This is my brother

My brother Joe Hanson, wrote this for a school paper. And I am just soooo Proud of him... So i needed to show all who read..


My Handful of Sand
Joe Hanson P. 3
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away” (Anonymous). I have always liked this quote. I thought it would be a good way to begin discussing a few of my grains of sand. One of them is from the second grade when I played baseball for my first year. Another one is from sixth grade when I went to church camp. The last one I discuss is from when I finally went to the junior high. I am proud of every single grain I own, even the bad ones because they are the ones that teach us the most. Everybody has thousands of grains of sand. They are what set people apart from others.
My first grain of sand taught me leadership, athletics, and friendship. In second grade I decided that I wanted to play baseball; so my parents signed me up. That season in baseball was amazing because I met so many friends that I have today. It taught me what I need to do to work hard to accomplish my goals and to not give up. I learned that if I want others to work hard along side me, there are some people that I might need to help along the way. Our team in baseball that year ended up winning the league.
My next grain of sand is when I went to church camp in the summer before seventh grade. I learned so much about my religion then. It taught me a lot about God and faith that I never knew before. Being there has changed me, and the way I act. In my opinion, it has saved my life. I think that this is my most important grain that I have.
The last grain of sand I am going to talk about is when I moved on to seventh grade at the junior high. That year I learned so much about friends and whom I need to trust. Some of the good friends I had in Elementary started to do things I knew weren’t right. Going to junior high really taught me a lot about caring and compassion towards others. I’ve seen some things in the halls that I thought were awful. I never want to be a bully type person. I care a lot towards others, especially towards the kind of kids who get picked on at school. Since junior high I’ve tried hard to be as kind and compassionate to everybody, even the students who I do not know.
Those are the three grains of sand that I am going to share with you. They may not be the best, but they make up a part of who I am. They will stay in my memories for the rest of my life. Some of them are big and some are small but no matter the size, every one of them is important. I am proud of every single grain I own, even the bad ones because they are the ones that teach us the most. Everybody has thousands of grains of sand. They are what set people apart from others.

The LONG Goodbye

We have been sooo busy lately. We are nearing the end of our 2nd trimester here in Costa Rica. Time really does fly.

Andy and I have been having a good time for the most part here in Costa Rica. Spanish is very hard to learn, but we are having small victories with the language. For instance, the pictures of all those kids are from the school that Andy has been teaching at. He goes once a week on Wednesdays to teach children English.. He likes doing, but says they are a little crazy...

The title of this blog is called the long goodbye,,, I titled it that because i am getting ready to say good bye to one of my really good friends here. Her name is Charla Lee. That is a picture of her with her husband, Aaron. She has the white shirt and green tank top on.

It has been a long good bye, because i knew she would be leaving one trimester before me. And we have grown very close over these past weeks..

So, Yes i have shed tears, becuase it is hard to continually leave people you love. First off your family and then your friends.

But, I am not sad!!! I am happy, because I think that God lead me here so we could be friends. Andy and I have met a lot of people who we have become friends with in the last 3 years and I am so thankful!!!

So today i want to share that, i am thankful for all the friends and family in my life. YOU ALL, add so much to my life..

And if you are going through a change in your life remember that God opens doors, and he knows what we need. Right when we need it.

I have needed the friendship that Charla has given to me, many times. And I know that because she is leaving. Does not mean that it will end.

So be encouraged, and open, knowing God provides!!!

This is so cute!!!

My sister told me to watch this video. It is co cute.
But I don't know how to load it from You Tube.
So just watch, it at this site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

It is so cute!

talk to you later.
Chelsea

Time spent with Family is the best!!

Here is some pictures of our vacation, during Holy Week. If you ever visit Latin America. You will learn that the week before Easter is called Semana Santa in Spanish. During that week, most of the people have it off. It is considered a holy time and the people do not work.

We were able to have Andy's Parents come down and visit, during this time. They had never left the country so it was a little vacation from school for us. And a vacation from work in Iowa for them. Here are some of the wonderful pictures from the beaches of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is full of wonderful beaches on both sides, it takes about 5 hours to get to them. But they are well worth it. These are some views from where we stayed. It was gorgeous.


