MIA...Almost

So you are probably wondering why it has been two weeks in between posts...well, life here is very busy and with meetings upon meetings every day last week, I simply had to let something go...so here I sit, with another Monday staring me in the face with that dreaded question lurking in my mind...."what to pack my kids for snack tomorrow"?

We are incredibly busy, Mike with school, me with the new building project and oh, yes, lets not forget the boys!

We continue to have rain in the afternoon, lots of it, so laundry is still an all-consuming task. The boys are enjoying school, are making more new friends and learning how to sit quietly in the meeting room during assembly with the other students. Truly a stretch for our boys, but they are doing well and we are proud.

I had a week full of meetings as I struggle to put some organization around this new building project. We presented the draft designs to the faculty on Tuesday, the School Committee on Thursday and the Meeting for Business today...WHEW! We look forward to the end of the month when the Director will fly to the States with the concept designs to meet with some folks in hopes of raising awareness and funds to boot! Thankfully, Gaudy has been able to stay late a couple nights as the meetings have taken us into the 'bewitching' hour.

We celebrated Dia del Nino (Children's Day) in Costa Rica on Friday with a 1/2 day of school packed full of songs, activities and yummy snacks for all. I helped in the kitchen to organize the snacks when I was quickly handed the phone. It was the alarm company stating that our alarm was going off...this was about 9:15 a.m. Thinking to myself, "really, what's the possibility that this is 'the real thing'?"... "probably an animal" I thought, but I sneaked out of the festivities and hailed a ride with Kattya who was meeting a client in Santa Elena and offered me a lift. She dropped me off at the pasture gate and thought to herself that she better accompany me up to the house to make sure all is well. The house and grounds looked untouched on first glance. I opened the house using my keys and did a quick mental check "boots, backpacks, loose change, rain coats", all accounted for - so all was well. So I thought! We did a quick scan of the outside of the house where we found two small window louvers gently placed in the garden and the screen cut in the back bedroom. The plot thickens! I come to find out later that thiefs do this kind of thing....gingerly place the panes of glass away from the house as to not break them....that would count double against them :)

A neighbor heard the alarm and confronted an older guy who was clearly not from this zone heading away from the house, into our pasture. He tried to pull a fast one "hey, I'm a friend, just eating some guavas"! What, did he think, we just fell of the guava truck? The guy quickly hot-footed it up the road never to be seen again...so we thought! The police arrived shortly after the call placed by our neighbor, shortly after that, the director of the school and Mike pulled up. Thinking that my Spanish was better than Mike's, we decided to have Mike return to school to be with the kids while the Director and I went to file a report. In walked the police with the assumed suspect. 'Boy, that was quick work' I thought to myself. A very unassuming, mousey older guy, clearly in poor health and about 80 lbs. We quickly found out that he had a record and there would be little doubt that the prints (once lifted from the window panes) would be his! Two hours later, we drove back to the house with the police following close behind with their fingerprinting tool box in hand. Mike and I will have the option of continuing the investigation in Puntaranus if indeed the fingerprints match up. The two guys from the police agency asked me to stick my hand through the screen in hopes of determining whether the thief actually made it all the way into the house or if the alarm sounded when he started to crawl through the opening he had made for himself. First I waved my hand through the opening...nope, all was quiet, next, I tried to crawl through the small opening and my hips got caught! Two observations... clearly I am more than 80 lbs :) and the thief was indeed 'all the way in the house'.

The police were quick to respond to the thief and we were impressed with his quick capture. Perhaps he was begging to be caught as perhaps he would be assured three meals a day in prison. So life here continues to prove to be interesting.

For all our friends and family - we are fine, nothing taken from the house and we are happy that our alarm works! I suppose it was a matter of time as most homes here have been broken into or attempted. Rest assured we will continue to use our alarm and patch up the broken screens. The kids are none the wiser and for now 'moms the word'.

We are hoping that the only excitement from the upcoming week is as a result of the parades and festivals that are planned for Independence Day on Wednesday. No school so we'll spend the day in Santa Elena watching the parade and spending time with friends.

Peace,
Signed: S