Five Weeks In Panama

Today is the beginning of our sixth week in Panama! We are still battling it out to get internet at our house, so we are once again using Wifi at McDonald's. Ben is picking up his motorcycle from customs while the kids and I wait for him here. This will be my first time to really drive in Panama other than a few miles around the city. I'll be driving us back up the mountain from David to Volcan while Ben drives his motorcycle. Hopefully it will be uneventful. I'm not worried about my driving, it the other crazies out on the road I have to keep an eye out for!
Here are some things that have happened recently:

- Our container arrived! We were so excited to get our stuff delivered from Texas. It came in the 40 foot container we shipped it in and was parked out on the road and then loaded into a smaller truck and driven up to the house. The guys worked all day on it. We are still unpacking it and that has been a lot of fun. Some of the boxes were packed a year ago! We have a room full of medical donations from Mission Regan to distribute, tons of boxes to set up our lending library, and a lot of personal stuff to figure out where it will go. The kids loved getting their toys and bicycles (new ones from Nana and Pop)!

- The kittens both got names! The white one is named Nacho and the orange one is named Queso. Most of the time, they are called the white one and the orange one still! We took them to the vet where they are now on three medications. One for their tummies and two for a fungal infection they seem to have that is making patches of their hair fall out. The vet we took them to speaks English and was very nice.

- We learn lessons even in the dark! We've had the power go out a few times and we've definitely learned from our mistakes there. The first time was right after our container arrived and it was out for 4 hours starting around dinner. We pulled out a DVD and let the kids watch it on a laptop that thankfully had some power. We hadn't charged our camp light or found candles at the time. It was dark! Now we have the light charged, candles found and a plan to institute a preparedness day (although I haven't done it yet). We need to have the battery back ups charged, water buckets filled, etc. When the power goes out, so does the water...and you don't know when it will come back on!

- My Mother's Day gift yesterday was a dryer plug! Ben installed it and now we have a working dryer! This is great help in the rainy season. I was having to put out one load of laundry to dry and leaving it out all day and night and then hoping the sun would hit it the next morning so I could bring it in. I did two loads of laundry last night! It was wonderful!

- Ben and I got our drivers licenses! This is what we did after we arrived, but it was such a process. After we got our permanent visa, we had to get a drivers license. To do this, you have to get your USA one certified by the embassy in Panama City. Then you have to pay $2 to two different locations in Panama City to get that paperwork certified. Then you have to get your blood type taken at a lab. Then you go to the drivers license place, turn in all the paperwork, take a hearing and vision test, pay some fees and then they give you a drivers license!

- Ben installed some upper kitchen cabinets! This isn't always common in a Panamanian kitchen and ours didn't have any, so he bought some at a garage sale site and installed them. It's nice to have a place to store some of our kitchen items like food, plates, glasses, etc.! I'm definitely glad to have a handy husband!

- We are happy to be getting to know friends better in the area! It's amazing how God has brought together these different families with so many similarities. We attend Bible study at two different friends' homes during the week. We have had friends come help sort books and take some to use at home with their families. I'm so glad we were able to bring books that were needed in the area. We brought a ton and still have a lot of work to do! We are thankful to everyone who donated, sorts or helps in any way with the lending library!!