Have We Only Been Here Two Days?

Well.  Where in the world to start with this post?  So much has happened in the last 3 days.  My, it’s only been 3 days?!  It feels in some ways like we never left Costa Rica and in other ways it feels like we have been gone for years.  So strange.

Let’s start at the beginning I guess.  Monday we had an easy going morning.  We needed to be to the airport by 11 am, so none of this crazy 3 am business.  Both Noah’s parents and my parents took us to the airport.  My sister and brother in law met us there, and we got everything checked in just fine.  We had lots of help getting to security and TSA was helpful with the crazy circus of 4 adults, 3 kids, a double stroller, 6 backpacks, a diaper bag, and 6 carryons.  Our flight out of Grand Rapids was delayed by about 20 minutes because of a maintenance issue, which made our connection in Cleveland a bit tight.  As we were getting off the little commuter plane waiting for our stroller and carryons that we were able to gate check, a lady said to me, “Oh I see the problem, there are like 15 green duffel bags coming off the plane.  That seems a bit strange to me!”  Ha!  

And here is where I looked at Laura and Dan for something like the 4^th time that day and said, “I am sooo glad you are with us!”  I don’t think we would have made that connection without them.  Once we got on the plane to Orlando, we settled in.  Dan was super uncle and the boys fought over who got to sit with him.  We got to Orlando just fine, and managed to get all our bags on one cart, but had to take two shuttles to the hotel for the night.  After devouring two large pizzas, we all hit the hay early.

The next morning we had to take two shuttles to the airport to get all our bags there.  Again, so glad Laura and Dan were with us!  We could have done it, but let me tell you, we wouldn’t have been as happy and sane as we were when we arrived in San Jose on Tuesday morning. 

The boys did great with all the traveling.  Honestly, they all were happy, patient little people for the whole travel time!  I guess they know the drill of sitting on the bags and trunks waiting as we check in, deal with security and just generally have to be busy with details.  The toys in their backpacks helped, and one of Elliot’s favorite things was the paperclips Grandma gave me for his backpack.  He worked two days clipping them together in a big long string.  Quinn did great on his first flights on the outside of mama (he had been in the womb for our trip to and from the US at Christmas time and then the trip to Michigan for the summer.  He already is a TCK, comfortable on the airplane.)  He barely fussed when he was hungry and generally charmed everyone he encountered.

Once we got to the San Jose airport, we were able to get our phones  working for Costa Rica and all our bags arrived.  We got through immigration just fine (and yes, three darling boys, one only 3 months old helps in these situations!) and customs only stopped us for the illegal apple Laura was trying to smuggle into the country.   However they missed the two bananas we had squirreled away in two different bags. 

The director of Roblealto met us at the airport and we had hired a driver to take all our stuff up to camp.  We also rented a car so we could get around a bit by ourselves.  Of course, what we thought was going to be about $150 for the week ended up being about $600, but as Noah says, it’s just money.  God will provide.  I love that man!  We got the crazy circus up to camp and got settled into the cabin we are currently staying in.  The camp staff was so sweet to feed us for lunch, dinner and breakfast the next day. 

Yesterday, gosh, that was only yesterday?!  Laura and Dan stayed at camp with the big boys while Noah and I went to check out a vehicle.  It’s the one we want, and the owners seem willing to work with us on the price, but we have yet to hear back for sure.   It’s a Toyota 4 Runner with an extra seat so it will hold 7 people.  

We were also able to look at a house which was a definite no.  There was no way we could move into it in the next month because they were doing a lot of renovations.  It also was a weird layout, no furnishings and the grounds were just jungle, no real yard area. 

But today!!  We looked at another house, one that we thought might be The One, and it is!!  It has four large bedrooms, it’s fully furnished, has a perfect yard for the boys with banana, orange, lime, avocado, and guanábana trees!  And yes, we can eat from them!  There is also a lovely porch over looking the mountain and get this, a bathtub!!  God answered so many of our prayers about a house!  It’s in a secure location and the landlady seems very sweet.  When we told her this house is the one of our prayers, she said she had been praying for a long while too that the people who rent it would be the perfect people for it.

We can even have a dog at some point.  And we are moving in tomorrow!  That means that Laura and Dan can help up settle in and get things situated.  It will be good to get settled into a house that we can make ours.  It’s about 20 minutes  south east of camp in a little area called San Rafael.    

It has been strange to be driving around Costa Rica by ourselves.  All last year we walked, took public transit or rode with someone else.  And can I just say God bless the inventors of GPS and whoever decided to map out  Costa Rica!  We got the Costa Rica map SD card before we left the States and it has been incredibly helpful in our house and car search. 

So tomorrow we move to the house in the afternoon.  We don’t have internet set up there yet, and it may be several days before we can get it situated, so if you don’t hear from us for a while, don’t get too worried. 

Thank you all for your sweet notes and prayers over the last few days.  We are so grateful for all of you and know that we can’t do this without you praying and encouraging and giving!  We’re all in this together!