by Tamara
Well, today is January 1st...and it has been quite a beginning to the new year! When I went for my morning run, I got in about 1.5 miles and had to quit. I had the WORST shin splints of my life! I don't know if it was from running in the sand the other day or what's going on. What I do know is they hurt like crazy! (Guess that I am sidelined for a bit!) I had to walk back the ENTIRE way. During the walk back, it dawned on me that God knows what I need better than I do. By not running and worrying about my "time", I was able to slow down and "smell the roses". Instead of running on the beach, I had decided to run through town. Everything was just starting to wake up. Mostly, it was just the locals doing what locals do...grocery shopping, going to work, grabbing some breakfast, etc. I felt so privileged to be a part of it! Imagine, if I had have been running, I would have missed all of it, especially this sidewalk:
So, the girls got way too much sun today! (I promise that we coated them down with sunscreen NUMEROUS times, Judy!) Anywho, we needed to get out of the sun so we decided to go horseback riding. We were told by the guy at the front desk that the ride consisted of riding into the jungle where we could see monkeys and macaws, and possibly ending on the beach at sunset. Sounds perfect, right? Here are the girls at the beginning of the ride:
Well...about 30 seconds after this picture was taken, we started up the hill into the jungle. The guide sent the girls in front of us all. Some wildlife spooked their horses and BOTH of the girls' horses reared up. Lexie was able to hold on and, by doing so, caused her horse to stop. Lauren didn't have the same luck. She was thrown from her horse!
Now, all of you know that the Ludlams can't go on vacation without visiting the local ER! The only difference this time is that it wasn't Mo in the ER!!! Needlessly to say, 7 hours and THREE hospitals later, this is what she looked like:
Luckily, it was just a broken arm and LOTS of cuts and bruises! Lauren was such a trooper. She was in a lot of pain until the 1st hospital put a splint on her arm. Mostly, she was scared! I can't blame her. The poor baby was injured in a foreign country! By the way, that is her doctor that she is standing with (and he is THAT tall!). He was so cool that I think we ALL had a crush on him (even the hubby)! I mean he was just cool...drove in from the beach on his motorcycle just to set my girl's arm! Hmmm...a long haired doc with a motorcycle that lives on the beach in Costa Rica!!! Sounds like PERFECT son-in-law material...I really hope he has a son!!!
Ok, all joking aside! Many of you that REALLY know me understand my new obsession with pennies. Basically, I pick up EVERY penny that I find (even if it's tails up). Every time that I find a penny, I say a little pray. I feel that this is God's way of sending angels to remind me to count my blessings and pray for those in my life that are having difficulties. I am also becoming a little superstitious in feeling like they bring me good luck. The picture above is of Costa Rican coins. The small silver coins are 10 colones. I compare them to our pennies. I picked these two up on my run/walk this morning. At the time, I didn't feel very lucky. After the short horseback ride, I feel that we are the luckiest people alive! I felt God's arms of protection ALL around us. There are SOOOOOO many "what ifs" that have gone through our minds. My daughter (possibly even daughters) could have been seriously injured today. However, God protected us! Our trip is going to dramatically changed from here, and we will adjust! I'll take a broken arm any day over "what could have been"!!! Thank you, our wonderful Lord above!
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