Ch. . ch. . ch. . changes. . . .

OK, so some big changes are getting ready to happen with the King family. We are super excited to see how God is working and moving. I, personally, have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster!! While very excited to be a part of the OCC family, I am mourning a bit the whole idea of leaving a country and people who have become such a big part of me. Costa Rica will always keep a big piece of my heart, and I plan to visit often!! Here's the official release from the school:

President Matt Proctor ANNOUNCES: DARRIN KING has been hired to serve on our faculty in the areas of MISSIONS, NEW TESTAMENT and GEOGRAPHY. Darrin and his wife Chrissy are both OCC grads and have four children: Zach, Austin, Chloe and Wyatt. After Darrin graduated from OCC in 1992, he and Chrissy moved to Tegucigalpa, Honduras as part of a multi-national church planting team.

Seven years later, they left a thriving young church there in the hands of the nationals and returned to the States, where Darrin served as the Intercultural Minister of Christ's Church of Oronogo, MO., reaching out primarily to the Hispanic community. The Kings returned to Latin America in 2004, where they have been overseeing a multi-national team of missionaries in Costa Rica.

Last year, Darrin completed a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies at Lincoln Christian Seminary. They served recently as missionaries-on-campus here at OCC. Darrin and Chrissy bring a genuine love for the Lord, a heart for God's global mission, an outstanding track record of crosscultural ministry, an energetic connection with students and a desire to train up workers for the harvest field.
They will begin this fall.

WELCOME TO THE CAMPUS - DARRIN and CHRISSY KING

Lady Ise

One of the wonderful things about being a teacher is that I am always learning. As I read, research, prepare for classes, I am always coming upon something new. Sometimes it is practical. . . a new idea to use in classroom management. . . an exercise to teach a concept . . .an illustration that makes clarifies. Other times it is a quote or an author or a poem I had not discovered yet. I love this. It's like stumbling into a room I thought I knew already and finding a treasure chest hidden in the corner. Today's treasure was a female Japanese poet known as Lady Ise. I discovered the following poem:

Field-Burnt Over

My body is like

A field wasted by winter.

If only

I, like the field burnt-over

Awaited the return of spring.

--Lady Ise

I loved this imagery, so began to look around a bit more and discovered these other gems of Asian poetry:

I Have Always Known

I have always known

That at last I would

Take this road, but yesterday

I did not know that it would be today

--Ariwara no Narihira

Not Speaking Of The Way

Not speaking of the way

Not thinking of what comes after,

Not questioning name or fame,

Here, loving love,

You and I look at each other.

--Akiko Yosano

Why Should I Be Bitter

Why should I be bitter

About someone who was

A complete stanger

Until a certain moment

In a day that has passed

--Saigyo Hoshi

Just thought I would share my treasures of the day!

Enjoy

January 2012

2012. . . . 12 pictures to summarize January. (My goal is to do this for each month. . .we'll see how I do!!)

Click on the collage to see it bigger.

Here are the captions starting at the top left and moving left to right!

1) Mom and Dad came to visit over New Year's! This picture is taken at the beach town of Puntarenas.

2) The 6 Kings on Zach's 18th Birthday!

3) First day back to school for 2012!

4) Zach smiling with his 18 candles and double chocolate cake!! (who wouldn't smile at that!!)

5) Tia and Tara Reilly came back to Sojourn with a group from their US school!!

6) Mmmm, a morning tradition. . . a big cup of Costa Rican coffee in my favorite mug!

7) My gang. . our first family picture in 2012 at the beach in Puntarenas

8) The 5th anniversary of our church in Tres Rios

9) Ahmet came back to visit for the anniversary! So good to see him again!!

10) Happy birthday to my sweet, sweet friend Carolina!!

11) Happy New Year!! Welcome 2012

12) Quite possibly my favorite picture of the month. My sweet Wyatt and I!!

We're baaaack!

We are back home in Costa Rica and are finally unpacked and settled (more or less) into our home here!! I will try and take pics soon!! In the meantime, a pic of the new teenager with Mom:

And a few photos of our recent trip to Santa Maria de Dota. Such a beautiful little town tucked into the valley. I love all the different churches in each town here and always try to take a picture when we are traveling. Here is the one in Santa Maria.
I also love all the old homes and the bright colors one finds around here. Case in point, below, I love the rusting tin roof, the little diamond window in that peak, the wooden house boards:

and the sweet iron turquoise gate in front of the house.

I'll try to update soon with some house pics.

