As the weekend
pressed on, all three of our children came down with fevers, congestion, and
coughs. Though this seemed to be another hurdle to overcome, it became a
blessing in disguise. The kids’ bodies were so worn out from illness and travel
that they all slept A LOT in the following days. Micah slept for 4 1/2 hours of
the first flight, which was only a total of 6 hours and the girls slept quite a
bit too.
Once we landed
in Panama, we deplaned grabbing bags and little ones as we bolted through the
terminal. By the end Micah was in tears but we arrived at our gate just as they
were boarding. All three kids also slept on the second flight allowing Kevin to
only have one to handle at a time. Lydia was glued to me the entire trip, which
was wearisome but her calm demeanor made the trip bearable. This full day of
travel left us quite drained but the party awaiting our arrival was quite the
welcoming sight!
Nine of our new
teammates waited eagerly as we collected our luggage and headed for customs,
(praise the Lord they just waved us through with no questions asked). There
were cameras and hugs all around, with lots of hands to load our things into
the trailer. We chatted excitedly with our dear friends and then piled into the
van and headed for the guesthouse. Alicia and Micah completely enjoyed the
freedom of no carseats.
Awaiting us in
our room were welcome balloons and a whole table of food and supplies that they
picked up for us. As the excitement waned and our tired bodies took over, we
were thrilled with the guesthouse accommodations, which included air
conditioning. We fell into our beds completely exhausted and did not awaken
until late morning.
Our first day
in Asuncion was plenty warm, but Micah couldn’t get enough of it. He was outside
from the moment he woke up playing with all the kids. They swam and made mud,
which soon covered Micah head to toe. The playground and several dogs also drew
them with eager excitement. Though not so early by the time we pulled ourselves
out of bed, we joined the others around a pitcher of terere (tea) and enjoyed getting
to know our team.
Our first
experience with Paraguayan food was empanadas that we had for lunch. We soon realized
that these are the Paraguayan equivalent to the hamburger in the US. They are
available almost everywhere and many people eat them on the road.
Vonnie was in charge
of arranging everything for us as we adjusted to our new surroundings. She did a beautiful job and we felt so
welcomed. This afternoon we exchanged money and Kevin took care of getting us
cell phones.
That evening
our team put together an asado, a “typical Paraguay barbeque,” for us. We were
definitely excited to finally be on the field. However, the coming months would
prove to be very strenuous and tedious as we continued to live out of suitcases
looking for a house, vehicle, and all things needed to set up home. Those
stories will have to come later as I am still in the thick of it!
