Finding Joy in the Rain.

We spent the day in San Jose! It's about a 30-1 hour minute bus ride depending on the traffic. I'm exhausted again, but here are some pictures from the day. My biggest fear was not finding a girl I would really be able to get to know and talk to. After today, I feel like I'll definitely be making that friend here. Today was good. God is good. My brain is fried! We also had an interview with our spanish professors to see which level of spanish class we should be in... I feel like it went pretty well! My new friends! Left to right, Erin, Me Rebecca, and Jackie! This is downtown San Jose!  I found these Carambolas today at the fruit market.. I think they are a type of passion fruit. Anyways, I got home and showed Mama Rosie (my host mom) and she declared that we should make juice! We put ice, 2-3 cups of water, and 2 carambolas in the blender! It wasn't half bad! A tad tart, but a little bit of sugar fixed it up quite nicely! This was my dinner toni

I'M ALIVE AND IN COSTA RICA! (: I've also already decided that I'm really going to have to make an effort to take more pictures and blog. Welp. We ended up missing just about all of our orientation. Long story short, the flight attendant wouldn't let us on our original Tuesday morning flight because he said we needed a Visa and we didn't have one-(which wasn't true). We ended up catching a flight out of DFW at 5:45am this morning, and made it here at about 11:30 local time. We are an hour behind Dallas time, and when DLT happens we will be on the same time schedule. Anyways, we arrived with about 30 minutes left of orientation and were then introduced to our host families. Mine is quite wonderful. Prayer answered! I will talk about them more later when I'm not falling asleep. The biggest blessing is that they have a daughter named Valeria who is 20 and super helpful. I'm really thankful for her. The rest of the evening I spent with my sweet new fa

It's 2:54am. 57 hours until takeoff. I can't sleep. I have wanted to study abroad since my freshman year in high school when I came back from Honduras. I begged my poor mom to let me ship off to live with a family i'd met on a mission trip. At that point it was running away. Now, it's real life. Naturally, people have been coming up to me and asking me how excited I am. Of course, I've methodically answered with excitement saying something along the lines of, "I can't wait", or "It's going to be so much fun!". While these things are true, I can't honestly say that i've been excited all week about going. It's an ongoing joke about how frequently I change my major. Still, at the end of the day, regardless of how many times I have changed my major, my passion has never changed.  The gospel is my passion. It is urgent, vital, and needs to be taken to the ends of the earth. The only part i've ever questioned is how an

BLOG MOVED! (: Check out my baking blog at  www.MuffinTopTuesday.Blogspot.com First of all, I really dislike blueberries. When I was little, my mom would make my sisters blueberry muffins and then make me one with no blueberries. Most of the time she made them from a box. If you bake a lot, you know that once you start making homemade muffins, the box has nothing on them. Anyways, while I still don't love blueberries, these muffins are phenomenal!  This recipe gives a great muffin base that is perfect for having fruit in it. It's just thick enough to where the muffin isn't falling apart and the blueberries don't all sink to the bottom. Plus, it's topped off with a nice sugary crumble. Who doesn't love that?! Yields: 8 Muffins Prep time: 10 minutes Bake time: 20 minutes Preheat oven to 400° Ingredients Muffin:         1 1/2 cups flour         3/4 cup sugar         1/2 teaspoons salt         2 teaspoons baking powder         1/3 cup veget

BLOG MOVED! (: Check out my baking blog at  www.MuffinTopTuesday.Blogspot.com There are very few banana flavored things I don't like, but this is definitely in my top 3 favorites. Plus, they are SO EASY to make. When I was growing up my mom used to make loaves of this and stick them in a cooler for our 14 hour road trips to Colorado. I have no idea where she got the recipe, but it is the best banana bread i've ever had! Yields: 12 muffins or 1 loaf Prep time: 10 minutes Bake time:20-25 minutes for the muffins/1 hour for the loaf             -I have this issue where I don't set a timer for things. I just kinda estimate how long they will take and then check on them... Sooo the muffins might need an extra couple of minutes, but I'm pretty sure 20 minutes is the golden time. Preheat your oven to 350° Ingredients         3 or 4 over-ripe bananas         1/2 cup melted butter         1 cup of sugar         1 egg         1 teaspoon vanilla      

BLOG MOVED! (: Check out my baking blog at  www.MuffinTopTuesday.Blogspot.com Triple layer. Yum. Three layers of the best things food has to offer. Chocolate, Brownie, & Cookie. Again, YUM. Here ya go! I LOVE milk chocolate. So much so that I was a tad worried about trying these blonde brownies out. I was really surprised at how delicious they came out! They definitely aren't like the fudge filled brownies I typically make, but they were delightfully refreshing and a good change of pace. If you're a fan of Golden Oreos and white chocolate, I really think you'll love 'em! Makes 16 triple blonde brownies. Prep time: 20ish minutes Bake time: 30-35 minutes Preheat your oven to 350° Ingredients!          Brownie Layer:               1/2 cup butter               1 cup brown sugar               1 egg               2 teaspoons vanilla               1 cup flour               1/2 teaspoon baking powder               1/8 teaspoon bakin