Here.

We’re here, folks! Karis and I began our travels early Wednesday morning. The alarm went off at 3:30am so that we could board the plane at 5:50am! Karis loved the airplane ride. She talked the whole time, taking in everything. I was happy she didn't sleep on the flight thinking that she’d sleep for most of the 3 hours we would spend on the bus (oops, that was a dumb expectation:-). A friend was very kind to pick us up at the airport in Brasilia (so that we didn't have to take a taxi) and take us to the bus station. A bus leaves every hour for our destination and we arrived at the bus station 5 ‘til 10am! Thankfully we didn’t have to wait around for another hour. Anyway, this is way too detailed. The bus ride was OK. Karis wasn’t thrilled with it (she kept saying “shall we go home now, mommy?”) and would have preferred another plane ride. The bathroom in the back bore the smell of someone with an upset tummy and then a little boy (I prayed for his poor mom) must not have been feeling well so another odor was added to the mixture as he tossed his cookies. No, it did not smell good at all but at least the seats reclined and the a/c was cold!

We’re here now in the small town where we’ll live for at least the next few years. It is COLD here! (by cold I mean in the high 50’s at night and then it warms up to the high 70’s during the day. I won’t complain about not having a/c anymore, Meg!). It is BEAUTIFUL although Karis and I were not prepared for this cold of weather. I might have to break down and buy a sweat-shirt for her in town next week.

We spent a good part of Friday looking for/at houses for sale in the area. There isn’t much available and what is available isn’t so...well, appealing. After examining the house we originally wanted to buy we are now feeling much more inclined to rent for the time-being. Tomorrow morning Karis and I will walk about a mile to a house that’s available to rent...I think this house will be our home for the next 6 months or so! I am feeling SO anxious to get a house and settle down. We’ve been in temporary housing situations for more than a year now and although that is NOTHING compared to the amount of time some people have to go without permanent housing, it sure does a draining on me (that sounds like something we’d say in TN...I’m sure it is not grammatically correct but since I have no internet and can’t check it, it will just have to remain in “Tennessean”).

The wireless internet is down now so I haven’t been able to check email or get on the internet and read blogs (my therapy!). I’m waiting for a phone call so I can walk over to the school and check email there (where I plan to copy and paste this post onto my blog!). Hopefully the wireless will be up soon so that I can again have contact with the outside world. For now it’s been somewhat beneficial since I had to learn how to send a text message over our cell phone (the only way for me to get in touch with Jonathan unless I want to pay $2 a minute to call him on the cell phone). I’ve now sent my first 15 text messages. I’m sure Jonathan is thrilled to get the “you have a message” beep on his phone every few hours. Hee hee...I think he turned his phone off as he hasn’t replied to the 4 messages I sent this morning! (if you’re reading this, babe, check your new online email address...and feel sorry for me and text me every 3 hours or so, if you don’t mind).

Not a great picture but the only one I took of our trip over here. This is on the not-so-exciting bus-ride. The last 30 minutes were peaceful as Karis finally fell asleep!

NOTE: We now have internet access in the apartment! Wahoo! I can now reconnect with the outside world and not feel thousands and thousands....and thousands of miles away from home.