Someone Pinch Me...I Think I'm Dreaming!

Where do I begin?! I am so thankful to finally be in Portugal. I have so much to say, and thoughts flying through my head...like..why in the world does my computer have Portuguese on the screen instead of English...oh..wait a minute..I'm not in Kansas anymore!!! Yahooooo! I am so very excited to be here!

Here is a quick review:

• Our flights were fine. Long, but fine. The kids did great! Several people commented on how well they did and called them "troopers". We are still adjusting to the time difference and suffering from jet-lag, but overall were doing great.

• Exhausted, we drove the 2 - nine passenger "mini buses" that contained everything we brought with us to the real estate office to pick up the keys to our house. But the door was locked and the lights were off...it was about 1:15 pm. Do they take "siestas" in Portugal? The Agent told us he'd be there all day, but apparently, he forgot about us. We were all starving, but the only place in sight was a coffee shop. Imagine that...coffee is more important than food around here! I think I'm in love! So, we had coffee and a roll. Finally, someone stopped by and made a call for us, and we had the keys in no time.

• When we pulled up in front of the house, the girls all cheered and clapped their hands. "FINALLY"!! we all shouted! They immediately started running through the yard, picking oranges, tangerines and flowers.

• After a brief stay at the house we went in search of the internet or phone to call our loved ones in America to inform them that we were safe and sound, but it was much more difficult that we imagined. We finally found a computer, sent a quick email and then had our first meal at a local restaurant. Liberty slept through the entire meal with her head in her plate. Justice slept on my shoulder. Faith ate in a daze with huge eyes. Brooklyn and Trinity ate fairly well. Daddy rewarded them with a cup of ice cream and me with a cup of coffee. (better than ice cream any day!)

• Before going to bed, we spent way too much time trying to figure out how to turn the heat on. Oils, gases, wires, knobs, valves, tubes...nothing made sense. But we finally got heat and hot water, just in time for bed at midnight.

• The second day, after I backed the rental van into the neighbors house,(no damage done to the neighbors house, only a caved in bumper...oops..thank goodness we purchased the extra insurance) we shopped for appliances while Ms. Lora watched the kids. (By the way...in case you didn't know, Ms. Lora McGee came with us and is our Nanny! Praise the Lord! She'll be with us for two weeks to help with the kids as we get everything set up.) We couldn't figure out how to work the stove. We called the only person locally we knew... our real estate agent. He came with his wife, they couldn't figure it out either. They called another couple that used to rent this house and they came over and showed us how.....funny huh? How many people does it take to light a stove??

• Day three, we finally get the internet and phone. So now you can call us using this number...1-731-438-4567. I walked down the street to the butcher to get some chicken for supper. They didn't have what I wanted so I had to choose something else. With the language barrier I ended up snorting like a pig to make sure that I was buying pork....the butcher in turn snorted back at me to confirm that indeed it was pork. With a big smile on my face, the Portuguese people will help me through anything, thank goodness.
  

• The weather is incredible! Beautiful spring weather. We've met several people. We have a language teacher and things are on a roll.....!
  

That is the cliff notes version. I'll have to share more when I have more time. ---By the way..my favorite flower is a Cala Lily. There is a bush in my yard full of them!! The picture above is an example. I believe God did that just for me!