A time to rest, and a time to work

Well, it has definitely taken WAY to long for us to get around to this latest blog post!  For all of you that have faithfully been praying for us, thank you!  Hopefully this latest update will let you know more about what we've been up to, and how you can continue to pray for us as we seek to finish our time here in Costa Rica strong.

Playing at the park and blowing, um.... bubbles?

Anything is a toy when you're a missionary kid!

We finished up our first semester of language school here in Costa Rica at the end of April.  It was an incredibly challenging 4 months, partially because of the challenges of learning the language, and largely because of the stress of a new culture, spiritual stresses, and being 3,400 miles away from our family, friends, and loved ones.  There were times we couldn't have been more excited to be here, and times when it was a struggle to just trust the Lord and make it through the day.  Through it all, we have been completely dependent on your love and prayers and support, and we can't thank you enough for it all.  We ended the semester with straight A's (both of us!), and were very excited to have a two week break to recuperate some before the next semester began!

Playing at the park while Nana and Papa were here to visit.

Big Zoe loves the park!

During that break, Sara's parents came to visit us for about 9 days.  What a blessing it was to get to see Sam and Sandy here!  We spent the first few days with them here in San José, showing them around and letting them get a taste of what life is like for us here in Costa Rica.  We showed them our favorite pizza place (they couldn't believe the first real meal they ate in Central America was pizza), let them see where we shop, and gave them the tour of the home, our neighborhood, and the Institute we've been working so hard at.  Zoe, Caitlynn, and Gabriel were SO excited to see Nana and Papa, and spent all their time hanging off of them, having them play with them and asking them to read to them.  And I (Nick) drug Sam all over San José as we visited the airport together to take our friends Tony and Beverly to their flight out of San José, and as we went to all of the stores and other places that we needed to get to.  Sam used every opportunity to try out his Spanish, and he did a great job trying to communicate with the people around us.

Beautiful kids playing at the beach.

Learning to love splashing in the water.

Some of the beautiful shore-line north of Playa Hermosa in Costa Rica

After a few days, we got out of the big city and went to Playa Bejuco for a few days.  Bejuco is a beautiful beach on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, between the city of Jaco and Manuel Antonio National Park.

Kind of a grey day at the beach, but it was a wonderful day to play!

Mud is fun!

This might be the LEAST messy picture we have of Caitlynn from that day at the beach.

 Our time at the beach was great!  Bejuco isn't the most popular beach in Costa Rica, partially because it doesn't have the typical white-sand, but it was gorgeous, with palm trees right up to the sand, and almost NO people!  On Friday, we practically had the beach to ourselves all morning.  Zoe loves playing in the water, and Gabe grew to love splashing and playing in the water.  Only Caitlynn still isn't that sure about the waves and the water, but she makes up for it with her love of playing in the sand!

More shore-line north of Hermosa

While at Bejuco, we also made a trip down the coast to visit Manuel Antonio National Park.  It's a beautiful pristine jungle area along the coast, with great walks through the jungle to discover sloths, monkeys, and TONS of iguanas.  We saw several monkeys (two different types), 3 sloths, iguanas everywhere, and even some red parrots.  It was a tiring day, but we really enjoyed our time at the park.

One of the most exciting things that happened while Nana and Papa were here is that Gabe decided to try to start walking!  At first, he would just take a few steps between chairs, but now, he's tottering all over the house, and is gonna be pretty hard to keep up with pretty soon.  What a blessing it is to see our children growing up and learning (though I'm NOT ready for our baby to be walking!)

We love Nana's story times!

