Saturday and Sunday - Week 1

What a difference a day (or two) makes!  No doubt all of your prayers have been heard by God!  Carolyn began to feel better on Saturday and by today even more so.  All it takes is for me to see that beautiful smile of hers and my spirits are lifted immediately! 

I´ve got several pictures to post this time so here we go...

Here she is just a few hours ago feeling good and relaxing in bed with a few new cookbooks on cooking "Tico" which is slang for Costa Rican style...

This was yesterday in downtown San Jose.  This was an off the beaten path row of small vendors.  They sold everything from jewelry to hats to keychains to tablecloths to sarapes to shoes.  Did I mention the  painted and framed parrot feathers?  There were little scenic paintings on all different sized feathers - some were quite good!  We would have never found this place if it weren´t for a local who has become a good friend - Ramon the tour guidè/taxi driver.  He works at the front of the Cristina Hotel and we are so happy to have met him.  He is very fond of the local saying "Pura Vida!"  = Pure Life!  It´s a popular greeting here in Costa Rica and I like it.

There are really poor section in San Jose but there seems to be a majority middle class as evidenced by the splendid malls.  This one called the MultiPlaza makes our Brea Mall or even South Coast Plaza look tiny!

We made a trip to the MultiPlaza so Sean could check out the Apple Store.  Unfortunately there were no iPads in Costa Rica yet...    That was enough for Saturday and we headed home.  We made plans with Ramon to take us to the Cafe Brit coffee plantation on Sunday where they give tours of there beautiful gardens and coffee bean processing facilities.

Here we are at the end of the tour finishing up lunch and chatting with Ramon.

Another view of the cafe - It was very beautiful out of doors and under the bamboo covered ceilings...

This is a view right outside the cafe... the rain would pour down for about ten or fifteen minutes at a time and then stop.  Very relaxing!

Here´s one of the exhibits of the various stages of the coffe plants...  With all the information they gave to us I can be a first class coffee snob!  Those bitter Starbucks beans are highly overrated! 

Any way you turned on this tour was a treat to your senses!  We learned that the coffe plant is related to the Gardenia and the plants bloom only two or three days per year.  Can you believe they were in full bloom today?!!  What a delicious treat!

Carolyn couldn´t believe the color of this buganvilia!  This shot is for her....

This is hard to describe... the tour was informative and very entertaining... with a mock wedding and much more!  Here they asked for a volunteer to be the Maid of Honor and our very own "Meema" was chosen to play the part!  It was all quite fun and I was just enjoying the fact that Carolyn was able to sit without pain and smile... 

I´d like to end todays post with an encouraging report.  Carolyn said that her right hand had more feeling in it today than it has in a very long time...  We have heard from others who have responded well to the treatment that one of the first signs of improvement is the numbness leaving their hands and feet.  It´s a small thing - but then again maybe not.  Full of faith and hope we move forward.

Tomorrow is the first day of a hard week of treatment.  Physical therapy every day with three more intrathecal injections on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - as well as two intraveneous injections on Wednesday and Friday.  The intraveneous injections will deliver the fat-derived stem cells to Carolyn´s blood stream.  Please pray that these stem-cells will set her immune system back to a healthy mode.  In addition, please pray for the strength to endure three of the intrathecal injections in one week especially since we leave at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning for the airport.  We will need God´s strength.

Blessings to you all,

Eric and Carolyn