The First Days in WA

When we arrived to the place we will be staying, we were so amazed to see what our friends had arranged for us! We have an apartment and also a trailer with an outdoor cooking area. The apartment has a bedroom with 2 bunkbeds and the trailer has ample places to sleep as well. It is great! Perfect really! So many people have donated certain things which have made it all come together. We thank you all so much. .. What a blessing to have this season in our lives!

The trailer (complete with a very nice deck to step onto!

Dad took the boys and Gracie to the hardware store~ via bike! They had a nice ride together

                                                  

Gracie and Jonna

So glad to see the Sebens!

Laura fills her bowl with the rainwater

Our outdoor kitchen.. yesterday we received a large freezer for it and today we received some kitchen cabinets. It is a work in progress but coming along really nicely! Very functional and convenient!

Such a blessing to see the King and McDonald children spending some time together again!

Grant and the little girls enjoy this donated COMFY sofa! (It really beats the back seat of a Dodge Van!)

Laura watches Daddy fix the vacuume

With so much 'down time', Mandy has been having fun catching up on some sewing projects. Here she is fixing her sister's new jumper.

Poor Ryan was seriously sick for the first week we were here. His throat was so sore that he could only spit, swallowing was too excruciating. He is all better now though, praise the Lord!

Little Laura whips up a dirt dish in our outdoor kitchen!

Not only do our friends have us living here but two other relatives as well..They sure have gone out of their way to make us comfortable.. I pray that we do not overstay our welcome and that we can be more of a blessing than a burden! ;)

Travelling On~

Have you ever heard that song 'This World is Not My Home'? Here are the lyrics:

This World Is Not My Home
This world is not my home I'm just passing through

my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue

the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you

if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?

the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

They're all expecting me and that's one thing I know

my savior pardoned me and now I onward go

I know He'll take me through though I am weak and poor

and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you

if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?

the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Just up in Glory Land we'll live eternally

the Saints on every hand are shouting victory

their song of sweetest praise drifts back from Heaven's shore

and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you

if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?

the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

and I can't feel at home in this world anymore


In 1 Peter, Peter talks about how we are pilgrims, sojourners and aliens in this world.. and boy, do we sure feel that as Chrisitans sometimes, right? But, that is a good thing! We are a supposed to be peculiar people also!

14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:14 KJV

The word peculiar here is meaning that we *belong to God and are God's possesion* We are bought with a price. Is the Lord getting from our lives what He has purchased?
Now, that sums up our family very well I think.. peculiar sojurners~ lol! If you have known us for very long.. we seem to always be on the move.. Moving here.. moving there.. some think we are odd.. others*know* we are odd! ;) but as a good friend once told me, home (on earth) is where our family is. We try and make 'home' wherever we go. We just want to live for the Lord, following where he leads and obeying him through the power of his Holy Spirit. We plan on heading back to Belize in November, Lord Willing.. Some one recently asked me if I thought our coming back was to humble us. I really had to think about that....maybe we are in a humbling season right now.. I am not sure. It sure is humbling to rely on someone else for a home, transportation.. and in these first few weeks even food.. but our benefactors are so kind about it that is sure does not FEEL like that. Anyhow, for now we say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has set us up in regard to housing, household items, food, appliances, coats (brrr!) and even toys for our children! There are so many friends who have helped with this and we truly want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We love you all so much...

 After our hectic all-night bus ride through Mexico, the ADO bus dropped us off at the Cancun airport. It was 6 am and pouring rain. They basically threw our 10 pieces of luggage and stroller off the bus and drove away.. An airport official came and told us that we could not stand there and that we had better go to the other terminal where we would be departing from 7 hrs later that day. They failed to tell us that there was a free shuttle to the other terminal and instead threw our things into a taxi which ended up charging us $60 US. Ok that was a bummer since we were down to our last $200 US. At least we still had some money for meals.. until we found out that MX was going to charge us $185 just to leave Mexico! Thankfully, Ryan had $60 (from the bike Sj) which we were able to borrow and a wonderful missionary friend (the one who had prayed over Amanda the morning prior) had given us $100 U.S. as a gift. We would not have been able to fly out of Cancun were it not for those two things! Praise the LORD! We arrived in Seattle with 43 cents to our name, no kidding!

Spending 7 hours in the Cancun airport proved to be a nice time. Someone asked us if we had wished we would have had the money to go explore the lovely area of Cancun but truly, we were content to hang out together, anticipating the next chapter of our lives..

Of course I did scrape together enough change for an Americano.. I mean seriously.. ;) We were able to enjoy their wifi and communicate with those who were coming to pick us up etc.

The girls enjoyed walking their babies around. They also weighed them on the luggage scale to see just how much each baby weighed. I love Mexico. No one corrected them for that and actually enjoyed seeing our little ones playing and having a fun time together.

Laura already knows this is the 'fun' bag and kept looking in it for 'more funnies'

Thank you Ryan for treating us to the familiear 'Pizza Hut' pizza!

Laura, in the airport bathroom mirror.. check out her Belizean Bug Bites!

                                                           Our plane finally arrives!