Once Nana and Papa left, it was time to get back into school!  Our second semester is INCREDIBLY challenging!  Sara now is doing one-on-one tutoring here at the Institute instead of large group classes.  She was blessed to get Ana as her tutor, the exact tutor we were praying that she'd get.  Sara is already learning a lot in her tutoring, and we think it's been a great decision to have her switch to the one-on-one learning instead this semester.  I'm doing a special schooling at the Institute called FARO.  I take 2 intense hours of grammar study every morning, then spend the rest of my day in conversation.  I have to talk to 8-10 people PER week, TWICE a week each.  We talk about different topics that I pick (so far we've done family, work, and sports; in the upcoming weeks we'll also hit weddings, the church, my testimony, and how to find a house in Central America).  I then write papers (in Spanish, of course) about every conversation that I have.  It's a lot of self-study, and a LOT of conversation, but by the end of the trimester I should be much much stronger at conversation.  It's a lot of work (for both of us) this semester, so please remember to pray for us as we try to keep up with what feels like drinking from a fire hose sometimes!

Sweet boy resting on the couch.

Visiting Central Mercado for the first time in San José (it was pretty crazy inside...)

Finally, pray for us this next week.  I (Nick) am in the US right now for some weddings that I needed to attend, and Sara and the kids are in Costa Rica.  I'm sure you can image that this causes some stress.  Pray that God will lift us up while we're separated, and that God will help Sara and the kids while they're in Costa Rica without me.  Pray that my time here in Wyoming will be effective, and that God will bless my time here as well.  We love you all, and thank you for your prayers!

I Walked Through a Bad Neighborhood...

I was going to blog a little about Easter today, but something happened today that I wanted to share while it was still fresh in my mind, so I'll try to get to my Easter contemplations another day this weekend.  Today is Good Friday, and there were a few things that we needed from the store today (primarily ink for our printer so we can mail some letters out on Monday).  So, I decided to head to Wal-Mart today to grab a few things, assuming that they would be open when so many other places were closed today for the holiday.  Partially because the buses weren't running as frequently today, and partially because I just wanted to get out and move around, I decided to walk there today for the first time.  It's almost exactly 2 miles from our house, and I'd never walked it before, so I wasn't sure what to expect along the way, but I decided to give it a shot.

The first mile went great.  It was all neighborhood I'd been through several times, the roads were fairly empty because of Good Friday, so the stroll was peaceful, and I was blessed to just walk and pray as I made my way towards Sam Walton's wonderful store. (There will be a post upcoming about prayer walking, I think, but more on that later...).  I crossed the main road that marks the western boundary to San Francisco de Dos Rios, and there I faced a decision: I could turn right, take a longer route, but travel only on roads that I had been on before, or I could go straight, trust that Google maps was right when I looked at it this morning, check out some new territory and shave a few minutes off my walk.  The sun was hot, and I was feeling a little adventurous, so I decided to venture into new lands.

The neighborhood in question in today's story.

As soon as I crossed the road, I noticed that everything was different.  The roads were in much worse shape, trash was more prevalent (that's saying something in San José), homes and cars were much more wore down, and the whole area just had a different feeling of poverty than the streets I had just previously walked.  Also, I began to feel a little less safe.  I began to think, "ok, what am I carrying right now?  Small cell phone?  Probably won't attract much notice, but my electronic translator is in that same pocket, and that kinda makes for a noticeably full pocket.  Hmm, maybe if I slip the translator into my back pocket, no one will notice... I've got a wallet with me, it has some cash, I'd hate to lose that.  Gosh, why are all those coins in my pocket making so much noise when I walk?  Maybe if I put my keys in a different pocket, those darn coins will quiet down..." And so it went.

As a quick point of clarification, while I don't consider myself super brave, I usually don't have too much fear about things like this.  I frequently walk places and in situations that I don't think Sara always appreciates.  But, just a few weeks ago, a student from the Institute was robbed at gunpoint just a few blocks from our house.  Granted, I was walking at noon during Holy Week, and he was out at 9:30 at night, but still, the thought was now in my head.  Since we arrived here, there have been home robberies from time to time.  Oh, and the first Sunday we were in San José, our anniversary, we went to dinner at a great pizza place across from a gorgeous park.  Later, I found out that 2 men were shot at that park that same night, and one of them died.  So, things are on my mind at times.  I wasn't terrified.  I wasn't ready to turn around and take the longer route.  But I was definitely more on edge, and I could hear the conversations and comments should the inevitable happen: "Gosh, what was he doing in THAT neighborhood?" or,  "Of course he got robbed, what did he expect in that part of town?" or even, "wow, I sure hope they find his head someday!" (Ok, that last one might be a little extreme, but you get the idea!).

