Getting Settled In

It has been just over a week now since we moved and things are going really well.  We still do not have home internet service so I have not been able to blog and give an update yet.  Here is a look at our lives lately.

We used a moving company from Guatemala City.  They arrived at our house in Chiquimula around 4:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9.  We were expecting them mid-day.  They came in two trucks.  You can imagine the boys excitement watching them drive in.

They enjoyed playing inside the trucks while they were still empty.

The beautiful sunset on our last night there.  Isn't God good for providing smiles in the midst of a little sadness. 

They quickly got busy packing our things.  We had a lot of it already done but still had plenty for them to do.  They finished packing around 6:00.  They had planned to stay the night in Chiquimula and we would all leave out early Saturday morning driving to Antigua.  Well, the heat was taking a toll on them (I was glad they didn't arrive mid-day!!!).  They did not want to sleep in Chiquimula and instead they wanted to return to the Capital that night.  They said they could have everything loaded in an hour and we could all leave.  We didn't believe them but we let them try.  

They worked fast and were done by 7:30ish.  We called in McDonald's delivery for everyone and after eating we got on the road.  It was about 8:15 when we left Chiquimula. Here is David with the moving crew eating supper in our kitchen.
 
It was midnight before we arrived at our mission house in Guatemala City.   We showered and fell into bed.  I was so tired!  We were up at 5:30 the next morning and left out by 6:00.  The movers wanted to start unloading at 7:00.  We ran through a drive through in San Lucas for breakfast and arrived right on time at our new house in Antigua.  Then the fun part of unloading and unpacking began.

On one of many trips in and out to the moving truck I snapped this photo looking out our front door. What a beautiful view we are going to have!  I was already thinking I was going to love it here. 

As soon as boxes were unloaded into the boys room they began tearing them open and looking through all of their toys.  It was like Christmas day for them.  They immediately put on costumes and built a fort with the boxes and foam mats.  They got out their Nerf guns and had a Nerf war.  They had a lot of new areas to explore and thankfully they entertained themselves well the whole day.

Once everything was unloaded and the movers were gone we got busy cleaning and unpacking.  Here I am wiping down the kitchen cabinets so I could unpack all of the dishes.

Here is David in the back yard.  He was climbing the ladder to get cell service.  

The Thomas family arrived at lunchtime and brought us something to eat.  What a blessing that was!!!  They stayed for most of the afternoon and helped us unpack.  They came back on Monday with lunch and helped us again.  I cannot even put into words what a blessing they were to us.  We look forward to getting to visit with them more often in the days ahead. 

That night and the next two nights the boys shot fireworks outside our gate.  Their friend Mateo had given them some as a gift when we left Chiquimula.   It was a fun way to welcome ourselves to town.  

Here is a photo of the boys last Sunday night while eating supper at Dona Luisa.  We made our first trip to the local grocery store afterwards to pick up some supplies.

Those moving boxes have been a life saver.  The boys have played every day with them so far.  They have built towers and forts in the front yard, back yard, living room, hall way, and their bedroom.  Listening to them use their imaginations as they have played has made me smile.  I am thankful for simple things like boxes that has kept them well entertained so that we could get so much done around the house.  

Here is a fort they built one evening in the backyard.  They were so excited to get to eat supper in there.  

supper in their fort

My favorite memory of the week was building our first fire.  I am going to love getting to build fires here!  It gets cool at night (or at least it is cool to us coming from a hot climate).  On this particular night we cooked supper on the grill, built a fire, and watched Elf.  It was such a fun night.

We also roasted a few marshmallows (another gift from their friend Mateo).  As you can see Cruz was in safety mode as he roasted his.  LOL  That boy is a mess!

We spent most all of last week getting unpacked and settled in.  We have come a long way in a short time.   Most everything is unpacked and put away.  We just lack a few boxes to be stowed away.  We have worked hard day and night and are glad to be almost done.  We still lack things like hanging curtains and decorations on the walls but other than that we are settled in.  We started back to school last Friday and had a really fun weekend exploring our town.  I will update about that in my next post.

Thanks for praying for our move.  We have felt your prayers and they have definitely helped make this transition go much smoother than we could have imagined.  Thank you!