The Hand Of God

Hola from Costa Rica.

We have had a wonderful day of sightseeing, although the endless rain made for a very soggy adventure. We traveled to the Poaz Volcano and on the way, saw a working ox cart on the side of the road. As all good tourists do, we stopped and piled out of the van armed with camaras. The man who owned the cart scooped up the kids and put them on the back of the ox and encouraged us to take pictures. He also wanted his picture made with the kids. The ox cart's here are beautifully hand-painted and this one was being loaded with banana leaves to feed livestock. We also stopped to view a coffee plantation from the side of the road and picked a few coffee beans. They are green right now and won't be harvested until December or January.

At the volcano, we walked up a path to the edge of the crater. The entire volcano was covered in fog and it looked like you were looking into nothingness. If you waited patiently, however, the clouds would periodically clear for a moment and you could view the volcano. At the center of the crater was a pool of water and you could see the steam rising and smell the sulfurous gases. Around the pool of water it was black from old lava flows. On our way back down the path from the volcano, the sky opened up and it poured. We were soaked. I bought Dennis a sweatshirt in the gift shop so that he wouldn’t get chilled. He hadn’t worn any kind of jacket, so he was soaked through. The rest of us had jackets on, so our shirts were fairly dry, but we spent the rest of the day in wet shorts and shoes. It rained all day anyway and it would have been impossible to keep dry.

After the volcano, we ate lunch at a quaint restaurant. The food was inexpensive and wonderful and the service was great. They had a unique way of making coffee that you will have to check out on our pictures. We all had milkshakes to top off our meal and they were delicious! The restaurant also had a curio shop and Madi and Nate found carved wooden crocodiles to bring home. Grandpa & G.G. as well as Dennis & I chose to bring home a Costa Rican coffee maker. Later, all the kids would stand in the rain to buy stuffed monkeys that were wearing Costa Rica t-shirts. The arms Velcro and they are having great fun dropping them from the 5th floor stair well and then going to retrieve them at the bottom.

After drying off a little at the restaurant, we went to view some spectacular waterfalls. The first one was right next to the road and you could walk behind it. The sheer force of the water was amazing. The next waterfall could be viewed from an open-air building that had hung hummingbird feeders. We saw a variety of hummingbirds as well as tropical plants and flowers. On the way home we stopped and bought a bag of strawberries that are grown on the side of the mountain. They have already been eaten. Very delicious.

You can view our pictures - which are worth more than anything I could write – at the link below. If you click on the first picture, you can easily navigate from one picture to another. This is faster than the slide show. I also put them in a different album (Costa Rica 2) so that you wouldn't have to sort through the first set of pics to get to the new ones.

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=244219997/a=145215257/t_=145215257

Today we witnessed the creative power of our amazing God who spoke these incredible works of art into existence. We are also witnessing His healing power in Dennis' life . Dennis now has the ability to squeeze my hand - hard. He couldn't even apply pressure before. He can also outstretch his arm - something you have to do to shut the car door or push the Happy Hour button at Sonic! (He always reached across with his right hand before.) It is miraculous, almost unbelievable. All day we have been saying, "Squeeze my hand!" It's like the Daddy talent show.

The same Hand that created all of the beauty we witnessed today is reaching down to heal Dennis' body. We are humbled by the awesome love God has for us - for all of us, rich or poor, tico or gringo - we have nothing to offer Him but ourselves and that is all He wants.

Amazing Love, how can it be, that you, my King, would die for me. Amazing Love, I know it's true, and it's my joy to honor you. In all I do, to honor you.

Our cup overflows,
The Trammell Family