Having a Situation...

6:25 p.m.

Wesley walks upstairs and somehow during his ascent cuts his upper lip through.

What do you do if:

Your husband is on a plane to Chile
You're alone at home with 7 kids
He took the US phone with him
You don't know where an emergency center is for sure, but think there's a hospital in Nicoya, (50 minutes away)

I didn't know what to do. Wes wouldn't let me touch it, but it looked like his upper lip had been cut straight through. It looked like the width of it was about the length of a kid's tooth. Does that need stitches? Or will it be okay without it? Do I need to go to a doctor or Emergency Room? I don't know who I'd go to anyway?

I got online and was grateful for people that were online. It helped me laugh at the situation. We had arranged for someone to stay here with me precisely for this reason, just in case a situation like this happened to happen. But since Corey was driving to the airport in San Jose, they went with him because they had some errands to do in San Jose, and that way they wouldn't have to ride the bus there. No biggie, I thought, just one night alone, I can handle it. And I guess I did handle this situation pretty well considering circumstances. I did bark a little bit at Wesley 5 minutes into it when he was still screaming at full capacity and I was about to explode. After letting off that steam I was good and could laugh at how funny it was that all the planets seemed to align to my misfortune. Thank you Jeff J and Jacob M for being online to look at the photo I was able to immediately take and upload and for your advice (thank you Lord for digital cameras and the internet), and especially for by little brother Neil for being online with Mom on the phone at your end.

As I was online trying to decide what to do, Wesley fell asleep in the chair next tome with a hand towel to his lip. He wouldn't let me put ice on it. I got little bits of tp and soaked one of them in super glue and then put it on top of the cut. It dried before it had laid on his lip all the way, so now he has a stiff piece of tp sticking off his lip too. Sorry you're mom is so unprofessional Wes. I guess we'll just see how it looks in the morning and I'll give an update.

Thank the Lord in all things, especially this week of Thanksgiving. I'm thankful Wesley's teeth didn't get hurt and I'm thankful it was his lip and not his head.

Happy Thanksgiving week!

Hasta Luego Amor

Well, he's gone. Corey's leaving on a jet plane (at 5:30 pm), don't know when he'll be back again. And this is the first time we've ever done that - said goodbye not knowing when we'll see each other, but trusting that we will. I feel a little bit like an early Mormon convert in England, sending my husband to America to work and get money to pay for our boat passage across the Atlantic. Only what they did was hard, what I do is easy, cause I got internet, I have various ways to communicate with said departed loved one during our separation, and I am able to make a realistic guess of how long it will be till we see each other again - I'm thinkin' 3 weeks.

So anyway, Corey left for San Jose around 8:45 am, I did a quick wash over and wipe out of the inside of his rental car that he's returning. The kids "helped" me clean it, as you can tell by this picture of them all standing around picking their noses! (Melodie!!!) but mostly they're just staring off into space.

Ok, last hugs and kisses

As Corey tried to peel Melodie off of him, Corey said to me "It's easier to leave when they're clinging on to you..." then said to Mel and Ethan "I love you, now go away!" Ethan, with a quick wit said "Now I will always remember what your last words to me were! 'Go away!' So loving!"

Goodbye Love

Our house is on the left side of the street on a corner back where I stood to take the picture. The kids ran down the street following Corey to the gate, which comes with a 24 hour security guard.
I feel safe and things will be fine here with me. We would appreciate prayers as we figure out the next steps.

See you soon, sweetheart. Don't forget to send for us!

Packing Shoes

Yesterday I packed Corey's luggage while he tried to work a bit and finalize paperwork and stuff for our trip to Chile.

Seems like we just did this whole packing up thing? It is a lot easier this time since we aren't shuffling through as much stuff. We're livin' the simple life.

Although if I had known when we packed for Costa Rica that we'd be going straight from here to Chile, I would have packed a little differently. I would have brought more shoes for one thing. Did you know that right now Corey has more shoes than I do? He's got five, I only got 3!!!