I think the best part of the trip for Andy and I was to be able to spend time with family. My parents and sister and brother will be coming down to visit and I am so thankful. We played a lot of cards and just enjoyed being with one another.
We went into the jungle for a zip line ride, where you ride through the jungle and get to see the canopy. Andy zip lined upsided down, and so did I. Just KIDDING!!
This is one of my favorite pictures. Just Andy and his dad!!

Lastly the picture of God's beautiful creation from our porch... Well, that is about it.
Back to school for us, but this was a wonderful time that i won't soon forget...

Time on the beach

Just spending some really good time with Tom and Norma on the beach here in Costa Rica
I will update with pictures later!
Chelsea

Stressed out!

Ok,
I am feeling a little stressed out.
Their is a list of things piling up that i need to get done.

But I thought instead I would blog..

I read a blog the other day, where the person talked about being content in all situations. Well that has not been me lately. I have been rather Sour to say the least.

SO i am going to only write a list of Pro's. Because although i do have a huge list of con's, my list of negatives is so far less than what it could be and my positve list is very long and could be a lot longer. I need to learn to be content. AND trust me, living over 2000 miles away from your family, friends and people who speak English has made that TOUGH!!!

But I know there are so many others who have it rough. And I need to learn to be content in all situations. With little or with lots, with a car and without a car. Basically this is a lesson I constantly am learning. And surprisingly it has changed, when i moved over seas.. I have become more grateful, but i tend to forget. So i read Phillipians 4:10-13, and i need to write, because it is a way for me to remember!!

Pro's:

Wonderful God who loves me and believes in me, and forgives me!!

Wonderful Husband who loves me and supports me!

Wonderful family who I see frequently on the internet, and Thank God for that.

Nice apartment, that is fully furnished!!

Wonderful Friend, who speaks English, who I run with frequently, and listens to me when I vent.

I am ALIVE! I can see, walk, talk, run, smell, taste, hear!!! I take these for granted every day!

I am healthy, and so is my family!

They have chocolate chips, good milk, good food here and cable t.v. with English Channels!

I will some day be fluent in another language!

The weather is almost perfect every day!

I am an educated woman, who is a registered Nurse.

My family is educated and Alive!!!
I will be going to the beach next week with my mom and dad-in-laws!!!

I am completely blessed beyond my understanding!

So, really my headache is gone, and no more complaining, and I feel happier!

And to top it off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sweet mother is sending samoa cookies with Tom and Norma. SO on Thursday, i will be sinking my teeth into my favorite cookies!! Go Girl Scouts.

MeLiSsA

This is my sister MELISSA.

I thought i would brag on her today. Tell you a little about her personality and fun traits, so here we go. Let's get to know Melissa.

M= Makes you happy just to be around her.

E= Enjoys to laugh with her friends.

L= Listens to you when you have problems.

I= Intelligence far beyond her years, but she stinks at spelling!!

S= She hates asparagus, and loves peanut butter chocolate ice cream!

S= She sees the best in people, even when they don't deserve it.

A= An amazing sister and daughter and friend.

A= Artistic in many ways, and one heck of a cake maker!

N= Not very good at sports, nor does she really care that much about them.

N= Nearly Finished with college, and off to become a teacher..

I am so proud of her, and wish i were more like her.

I love you mish!!

Landlords

Today i feel blessed.

Here are some pictures of our landlords. Sara and Alvaro Chavez.

Andy and I went out for lunch with Sara and Alvaro. Alvaro and I have Birthday's near each other and we thought it would be fun to celebrate together.

Anyway i say all this to say, i have sometimes felt jealous of others. I wish that i could have a home of my own. A place to paint it and have it be exactly how i wish.

Andy and I have lived in apartments for 2.5 years. And i have been feeling sad about not having my own home yet.

But today as we went out with them i felt, happy that God had lead us to them. I feel blessed to know them. Alvaro will be turning 84 this year, and he continually shows me that it is better in life to be kind and giving.

The picture of the tree is one that Alvaro planted in the town square. I think that is one of the coolest things you could leave.