Do these kids in La Nueva Aurora, Mexico, deserve to hear the Gospel, even though their neighborhood is so rough?

The neighborhood turned out to be only about 3 blocks long, the people there were friendly, and I made it out with all my cash, possessions and body parts intact.  But, as I continued my walk, it got me thinking.  Everyone that I know, here and back in the USA, would say that I was just in a 'bad part of town,' or 'the wrong part of town.'  I would even admit that.  But, as a missionary called to Mexico, I know that there will be times (perhaps MOST of the time) when I'm called to go to exactly places like that.  The wrong places... the bad places.  The places that aren't exactly safe.  The places that aren't clean.  The places where the water is bad (or doesn't run at all).  Human desire (or, more specifically, American desires) would be to avoid those places, for all the 'right' reasons.  But if God hasn't called me to these, then who has He called me to?  As Jesus said in one of His explanations of the final judgement:


31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into leternal life.”  (Matthew 25:31-46 ESV, emphasis mine)

Could I, as a missionary for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, decline to go into 'that type' of area, or refuse to share with 'that type' of person, and be anything other than a judgmental fake? If I would refuse to share with the least of these (however you want to define it: socially, economically, spiritually), how could I with any authority take the Gospel to anyone else?  The Bible says that while I was yet a sinner, and while I was yet an enemy of God, Christ DIED for me!  It doesn't get more 'least of these' than that!  I want to be someone who will take food to the hungry, clothe the naked, bring water to the thirsty, and share the light of Christ in the darkness.  To put it simply, I want the bad neighborhoods to be the neighborhoods that we see Christ pour out His light and His life to those who need it.  Wherever He leads, I want to go!

It's not a pretty or safe neighborhood... but Christ desires the hearts and lives of those who live here.

And, to come to a more specific point, this is why we're not afraid or hesitant to go to Mexico.  Yes, we know, Mexico isn't always safe.  We know there are problems.  We know there are dangers.  We have had friends and family and even complete strangers tell us that we should reconsider.  We even had a missionary that's here at the institute try to tell us how crazy it would be for us to go to Mexico, as if God only calls people to the safe and comfortable life. (If you think He does, feel free to read about pretty much ANY Godly man or woman in the Bible!)  We know the issues... but we also know the need.  We know that the issues are the proof that Christ is needed MORE, not LESS!  Will we be careful?  Yes!  Will we be wise? (God's standards of wisdom, not ours...) Yes!  But will we go?  Absolutely!  To hear God's calling in our lives, to believe that we're called to Mexico (or any other neighborhood or location), and to NOT go would be the equivalent of spiritual racism.  "Oh, sorry, I know you need the Gospel, but you're just not _______________ (clean/safe/nice/developed/white/whatever other adjective might be an excuse) enough for us to come and share with you... maybe once you get those issues figured out, then we will."

Sharing Christ with a man in Guadalajara who had been living on the streets for a few days.  Definitely outcast, and definitely 'least of these,' and definitely loved by God.

Lord, we just want to go.  Wherever.  To whomever.  To the rich, to the poor.  To the downcast, or to the proud.  To the nice homes, or to the broken neighborhoods.  Wherever you want us, we will go.  Please remove any hesitations that our sinful hearts might cause.  Please strengthen us to go even when it isn't easy.  And please do incredible things as we do go.  We can't wait to see your light poured out across Mexico, Father, one broken life at a time.

Does God desire and deserve to be glorified and magnified here in Ciudad Guzman, Mexico?

Thoughts of a missionary

So, we've been here in Costa Rica almost 80 days now.  Some days it's hard to believe that we've been gone that long, and other days it seems like forever.  But, through all the struggles, I've started to discover (only barely started, I'm sure!) the thought process that goes on in the mind of a new missionary.  It isn't always pretty, it isn't always fun, but it sure can be enlightening sometimes.  So, in a slightly different format than my typical post, here are some frequent thoughts of a newbie missionary on the field!