I guess I really only have one pair of shoes, then two sandals. But we'll just call any feet wears shoes. So, I dare say that never before in the history of the world has a man had more shoes than his wife until Corey and Tiffanie went to Costa Rica! Do you think? Maybe I can be in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sunday Dinner

On Sunday we left to go over to the RMs house around 4:30. We had a sudden idea that maybe going back to Utah could still be a possibility, and one of the adults from their house could be Corey's proxy and fly with E, H, and W from San Jose to Utah. What to do, what to do. Anyway, we thought we'd go talk about it with them. They let us eat dinner with them again and Corey had one last visit with Dannan and Jacob...

Yes, another evening of discussion, books, and politics. Corey's last before he heads to Chile on Tuesday. Don't know when these guys will be able to get together to discuss life in these latter days again. So sad. I love listening to them talk - such great insights and questions, points and counter points, it's like watching/listening to a mental chess game - very enlightening! :)

The guys were going strong for several hours. After dinner, I was taking pictures and we thought we should get one of the 3 of us.


Then we got a little silly taking various pictures of ourselves...


Someday I'm doing to get a great camera. I'm thinking the Nikon D5000 or whatever kind Costco has on the day that I do my big purchase. Someday.

Started to get late, the guys were still going strong. We thought we better get a little snack for the kids that hadn't dropped off yet. Rachael made some popcorn that adults and kids enjoyed.


They tried really hard to not give in to sleep. But they were just barely holding on.


Hated to see it end so we enjoyed it while it lasted, and we were on our way home at 10:30. We'll be back, my kids love going to the RMs house more than the beach, or atleast telling them we can go over there after they clean up works better than saying we can go to the beach. Funny. Glad we've all got friends here. Kinda silly that we had to come to Costa Rica to meet each other, cause we could have just driven to Manti. :)

Monkeys in the Trees

Last Sunday when we went over to see the Royal and Meyers Families (I think I'll just start calling them the R&Ms, or RMs?) the kids all started screaming to us adults to "COME SEE!!!!!" cause there were monkeys!!! so I did cause I got the camera to document (I feel so important!) :) Here are all the kids under the trees that the monkeys were in.

They would take turns standing right under the monkeys, then excitedly tell each other "I'm right under it!!!" I took a turn to - it was true - they were right there! Straight up. I got the best view with the zoom on my camera, so all the kids wanted to see the shot.

Pretty fun. There were three monkeys. All of us have seen monkeys before, but for us Wrides this was the first time we've seen them this close. The RMs told me that once there was a group of monkeys in the tree right by the house, and since those tree branches are all at eye level from the 2nd story kitchen/sitting room, they could see them perfectly - one monkey had a little baby monkey holding on it's back. So fun!


This monkey was just staring down at us. I imagined he was really excited and later would tell his family "You shoulda seen it - there was this huge group of human kids - It was amazing, they were all standing right under me!!"

Kids in Primary

How many will there be?

Most Sundays, this is the group of students...

Then on some Sunday's, like last Sunday, this crowd showed up...

It was pretty exciting, although it threw us for a loop thinking of what we'd do for the Primary Program if all these kids show up on that Sunday (next week on Nov 28th - better get my kids memorizing their part!)

My kids are all wearing the same clothes in both pictures. We only brought one Sunday outfit for each kid, although I brought two skirts for myself. I thought we'd be okay for our time here in Costa Rica, and we have been, except that Ethan's and Hyrum's shoes are to small. Luckily Ethan's old shoes fit Hyrum. Unluckily Ethan is without Sunday shoes and wears his sneakers. But everyone's sneakers are running thin. But that would have happened in the US too. And although there is no Walmart here, I think they do sell shoes. We'll make it three weeks till Chile though and then start to get settled with everything we need there. I hear they sell shoes in Chile too. I would have packed differently if I knew we were heading to Chile straight from here, but oh well. I'm sure we'll be able to find everything there, and we'll see how costs compare. Corey and I have come to the conclusion that the cheapest place to live, if you want to live like an American, is in America. You can live in-expensively here in Costa Rica if you live like a Tico. But if you want some of the comfort foods of home (like Lucky Charms) or air conditioning, you pay more for it that you would have in the States. So there are some thoughts. Corey is excited for Chile I'm pretty sure, although we don't really have time/energy to put in to being nervous or excited about it. But he had a plane ticket for Tuesday and will pack on Monday night/Tuesday morning. We might think about it then. We'd appreciate any prayers on our behalf in regards to finding a house for us. We found a few furnished homes, but Corey said apparently no one wants to rent to a family with 7 kids. I don't blame them. I hope the owners of this home are okay with the face that their nice table has had deep groves from pens pressed into it. And that the paint on the walls is a little thin from where I had to scrub and scrub the crayon/pencil/pen scribbles off. Also some pen marks on the sheets, and I accidentally got bleach on a brown comforter when I was trying to scrub the pen out of the sheets. Mad at myself for that one. Lastly I think we've broken 5 of the dishes. Other than that I think everything will be okay with a good cleaning. I get to do that again since Corey's gone, but it's all good, we have a lot less to pack up here and a lot less square footage to pick up - only 2000 here, that's doable.

