The Journey Becomes an Adventure!

JEREMIAH 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future!

Well, October 8th, 2012 is the day that marks when our adoption journey FINALLY becomes an adventure!  Reyes and I have arrived in San Pedro Sula...and we will return as a family of 5...we may not know when, but we are trusting in the Lord's timing and perfect plan.

Everything about this trip has been different than our previous trips to Honduras.  First, we always stay for 10 days...exactly 10 day!  Since we will be here indefinitely, and we will stay in the Humuya Inn apartments for the Tegucigalpa part of our trip (4-6 weeks), we had to pack more clothes and toiletries.  And, we brought food with us, which is fairly atypical.  I don't know what we will find as we begin shopping at Walmart Tegucigalpa, but the prices at the grocery store in San Pedro Sula, La Antorcha, are REALLY high.  And since there are five of us...I have all of our hygeine products, extra socks and underwear, OTC medications, bug spray, sun screen, packets of food/mixes (onion & vegetable soup, chili seasonings, sloppy joe, gravy,  tuna, oatmeal, popcorn, gelatin, tea bags, kool aid, crystal light drink, cookies, mashed potatoes, stuffing, coconut, nuts, etc.---mostly light-weight foods that I need for recipes that I know how to cook, but that I wasn't sure would be available at Walmart...I will keep you posted on whether this was necessary), jelly, peanut butter, raisins, muffin tin and cupcake liners, cookie sheet, whisk, cooking spoon, measuring spoons, spatula, playing cards and rules to about 10 easy/children's games, crayons, markers, coloring books/books/flashcards, Ipod/Ipad/Smart phones (filled with educational apps....FILLED) and more that I will talk about later as we start unpacking the suitcases.  We will have a kitchen and a waffle maker, toaster and crockpot.  Kid Friendly RECIPES APPRECIATED!!!

So, a recap of the last week...We are assuming that we will be here for up to 2 months...after transitioning our work to our peers/colleagues...the next step was to prepare our household.  I decided to have my sister-in-law pick up our mail twice a week to monitor for bills I might have forgotten about rather than to put it on hold.  She will also check on the house and be available to call a repairman, etc. if something needs fixing.  We asked our neighbor, Joe, to cut our front yard when he does his yard, but we are hoping that the backyard can go 1-2 months while we are gone without turning into a jungle.  This time of year is very temperate in Texas, so we completely turned off the air/heat.  We turned off the water in the kitchen, because it has been giving us fits.  We left the outdoor light on, locked the deadbolts, turned on several curly bulbs around the house, and said a prayer over the house, because it is uncomfortable leaving it for so long.  All I can think about is SQUATTERS coming to live in it!!!   I also put our DISH on hold ($5 a month vs. $100), cancelled our Time Warner house phone/internet (never liked it anyway...will research new internet when I get home-$70 monthly savings) and put our Sprint cellphones on hold ($8 per phone...vs. $200).

Mariana's daughter, Karla, offered to watch our fur son, Osito (Little Bear), while we are gone.  However, Karla lives in Galveston...300 miles away!  When you are going to be gone up to two months, this savings is HUGE!  And, Osito will be happier staying with friends...I hope they give him back =)  Had to remember to buy a big bag of dog food for him...the little Tupperware container we use for 10 days is wholly insufficient.  After a last minute grooming disaster (our groomer's grandmother died and I had to find a replacement...on a Friday) and  instructions for what to do in an emergency, we had Osito squared away.

In planning our flight, we looked around the state for the best deal, as we are flying one way and will be returning last minute with 5 tickets to purchase.  We found Spirit Airlines, a discount airline that flies to "The Americas".  They only fly out of Dallas Ft Worth (DFW) and only into San Pedro Sula, but that works well for us.  Our one way tickets were $ 118 (plus baggage fees), via Ft. Lauderdale, for a 6 hour trip.  This is more than a 75% savings.  My SUPER AWESOME cousin, Amy, allowed us to park our mini-van at her house (15 minutes from DFW) and my WONDERFUL Honduran adoption friend, Emily, took us to the airport (my cousin was out of town over the weekend).  SMOOTH SAILING!!!  So GRATEFUL!!!

So, we are here...safe and sound...and ready for the ADVENTURE part to begin...Jefferson just woke up and is already having fun with the IPAD!!!  I don't know what our future holds...but so glad I know who holds our future!  One day at a time!!!