• "Did I just use an English word in that Spanish sentence?"
• "What did I just step in?  No, don't look down, it's better not knowing."
• "Are those gunshots, car backfires, or fireworks...?  Ok, good, definitely fireworks."
• "Who shoots off fireworks in the middle of FEBRUARY??"
• "Wait, what did I just say?  That's not what I was trying to say!!"
• "I came here to learn Spanish... why is my English so terrible now??"
• "I don't know this word in Spanish... If I just slap an 'o' on the end of the English word, what are the odds it'll work?"
• "I want to say this, but I think it's subjunctive... yeah, I'm just not gonna say it."
• "Why can I remember how to order in a resturaunt, but can't remember how to tell this man that Jesus loves him?!?"
• "If one more person tells me why we shouldn't be going to Mexico, I'm gonna freak out!"
• "Wow, I didn't know you could fit that many vehicles into 4 lanes of traffic..."
• "Was that a 'hurry up!' honk, a 'go ahead' honk, a 'hi, friend!' honk, a 'need a taxi?' honk, or a 'flirty' honk?  How long do I have to be here before I'm fluent in the honks??"
• "Wow, I can't believe we've already been at language school for 3 months!"
• "Wow, I can't believe we've only been at language school for 3 months!!"
• "What, they got a letter/package??  They just got one LAST week!!  Why don't I ever get mail??"
• "I wonder what the chances are that I can have this conversation simply through charades alone?"
• "Wow, I never really thought of the U.S. government as 'efficient' until I waited in line for a Costa Rican customs agent!"
• "He just asked me if I'm a missionary... I guess I am.  I mean, I know I am, but I sure don't feel like one right now... shouldn't a missionary be able to talk in the language before claiming the title??"

There are others as well, and I'm sure I'll add to this list over time, but hopefully that'll give you an idea of what goes through the mind of a 'missionary' who is new on the field!

Visitors!

We had a great week last week in the Johnson house: my parents came to visit!  We have been counting down the days to my mom's visit, and when March 5 finally arrived, I couldn't wait to go to the airport to pick her up.  However, I was blown away once I arrived there, because my DAD was there waiting, too!  For months we had been upset because he had a work project the week my mom was coming, and wouldn't be able to visit with us.  He was pretty upset, too, about not being able to come visit.  So, when he went to DIA to drop off my mom, he went in with her and asked, "I noticed this morning that the seat next to my wife is still available... what would it cost for me to fly standby in that seat?"  And, in a miracle from God, they said "$125 round trip!"  So, my dad got to visit, too!  What a blessing and surprise!  You should have seen the look on the kid's faces when we pulled up in the van, and I threw open the back door and they saw not only Mimaw, but also Pipaw! Zoe and Caitlynn were almost too surprised and excited to move, and Sara almost looked like she was in shock, trying to understand what was happening.  Gabe looked very confused for a minute, then got over the confusion as he realized that Mimaw and Pipaw were there and he wanted one of them to hold him!

So excited and blessed to have Pipaw with us for a few days!

Because Pipaw could only stay two days, we decided to take Tuesday off from school and visit some places with him; otherwise, he wasn't going to get to see much of Costa Rica.  So, we went downtown with the family.  First, we hit the artisan's market, so that they could find a few souviners to take home from CR.  My dad found a beautiful carved wood bowl that he loved.  He haggled, got the price lower, decided it wasn't low enough, walked away from the sale, then came back 5 minutes later realizing that he wasn't finding prices even close to what he haggled anywhere else. (If you know my dad, you know that he's pretty stubborn when it comes to haggling and finding the right prices.  Car shopping is an experience with my dad!)  Through it all, I got to translate it all, which was fun.

