Tag Archives: Firsts

WWJD?

15 Nov

WWJD?  Probably not what I did.  I didn’t make an instant move, though.  I thought it through and the end result was what I hoped was right.  It’s all about these sandals.  They’re Kyah’s.  She took them off at Kidspoint a couple of weeks ago and we never saw them again.  Then, Cristel came to our house to play and I noticed them on her feet.  I asked where she got them and she just looked at me like a deer in the headlights of a 4×4.  Her sister spoke up and said they were a gift from her aunt, while at the same time, several other girls began to rat her out.  I was conflicted.  I felt that if I let her keep them, even though she knew that I knew they weren’t her shoes, I was reinforcing the negative behavior.  So, I grabbed her by the foot, yanked the shoes off, and she took off crying and running for home.  Not really.  Well, she did take off for home with big crocodile tears, but I politely asked her for them back because they weren’t her shoes.  I’m so mean.  Writing this makes me feel guilty.  I wish I had a pair of sandals that are actually her size to give her.  I just couldn’t gift her something that was stolen.  What would you have done?

A venture to Panama

9 Nov

Took a trip down to Panama with the fam for our 90 day exit.  We weren’t supposed to have to do this again, BUT our lawyer apparently doesn’t care about our plans, sucky mode of transportation, or rapidly decreasing funds, so we took off for the border and tried to make the most of it.

Yummy lunch at a little soda in southern Costa Rica.

Frenchy made the trip with us.  I’m still not entirely sure she was allowed to cross w/o some form of paperwork, but since she’s only 2 pounds, I shoved her in my bag and never let them see her.  She’s a pretty chill dog, so that helps.

This was Frenchy’s spot for many, many hours.

We made the trip with only a couple of backpacks.  There’s a lot you can do without for 3 days.  Kyah is such a great traveler, we often take it for granted.  Once we made it to David and checked into our hotel we just let her run around.  She and Frenchy were stoked to get rid of a little extra energy.

The lady at the front desk upgraded us to a room with a fridge free of charge. This room ended up being the size of a studio apartment. It was huge!  We had to stop and just thank God for all the ways he blesses us daily.
Thanks, Panama, for displaying the freakiest mannequin I’ve ever seen.

A little friendly competition between Big Daddy and Ky.

She had to knock her cups over and he had to hit the middle one and make the top fall into the bottom…and he still won!

     

We decided to take Ky to the circus one night.  Big Daddy ended up being the star of the show.  He didn’t get selected to go into the center ring for one act….nope.  He was picked for two!  Although there were clearly signs posted saying “No Video Recorders” (in Spanish of course), I played dumb and caught the whole thing on video.

            

There was a huge park across the street from our hotel, so when it wasn’t raining, we were there.

I love my little social butterfly.  She finds a friend wherever we are.   Such a blessing since we are often in different areas with new people.

Ok, girls, hear me on this one.  Cody just didn’t understand.  Kyah needed to use the restroom so we found a great little spot.  She went in, tinkled, and then kept insisting she needed toilet paper.  I told her to just grab some and she informed me there wasn’t any.  I checked the next stall and there wasn’t even a toilet paper holder.  After checking all the stalls, I told her to wait and headed out to ask Big Daddy to check the guys restroom and noticed this right by the exit door.  What in the world?  So apparently you are supposed to get your tp upon entering the restroom.  I’m still dumbfounded by this.  Only in Panama.

On our way home.  Thankful for the BEST travel buddies.

tHe TeRrIbLe, HoRrIbLe, No GoOd, VeRy BaD dAy

8 Sep

Almost 2 months ago we bought our little girl a bunny.  Kyah named her Honey Pie Pony while we were still at the feed store. They were inseparable.  Then the bunny died.  There’s no pretty way to say it.  She got sick, we took her to the vet, and a few hours later she died.  It was awful.  Kyah painted her a box “like a rainbow” and placed her inside.  Tears flowed. Big Daddy dug a hole under the banana trees.  When the time came to put the box in the hole, she couldn’t do it.  She shook her sweet little head and just sobbed. She took Honey Pie Pony back out of the box and just held her tight.  Kyah loved pulling the bunny’s little mouth apart to look at her teeth and she tried several times, but they wouldn’t budge.  She was convinced Honey Pie was okay because her eyes were open.  It was just terrible.  We finally finished burying her and Kyah requested to go speak with her friend, Elias.  She wanted to tell him about her bunny.  When we got home it was raining.  After a brief convo between Big Daddy and Kyah, my little bit went to her room, put on her rainboots, got a spoon, and walked outside.  I asked her what she was doing and she said daddy told her that Honey Pie wasn’t sick anymore, so she was going to get her because she wanted to hold her.  It broke my heart.  I told her the only thing I knew to say, that Honey Pie had gone to Heaven.  She replied with “She didn’t go to Heaven mommy, she’s over there. Can I go get her?”  She cried herself to sleep that night telling me “Jesus doesn’t love me that much anymore” and “I just miss my bunny”.

