Walking

Some photos from our evening walks:

These little snails are all over everything!  Drew pulled these ones off of a light post.

Melly loves to swing.

Beauty

Daddy gave each of the girls a flower for their hair.

This one was taken on our five mile walk. 

Crabs!

Exploring.  The little yellow dot is Drew.  AJ is in the middle.  Ray has Kay (you can't see her in the picture) and Megan.

The first week

We have now completed our first week in Spain.  I won’t lie.  It’s been a very rough week.  There have been many tears and meltdowns (by grownups as well as children), but God has proved faithful.  

One of the biggest things that we have been blessed with is a beautiful house.  Although we aren’t living there yet, I am excited to move in soon.  Where to live was a concern for us.  Base housing for the enlisted is pretty awful here.  As soon as we saw our temporary house, we knew we would need to look on the economy and explore our options.  The very first day we were here, Ray’s sponsor took us to see a house that she knew was available.  It was more than we had ever hoped for.  It is going to take us a while to furnish it, but the space will be a huge blessing for our big family.

Another blessing was that we were offered a ride to church last Sunday.  I stayed home with Kay and Melly because of illness, but Ray was able to go with the three older kids and was very uplifted by the fellowship and message.  Church is going to be difficult for us until we have a vehicle, but it was good that Ray was able to visit.  (As a side note, we *think* that our church is within walking distance of our house!  That would be a HUGE blessing since we likely won’t have a vehicle for several months, but we will be moving into our new home as early as next week.)

I also wanted to share a small blessing that felt really big during some pretty low moments.  Drew was devastated when he realized that he left his Nintendo DS on the airplane.  I held him and we cried together over the lost toy, but we thanked Jesus that we were all safe because that’s what was important.  A family member heard about the loss, and without being asked she offered to pay for a replacement.  With all of the expenses that we are facing right now, there is no way we would have been able to buy him a new one so soon.  The generosity blessed little Drew more than I can describe, and it made my mommy heart soar when we gave it to him and talked to him about God providing for even the things that we *want*.

The kids are doing great so far.  Everyone is sleeping through the night (mostly), and they are learning to play outside.  They often talk about the things and people that they miss, but they don’t seem to be terribly homesick.  In the last few days, Melody has learned to sit up without tipping over, and she is eating lots of finger foods in her new booster seat.  It’s hard to believe she is almost 8 months old already!

God is good.  He continues to provide for us and show us His love even in this far away land. 

Welcome to Spain

We touched down in Rota, Spain a little before 11am local time.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it isn’t what I got.  There was no big terminal or bustling airport.  There were no familiar faces in the crowd waiting anxiously to greet us.  Instead, we departed the plane straight onto the tarmac, and then had to wait in line for an hour to get paperwork signed and passports stamped.  We had to go through several stations, and I felt like we were cattle being prodded on.

When we finally got through the line, we saw a lady holding a sign with our name on it.  I was thankful that at least someone knew we were there, but I was so tired and struggled to put on my “happy-to-meet-you” face.  Many introductions were made.  We met the people Ray will be working with, and the commander and his wife.  Those first moments are a bit of a blur in my mind, but I know Ray somehow managed to find all of our luggage and we ended up in a blue van headed to our temporary home.

Our temporary home was a shock to say the least.  It was not at all what we were expecting.  We had specifically requested to be in TLF, which is pretty much a hotel on base.  It would have been very small, but we would have everything a hotel would offer including internet and room service.  Apparently though, TLF was full.  So we ended up in temporary housing.   

The three bedroom house that we were given was fairly spacious (compared to our condo in Vegas, anyways), but it was very sparsely furnished.  There was a table with four chairs (doesn’t really work for a family of 7), a couch set, and six beds.  Unfortunately there were no pillows, sheets, towels, shower curtains, toilet paper, etc. 

Ray’s sponsor took him to get a rental car while the rest of us stayed in the empty house.  We were exhausted and homesick, and just wanted to sleep.  Each kid had a blanket, so we spread out the blankets on the bare mattresses, and they each took a nap.  I had no blanket, so I just laid on the bare mattress and cried myself to sleep.  It’s a moment that I will never forget as one of the worst moments of my life.

A plane to Spain

In line to board the plane

On August 16^th, after many miles and many tearful goodbyes, our family boarded a plane in Norfolk, Virginia that was headed to Rota, Spain.  The flight did not leave until 9:30pm, so it was dark as we soared into the air.  Tears streamed down my face as I watched the lights of America get further and further away.  I knew that life was changing, and I was terrified.  Ray looked back at me and smiled.  I reached out my hand and he gave it a squeeze.  

The plane ride was fairly uneventful, thankfully.  The kids were amazing.  Kay and Melody slept almost the whole time.  The older three kids dozed on and off, but mostly enjoyed the airplane food and played games on their handheld electronics.  

Getting closer!

  

About five hours into the flight, we watched the sun rise over the ocean.  The beauty was indescribable.  Ray snapped pictures as I watched the awesome display of God’s creation.  Our bodies were weary, but somehow watching the sun rise from 35000 feet brought hope and life.  It would only be a few hours until our big adventure would begin.

Sunrise from 35,000 feet