The Eagle Has Landed

So, I didn't do a post yesterday because it was insane. I must admit that I had a few "What have I done?" moments in there, lol. As we were passing through the security check at San Juan I said to Benjamin "Nil Desperandum over the river lies the promised land." to which he replied "It's a long river." I gave him about 8 points for that. He would have got 10 if he had said the river was wide. After we were through security the flight from San Juan was delayed for just over an hour. We had gotten to the gate at basically the perfect time. The kids were excited and quietly waited the last few minutes for our flight. The moment arrived, we picked up our bags, and were told the flight would be delayed for an indeterminate amount of time. We sat back down and the children began to lose patience. Still, they are very flexible and find ways to amuse themselves in most situations. For at least part of the wait Issac and Caleb rolled a ball back and forth.

Of course it had been a very long trip for them and it wasn't long before they decided that relaxing/sleeping might be a better use of their time.

However, just like it always does, time moved on and the moment to board our plane finally arrived.

When Elizabeth sat down in her seat and realized that the current flight didn't have TV like the first one did she pulled the magazine out of the seat in front of her and said loudly "This book better last two hours!" After takeoff Ben spotted some pretty interesting islands off the coast of Puerto Rico and asked for the camera to take a few pics.


And the stewardess was kind enough to take a picture of us once we reached our cruising altitude.

In roughly two hours we spotted our destination out the windows.

Needless to say the plane landed. It was actually very exciting and we did take a video of it. I hope to get it uploaded to youtube tomorrow. It was something worth seeing. Shortly after we landed we were allowed through customs. Josian Bellot was kind enough to meet us at the airport and arrange transportation.

We didn't realize how very generous it was of her until after the trip was over. What looking at a map of Dominica won't tell you is that it will take two hours of driving to get from the airport to Soufriere where we are staying. I had no idea that was the case. As it turns out to get around here you very often have to drive up and down the surrounding mountainsides. The road quality ranges from wide well-paved nearly US quality roads to narrow dirt roads covered with gravel, potholes and former landslides.

It's actually not very surprising that they have roads washed out in landslides. What is AMAZING is that it doesn't happen all the time. Many of the roads have been leveled by digging through the mountainous hills. In many places one side of the road is nothing more than a shear earth wall. (In fact in one place along the road an earth cliff hangs above the road. You almost have to see it to believe it. I hope to get pictures soon.) All things considered I feel we did well to make it to the house in a single mini-bus in two hours. Now, what will probably give my parents a heart attack was the fact that with eleven people and all our luggage in one van there were no car seats or seat belts. Normally we wouldn't ride that way, but we had no choice. We had trusted the Lord to bring us safe that far and so we trusted him in the minibus.

That actually runs into other subjects and for the moment I want to bring this post to an end. The fact was that by the time we brought the luggage in and got the kids arranged it was time for Rachel and I to go to bed. I have to admit I spent a fitful night in hours of peaceful sleep, restless turning, and steadfast prayer. A this point I'm not certain Dominica is the place for us, but this is all so new there's no way to say for sure. I'm the only doubting Thomas at the moment. Rachel and the kids seem to be adjusting very well and having a good time. I think the difference is that I am responsible for them all. I have to do my best to keep them all safe and happy. That's what I intend to do and I trust the Lord to give me the strength to do it.

That's all for now. I'll try to do a post about today tomorrow morning and may do another before I go to bed tomorrow night. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. As part of tomorrow's post I plan to list a few prices. They are things that seem both ridiculously low and ridiculously high to a man born and bred in South Carolina. Either way, keep reading and I'll do my best to keep posting. Thank you all for supporting us!