The next morning was our Kid’s Club.  While Cody and I were shuffling stuff across the street to the plaza, I noticed Kyah in the backyard with a couple friends, shovel in hand, digging up Honey Pie Pony.  I rushed over to see what she was doing and to spare her from the “reality” she might discover.  She looked at me with the most sincere eyes and said “Mom, I’m just going to show them that Honey Pie isn’t in her box anymore because she went to Heaven.”

We began discussing what to do next and she decided she would like another bunny.  She was set on getting another black bunny with a white nose.  I asked her what she would name it and she quickly said “Honey Pie Pony”.  Then she began sobbing and told me “I just miss my bunny”.  This kind of parenting isn’t very fun.  I hate to see my baby girl suffer.  Please pray for her precious heart.

WWJD?

7 Sep

Remember this?

Or this?

Or this?

WWJD was huge in the 90s.  It served as reminder for us to always let our actions demonstrate the love of Jesus.  Once in a while, when I find myself in a situation that I’m not quite sure how to handle, I ask myself WWJD.  It usually makes the outcome a whole lot nicer then it would have been otherwise.

So, here’s my new predicament.  7 weeks ago we adopted some chickens.  They eat a lot, poop a lot, and provide us with one of our staples.  The first several weeks we would get 2 or 3 eggs a day.  One of our little ladies hasn’t quite reached the age of maturity that allows her to birth an egg daily.  So, we went from getting 2 or 3 daily to 1 every 3 days to none..  It was a little strange to me, but I have read up that chickens have cycles just like women and I attributed the lack of eggs to that.  Until…I was making dinner one night and looked outside to see our neighbor boys poking around our chicken coop.  I sat out to do a little detective work.  I didn’t want to believe it, so I sat a trap.  I checked for eggs right before we left home for Kidzpoint and saw that there was an egg.  When we returned it was gone.  I did it again, a different day.  Same result.  The only neighbors that live close to us are these two little boys and their family.  They are poor.  Not like, “Aww, that’s sad, let’s buy them some tennis shoes.” Nope. Seriously poor, where they come over and ask for water because they are thirsty.

It’s not that I don’t want to share my eggs, but they are stealing them.  If they will steal eggs what else will they steal? I want to have that “mommy talk” with them about stealing and how wrong it is, but I believe their mom is telling them to come see what they can get.   They have flat-out let us know they are not believers and the last thing I want to do is put a wall up over some silly eggs.  Jennifer (the mom) brought us over 3 ears of corn a couple of nights ago and when I returned the bowl to her the next day it was full of eggs.  I told her we wanted to share them with her and that I was sorry we didn’t have more to share, but someone had been stealing them from us.  She immediately blamed the animals at night, which I might buy that excuse, except that it’s completely enclosed and I’m not sure an animal could get to them.  Nevertheless, we did the “Tico kiss” and my eggs have stayed put ever since.  I know eggs are a special treat, especially to the poor (it costs around $5 for a dozen and 1/4 of eggs), so I feel kinda guilty about it. However, I don’t want the boys to grow up thinking stealing is alright.

I’m hoping this is what Jesus would do.  I just want to love like Christ.  Besides, my chicken fried steak butt will thank me for eating a little less.

Please pray for these sweet boys and their parents.  We spend hours with them a day and I know, with Christ’s help, we can have a positive impact in their lives.

Little Carlos

Sweet Nawel

Good morning, Knutson family!

23 Aug

I’m not sure why it took a Kansas girl moving to Costa Rica to become a chicken farmer, but I have arrived.  We are the proud parents to 4 little chickens.  They have been named Orzo, Oreo, Chicken, and Noodles.  A couple of them lay little pinkish eggs that are delightfully cute.  We also have a lil’ momma that’s pumping out white eggs.  If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know that white eggs are not so easy to come by around Easter egg dying time, so we’re pretty stoked.
Check out the fancy little chicken coop my hunky man put together.

Cody is the Ty Pennington of chicken coops. This was made by combining the old coop we inherited with stuff we had around.

Do you know what you’re actually eating when you scramble up some eggs?  I did a little research on exactly how eggs are formed inside the womb of a chicken and let’s just say, I really wish I hadn’t.

We’ve also added a bunny to the Knutson house. Kyah is a daddy’s girl times a jizillion. Her killer smile and little-bitty button nose can win him over in a Costa-Rican minute.

Kyah and Honey Pie Pony

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