Hanging out in the Plaza in front of El Teatro National on our way to the Museo

After the market, we grabbed some lunch, then went to "Le Museo de los Niños" (The Children's Museum).  The museum was pretty interesting.  The costs were very low (about $2.20 for an adult), and there was a ton to do there.  The first few rooms weren't that great, and I was starting to wonder if we'd made a mistake, but the further we went into the museum, the more there was to do, and we ended up being impressed with the size of the place, the number of exhibits, and the number of things we could do.  If we had older children, we could have easily spent all day there, but because our kids were small (with small attention spans, sometimes), we ended up spending about 4 hours there before heading home.  The kids loved the rooms with the games, digging in the sand like archaeologists, playing on the train, playing with water, seeing the animals, and going in the optical illusion building.  We had a great day with everyone, and spent some wonderful time with Pipaw before he had to leave the next morning.  It was really hard to take Pipaw to the airport and say goodbye on Wednesday, but we were so blessed to unexpectedly get to spend time with him while he was here!

Playing with some of the exhibits with Pipaw

Dressing up like different professions in the Museo

Playing in the hall of electricity (my favorite part of the Museo!)

Exploring the train at the Museo

Tiny baby or giant chess set?  You be the judge!

Playing in the optical illusion building

Because we had been slackers the rest of the week, Sara and I had to attend school Wednesday through Friday.  So, Mimaw stayed home Wed and Fri to watch the kids for us, and enjoyed her time with the grand kids.  Wednesday, Sara and I got to go on a date together (our first one since we arrived here over 2 months ago!) while my mom kept the kids.  We didn't really do anything fancy, but it was nice to be able to eat a meal, walk around, and watch a movie with my wife without having to worry about 3 kids at the same time.  Thanks Mimaw!


Thursday, Mimaw came to the school with us to see what a normal day of classes is like for us.  A lot of people are kind of surprised when they hear that we ONLY have class from 7:30-12:00 every day, but, like my mom found out, it's a pretty intense day, and by the time classes are over, you're mentally exhausted as you head home contemplating all the homework and studying you have to do that afternoon.  When you throw 3 kids into the mix, it makes for some very exciting, long, tiring and overwhelming days!

Saturday, for her last day in Costa Rica, we took my mom to La Paz Waterfall Gardens with our friends and fellow Global Outreach missionaries, John and Emily Darnell.  This was our first chance to really get outside the great valley in Costa Rica and see what the country looks like away from the 2+ million people that are in the area.  Simply put, Costa Rica is pretty when you're IN San José; when you're out of the city, it's GORGEOUS!  We had such a great time at the park.  We got to see a huge variety of tropical birds (including holding toucans!), butterflies, sloths, monkeys, jungle cats, tree frogs and snakes.  Then, after lunch, we hiked down about 10,000 stairs to get to the 5 waterfalls that pass through the valley below.  It was a gorgeous trip, and I'm so glad we got to see all of it and share it with my mom.

The toucans really liked Zoe, and Caitlynn thought they were pretty cool, too.

My mom really enjoyed the toucans

Everyone held a bird except Gabe and Caitlynn (she was a little scared to try it, but she did pet one!)

Gabriel really enjoyed getting close to the birds.

Just a few of the parrots that we saw while we were at La Paz

The butterflies would sometimes land right on you for a few minutes!

Gabe loved to touch whatever he could at La Paz

Some of the butterflies were beautiful!  This is the most famous type of Costa Rican butterfly (don't remember the name)

Holding a monkey's hand (now I know what my wife feels like with me all the time!)

The monkeys were very interested in us while we were there.

The largest jungle cat we saw moving around while we were there (the jaguar slept the whole time)

Gabe's favorite part was the cats

We actually got to ride in this!  The oxen pulled us around the circle for a few minutes.





At the first waterfall, before the camera died.

Our group for the day!



The final waterfall, called 'La Paz'



John and I (also known as 'Los Guapos', or 'The Handsome Ones') at the final falls.

Saying goodbye to mom was very difficult for all of us.  Everyone cried, and it made us really miss home.  While we're so blessed to be in Costa Rica, it's hard being away from everyone that we love.  We're so blessed to follow God in this way, and we wouldn't trade it for anything, but there are times where our hearts are heavy with the distance between us and our loved ones.  Keep praying for us, would you?  Pray that Christ will be our first love, our strength and our comfort.  Pray for ways to remain connected with those that we love and care about, and that through the strength of our God and the love of His people, we will persevere here in Costa Rica as we set our eyes on what the Lord has for us afterwards as we head into Mexico!  God bless!

