It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

Yes, even here on the tropical isle of PR. If any of you use Yahoo as a web browser you too may have seen that San Juan was voted the #1 spot in America to go on a winter vacation, beating out Honolulu which came in second. The article recognized San Juan for it's warm, sunny climate, the cultural experience that is hard to beat, and the array of food and festivities during the winter months. The Christmas lights really are spectacular, along the highway, and especially in Old San Juan. The most wonderful and amazing thing of all, is the undisputed celebration of Christ's birth (unlike all the liberal protests back in the states). The manger scene is the focal point of just about every lighting display around the island, on the sides of freeways, and in shopping malls. I guess it says something about the "old heritage", and the fact that most cultures hold on to what has been a part of their culture since it's inception. Christianity, having been brought here by Columbus and the Spanish that followed, remains to be "the reason for the season" in PR. I will share more with you on the way they celebrate the season down here, and the wonderful traditions we are learning about, in later posts.

~We are trying like crazy to finish out our online studies in anticipation of dad's return this coming weekend, and Skylar just a few days later. Can't wait to see my precious other daughter. It's been 4 long months; I've never gone without seeing my children for more than 5 days and this has been the hardest part of my journey. If it weren't for Skyping, I don't think I would have made it this long. Nathan will have to wait until the first of January to make the trip, making this our first Christmas apart in his 23 years of life. I'm still not sure how I'm going to handle this, but I guess it is one of those inevitable things that every parent faces as their children grow up. 

Have a blessed week as we remember the anticipation of the birth of Christ this Christmas season...love to all, joni.

"A voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God....then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all the people shall see it together." Isaiah 40:3-5




The smallest tree we've ever had. We've spruced it up a bit since this photo. Hunter is just being plain silly:)



Hunt and Wy work on gingerbread house

Manger scene with live animals in the mall



The red City Gate, Puerta de San Juan, or San Juan Gate, is the only remaining city gate. It was called the Water Gate because it is where Spanish disnitaries and soldiers would arrive by ship and enter the city. It was one of six original massive wooden doors that, centuries ago, were closed at sundown to protect the residents. Above the gate is inscribed “Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini”- Latin for “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. The wall is about 15 feet thick. If you go straight through the gate and up the hill, you are following the same path many sailors took after a long voyage - straight up the street, to the cathedral, to thank God for a safe journey.



Forteleza Square in Old San Juan

Plaza de Armas, Old San Juan's Main Square. This building houses the mayor of the city.

Another beautiful square in Old San Juan







A cool night in San Juan...