Family Photo

One of the few things I put on a "must-do" list for while we were back in the US was to get a good family photo taken!! And of course, we are in our last few weeks here and no family photo has been taken!! I gave up on hiring a professional, but I still wanted something! So today my sister-in-law was brave enough to go out in the 100+ degree heat to humor me and get a few photos in!! I'm so glad we did!! Here is my favorite!!

I love looking back at old pictures and seeing how the kids have changed and reminiscing about where and when the picture was taken. I am so glad we captured us now--- Zach getting ready to start his senior year; on campus at OCC after our semester here; in the heat of the summer; all together. I guess I can check it off my list now! (and thanks to April!)

And of course, I needed one jumping picture to celebrate!

Spring Break

Well, last week was Spring Break here at the college where we are working/living. We had planned a family vacation to Florida during the week. . . a chance to get a way together, go to the beach again with stop and the way there and back to see some dear friends in AL.

However, the week before spring break, Darrin was playing basketball and came down wrong on his foot. . . . . after many ice packs, x-rays, a doctor visit, lots of ibuprofen and a walking brace, we came to realize that a 20 hour trip (each way) in the car wasn't really very realistic for us anymore.

So we sent sad e-mails to the friends we had hoped to see, and then tried to find something closer to home to do for a couple days. The compromise was a few days at a local lake. Only a couple hours in the car. . . . and only a couple days away. But so much better than nothing!!

Here is a pic of the house where we stayed (the middle one). It was early for lake season and so we were the only ones around this little area. The other houses were empty over the weekend so we felt like we had our own private get-a-way spot. (I am sure the atmosphere is a little different in July!!)

In front of the house, was our own privat boat slip which we all used to fish off of!! It was great for sitting out and getting some sun too. (The first two days were hot with sun --80 on Monday! But after that it got colder and colder and on Wednesday, we were bundled up to go outside!)
Darrin and the boys fishing off the deck!
Zach had some good faces to go along with his catches:
My favorite:
Austin enjoying the early morning sun:
Darrin trying to make the best of it. . . .
Wyatt has some small catches, but was quite proud as you can see!!
Chloe enjoys fishing as much as her brothers!

We came home on Wednesday night so we could rest up a few more days at the house. Darrin is finally able to get a real shoe over his foot, but it still hurts a lot. Hoping he is feeling better soon! Hope you are all well!!

Winter blues

Well, if you live anywhere near the midwest of the US, you know we picked one doozy of a winter to be home for. I think we had 30+ inches of snow in Jan and Feb -- which is so much more than normal!! The local schools were cancelled for two entire weeks! I think that Valentine's day was the first day of school they had for the month of Feb. Crazy around here. . It didn't last forever--even though some days it felt like it would!

Here is a snowman that is fading fast. . . it was built on one of the days that it was finally warming up and had a short lived life! :o) (but he was well loved!)

Shoveling a path to our front door after a snow. . .
Snow, snow everywhere. . .
even on Rangeline. If you're not from around here, Rangeline Road is one of the main roads with the busiest traffic in Joplin. This was taken three days after the big snow and it still wasn't clear. Amazing. . .

And three days after the big snow, we made it to Wal-Mart and this is what the bread section looked like. Like I said, Amazing!!
But the good news it that is over. While we still had a little snow this weekend (crazy!), the grass is starting to turn green. . . . . a few trees are budding out. . . and we are hopeful for spring!! So what else have we been up to . . . here a few more photos!

Getting ready to go out to eat for Valentine's Day!!

Zach has a job now!! Doesn't he look all grown up!!
He works at a great donut/coffee shop called College Station!
Here is a picture with all of my brothers and sisters! It's fun to get to see a bit more of them!

In March, the younger kids and I made a quick trip to IL to celebrate my Grandma's 93rd Birthday!! Here are Chloe and I at the party!! (and yes, I did cut my hair!)

My sweet, 93 year old Grandma!! Love her!!

The snow days made us a little stir crazy, and this was my idea for fun:

You can tell the kids were loving it!! ha!!

We are here:

Yep, we are "Missionaries On Campus" this semester at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri.

Our family is living in the large house on campus built just for missionaries like us:


Darrin is teaching a course on Latin American Missions and a seminar on Music and Missions as well as finishing up his thesis for his Master's degree. So he is busy.

I am trying to teach my four kiddos and not freeze to death in the cold Midwest winter (after being spoiled and living in warm Costa Rica the past six years!)

We are doing well and are blessed, but I'd be lying if I didn't confess to missing this many days:

(a typical CR street -- this one in SF2R, close to Parque Okayama)

or this:

(our church in Tres Rios)

and certainly this:

(beach in Esterillos)

Costa Rica has a way of becoming part of you!! Pura Vida!