Because it's been too long...

Wow, it has taken me way too long to update everyone on here!  Sometimes here in Costa Rica, it feels like we're in a good rhythm of school, studying, keeping the refrigerator stocked, resting on the weekends, and church.  While it's great to be in our rhythm down here now, sometimes it makes it hard to know what to say!  However, looking back, a lot of things happen even in the rhythm of daily life, so we'll update you just a little on how things are going here in San José.

The past few weeks here have been great.  On the 21st, I celebrated my 30th birthday.  Now, as a general rule, I don't like my birthday that much, but Sara did a great job of inviting some friends from the Institute over to our house and made an awesome cake that looked like a La Liga jersey.  We had a great time, and I felt so blessed to have such great friends here already after leaving behind so many other friends in Casper.  I'm not thrilled about being 30, but I guess I'll survive!

Liga!  Liga!  Liga!

What?  Three whole candles???  I didn't train for this!

Some of the friends that we over for my birthday.  We fit more people and kids in our house than should have fit in a reasonable world, but we had a great time!

School has been going well also.  The learning is hard at times (like finding out how to correctly use 'caer bein' in a sentence!!) but we really do feel like we're making great progress!  This past week was Spiritual Emphasis week at ILE.  Every trimester, they shorten the classes slightly for a week, and have a longer chapel every morning plus another chapel service in the afternoons, along with activities for the children.  This trimester, Jim Keena came from Bozeman, Montana, and preached about Elijah all week.  He did a fantastic job, and we were so blessed by the time in the Word!  We also had a few chances to have lunch with some friends, or to have friends over to our house for some food and fellowship.  We continue to be blown away by how God is blessing us spiritually and with great friends while we're here.

Sara teaching ESL on Wednesday nights

We've also started getting more connected to ministry here as well.  Sara teaches ESL every Wednesday night at a local Christian ministry, and is really loving getting to share her life with local Ticos through this ministry.  I'll be helping with the worship and technology team at the church we're attending here, and the pastor has asked me to take the young worship leader under my wing and teach him, which I'm excited to do (though interested in seeing how that'll work with my limited Spanish at this point).  And, as our Spanish has advanced, I've had more opportunities to share my life and testimony with those around us.  Specifically, I'd love for you to pray for:

• Hector and Margarita: they own a little shop across the street from us, and I've really been trying to know them and find ways to be a blessing to them and their son, Brian, who also lives across the street.
• The other Hector: He lives around the corner, and everyone calls him "the other Hector" or "the older Hector."  He has a barbecue across the street a few times a week, and I'm hoping to get to know better him as well.
• Other random people we encounter:  People like Carlos, who was my cab driver on Thursday that I had a great conversation with, or people like Benjamin, who is from Mexico City, but now lives a few miles south of us here in San José.  I met Benjamin at a soccer match this past Thursday evening, and was so blessed to talk with him for a while.  I don't know if I'll cross paths with either of these men again, but I know that every day I encounter people like them, and we want to be faithful to love them and share Christ at every opportunity.

More teaching on Wednesdays

Other than those things right now, we feel sometimes like we're just working day to day on very small parts of the big picture.  One day, we learn how to use complemento directos correctly, the next day we practice reading the scriptures in Spanish out loud, and then we talk about how to order in a restaurant in Spanish.  Sometimes, it's hard to realize that each of these things, in the future, will be tools that we'll take for granted as we share the Gospel with the people of Mexico.  So, this is a time of preparing, refining, equipping, and sometimes, silence, as we seek to be made ready vessels of God, eager to be poured out for His glory wherever He may send us.  I hope to write more later this week about some of the spiritual battles we're facing here, but for now, it's just a joy to know that God is working in various ways, and that the end result will be His glory and His renown among the nations!

One of the geckos that live in our house sometimes.

The kids are still as cute as ever!