a Great Woman (Part 2)

Check out this great article about the story of Juan Diego and some amazing facts about the Tilma. This is a great refresher on the story and you'll learn some really amazing things too! 

Our family walked up Tepeyac Hill with
special prayer intentions
from family, friends and benefactors.

Even our littlest one walked some of the way!

A view of the old Basilica completed in 1709 (left)
and new Basilica completed in 1976 (right)
from Tepeyac Hill. 

On the stairs leading to the Chapel
on the top of Tepeyac Hill.

We enjoyed the various fountains on the walk down Tepeyac Hill.

At the base of the Hill are beautiful gardens and green grass.

A view of another chapel at the base of Tepeyac Hill.

Bringing gifts to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Inside the old Basilica.

We were able to participate in Adoration inside
the old Basilica.

A bomb went off in the old Basilica when it still housed the
Tilma. The Tilma was unharmed but a crucifix nearby
was damaged. Learn more about this and other miracles
in the article I mentioned above.

We stayed at the Obras Misionales Pontificio
Episcopales de México. The sisters took such good care
 of us and served us delicous food! 

The kids enjoyed the garden and play area.

Donovan had 2 open seats next to him on the way
home. Gabriel enjoyed his free seat!

After the trip back to Costa Rica Felicity was
tuckered out!

We stopped for lunch at Burger King in San Jose
before heading back to Coopevega.

On our drive up the mountain there were lots of beautiful views.
We drove next to the clouds!

Back home in Costa Rica and visiting Pablo's house.
He sang us songs while we ate his
famous pancakes and fresh squeezed lemonade!

The entire trip was blessed and gave our family a great retreat. We were able to visit with other missionaries from Mexico and the U.S. Again we were reminded of the joy of surrender to the Lord. This is something that continues to challenge us. This is something we must do each day. It's not a one time thing. We gave a great surrender when we first became missionaries, but now the Lord challenges us to deepen that surrender! As we deepen our prayer life and grow in holiness and virtue we are better able to say yes to the Lord each day. Our perspective, when guided by the Holy Spirit, changes. We are able to see with the eyes of faith and notice things we never would have seen before. We see the little gifts and blessings in the good things and in the suffering.

Behind Every Great Man is a Great Woman (Part 1)

Not just great, but the greatest!

The Our Lady of Guadalupe tilma 

is framed inside the Basilica.

Our family was greatly blessed to be able to attend the Mexico Summit this year at the beginning of September. The Summits are once a year in different parts of the world for our missionaries to gather together for formation, fellowship and prayer. We were able to attend the Asia Summit last year while in the Philippines and both times have been wonderful blessings for our family. This year we gathered with other missionaries from Mexico in Mexico City.

We drove from our house to San Jose to catch a flight to
Mexico City. This drive is about 4 1/2 hours and
down a mountain. We drove past a lot of
beautiful scenery. It's always green in Costa Rica!

A view of what we saw shortly before landing in Mexico City.

We arrived one day early and we took an unexpected tour
of the city plaza. Here we are in front of the
 Cathedral (not the Basilica).

A gigantic Mexican flag in the center of the plaza.

A John Paul II and Our Lady of Guadalupe
statue in front of the Cathedral.

When the statue was made they asked people
from all over Mexico to send keys. The statue
was full of these keys and reminded us of the
passage from Matthew 16:9
"I will give you the keys of
the kingdom of heaven"

Inside the Cathedral it was so beautiful!
It reminded me of the churches I had visited
in Italy with my Mom.

The main altar.

My Grace Maria in front of Mary Full of Grace!

Hannah & Catherine in front of one of the
 many side altars. Before Vatican II priests
fulfilled their daily obligation to say mass
in a side altar (there was no concelebration).

Felicity in front of an old confessional.

The priest who gave us the tour found a mariachi band
to play for us. What a treat!

Our Summit took place very close to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our family was able to visit four times during our stay in Mexico. This was so special for our family because we experienced a healing miracle fifteen years ago when the Bishop of Wichita dedicated Donovan's sister (who had been in a horrible car accident) to the intercession of Juan Diego.

My two guys in front of the old Basilica
(where the Tilma used to be displayed).

On the grounds near where Juan Diego lived
after speaking with Our Lady.

There are many roses growing on and
around Tepeyac Hill. This is my little Rose!

To be continued...

The Power of a Testimony

It was one of those days (well week really).
 I can relate Gabe.

I have to admit I was feeling pretty homesick last week. I miss my family, friends and some of the comforts of the American life. I was feeling down and beating myself up for not knowing enough Spanish, not doing enough ”mission work”, not being a better parent, and the list goes on. I was falling into a trap that the devil likes to set for all of us. But I didn’t realize it was happening. That was until I was asked to give my testimony. Fr. Julio asked Donovan and I to give our testimony at a church (San Joaquin) near our town in. In order to give our testimony we had to reflect back on what it is in our life that God has done. We made a simple outline based on the things we normally talk about in our testimony. We talked about it with each other and prayed together. And guess what? Reflecting on my testimony reminded ME of all the awesome things God has done in my life. It’s funny how sometimes I forget about the miracles and experiences I have been blessed with. That’s why it’s so important to know your testimony and GIVE it. It reminds you and glorifies God for others.

We were also able to give our testimony to our parish in Coopevega on Saturday. It was a great opportunity for people to learn more about us and why we are here. It was really blessed!