And then i thought, what are the things i want to leave for others to remember. I want to be a kind soul, always willing to give, and love. Trust me i work on this daily.

But to wrap this up, I feel like maybe this is a lesson I needed to learn. That sometimes you are meant to go with out things so that you can learn something more valuable. Alvaro and Sara have added a lot to my life already.

And i think that i have realized something about homes. A home should be a place of sanctuary. A place you can relax and be yourself. I feel like i have lots of homes, some with my family in iowa. And here in San jose. I should not be sad, i have been blessed so much. And i have made a sanctuary here..

So this would be lesson that i have learned, just thought i would share.

p.s. i am blowing the candles out of my cake, in the one picture, that is why i look so corny....

Happy V/B Day

Okay i sort of stink putting
these pictures in order.
But here is some pictures from
the last couple of days. Valentines Day with our friends Aaron and Charla. And my b-day.
We had a fun time, i was thankful

to speak to my family on Skype. And thankful for the new friends we have met here. I read a new saying the other day. Without change their would be no Butterflies. And i feel that is true

It is has been a hard transition at times, and i miss my family EVERYDAY!! But Andy and I's life has been increased by love tremendously. We have made lots of friends and are so thankful.

We went out to a nice restaurant for v-day, and then i had brunch and we went bowling for my birthday. And the best part of all, was that i womped Andy at bowling. My score was 110 and his was 98. And No, he did not go easy on me because it was my birthday!!

Talk to you later.

Word for the day: bowling=== Boliche

Happy Valentine's Day

I found this old picture of Andy and I, on a Valentine's Day outing long ago. I wanted to post it for all you out there in the blogosphere.

I just thought i would wish you all a great Valentines Day, or as they call it here: Dia de la Amistad. OR litterally translated "Friendship Day." I am blessed to love so many people and have so many friends in my life..

We plan on eating out with some friends of ours on Thursday.

Lastly:

In honor of my Grandma Johnson, here is the Valentine's Song she used to sing, i have forgotten a lot of the words but here is a little:

Would you for an apple or a some chewing gum? Would you for a nickle or a Sugar Plum? Would you, Would you, be my VALENTINE?

Have a great day.... Chelsea

Snoop Bloggy Blog

Well, this is the first blog in quite some time...

Andy and I have been quite busy with school, and really not anything that new has happened..

The first pictures are of school. The first one is of Andy and I with our Phonetics Teacher. Her name is Lizbeth, NOT Elizabeth..

I would like to say that I have now succesfully memorized Psalm 121 in SPANISH... Which is sort of hard in ENGLISH..

The next picture is of our class mate Ken Harrell. He is from South Carolina, he is a real nice guy.

The pictures of the houses, are ones that are located outside one of the class rooms in the school.. It is so differently constructed here. They use every inch of space to put houses and it is odd, because their will be a mansion right next too a small little house.

The last picture is of my two girl friends: Charla Lee is on my right and Kelly Darabaris is on my left.. I am so thankful for friends here.. Thank the lord.

To update you on how Spanish is going. It is going pretty good. Andy is doing Awesome. He picks up very quickly. We both feel like we are able to understand about 80% of that which is said. Which is okay. Sometimes, i feel like the teachers take it a little easy with us.

It has been good to come back to Costa Rica. i feel alot less homesick, and i must say our families have been informing us on how the weather is in Iowa. AND i am not missing that!!

It is around 80 degrees every day, with no rain. PERFECT!

We are enjoying school and are very thankful that we are here, we have made life long friendships and that has been a blessing in so many ways.. Right now i look back on the time here and see how i have grown mentally and spiritually. God has been here the whole way.

Before i go, i thought it would be fun to do a Spanish lesson with each blog, to get you readers out there a little more bilingual!

So the word for the day is: FINGERNAILS: Unas de los dedos.. That literally means nails of fingers...

Well that is all for now. To my family reading, I love you and miss you alot.

Adios,,,,

Love Chelsea

IOWA..state of all the land, joined on every hand...

This is the first post in a while.. This is a picture of our HOLIDAY...

