Feeling Inspired!

First things first! Thanks to all who sponsored and supported me on this year’s Walkathon for the school. The day started out slow but ended on a high-note. Why is it that every time when you absolutely need a solid 8 hours of sleep, you never get it. It never fails, right? Something happens during the night that just blows that theory out of the water. Welcome to my Friday night. After spending 8 hours at school Friday, setting up for the Walkathon, all I wanted at 8:00 that night was a decent night’s sleep. After the first whine from John, and the initial glimpse of his face and neck, I knew it ain’t happening. Hives on his neck and face and itching, itching, itching. After the tenth time up and the 2nd teaspoon of Benadryl, we finally fell asleep about 3 a.m. My mind was spinning as knew I had to be at school early to coordinate the influx of eager runners and walkers and that the sun would rise in less than 3 hours.

I rose to the occasion and bounded out of bed and off to school I went to meet all the folks that would be in charge of manning a refreshment station. All went off without a hitch and I left the school about 9:30, running at a slow pace, as I knew after the first kilometer, it was all up-hill.

God blessed us with a beautiful day, sunny and warm and I was assured a view of the Volcano at the end of the route. I struggled up the hill by the Cloud Forest School, but was encouraged by tiny voices “go Mom, you can do it”, as I made it to the top, I saw Mike and the boys handing out cookies/brownies and water from our trusty Gallopher. A site for sore eyes (and legs)! I was happy to see that the kids had not yet eaten the entire trunk full of homemade cookies and brownies and that there were indeed some to handout to hungry and tired walkers. How the Schaefer boys ended up with cookies at their station, I’ll never know – why couldn’t they have the station with the pineapple or melon? Next year for sure!

The run was spectacular, I felt energized and had forgotten about how tired I was as I climbed every hill, Raul’s words echoing in my mind (quick, short strides on the uphill)…thanks buddy!

About 10 kilometers in, this awesome vista opened up and there was Volcan Arenal in all her glory – it was something else. I arrived at the Mirador in 1 hour, 25 minutes only 10 minutes behind a group of five high-school boys, so I felt like I put in a good showing for all our 'over-forty' gals. One of the boys asked if I was a marathon runner, and I quickly said NO, but that it was on my ‘bucket list’. The day was filled with laughter, photos of each runner in front of the volcano and eating the left over treats from all the stations.

I am eager to find out how much the school raised – so if you are still inclined to sponsor, please do, as you have until May 15th and it is for such a great cause! I can’t wait until next year’s race.

I awoke Sunday without a muscle pain but decided to take the day off from running and focus on puzzles with the boys as the weather turned cold and rainy - winter is just around the corner and they say the rain will come early this year.

Last week, for the first time since we’ve had the boys home with us, I Skyped with the Foster Family in Guatemala. Anabella (or mama Anna) as we call her, sounded like she was just across the pasture from us. The connection was clear and crisp and my ability to communicate with her in Spanish was not at issue this time – I remember my broken Spanish years ago and hoped that she noticed the difference ☺. We chatted for about 45 minutes and caught up on everything. Next time, we’ll chat during the day so she can talk with the boys. What a blessing and a gift to continue to have this family in our lives. I told her that we include her and Papa Rudo and their entire family in our prayers with the boys each night – I could hear the smile in her voice as she thanked me for that.

Mike left early this morning for the 7/8th grade school trip to Rincon de la Vieja. Two days ago, Mike approached me, “Sally, how would you like to take one of my Thursday classes while I’m away?” I responded….”UGH, oh, oh, OKAY, please tell me you’ll be showing a video?” Big sigh, yes, he had planned a video and all I had to do was a warm-up exercise with the kids and then turn on the movie….Simple enough…right, Please Bill Nye the Science Guy...do not dissapoint! Check back to see how I fared.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of sharing about 90 minutes with other women in the community in prayer, song and fellowship When I picked my kids up from Elieth’s last Sunday after their Sunday School lesson, Elieth and I got to talking. Wouldn’t it be great for women in the zone to have a place to gather and share. YES, this would be perfect….”Are you ready, Sally”, Elieth asked…”You bet”, I responded in my best Spanish and we were off to the races. Six of us gathered yesterday afternoon from 4 p.m. to 5:30 in a shed just up from her house on her property. Her teenage son had helped her clean up the shed last week and it is now the perfect place for Sunday school and our Wednesday afternoon bible study group. It is simple and there is absolutely nothing fancy about it – the walls were insulated with cardboard and there was one lone, naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Her husband had made a makeshift bench out of trunks of wood and an old wood plank, a couple of pillows and blankets on the floor and we were set. The time together was great and Elieth did a fantastic job of leading the group. We opened with prayer, sang a couple songs and read several passages from the bible. We focused on a passage from Mark 12 V. 41, the story of the widow who gave everything she had (which was like two coins) to the temple and we asked ourselves, what could we offer God? It was a very special time – we finished in prayer and then adjourned to her kitchen table where we sipped coffee and snacked on the pineapple bread I had hastily baked earlier that day. We chatted about ideas for the program and how everyone could contribute in some way. Looking forward to next Wednesday.

Tomorrow, I meet with Hugh, he is the leader of the other prayer and share I attend in Santa Elena Thursday evenings. He and his wife are hoping to offer an Easter sunrise service at their home. I agreed to meet with him tomorrow to help outline the program. Exciting stuff and there is such a need here in the community.

Today, the boys had fun with a classmate who came to play for several hours after school. All went well and we hope he'll return.

Well, I will close this post for now as it is all mom tomorrow morning - breakfast, brush teeth, make snack, shuttle two boys to Kinder, 8:15 meeting to talk Fundraising and then off to meet Hugh for Easter Service planning - and oh, ya - would like to get a run in too!

Peace,
Signed: S