Tag: Beautiful

Costa Rica Wild

February 2016 found my husband and I vacationing in Costa Rica with friends. This was the first trip the 6 of us had taken together, but I hope it’s not the last. Gene and Marilyn planned the trip and they couldn’t have picked a better get away. Tim and Kelly, as well as Bill and I, jumped at the chance to join them because we all love adventure. And, well, I’ll pretty much go anywhere with Marilyn. It was awesome for the six of us to enjoy so much time together relaxing and exploring. Costa Rica is known to be the country with more monkeys than humans. And oh man, saw a crazy number of monkeys!

  • Howler monkey
  • Capuchin (White face) monkey

I grew up in the Midwest where it is common to see black squirrels in the trees, in the yard, running long the fence tops, or just about everywhere else outside. Once, while sitting on the back porch, I watched as squirrels carried nuts from the backyard through the clothes dryer vent and into the vacant house next store. The homeowner later found that the squirrels had filled a hall closet half full of walnuts. Evidently they were planning to winter in this nice three bedroom home!

  • Black squirrel in Iowa eating a black walnut

I know about squirrels, but monkeys-nope. I have to say that seeing monkeys up close, without a zoo cage between us, was a new experience for me. And it was fascinating. Still, I refer to the experience by saying that Costa Rica has monkeys like Iowa has squirrels-they are all over the place!


Costa Rica has four types of monkeys: Howler, Capuchin (White face), Squirrel and Spider monkeys. I believe we only saw the Howler and the Capuchin monkeys. The Capuchins were so fun to watch. They were very playful with each other, and rumor has it that they can be mischievous, as well. We stayed at the Conchal Hotel in Playa Brasilito, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. This boutique hotel was charming. The rooms featured local decor and were always spotless. The pool was refreshing. The restaurant was the best in town, featuring seafood and tasty umbrella drinks. I highly recommend it. The owners were ever-present and offered a treasure trove of local information. Including that they had recently reroofed the restaurant and trimmed back the trees. Previous to this, the monkeys would wait on the rooftop, watch the guests in the pool, and jump down to steal away their belongings if left unattended too long!

  • Conchal Hotel pool
  • Conchal Hotel restaurant

Another animal we saw was not nearly was fun to watch….

Costa Rica is home to 600 types of birds. Not the kinds of birds I grew up seeing in the Midwest; Costa Rica has big colorful birds. Some pretty birds even like to get up close and personal:

  • Bill making friends with a parrot
  • I think they are friends now
  • Marilyn’s new friend
  • I think the parrot is eyeing Tim’s glasses

The local children are skilled at sighting wild Macaws. One hot afternoon, we even paid a child 50 cents for pointing one out to us. I don’t have a picture of it, and I can’t swear that I really even saw it, I only know for sure that Costa Rica has beautiful Macaws and that we paid to see one!

The six of us enjoyed our fair share of beach time. Marilyn learned to snorkel on this trip. Then she proceeded to search for local fish, dolphin, sea turtles and humpback whales!

  • Bill encouraging Marilyn to snorkel
  • Marilyn, tell us if you see a shark
  • Brasilito Beach

I will forever remember this beach as the beach where Kelly refused to get off the massage table. You see, every day two local entrepreneurs walked back and forth advertising massages. Ten dollars for 30 minutes, twenty dollars for an hour. I went every day for a twenty dollar massage and thoroughly enjoyed every relaxing minute of it. I kept asking Marilyn and Kelly to join me, but they kept declining. About day four, Kelly finally decided that she would do a 30 minute massage for ten dollars. On massage tables next to each other, I closed my eyes readying for an hour of luxury. Thirty minutes later Kelly’s beach massage lady gently told her that her massage was over. No movement and no sound from Kelly. A few moments later the kind lady again reminded Kelly that her time was up. No movement and no sound from Kelly. I didn’t want to interfere, but I began thinking to myself “oh man, Kelly isn’t going to get off that table”! After the third reminder, Kelly finally announced that she would be staying for the full hour! I cracked up! I knew it! I mean, seriously, who doesn’t want a full hour massage on the beach?

The sweet fellowship of breaking bread together with friends is always a blessing.

  • Wait…Did I mean …
  • eating sugar cane in the field?
  • I really meant dinner at Papayas, Conchal Hotel

And of course, all evenings ended with a beautiful sunset. I am thankful for great times with cherished friends. What are you thankful for today?

Mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea. Who knew it was so beautiful?

Have you ever come to a time in your life when you wish you would have paid better attention in History class, or Geography? February 2020 was one of those times for me. I traveled to Israel with a group from my church. (I didn’t know I was going to have to ride a camel!)

2020 Lifespring Church Pilgrimage to Israel, together with our tour guide, Johnny

Oh, man, I saw so much and learned so much on that trip. (Including that the Mediterranean diet is short on french fries!) I have to admit that I had never even heard of Qumran, the Bedouin, or the Essenes. I had, of course, heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but I didn’t know that they are ancient fragments of the Old Testament, thought to have been written between 150 B.C. and 70 A.D. by the Essenes. The Essenes were a small group of devout Jews who lived in Qumran, northwest of the Dead Sea, and dedicated themselves to copying Scripture.

Our tour guide, Johnny, in the Scribes’ Room, telling us about the Essenes
  • This poor goat looks lost
  • A cave in Qumran where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered

In 1946, while tending his livestock in the desert near Qumran, a Bedouin teenager threw a stone into a cave and heard something shatter. The Bedouin people are Arabs, traditionally desert nomads in what is now referred to as the Middle East. Preferring to conserve their historic way of life, they still maintain their own communities, religious beliefs, and style of dress. They work their land and raise livestock-mainly sheep, goats and camels. I can only imagine the day-to-day life of herding livestock in the desert, so hearing that shattering sound in the cave had to have piqued the interest of the teenage boy. A mystery! Solving the mystery of the shattering sound in the cave had to have ignited an exciting and irresistible quest. Then to find that it was just an old clay jar full of broken tablets. Ahhh…boring. Poor kid! I’m sure he was hoping for something really good, not realizing that he had just stumbled upon the greatest archeological find of the 20th century, and arguably the most significant find in of all of history.

Replicas of the clay jars in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered

Within ten years, thousands of additional fragments were discovered. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain fragments of all of the Old Testament books of the Bible except Esther and Nehemiah. The Book of Isaiah was found in its entirety. The scrolls also contain previously unknown hymns, prayers, and other glimpses into the lives of the early Jewish people, including the time period when Jesus Christ walked the earth.

Despite what may have been a disappointing find to the Bedouin teen, the Dead Sea Scrolls are priceless. Careful study of the scrolls have proven that the Bible I read today is essentially word-for-word what was copied by the Essenes. The great care they took to preserve and protect these scrolls, for what turned out to be over 2000 years, shows that they believed them to be the inspired World of God.

More caves in Qumran where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered

Today, you can see many of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem, or in the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. National Geographic has also published many of the scrolls online.

The Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem

I am blessed to have seen parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls up close and personal at the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. And I’m forever grateful to everyone who played even a small part in preserving and presenting the Word of God to me in any of its forms.

My friend, Susan, and I overlooking the Dead Sea. I’m thankful for the beautiful Christian walk she models. Oh, plus, she’s fun!

I would consider it a privilege to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with you. Please contact me if you’d like to chat.