The Hendersons ~ On a Journey 4 Him Weblog...

Our Casa in Costa Rica

 

Brian, Skylar, and Sydney are in front of our house. We do not have street addresses here in CR, but use ONLY directions. How do you like our 3 x 3 ft. stretch of grass?

 

Find the tall building. We are the left side. On the right is the Gayhearts, our neighbors from FPO in Virginia. They have 4 children, so our kids and theirs are always playing on the patios, which are locked. Downstairs is mostly 8 ft. ceilings, upstairs is 10 ft., and the bathrooms upstairs are 18 ft., which creates a nice breeze that flows into the top story, and flows down into the utility room on the bottom floor. The tops of our windows are vented and stay open all of the time. The streets have lots of traffic (vehicles and people walking/talking), blaring horns (which warns people at the intercession that people are coming through without stopping, car alarms all through the night (that seems to be THE thing to have here in CR), dogs barking from across the street at the vet, not to mention chirping gheckos and birds.

 

The view from our upstairs balcony (in master bedroom) to the right of us

 

Our view to the left from our balcony (see the 2 way stop at the intercession; our street is a through street, but they honk as they go through because the people at the stop signs rarely stop)

 

Our Travels to Get to Costa Rica

Our travel stories seem almost unbelievable, like they come from a bad movie. Bro. Mark rode with us from ABC to Mobile, where we had a great lunch and arrived at the Mobile Regional Airport a little after 12 PM. We checked our luggage, said our see you laters to Bro. Mark, and made it through security easily.

Close to our flight time, we checked the screen. It had changed. We would no longer fly at 2:31 PM, but now the time had moved to 4:30 PM. There had mechanical problems. The plane was at our airport, but they were working on it. Then, the time kept shifting; this time, it was due to bad weather in Atlanta. We were still told to fly to Atlanta, because their flights had been delayed also, and we might still catch our flight.

We finally flew at 6:30 PM. We arrived at 8:25 PM (EST). By the time we made it to our gate, our flight had left. We barely missed it! We stood in a line to get our international flight changed, and the people running these booths were in no hurry!! The ONLY flight available the next day was with Continental, and we had to fly to Houston, and then to CR. We took it. After we fed the very hungry, tired, and irritable kids at McD's (of which Delta gave us vouchers), we exited the airport to wait in a very crowded parking area for our hotel shuttle bus. They also had given us a voucher to stay in Quality Inn. B. kept bird-eye-ing the entrance of the bus, and as it parked, we pushed through to get in an already forming line for it. These buses ran every 30-40 min. It was already getting late. We were the last ones to fill the van!!

The ride was short. We arrived, and the kids and I sat in a sofa area while B. checked us in. To my dismay, on the BIG-SCREEN t.v., things were being shown that made me blush. Both of the kids saw it!  I was disgusted. I had them close their eyes, and B. finally whisked us to our room. As he entered the room, we realized that it was occupied!!! There were people in their underwear standing in the room. The kids and I just stood in the hall. We had 8 carry-ons we had carried this whole we, and we were exhausted. B. went back to the lobby and got another room. He came back, we went to another floor, and entered a second room. It was still dirty!!!  We were a little overwhelmed at this point. Again, we waited, as he got another room, and finally, we had a clean, unoccupied room!!!

By the time we cleaned up a bit, (Delta gave us each a kit, t-shirts included (XL only..LOL) and called Pam in CR to let her know why we were not there to be picked up at the airport, we only had a few hours to sleep. We had to get back up and be in the lobby at 4 AM to be picked up by the shuttle for our next flight.

This time, things went smoothly. We flew at 6:45 AM to Houston, and flew again from there to CR at 9:10 AM. We arrived in CR. We discovered our time zones are not the same as in MS, but CR is on mountain time, which means we (CR) are one hour earlier than MS is.