I have alot more pictures but of course i forgot to take any pics on Christmas... This is just a snapshot of our lives for the last 3 weeks...

We arrived in good, old, freezing cold, Iowa, on December 15th and now we are back in Costa Rica... We had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend a lot of time with Family and friends... We got to see our two WONDERFUL NEPHEWS.. Jaden who turns 5 very soon, and Ethan, who is going a mile a minute...

Andy and i went and spent New Years Eve with our great friends who are in India, and came home for Christmas... This is a picture of dinner with them... We spent the evening ringing in the new year in Eureka Springs, Missouri.

And i got to hang out with my sister Melissa and brother Joe...

Melissa and I are doing ear candles in the picture.. If you have never done these, leave me a comment and i will tell you how grand they are!!!

Also Andy turned 25 on January 3rd or Iowa Caucus Night.. We had a fun time celebrating. The next night we ate at Buzzard Billy's and boy was it awesome.. He also got to go to a Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling meet with his dad, before we came to Chicago to come to Costa Rica.

Basically we spent the 3 weeks eating and playing games with family... It was very refreshing and we were so happy to go.. We are now starting our 2nd Trimester at school. We have new teachers, and a lot more students have joined us here in San Jose.. It is a good change, it is good to be learning again. A little overwhelming, but good. We are studying and thanking God for the oppurtunity..

We had an amazing Christmas, and i believe it is because we know what the true meaning is and how precious every day is.

So that is what is happening to catch you up to speed.

Christmas is coming soon!!

Just thought I would give a little update, on how things are going here in Costa Rica.

This trimester is winding down, we are ending our classes and getting ready for the new students to arrive.. My classes went really well this trimester and i have learned a lot of Spanish.. I think that i have learned enough to understand what is going on.. and to answer "Si" to every question that i am being asked.... But I am still having a hard time answering..

These are some pictures of the past recent events. A group of us from school went White Water Rafting in Eastern Costa Rica. Due to it being the rainy season, it was a perfect time to go.. We went to a river called Sarapiqui.. Our group with our guide is shown in the picture. We flipped over into the river twice. Once on purpose and the other time, because the river was crazy. It was only 30.00 a person. So very affordable and fun. The other picture is of the river. And the next picture is of the cable rides through the rain forest.. You can kind of see the cable. It was fun, to watch people come into the camp ground place from the air. The cable looks like powerlines, but actually it is what the people ride.. And to my family who is reading, you all will be experiencing a ride through the forest!!!!!!!!!

Lastly this is a picture of the poor state of food, Andy and I put a roast in the oven. I usally put it in the crock pot for like 4 hours with salsa on top. It is quick and easy. So, i thought it would do the same thing if i put it in the oven.. That answer would be a great big NO!!!

Any way, we go home to Iowa for 3 weeks on Friday. We can't wait to see everyone.. And to see snow!

Chelsea

Charlie Brown on ABC

Things I am grateful for... I have mentioned that here in Costa Rica they have ABC, NBC, and CBS... Thank the lord. Because i love the Amazing Race. But tonight i got to see "Charlie Brown Christmas".. It is one of my favorites, not only is the music awesome. But It reminded me how commerical, Christmas gets in our world. Especially if you come to Costa Rica, where Christmas stuff has been up since the beginning of October... Christmas is about Jesus Christ coming to our world, so humbly... So thank you ABC, for the reminder... Also i am so thankful that i get to see my family in 18 days..But who is counting...

That's all for now....

Christmas tree time

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to put up some pictures of our Christmas Tree.. It is 4 feet tall, and very cute. I packed our own ornaments, and our landlord provided this tree.. It sort of looks like a charlie brown tree, but we love it!!!

The next picture is of Andy, i wanted to show you the face that i see so often. This is how he looks while sitting in Phonetics class trying to say some Spanish Phrase, or this is the face he shows when the Hawkeyes are losing!!

Actually, this is just a funny picture and i wanted to put it on our blog.

The last one is of me, on one of the days when it gets cold here. I am trying to stay warm, with laundry that just came out of the dryer.

Anyway, We will be coming home for Christmas on December 14th and we just cant wait...

See you all then. Love Chelsea

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