Family Lowdown: We're not in Kansas anymore!

A red-frangipani flower (Plumeria rubra) in our yard

   We made it!

  Our family landed in West Africa on August 14. We have lived in our house (meaning slept in) for over a month now. Let me catch you up on all our news.

  Thankfully both of our water heaters broke after we had used them for a few days, otherwise morale would have been quite low. We are also grateful (especially us ladies) that our explosive gas stove has been completely replaced. After several close calls in the mornings leaving everyone slightly shaken, Mom and I drove to the store with measuring tape in hand to purchase one. It's Italian and quite nice. We have blown over five transformer fuses, cracked innumerable rotten eggs, but haven't fried any electronics yet. I'll let you know when we have fully settled in!

  Have you ever wondered about communications outside of the US? We used to buy SIM cards when we flew into a new country. I remember Mom and Dad having a little collection of the things stashed away that we would pull out to put credit on when we traveled. It is a hassle and we thought we had it all solved....

  All of the carrier's we visited would say something along the lines of, "Oh yes, we have an international plan," only to find out that 'international' meant Canada, the US, and Mexico. Others would say, "Oh yes, we have an international plan," only to find out they shut you off after a certain number of days outside of the US. It was a hassle. The carrier we finally went with TOLD us that they were international, unlimited texting, unlimited data, 25 cents a minute calls, oh, and did we mention Netflix? But now we are being told they will shut us down after 60 days. Bummer. Back to the drawing board.

  It's not just cellular carriers. It's banks and even apps that say, "I'm sorry, but you have to be physically in the United States in order to open an account with us." "I'm sorry, you can only have an American phone number to download this application." "I'm sorry, you must reside in the United States for this, that, and the other."

We're not in Kansas anymore.... 

   Besides all of that, we are settling in slowly but surely. A little over half of the bookshelves in our house are organised now, and if you have visited our house, you will know how big an accomplishment that is! School is in session. Tristan and I are doing our online courses with the incredible internet we had installed last month (fast enough to stream on Netflix!) 

  On the horizon, we don't have too much except for a trip to Prague that Tristan and I will be making soon. We are ecstatic about it! I'll be sure to keep you informed.

  Thank you all for your prayers that carried us here. The next four years are going to be adventure filled and I am going to bring you all with me. 

In the words of Andrew Peterson:

In the grace of the God of peace 

Let's wade into the battle

So come on, come on with me

And get up in that saddle

There's a million mysteries 

I'm ready to unravel

Come on, let's travel the world