3 Years.....

...ago this week, we said Good-Bye to America.

...and we left for Portugal. At the airport saying good-bye to a few friends and family.  Our friend, Ms. Lora (in yellow) came with us and stayed for 2 weeks.  It was a blessing having here here to help with the kids while we set up the house.

 

 

 

After over 24 hours of travel, three flights and two rented vans later...we finally arrived at our home!  (Michael and I were able to go to Portugal two moths earlier and arrange housing and a family vehicle so that when we arrived, we could all go "home" and have a vehicle waiting on us...the battery was dead, but it was there.)

Walking up to the gate for the first time!  (I'm so glad Ms. Lora was there to capture these moments for us.)

Having difficulty unlocking the door.......at this point, I was SO tired and SO ready to be here, that I was already contemplating breaking a window and shoving a kid inside to unlock the door.

"For real....this key is NOT working!"  (We finally realized you have to pull on the door while unlocking it...our first of many lessons we learned on this first day in Portugal!)

God's gift to me for a hard 16 months of deputation.....Calla Lilies in my own yard!!!!

Happy kids and beautiful weather! (Uncommon for this time of year...but a welcomed surprise.)....(the beautiful weather is uncommon, not the happy kid part.)

Flowers already in bloom.  In the center of town, near the market.

The kids had never seen oranges ON trees before!  (As most adults probably haven't either.)

Everything we brought with us fit in these black trunks.  It wasn't much, but God provided the rest of what we needed.  It's been an amazing journey.  A blessed three years.  Our lives are so rich, not with material possessions, but with the blessings of our Heavenly Father!

Beautiful Portugal

2 Years in Portugal

Today, two years ago we left America.....





Flew on three different planes over a 24 hour period.....




And finally arrived at our new home....


with our 17 pieces of luggage...


and found cala lilies in our yard!


God is So Very Good!
Happy Anniversary to us!

Beautiful Portugal

Mom arrived safely and we've spent the last few days enjoying the sites. Portugal is full of beautiful places to see and I'm enjoying seeing these areas as much as my Mom is. I've not really taken the time yet to see some of these areas before now....hope you enjoy them as much as we did....















Until next time......

Mini Vacation with Mimi

Mimi with her grandbabies

Hey Ya'll!

My mom is in route to our house as I type! After 24 hours of travel and 4 flights, she'll arrive at 10:00 tomorrow morning. We'll pick her up at the airport and then head to Viana do Castelo for a few days of vacation. It's only 30 minutes away from us....but it's the away part that we're focusing on.


Viana do Castelo

Hope you guys have a great week. I'll post when we return.

Tearful Reunion

We had a very happy and tearful reunion with Mimi at the airport today. Here is a short video of her walking through the doors and hugging the kids.

We came right home, showed her around, fed her some supper, went through all the fantastic goodies she brought for us then all to bed. Tomorrow, we're off to the festival in town and to the market.

How Much Does It Cost?

Just in case you're wondering......

In American Dollars:
Plastic clothes hangers: $3.00 for 3
Sour Cream: It doesn't exist...ughhh
Worcestershire sauce: $4.50 for small bottle
Kiwi: $2.25 for 2.2 lbs
Furniture: don't even ask!
Oranges: Free in yard!
Tangerines: Free in yard!
Lemons: Free in yard!
5 Liter Bottle Water: .60 cents
3 bags microwave popcorn: $6.00
Peanut butter: doesn't exist
Kool-aid: doesn't exist
Cheap high chair..not so cheap: $55.00
Size 10 ladies shoe: doesn't exist
Cheapest small bottle of hair conditioner: $4.50
Smallest bottle of baby powder: $4.00
Ranch dressing: doesn't exist
Awesome cup of coffee: .60 cents
Fresh baked rolls.. the chewy kind: .15 cents ea.
Weed eater: $375.00-guess we'll pull by hand
Carrots: .50 cents for 2.2 lbs.
Tea bags: $6.50 for average size box

Maurizio, The Portuguese Pizza Man

Well...he isn't really Portuguese, he's Italian. But he is a pizza maker in Portugal, so he is a Portuguese Pizza Man. Some of you remember Michael's testimony of the conversation he had with Maurizio back in November of 2006. Well, Maurizio has people all across America praying for him and for his salvation. We carried the kids and Ms. Lora to meet him Tuesday night. We had a delicious pizza, some pasta and good conversation. Hopefully we can develop a relationship with him, and eventually lead him to Christ. Please help us pray.

Lemons, Baskets, Boosters & Crazy Americans

We have tons of lemons on a tree in the yard. We've made lemonade several times already. When God gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Today we had church in our basement. Just us and Ms. Lora. We were scared to drive 1.5 hrs south of here to attend church with another missionary family. We heard last night that all children under the ages of 13 have to be in a booster seat and we didn't have any, so we were afraid of tickets. Also, our 7 passenger van only holds..well...7 people. And there are 8 of us while Ms. Lora is here. So after church this morning, we went to rent another small car and then in search of 4 booster seats. (We brought Justices' on the plane with us) After two stops at two different Continente's (a small version of a super wal-mart) we discovered that they close at 1:00 every Sunday. Why in the world would they do that? It makes no sense to me. The other missionary family said in response to that..."Welcome to Portugal". We did end up at church this evening with the other missionary family. In two vehicles, but no boosters...sshhhhh...don't tell anyone.

The picture above, Ms. Lora took of me wheeling and dealing at the market. The market in Barcelos, Portugal has been held every Thursday for about the last 800 years, so they knew how to work me. They ended up being the ones wheeling and dealing, not me.

After being in Portugal for 5 days without a refrigerator, we were eagerly awaiting it's delivery yesterday. All day we waited, waited, and waited some more. Finally at 9:00 pm, the delivery guy shows up drunk, fussing the entire time he was here (in Portuguese...we didn't know what he was saying, but it was obvious he was upset). He even made the finger around the ear symbol for "crazy" when he saw the way we had rigged up our dryer so that it would have a vent out the window. But who cares cause WE HAVE A REFRIGERATOR!! Now, we can have something cold to drink, and I can finally go grocery shopping. Ms. Lora said if someone knocked on our door and offered her a cold Diet Dr. Pepper, she'd be willing to pay 10 Euros ($15.00) for one. I think I would too!

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!