Yes, tonight is a surprisingly cool night (maybe 70 degrees) as I sit in the open patio area just below our second floor apartment. The sounds of Friday night can be heard on the busy blocks in the distance, but mostly I sit at my computer to the sounds of the coqui. The coqui is the national symbol of Puerto Rico. It is a small tree frog that is rarely seen (we have yet to spot one), but heard nightly as the sun goes down and continues until sun-up. And I say it is surprisingly cool because we are still in the high 80's during the day and barely the mid 70's at night. We can tell somewhat of a typical Fall/Winter has set in, as we are not sweating as much in the apartment in the mid afternoon. We hear everyone back home is enjoying some chilly, even cold nights. Sounds good to set the mood for Christmas. It is just Hunter and I tonight. Naomi is babysitting for one of our church families, and took Wyatt with her to play with the boys that are his age.
~This was another busy week for me as I had yet more car repairs to tend to, as well as traveling to Cayey for an English and essay writing lesson with the baseball boys. I am thinking this is the last of the repairs since we have almost bought ourself another used car for what we have put into this one, and surely by now we have fixed all the major problems. Please pray this is the case. As always, my lesson with the boys was a real joy. Each week I call on two of them to communicate, in English, in front of the class regarding a given topic, as well as teach them essay writing skills. Many of them are preparing for the ACT and SAT tests, so we reveiw this too. The boys are so very respectful (wow that's refreshing!), and such willing and eager pupils. This week I got to know Roberto a little better. After we finished the lesson and the other boys had filed out of the room which serves as a school room for their online studies, the tall, dark, and very handsome 17 year old Puerto Rican teen and aspiring baseball player, told me he would like to be accepted to Cornell University in New York and has begun the application process. Roberto wants to study bioengineering and perhaps "discover the cure for cancer one day". This is what he told me with great enthusiasm. There is something different about the teens we have met in PR, respectful, eager, inquisitive, appreciative, and all convey a deep love for family. From the boys on Hunter's team, to Naomi's volleyball friends, most of them seem to be very well educated. Of course most of them have had the fortune to attend privare school which is very prevalent on the island. Only the very low income are in public school. My time spent teaching the boys is always so rewarding.
~Our Thanksgiving was as wonderful as it could be, considering we were not back home where all of our hearts were, with the rest of the family that had gathered at our house in Shiro. We planned a trip to a particularly beautiful beach where we knew there would be very few people on Thanksgiving Day. After a special Thanksgiving blessing with just my three, remembering what and how the Lord had blessed us this past year, we enjoyed a roast and cornbread dressing on our blanket on the beach, complete with real dinnerware and cheesecake for dessert. It wasn't all traditional Thanksgiving, but it was warm, and it was on a while sandy beach! It the best we could hope for, and be so very grateful for, with dad and big brother and sister being so far away.  We said a prayer in the van on the way asking the Lord to let the kids see something wonderful while they snorkeled on this day. And that's exactly what he did! I can still hear Wyatt's voice as he lifted his head out of the shallow surf, not far off the shore line, and shouted with excitement, "A starfish, a starfish!"  This was the beginning of a starfish adventure. Each one of them spotted their own, as you will see in the photos. On the way home from the beach, they asked that we turn into the rainforest for a dip in the waterfalls. We had been to the rainforest back in June, on our first trip to the island, so I was already familar with the area and knew how to navigate my way up the narrow and winding incline. Besides, this was our day, me and the kids, and I had my 17 year old son with me for good measure! With everything the kids and I do apart from David, I feel a certain sense of the God's protection in a way that I cannot describe.
~ David came the day after Thanksgiving, and each visit gets sweeter and sweeter!!! It was short, but we enjoyed 3 days of Naomi playing in her first volleyball tournament. Dad really enjoyed seeing her play, along with observing her with her new friends. All such cute girls, with wonderful personalities, that were so welcoming to Naomi from the beginning. Volleyball is a big sport in PR. The convention center, where they played, was full of teams playing on 32 courts, from the ages of 3 years old to adult. The male teams are really exciting to watch. Male VB is also very big here and standard school sport.
~The Christmas season is in full gear and we will be attending the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Old San Juan tomorrow evening. Stay tuned for photos.


Hasta la próxima, buenas noches...

This is Richard, our "friend sent by God" as he so aptly pointed out to us when he came upon us on the side of the road and saw a mother and her three kids stranded with a flat tire. Hunter had begun the process, but Richard made sure he knew things from the military perspective as we got to know him and his background quite well. He was just one of the amazing stories, and people, we come upon on almost a weekly basis. The kids will never forget Richard, and all we learned about him and from him that day.

These two beautiful photos (top and bottom) were taken at Dorado Beach East; a country club and resort subdivision designed by Laurance Rockefeller in the 50's (grandson of H.D. Rockefeller). A family from our church, who lives out there, invited us out for the day and gave us the golfcart tour of this amazing family development complete with 4 gold courses, a beach club with private cabanas, a private waterpark for residents, and 4 different swimming pool areas with both kids and adults in mind, all built around a mediterranean theme. Below is a view from the one of the clubhouses that looks through to the golfcourse and out to the ocean.



Wyatt having fun with friends from church in Dorado Beach East Resort