Where We Are Currently Living...

No, no, no…sorry for the tease. It is not our house…not yet. If you check back in a few days we may have some good news and a video regarding our new home.

Until then, here are a few pictures and a description about our temporary living conditions. We are living in a boarding house in a neighborhood of La Ceiba called El Sauce. The husband and wife who run the boarding house have divided their huge home to create several temporary living quarters.

Until we move into a rental house we will be living in our one bedroom, one bath studio. It is a very nice little place and we feel very fortunate to have been so welcomed.

Living Area


Kitchen Area


Bathroom

The House Game

The last 72 hours has been largely dedicated to finding a home. We have driven past dozens of rental homes and walked through many of those. We think we are close to a decision, but, let me give you a little background and then you can play the House Game.

Our family is the first part of what we pray will be a large MTW team in La Ceiba, Honduras. As the first people on the ground we want to acquire a house that will accommodate small group studies, facilitate social events, house interns and short term mission teams, and be a home for us. Our budget for housing is $800 per month. We will likely be making a decision very soon.

Now that you have all the pertinent information…LET’S PLAY THE HOUSE GAME!!!

I will describe the top three houses and you leave a comment telling me which house you think we should select.

House #1
$1300/month ($500/month over budget)…walking distance to Madison’s school…6 bedrooms…5 baths…furnished…no backyard…big patio…2 stories…very centrally located…could house 24 short term missionaries with bunks.

House #2
$550/month…on the largest and busiest street in La Ceiba (good – you can easily get taxis, bad – noisy)…4 bedrooms (master is HUGE and would be used as a dorm room), plus a loft…3 ½ baths…1 of the bedrooms is a separate building in the back with its own bathroom…2 stories…unfurnished…could house 20 short term missionaries with bunks.


House #3
$500/month…most quiet neighborhood of the three…4 bedroom….2 baths…biggest yard…unfurnished…could house 16 short term missionaries with bunks…1 story…walking distance from the soccer stadium.

Traveling From San Jose, Costa Rica to La Ceiba, Honduras

Yesterday we landed in La Ceiba, Honduras. Here is a pictorial review of our travels from San Jose, Costa Rica to La Ceiba.

Here is Mike checking in at at the airport in San Jose, Costa Rica at 4:30am. This is just seconds before this nice lady told us that even though our bags should cost us $1500 to send, she was only going to charge us $800.


mmmm....coffee...Costa Rican coffee at 5am is a good thing.


Goodbye Costa Rica


The happy family on the flight from El Salvador to Honduras.


We saw dozens of these ugly shirts all over the airport in San Pedro Sula. We struck up a conversation with the unfortunate owners of the shirts and discovered they were going home to Virginia after a 10 day mission trip in Tegucagalpa, Honduras. We figured the message on the shirt was a bit ironic considering the place in our own transition at that moment.


Here is the 40 seater bird that took us the last distance into La Ceiba. You will notice there are no bags to be seen. That is because 17 of our 18 bags have yet to make it to La Ceiba.


Happy missionary. Here is Mike behind the wheel of our rental truck on the streets of La Ceiba. We have this for a few days. Keep your eyes on the road!

End Of Our Time In Costa Rica – Thank You

Today is our last full day here in San Jose, Costa Rica. Tomorrow we board a flight to La Ceiba, Honduras. We have been here in Costa Rica for 10 months studying Spanish fulltime. Those of you who pray for us and support us financially have made all this possible. Team Honduras consists of over 140 groups or individuals supporting us financially and over 700 people praying for us regularly. All of you are a huge part of what we do and are equally responsible for all that occurs through our work.

We made this going away video as a way of thanking you for all of your support. If you have ever prayed for us or supported us in anyway this 5 minute video is for you. This video shows all that your support has been able to accomplish in the past 10 months. Thank you and enjoy.

Tooth and Moving

Yesterday, Madison lost her THIRD tooth while in Costa Rica! The "Tooth Mouse" came to visit (there is no tooth fairy here - just a mouse). If I counted correctly, she has only 2 more baby teeth to come out. She still has 2 back molars to come in, and all four wisdom teeth. In Central America, braces are as good a quality as in the states. However, they come at about a fourth of the price tag. About $600.00 from start to finish! Incredible! So - we will get some braces on her once all her baby teeth have come out. The nice thing about her teeth coming out so late is it has given her mouth time to grow. So, although she will need braces, the duration should be much shorter.

Moving - yes, I'm sure you are tired of hearing us talk about moving, but it's almost the only thing on our minds right now. It's Monday, and we leave Wednesday in the wee hours of the a.m. Specifically, we have to be out of our place by 4:00 in the morning, and to the airport by 4:30. Our plane leaves at 6:30, and we have 16 bags to get checked in. So we are excited and anxious about finally getting this thing on the road. We will be so incredibly busy the first 2 months with finding a home, furnishing it, then planning for a 2-week medical team that is coming. So please pray for us in the upcoming months!

No more homework...no more books...no more teachers dirty looks!

Today we celebrated the end of Madison's first year of non-homeschooling in almost 5 years. The school was a good experience, very different. Madison's least favorite subject has always been Math. So, in celebration of the end of 6th grade math, she asked if she could burn her book. It's not a text book, it's a "consumable" math book. If you are a teacher, the following photos may be "graphic" for you - so look away :-)

The beginning of the end:

Madison enjoying the "demise" of her book

near the end...

Madison victorious!

The Final Days

Six more days until we leave for Honduras. One more day of school for Madison. End of tutoring for both of us. Two more "farewell" get-togethers. Three more bags to pack. Hair cut before we leave. Four more blogs to write. Not much left.

Please pray for us as we finish up our final week in Costa Rica, and we prepare to head to Honduras. Our first month there is going to be a whirlwind! We have to find a house. Buy furniture for the entire place, plan a medical team, Madison takes her placement test at her new school, and start acustomizing to our new environment. Our Spanish will be put to the test, and we will be sweating like crazy. So, we covet your prayers for all of the above mentioned things.

Madison had two final exams yesterday, two today, and we just found out - she has no final on Friday. She has done extremely well this reporting period - her best yet. We send praises to God for that, as He watches out for even the little things. What an awesome God we serve.

We have no idea what the internet situation will be once we hit the ground, so you can be praying for that as well. The Internet helps us feel like we are still in touch with friends and family. It allows you to be part of our team by reading our blogs and praying for specific things. So we also pray that internet will be easily accessable.