There, it seemed almost too easy. God was favoring us after all our troubles. A HUGE line was waiting for immigration. A man saw our children, asked me if they were ours, and he took us to the head of the immigration line.  Wow--we went right on through! Thank you, Jesus! As we got our bags, a Tico (CRican) got us a huge cart to pick up our additional 12 pcs. of luggage, that Delta had transferred to Continental, without our having to touch it. One piece was missing. The friendly Tico helped B. talk to an English-speaking lady, who helped us realize which piece was missing from our luggage tickets and found the piece had not been transferred; it was still in Atlanta. She promised delivery as soon as they received it. Our Tico carried us out, where Pam was waiting for us.

No rain in CR!!  This is very unusual, but it helped us get all of our luggage inside without getting wet. The Gayhearts (our quad neighbors from FPO) greeted us as we arrived to our house. They are right next door to us in CR.

More stories to come....

FYI--We still are bumming off our neighbor's internet. We did apply on Tues. You can leave messages on our phone (and we'll get via email), but we cannot call you until we get our own service hooked up due to the signal).

August Prayer Newsletter

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BUMMING INTERNET IN COSTA RICA

Hi, all!

We arrived in Costa Rica on Friday, a day later than expected. We'll share the stories later when we have our own service. Right now, we are bumming internet from our IMB neighbors, and we are limiting our useage because it pulls away from their Vonage. We missed our application appointment for internet on Fri. morning. It will be a few days before we post again.

We are doing well. We had complete Sunday School and church services in Spanish today. We've been grocery shopping, and we are sleeping well considering there is a vet nearby with it seems like a 1000 barking dogs, not to mention the chirping gheckos outside our windows at night.

Continue to pray for us as we journey here. We start our Barefooting classes (which intro. us to school that we start at the end of Aug.) on Tuesday. We definitely need to learn some Spanish!!!!!

We love and miss you all!

Costa Rica Bound

Last week consisted mostly of meeting with friends and family. Every day was very full, but enjoyable. Food and fellowship, who can beat that!??

We also started the chore of packing. Would this be easy?  No, most of the week, we'd start, and then it would start raining. Gathering clothes and odds and ends was a task in itself. The items had been stored in a variety of places....at Joyce & Glen's, our storage container, and in the camper. You have to remember that we are packing underneath our trailer shed (aka "carport") with luggage spread everywhere. So, we'd gather it all back up and cram it wherever we could find a space, so it would not get damp. Thankfully, we were able to borrow ABC's enclosed trailer, which has been a lifesaver.

However, we still seemed to be spinning our wheels on getting the packing done. I think we worked on one suitcase for days. Loading, weighing it, unloading, trying again, and then it's time to rush off again to more important people or things. The new weight limit on international flights has been reduced from 70 lbs. to 50!!!  We do get to take 2 bags each, and the company has given us enough to pay for 2 extra bags. Plus, we each get to 2 carry-ons.

Remember us this week as we continue packing. We have 7 bags completed, with 3 left to pack. Pray everything that we need will fit in the remaining bags. Hopefully, those of you who are planning on visiting us will be kind enough to bring extra bags to us, as needed.

Also, remember us as our days are finishing up here. The "see you laters" have already begun. Pray for a blanket of peace, comfort, and understanding to be laid over our children and us, and especially over our families/friends who we are leaving behind. We still have several visits to go.

We fly on Thursday afternoon and should arrive in Costa Rica late Thurs. night. On Friday, our Big Brother/Sister will show us around the town and get us acquainted with the school, bank, and stores, as well as complete our contract for internet service. Please give us a few days/week to get back into communication with you.

We are going to miss you all. We love you, and we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts for all that you have done and continue to do for us. 

Blessings Keep Pouring Down Upon Us

Sk. had a high ole time with his friend Ryan. They rode the Gator, played with their Bakugans, and splashed under the water hose. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see them do all this, because I was feeling VERY stuffy by this time. B. took lots of pictures for me, so I could send these priceless photos to our memory bank. Thank God, He quickly mended me, and I feel much better now.