Should I have anyone live with me while Corey's gone? There is a young married couple that said they could come stay here with me (I asked him if they'd be open to that). Pros to that would be company, the kids might learn some Spanish, they'd help me with the kids and cleaning, I could go to the grocery store without all the kids in tow. Cons - maybe not being able to relax as much with someone else here, not feeling as free to sleep in or take a nap, I'd probably be a bigger grouch, and would be nicer to my kids with people in the house. Seems like there are more pros and the cons are all pretty louse and selfish ones. Okay. I guess I'll finalize that on Sunday when we see them, unless anyone wants to advise me otherwise.

Free Spirit

When the older kids go swimming, Lily is usually so anxious to join them that she'll get in with her clothes on if she can. On other days, like the day captured here, I don't want to bother with finding her suit and changing her, so I just s t r i p her down and let her go. We do swimming this way the most often, as we both seem to prefer how quick and efficient it is.


The kids usually all start to scream when they see her - "Ahh!!! N a k e d Baby!!! You guys, Lily's n a k e d!!!"

But that only lasts a few moments, then they are all happy playing. When Corey's in the pool, he will bring her into the deep water for some fun-

"Are you ready, Lilers? 1..2..3!"

After throwing in the air, Corey said "If that isn't freedom, I don't know what is"
What a great little grin - love that cheesy smiling face!

Kick the Can

The kids and I went to visit the Meyers and Royals today after lunch. As soon as we pulled up, the older kids jumped out and I hardly saw them - they were lost in adventure playing the games kids play. After a few hours of exploring the jungles, they returned to homebase to play kick the can and I was finally able to get some pictures of them.

Kids Rule!!!!

So, what should we play?

Some going off to hide and planning their strategy to kick the can, which I would say was in a pretty guarded and hard to get to spot for any would be kickers...


Isn't that in a hard spot? You can see the food storage can in front of Mel's left foot - that's home base, on top of the pool house? The kids have to climb up and around the pool side to get at the roof of the pool house to kick it... I didn't know how they could do that without getting spotted, cause Mel had an unobstructed view in every direction from on top of there. Hmm.

Then I had to laugh when I saw how they did it. The person counting just stayed on top of the pool house looking around, and then all of a sudden (I need to ask the kids how they coordinated this part) after about 5 minutes in hiding they all came out at the same time and headed for the can.

The poor person that was it kept jumping and calling names, but with 14+ kids coming at ya, they couldn't call and jump over the can quickly enough before someone kicked it over. Good strategy I thought, but the person counting was in tears twice - felt a little ganged up on. And they were, but I don't know how else the kids in hiding were supposed to have a chance at winning. It was fun to see them all play together. They were busy and lost in their game for 5 hours, only taking a break when I called them in for sandwiches. It was great, just how childhood should be. I'm so glad we are here in Costa Rica! If we hadn't come, we never would have made these friendships. We're excited to meet more dear friends for the first time when we go to Chile, and we hope to be back to Costa Rica soon.

But there's 3 weeks before the kids and I go, so we'll be over to play again soon. (The kids want to do a sleepover!!)

