one month or two weeks, depends on how you are counting

Wednesday will mark the two week time for us in Belize. It also happens to be exactly a month from when we left the Hopewell Parking lot. (August 27th).  We have had many adventures in the process. All learning experiences!

How does being in Orange Walk 2 weeks feel to us?

This transition has been much different.

Two years it was a drastic change. We were walking basically into the unknown, with 11 suitcases to our name.  

This time we had a home with some things set up. We also were aware ahead of time the things that would make our house a home. 

Two years ago the heat was a shock to our Pennsylvania born bodies. 

This time we expected it. That doesn't mean we are less hot

Two years ago all of the food tasted strange to us. 

This time the first food the kids wanted to eat was rice and beans.

Two years ago we spent a lot of time trying to figure things out

This time we feel like we're on our way

Two years ago we had a one year commitment

This time it's indefinate.  Things are feeling like we are working towards finding home. We are building a place that we can celebrate as a family.  

Two years ago we were under different leadership

This year Nathanael is leading the church.  In some ways this is more difficult as we are stepping into someone else's shoes.  For right now we are following the order of worship and way of doing things that Nancy had set up.  

Thanks for joining me in the small comparisons of our transition.  Feel free to text us (we have internet numbers through google so it's free to do) email us, and even call us. Skype with our kids. We finally have good internet.  :)  My goal is to get into a regular blog updating schedule again.

The rest of our drive

In case you missed our announcement, we arrived safely in Belize on September 13.

The process to get to Belize took a week and a day longer than we originally had anticipated.

After leaving my Aunt and Uncle's house we traveled south. We spent 3 days in route to Texas.  While we were at Bill and Jeanette's the broker who was to help us cross the Mexican border finally contacted us. He stated to get the correct visa for our van, he had to have the title for 3 days prior to our arrival.  We paid to have the title overnighted to Texas. Unfortunately due to the hurricane, this process was delayed by 5 days (no we didn't get a refund on our overnight fee)

When we arrived at Jay and Lisa's home the title still hadn't arrived, and it was Labor day sunday.  We spend 3 nights at Jay and Lisa's waiting for this process to happen. They were gracious to us, allowing us to stay and eat their food! We visited a retro arcade, Nathanael's grandparents, and Jay and Lisa's life group.

Once the title was there, we traveled 2 more days to the border. (Texas is huge!!)




















Our day at the Mexican border wasn't the most fun day of the trip. We did end up getting through, and learned some things about making the process quicker, should we choose to drive again in the future.  Since it took so long (over 8 hours) we ended up on the highway (without gps) much later in the day than we had wanted to be.

One more very long day on the road found us in Monte Maria at 10pm. Nathanael deftly navigated the busy streets with our long trailer! We stayed in the guest house at Tierra Prometia Saturday night till Monday morning. We were blessed to go to church there, and spend some time with Bob and Bonnie! I reveled in the awesome food, fellowship, and time at the church!

Two more days on the road in Mexico, one sleeping at a roadside hotel, one in a cabana found us at the Belizean border. This time we felt safe. The border crossing felt just as haggering though.. a long  8 hour day in the Belizean tropical sun. Kids took it well.  This was also an answer to prayer. After speaking with our former supervisors, we found out we paid less for our van and trailer in taxes than they had 2 years ago for just bringing their small suv.

We were met by Tim Groff and his friend at our house at about 8pm Belizean time (it felt like 10pm to us).

Hope you enjoyed the long summary of our journey. More news to come!