Our new friend Claudia translated our testimony.
She came to Coopevega to live with the sisters
for 10 months as a missionary. She is from
Mexico and we are so happy to have her
here! 

A personal testimony is a great way to share a personal story of how God has worked in your life. It is the perfect way to evangelize the Love of the Lord. Once I realized that all this negative thinking was not coming from God and was not good for me I was able to let go of it. The Lord always brings us consolation not desolation. Sometimes He will allow us to be tempted or experience the desolation of the devil, but He never abandons us and is with us through it all. If He does allow me to go through the desolation then it is so I can learn something and grow in grace and holiness. We have been listening to a great series online from discerninghearts.com. It is a 16 talk series about Discernment of Spirits with Fr. Gallagher (who specializes in Ignatian Spirituality). I highly recommend you listen to it too. It’s great for on your way to work or the grocery store.

This reminds me of a verse I that has been on my heart lately.

“My grace is sufficient for you. For power is made perfect in weakness.” 

2 Corinthians 12:9

I am not strong enough for all of this on my own. I can’t do this by myself. I am too weak. But it is in these moments where I become weak that the Lord can do the most in me. It will be His strength that pushes me through, His strength that holds me up. If I am being proud, stubborn or self-focused then I don’t have any room for the Lord to work in me. It’s when I get out of my own way and welcome Him into my heart and life that He makes me strong. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

So now I ask you: What is your testimony? What has God done in your life? What miracle, conversion or personal encounter with the Lord can you share with others? Now pray about, write it down and go share it!

Picture Blog!

Gabriel is getting so big!
He will be 1 on October 4th!

Cheese! I love it when he smiles with
 those pearly whites!

Celebrating the Feast of St. Rose of Lima with the Bishop!

Felicity's middle name is Rose. Her sisters named er after
St. Rose of Lima.

The girls learned about St. Rose and lots of other saints from Glory Story CDs.These audio stories teach the kids (and the adults) about the lives of the Saints. Check them out here: www.HolyHeroes.com.
Our family loves them :)

Santa Rosa is a town about 1 hour away from our house. It is
the main church in our area and where the priests live who serve
the vicinity (including Coopevega and the surrounding pueblos.

Enjoying lunch after Mass at the Santa Rosa Fiesta.

Anytime a church celebrates its patron saint there is always a fiesta and food!

We ate picadillo with rice and tortillas. There are many ways to
prepare picadillo in Costa Rica. This variety had pork and potatoes.
Muy Rico!

Pony Race, Nicaragua, & a Missionary Blessing

Getting ready for the race!

Last Sunday there was another fiesta/fundraiser at our Parish. The whole month of August the church celebrates our patron, Our Lady of the Angels. As always, there was food (tamales, arroz con pollo, arroz con picadillo, soup). In the morning the 3 younger girls participated in the children’s stick pony race. 

Felicity with the homemade horse and the
bag she won.

And they're off! They raced around the block starting and
 ending at the church.

We didn’t know that we were supposed to bring our own pony and showed up without them. Sr. Claudia was so sweet and went to find us something we could use. They found one pony and then another lady from the church made one right there for Felicity. Catherine had to run with a broom but she still had lots of fun. Catherine was the winner with Grace close behind.

Catherine won a homemade pillow.

We also got to play Bingo with corn kernels.

Hangin' out with mama.

The cutest smile!!!

It wouldn't be a fiesta without the music! Click below to watch this baby dance!

On Wednesday we had to travel to Nicaragua to renew our visas. As U.S. citizens we are granted a 90 day travel visa. In order to renew the visa we must leave the country. The Nicaraguan border is about 2 hours from our house. We drove to the border with Sr. Karen, Sr. Claudia and Christian, a kind man who offered to drive our car home for us. Crossing the border took about 2 hours and then we had a 30 minute drive to a nearby town where we had a hotel room in a very simple hotel.

Sr. Karen is from Nicaragua and had to go on to her hometown about 5 hours away. (Sr. Claudia had not crossed the border because she drove the other vehicle back to Coopevega.) We walked around the town and found a church very close as well as a wonderful park for the kids to play at.

They all loved the park.

Queen of the Castle!

Hangin' out!

 Just up the street was the Rio Juan (which looked more like a very large lake or the ocean to us). It is a popular place for tourists to visit and ride in boats along the river.

On Thursday morning we attended Mass at 7 am. We could hear the bells and music being played from the church at 6:30 (very much like they do in the Philippines). During Mass one of the altar servers approached us and asked for our names and where we were from. He wanted me to write it down for the priest. At the end of Mass the priest introduced our family and told everyone that we were Catholic Missionaries. He presented each of us with a rosary necklace and then blessed us all with holy water. It was such a blessing to be welcomed so kindly by this priest and church were we had never been before.

There was a small Eucharistic procession after Mass.

Us at the church down the street from our hotel.
St. Charles Borromeo

We were able to return to Costa Rica yesterday. It was a little faster crossing back and we had no problems.

The Lord knows how to remind us of our calling to missionary life in unexpected ways. He often uses people and places around us to show us the way. Thank you Jesus for a safe and fruitful trip to Nicaragua!

These are just too cute! I had to include them :) 

This girl can eat! Watch out banana pancake sandwich!

She was so proud of her yummy breakfast creation at
the hotel restaurant!