Returning and readjusting

After being amazingly blessed by our friends and family in Oregon, it was time to return home to Panama.

The prep began last week as we packed the suit cases on by one, carefully weighing each on, deciding what to bring and what to leave.  Fifty pounds doesn't seem like much when you are traveling with the whole family. 

There is never time enough to do all you want to do before saying good bye again, never time enough to spend with family, to say all that you want to say. So at some point you have to accept that time is limited and we can only do what we can do.

The night before leaving we stayed up late fighting with our suitcases and the scale, making sure that none of our bags would go over. The morning we left I enjoyed one last hot shower, one last meal at my parent's house, one last conversation.

Everything tightly packed into my parent's car, we headed out for the airport.  Traveling on Halloween, the girls got given candy everywhere we went.  Our funny flight schedule, taking us through Seattle, allowed us to see some good friends there, saying hello and goodbye during our layover.

Our night flight took us straight to Miami, where we already felt we were in Latin America.  Our last step, the flight to Panama, went quickly. How good it felt to finally get on that plane and know that our trip was almost over.  Our passports stamped, we retrieved our luggage (all there!) and came out into the heat and humidity that lets my body know that we have arrived.

A friend brought a taxi, and off we went toward Chepo. Praying that the rain wouldn't start and get all of our bags wet in the back of the pick-up taxi, we soon arrived.  The girls recognized our neighborhood as soon as we entered, and we were recieved by Yariani and her sisters and cousins who had been helping her watch our house.

And so began the process of readjusting to being here again.  In Oregn we had been staying in my Dad's new, super insulated cottage. Here, not even glass seperates us from the neighbor hood life.  The neighbor's conversation, the dogs barking, the rooster's crowing, a cow mooing, and today, the local school band marching through the town to celebrate independence day.

From the moment we arrived the house was full of people, another thing we have to get used to again.  I find myself speaking to my kids in Spanish, then reminding myself that I should stick to English, because they get plenty of Spanish here.

The next day  Alex and I were on the bus, heading to the super market to stock up our kitchen.  I had temporarily forgotten about the bumpy roads and overly agressive drivers. 

So we start again, with work waiting for us, a team arriving tomorrow, and a hundred things to do in the next month.  We are back into things, but hopefully more rested, with more perspective and the strength to do what God has called us to do.