Why We're Here

We work/volunteer/serve at place called the Abraham Project which is located just outside of San Jose, Costa Rica.  Their main purpose is to serve orphans and underprivileged children in the surrounding community, among many other things.  They operate two amazing Children’s Homes for abandoned children.  They have a daycare that now serves over 150 kids from the neighborhood.  They have a thriving church…We felt a ‘call’ to come down and serve at the Project for the past eight years after meeting Steve and Georgiana Thomas, the Children’s Homes Directors, when we were down here studying Spanish in 2004.  They are awesome people.  They love Jesus.  And they love kids.  The Project was doing amazing work eight years ago and continues to do so.  

Both Joe and I have kept journals over the years and many entries over the past eight years spoke of the possibility of moving here.  Finally, the details of our life aligned and we made the decision to move down, after a brief ‘scouting’ trip to San Jose in October of 2010 to see if it was the right time/right place.  The Project was/is at a crossroads where they have acquired more land and plan to build four more children's home in addition to the two current ones.  After 14 years of being a smaller organization, they entering a period of growth.  This next period of planning and building is being called Phase II.  On our scouting trip, we felt that we could use our skills and experience (i.e. fundraising, marketing, etc.) to help them enter into this next Phase.  So after eight years of thinking about moving here, it finally was the right time.  After this initial trip, we spent a year preparing, and the next October (2011) we arrived in Costa Rica with nine huge bags, our daughter Kate, and our scared-out-of-his-mind cat Fernando (who was already bilingual of course).

As far as precisely describing the work we’re doing here, well, we’re still figuring it out because we're in the first year.  We came down with some ideas of how we could support the Thomas’s and the Project to move into Phase II.  On the ‘ground’, things look different from the ‘air’, so with our ideas and goals held loosely, we are being open to the more precise purpose of what God has us here for.  And even more than that, as often is the case when serving anywhere, for any length of time, is what God has for us here.  You can read about all the things God is teaching us in the blog.

For now, along with studying Spanish, we are acting as consultants more or less to better equip the organization to enter this next Phase…. Offering suggestions on the best way to raise money, the best way to grow, the best way to get the word out on the amazing work that God is doing here. In essence, we are trying to help them move from a small organization to a bigger one.  So that more kids who need a safe and loving home can be served.  Loved.  Protected.  And maybe even Adopted.  That’s it.  That’s why we’re here folks.

You can read more about the Abraham Project at www.abrahamproject.org.