One blessing with travelling with small children is that we were able to board first on both flights. It is so nice to be able to get situated before everyone else gets on.. and yes, I was half crazy after the 7 hrs in the airport. But thankfully both little girls slept most of the way from

Cancun to Atlanta.

Gracie-Girl was so good on the airplane! Great job Grace!

Grant had a fun time watching the digital map which showed our progress while flying. He also helped a lot keeping our little girls occupied.

Goodbye gorgeous Cancun! Perhaps someday we will visit you again!

Do you ever get tired of this scene????

Here we are, after arriving in Atlanta

Ryan treats us to some burgers! Yum!?

                                    happy to be heading home to one of her best buddies, Jonna

After 2 long days, we arrived at SeaTac in one piece.. Thank you Lord!

Will We Make It?

It is not easy getting 8 people from Central America all the way back to Chehalis, Washington. Well, on a shoestring budget that is. We figured that the cheapest way for us all to travel was to take a night bus from Belize City to Cancun Mexico and fly out of there to the States. The overnight bus ride seemed daunting.. 11 hours through the night with all of our children. Crossing the MX border at midnight.. but we saved hundreds of dollars over just flying out of Belize City. We were told that the ADO night bus fills up quickly and we had better purchase our tickets beforehand. So, one week before our travel date, Grady spent the whole day taking a bus 1 1/2 hours to B.C to the bus station where he purchased the tickets and headed home again. The next feat was finding someone from Spanish Lookout who didn't mind taking a 3 hour round trip to 'Belize' (City) to the bus station. We finally found a brother who offered but he then ended up with the chicken pox and was unable. Our wonderful friends the Inions offered to drive us there.. now, they have moved and live now 1 1/2 hrs from Spanish Lookout, the opposite direction of 'Belize'. Left with no options, we decided to take them up on it although we knew it would be such a haul for them! We agreed on an early time to meet at their house.. they are the first to admit that they tend to be, um running late most times so we made sure to have EXTRA time built into the day's schedule! When we got to there house, they weren't there! Now, before panicking we remembered the extra cushion of time and let ourselves in. They arrived about an hour later, whipped up a true-to-form LOVELY Southern lunch for us, complete with homemade ice cream. We then left and begain our 2 1/2 hour trek to big scary Belize City. Grady and I were only slightly stressed about the time.. but lo and behold we even had enough time to stop at a road side restaurant where the children could stretch and play for a bit and we could enjoy a nice cup of tea. We made it into Belize City just as it got dark.. The Inions prayed with us on the darkening street corner outside of the dreary bus station among street vendors and scary looking Belizeans. We really attracted a group when the Inions started singing 'God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again' ( That song is begininng to take on such a bitter sweet meaning for us) They sang loudly and over and over.. we could hear their voices rising from the street all the way through the bus station. We have been so blessed by our friendship with these sweet servants of our Lord and Savior! We are looking forward to spending more time with them in Belize, (or the Phillipines.. or Ecquador.. or Africa.. or wherever.. ;) ) in the years to come. Thank you precious family for being there for us in our time of need. You have been such a support and an encouragement to us! We are so excited for the day when the Lord brings us together again!

Some scenes, driving down the Hummingbird Highway toward the mission house where the Inions live

It is very common to pass many orange trucks along the highway

The scenery is breathtaking along there..

Once the Inions arrived, the ladies set out toward the picnik area to set up lunch-NOT Belizean style..but USA style! Quick-like!

These girls have become fast friends.. we just love how like-minded our families are

You cannot tell in this photo but my hubby was being eaten alive by the famous Hummingbird Highway Mission Home no-see-ums! Everyone who has spent any time here talks about the BUGS!

Aww. Sweet friends.. will they even remember eachother? Sniff..

Um, can I have strawberrry please?

Such a sweet servant

This place came highly recommended in the Inions travel guide. We did find it to be quite enjoyable. We can only speak for the ice tea.. as we were in too much of a hurry to try out the food.

A nice break for the children

Peek-a Boo!

Brent watched the children while Sj and I caught up with emails and ordered the teas

Such a sweetheart! We miss you guys Hadassah!

Of course, our children found a body of water! And yes, my boys had their pocket fishing 'poles'. Josiah found a stick to fish with!

One last chat-

Everyone was a bit nervous and we started hauling all of the luggage out of the van in Belize City. There were people swarming everywhere.. it was getting dark with no street lights to speak of. Kind of a stressful environment to say goodbye.. We were so grateful though when Brent asked if we could all stop and bow our heads in prayer..

As it grew darker, we said our final goodbyes and headed into the bus station with them singing LOUDLY 'God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again'

There was our bus.. waiting to pull around and load up. We made it just in time!

Thanks to a brother who came and prayed for Amanda on the morning of our departure, she remained very well and full of energy during our entire trip! Praise the LORD! Thank you Jesus! (and Eddy who prayed)

The little kids are already falling apart.. but soon we were to board the bus and they would sleep.. well at least until the stressful Mexico crossing at midnight! :)

And off we go! By this time, there was a serious thunder and lightening storm going on which lasted all the way to the MX border. We were sitting in the front of the bus and were able to view the intense storm all the way through the night. It was a dramatic ending to a day full of joys, sorrows, anxiety and excitement! Washington here we come!