On Sat., we participated in another crawfish boil with B.'s family. It's unique how they do this. They boil them in two batches in a huge stainless steel pot, and then, they drain them and pour them onto a table outside. Crawfish, potatoes, grapefruit, corn, onions, and shrimp. Very tasty!!  After cleaning the table and ourselves up, we all enjoyed a movie night at his parents' house. We watched Paul Blart Mall Cop on the big screen using a projector system. B. popped Jiffy Pop in the pan, and everyone got to enjoy this style of popcorn. We had pallets and comfy chairs everywhere with the lights off, so it was like being in the movie theater.

Sun. morning consisted of baptisms and listening to a wonderful sermon presented by Dr. Tommy. The Scripture came from 2 Chronicles 15: 1-7. My favorite part, the part that spoke most to me, was from verse 2--The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.  When the doubts, sadness, and worries set in, it's the devil trying to steal God's glory from Him. We MUST BE with HIM. We must seek Him daily so that we might find Him. Otherwise, Satan steps in! 

After the sermon, we had groundbreaking ceremony for the future preschool/children's wing at ABC. They had the walls outlined with string, and the floor plan drawn out with paint. It's going to be huge. This will be such an outreach to the community and communities surrounding ABC. When we return from the field, I can't wait to see what God has done with this building and project to draw people to Him.

Sun. night, we had the privilege of speaking at FB Leakesville. When we arrived we were welcomed by this sign:

 We received so many greetings, handshakes, hugs, a generous love offering, and words of encouragement while there. Great friends provided a wonderful meal and fellowship directly afterward.

In the Scripture we received Sun. morning, the last verse we read (vs. 7), said But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded. God continues to amaze us as He uses YOU to pour out His blessings on us. There are so many that we can't even name them all.  For example, while we were still in VA, ABC drew lifesized children that they carried around to impersonate our kids!!  They surprised us by collecting a offering and donating it to us for our children's future schooling while in Peru!!  People used a dunking booth to bribe the kids to bring more money! Suffering for Jesus!  There are so many other acts of kindness!!! 

Cards. Love Offerings. Meals. Prayers. Kind words. Encouragement. Invitations to speak. We are overwhelmed by all His goodness, all of your faithfulness and kindness. Words cannot express our gratitude or love for you all. We do not ask or require any of these things, but you continue to pour them out on us.  Thank you so much!  Thank you, God!

We pray that we will continue to be obedient to His will. It hasn't always been easy, but we know that He has called us to follow Him. He wants us to do this, and we MUST! Already, we are seeing Him pour out His blessings. He has a reason for all of this. He has already taught us many lessons through this. One of the many great lessons He has taught during this journey with Him I saw written on a sign while at Landrum's: 

Is God the MOST important aspect of your life??  If not, you are truly missing out, friend! 

 GOD IS AMAZING. Period.

Let Me Gather My Thoughts from Over the Past Week

Our time is really beginning to fly by. I was afraid that this would happen.  Since the last time that I blogged, the days have begun to unfold before us and disappear into the sunset.

On Sat., we received pictures of our house in Costa Rica. We had everyone praying for adequate housing, and God has blessed us with a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home. God is GOOD! He has also blessed us with great "Big Brother/Sister" who keeps in SUPER communication with us, keeping us up on any questions we may ask.

 Our casa (house) in Costa Rica

  Our kitchen

 Living Room

Sun. night we spoke at FB McLain. Bro. Slowey and the congregation there have it going on!!  They had the church all decorated for VBS, which is going on this week there. They have been remodelling most of the Sun. School and misc. rooms. Vibrant colors fill the walls to make the place much more child friendly. Our prayer card and monthly prayer newsletter adorned the wall in its own Missions bulletin board.  They blessed us with a love offering and promises of continual prayer.