Corey Returns To Live

It's almost been 2 weeks since Corey got the email telling him he was invited to participate in the 2010 Start Up Chile program. He finally bought his plane ticket today. He's a very careful man in planning things out and making sure he's got everything in place first before he makes any big or hard to refund commitments, like buying airfare.

At 8:13 he checked prices again to see which airline had the best deal. He's got his wallet with credit card under his arm.

After poking around a bit more, he started to enter the info with the music of Illapu playing on his computer from this youtube video. (I love this song by the way - beautiful lyrics too - I'll post them at the bottom so you can sing along, and also I just tried to translate it - hope it makes sense)

Joe freaked out when he saw Corey type the date of August 2012 - "We're staying in Chile until AUGUST 2012?!?!"

Corey looking at him with raised eyebrows that said let's not freak out... "That is the expiration date of my credit card! Relax!"

Melodie tried to stop his hands from typing.


But it was finally done at 8:29. He has officially pushed the "go" button.

Confirmation # received, Passenger Corey Wride will fly from San Jose to Panama to Santiago Chile next Wednesday. Have fun sweetie. Don't forget to send for us!

Brief background on Illapu here - my summary, they are an Andean folk music group, in 1981 they were forced into exile under the Pinochet regime. First they went to France and later Mexico City. In 1988 the political climate improved and they returned to Chile - that is what this song is about - their return after 7 years away from their country. Corey's returning after 13 years. He is excited. We all are too. It will be a grand adventure.

Illapu - Vuelo Para Vivir... Lyrics
-------------------------------
Vuelvo a casa vuelvo compañera
vuelvo mar, montaña, vuelvo a puerto
vuelvo sur, saludo mi desierto
vuelvo a renacer amado pueblo.

Vuelvo, amor, vuelvo, a saciar mi sed de ti
vuelvo, vida, vuelvo, a vivir en mi pais.

Traigo en mi equipaje del destierro
amistad fraterna de otros suelos
atras dejo penas y desvelos
vuelvo por vivir denuevo entero

Vuelvo amor...

Olvidar, por jubilo, no quiero
el amor de miles que estuvieron
pido claridad por los misterios
olvidar es triste desconsuelo

Vuelvo amor...

Bajo el rostro nuevo de cemento
vive el mismo pueblo de hace tiempo
esperando siguen los hambrientos
mas justicia, menos monumentos

Vuelvo amor...


Illapu - I Return To Live letras translation spanish to english
-----------------------------
I return to house, I return companion
I return ocean, mountain, I return harbor
I return south, hello to my desert
I return to be born again, my beloved village

I return, my love I return, To satisfy my thirst for you
I return, my life I return, To live in my country.

I bring in my luggage from the exile
Fraternal friendship from other people
Although I leave pain and anxiety
I return to live for a new entirety

I return...

Forget for joy, I don't want to
The love of thousands who were
I ask for clarity about the mysteries,
To forget is sad discomfort.

I return...

Beneath this new face of the cement
Lives the same people of long ago,
Waiting for to follow the hungry,
More justice, less monuments

I return...

"Making Dinner" at Home

Lilian loves to jump in the fridge whenever it's open and make it so we can't close it - and she'll get our the little containers of cream cheese and play with them. Oh, and she also is always spilling her cereal then stepping on it on purpose. How rude.



Lily and Abi love grabbing any contained condiments from the fridge and making dinner. They use the garbage pail as their table, a towel for the table cloth, and make stacks of dinner for hours on end.

Lily is taking dinner classes from Abi, although I think her inspiration came from Shirley and she would have been a better teacher. Still, Abi does pretty good. Here they are making bobbed tomatoes in water.


And other times the kids are really lucky and I let them play around with real knives and cut up real remnants of food for practice. One day as I made fries I let the kids help, and after Mel and Ethan were done with the potatoes, I let Wes and Abi work on some onions for fun. They seemed to enjoy themselves.


Corey is good at letting the kids help him when he cooks. I hope that I get better at it, I usually can't relax with letting them make a mess as they figure it out - I struggle when they want to help crack the eggs or scoop up the flour. Haven't done too much baking from scratch here, so I've been doing better since we're usually just chopping and mincing food. It is great to have eager helpers on hand, I need to try harder to take advantage of their willingness while I can!