I'm sitting at our hotel's "Business Center" in Belem. It's about 9:00 pm local time. We arrived at 3:15 am this morning. Our flights went as smooth as possible. The only glitch, taking place on our flight from Chicago to Miami, during the commotion we caused while trying to board a full plane with three kids and 6 large carry-ons, my carry-on was taken by an over-achieving flight attendant and sent to the check-in luggage below. When we arrived in Miami I sent an overloaded Jed with my family to our connecting flight while I ran to the luggage carrousel, and anxiously awaited my backpack (which, by the way, had about $1700 worth of camera equip, some of which was Bud's). When it finally arrived I ran off to stand in line at security so I could again enter the terminal. Fortunately, I arrived in time and we boarded the plane together.
The girls did well on the flights. They didn't sleep as much as we hoped, but we kept them busy, for the most part. Thanks for your prayers. We were actually able to enjoy our trip - something I was praying for.
Today we did a lot of running around in Belem. We had to register with the Federal Police, something that requires about 5 different stops, all of them time consuming. And we had to go as a family. While we were waiting for some pictures to develop we saw a McDonald's and decided to take the girls there for a treat (it was recommended to us in our training that we give the girls "comfort foods" occasionally, providing familiarity when everything is foreign can help with adjustment). However, we were greeted with an unfamiliar scene when we arrived and found that the power was off so they were not serving food. We decided to rest there for a bit (see picture) and were able to return later when the power was back on.
Tomorrow Bud and Jed leave in a truck for Altamira (about a 15 hour drive on bumpy roads) with some of our baggage. The rest of us will fly there on Friday. We are thankful for this transitory time in Belem. Thanks for all of your prayers. We covet them over the next couple of weeks especially!
6 comments:
It's about time you left the states! =) We love the pictures and stories.
The Tachenys
Great to hear from you guys! Seems you finally upgraded to the beta, eh Josh? Looks great.
Dave
Nice to hear you made it safe. I finally feel good about supporting you. Just kidding. I'm glad you are finally able to begin what you have been talking about for a long time. We miss you already.
Hi guys, so glad that all is going well with your adventures. I look forward to reading about more of them. We'll continue to keep you in our prayers and hope that you're blessed each and every day.
In His Care, The Vollmer Family
I'm so glad things went as smoothly as possible! Happy to see you enjoying the familiarities in Belem! Thinking of you alot! Happy to know Afghanistan isn't the only government that makes you go in circles! -and doesn't have 24/7 electricity! Hope you can enjoy the next few weeks! love ya. jane
Glad to hear you guys made it safely. You have been in my prayers! Love ya!
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