Where's the Easter Bunny?

We are enjoying our first Easter season without any sign of the Easter Bunny! There are no colorful eggs, no baskets, no "peeps" and no Peter Cottontail! Here in Central America, this very catholic culture takes Semana Santa (Holy Week) very seriously. Unfortunately much of their celebrating and formalities are in vain without Jesus in their lives.

The picture above is of the main intersection near our house... what's missing? Cars are missing! This calle principal (main road) is normally jammed with cars going to and from San Jose...buses, taxis, cars, motorcycles...all missing! They are missing because everything here has been closed since Thursday...everything, that is, except Hiper Mas (WalMart) who evidently thinks they can come to Central America and buck all of the cultural norms here and stay open. We have really enjoyed the complete lack of commercialism of Easter week and it has been a wonderful time of relaxation and rest for our family. Most Costa Ricans are part of a mass-exodus throughout the week (starting last Friday) to the beaches on both coasts of Costa Rica. We were fortunate to be able to exodus right along with them last Friday and visit the Carribean Coast in a small town called Punta Uva.

We travelled with other students, the Penner Family from Kansas, to a motel on a beautiful and very secluded section of beach that was miles long. We felt like we were on Gilligan's Island for a few days! This was a much-needed break from Spanish and from the city. We are back now and asking ourselves why the Spanish Language Institute could not have chosen Punta Uva to establish their facilities.

The children enjoyed snorkeling the reef in front of our motel. We saw an octopus, many beautiful fish, a sea turtle (just like in Nemo) and many interesting other ocean creatures. The kids also learned all about coconuts and picked their own and with the help of a Costa Rican boy were able to hack into them and enjoy them. Jay Jay helped them with the coconuts and became their friend for the time we were here...he was a really intelligent boy that could speak English, German and Spanish!

We returned home on Wednesday and have been studying, relaxing and preparing for Brody's third birthday this Saturday. We have several of his classmates coming over today to enjoy a piñata, cupcakes and maybe a run through the sprinkler in our back yard. Brody is very excited and we will post some pictures later today of his party. His passion is matchbox cars and he especially wanted some "racecars"! Thank you Nana, Grampa and Noni for your gifts... he will love them!

Happy Easter to you all and we hope you can make Jesus the center of all your celebrating this weekend! Apart from Him, all you'd have are a bunch of bunnies, colorful eggs and Peter Cottontail. Our prayers are with all those who have yet to count on Jesus as their Savior and enjoy life in His service.