B. and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on July 6!!!  That means we have been together as an "item" for 19 1/2 years. It seems like yesterday that we got together. He is a great honey. He took me to Mobile, and we just loafed and spent the day together alone. It was quite nice. 

Mom and Dad finally recuperated from their yuck nasty and kept the kids Sun. night until Wed.

On Tues., B. called the Peruvian Consulates and verified the information (price) of authentication of our birth certificates for our resident visas. We went to Goin' Postal and had them overnighted to Miami (our certificates had to go there because of our birth state) and Atlanta (the kids' certificates because of their birth state). Mind you, overnighting and the authentication process is not cheap. Wed. morning, the Atlanta Peruvian Consulate called and told us they do not accept checks, but money orders only!!!  B. called the Miami consulate to find out the same information was true for there also. They had not told us this on the telephone, and the website that we had visited was in espanol only! We had to go back to town and use the USPS to get money orders and send those priority mail. Pray we'll get these certificates back safely before leaving for CR.

Sk. is attending VBS with his best friend Ryan. Ryan is spending tomorrow with him. 

Yesterday, I was able to visit my grandparents for a minute and drink coffee with my mom. I enjoyed the precious time with them.  My grandma sent her AWESOME sourdough bread biscuits home with me. She made me an entire batch. Everyone's fattening us up, and I am enjoying EVERY bite of it.  hehehhe....the diet can come later!!

Today, I woke up quite "stuffy." Pray I'll get better!  Even though I was feeling under the weather, we went to Landrum's Country Homestead to visit our gemstones that we donated to the Landrums before we moved out of the house. Brian's Great, Great Uncle Pat, a member of Mobile Rock & Gem Society, willed these beauties to us upon his death. We always had oohed and ahhhed at them when we stayed with him during many weekends before he passed away. We couldn't store them, because we knew the heat would kill the cases that were very old. We wanted others to enjoy his and Aunt Ione's hard work.  

 Mrs. Landrum in front of a few of the cases and a picture display of Uncle Pat & Aunt Ione McIlwain

 More of the gemstones

Ms. J., B.'s mom, our niece, Bre, and our kids went with us. We ate in Hattiesburg and shopped a little before returning home. We had a good ti\me.  

Let the Fun Times Rollllllllllllll!!!

The days are passing more quickly than I expected. Yesterday was our first date they'd given us for departing, until they realized the housing would not be emptied and ready for us by then. I am proud that we have more days in the schedule than expected. We are getting to spend a lot of quality time with friends and family, and just hanging out, resting up.

My grandma cooked for us on Tuesday.  THE FULL WORKS. Wow! She doesn't cook much anymore, but she gave me her all. It took her days to prepare the dumplings that she hand-made and froze. Not only did we have her delicious dumplings and hen, but she also prepared chicken and rice, tomato gravy and her sour-dough yeast biscuits (passed all the way down from her mom!), peas, yams, and berry cobbler w/half n half. Aunt LaJune joined us with a variety of desserts for the kids. I truly enjoyed my time with my grandparents and aunt. All kinds of memories from my childhood arose while I was there, and by the time I left, I was really sad to leave. I know I will see them again before we set off, but that day felt like "goodbye." I really had a great day to add to the memory pot.

B. has been taking the kids to VBS at Plum Bluff this week, given by the association's summer M, Chase Allen, and several helpers, including Bro. Jimmy H. They'd missed the other VBS's, and they were so excited to get to go to this one. They had a great time. I took them today, and we had a blast. It's been a long time since I've been to Plum Bluff River Estates!

I had some of my girlfriends take me out for a girls' night last night. Thanks, Ms. J., for "treating" me. :)  You are a real blessing. We ate at Red Lobster, shopped/window browsed, ate a dessert at Cracker Barrel, and had coffee at Starbucks. We had a fun night!

We've finally gotten our Big Brother in Costa Rica, who will be helping us during our stay there. They found out our house is ready and is only a couple of blocks from the school.  They will be taking pics for us soon and sharing with us before we arrive.