Bienvenido a Miami

Everything was very easy getting from Memphis to Miami with a layover in Atlanta. We rented a car when we got to Miami and drove an easy 30 minutes up to Boca Raton to stay with our friends Scot and Karen Sherwood and their two kids Lily and Drew. We loved visiting with them and resting for a few days before flying out to Costa Rica. It was exactly what we needed. We hung out at their house and swam, went to the amazing beach only 10 minutes away, went out to a super nice dinner in Del Ray (while we had a babysitter at home…awesome idea), and went to church with them at Spanish River.

Will and Scot went and got massages that morning. This was my surprise for Will after moving and packing us for a week. They look very relaxed now.

The girls playing with dads in the pool. Lily was a flipping machine!

Jack loved the indoor swing

I've never seen a drawbridge before and I was amazed

The boys "surfed" the entire afternoon

Emma asked me to write that she wants to be a scientist when she grows up

Sunday night we drove back up to Miami, stayed in the infamous Sleep Inn (not my first choice) and met with Latin America Mission all day on Monday. We just had to tie up loose ends with them, sign final papers, say goodbye and they wanted to pray over us. To say we were beyond ready is an understatement.

It was amazing to see the Lord working out every little thing and using His people to minister to us. We realized quickly that we were not supposed to buy anything extra. Here’s what happened:

- We left Emma’s crocs back in Memphis and the girl only has two pair of shoes. So now she was down to one pair. We thought we would just run out after church on Sunday and buy her another pair of crocs before we left. Saturday afternoon I get a message on my phone from our friends the Gaults who live here in Costa Rica and had eaten lunch with my parents. She had Emma’s crocs with her and said “don’t go out and buy another pair of crocs…I’ve got them with me!”. Okay, so we don’t have to buy more crocs.

- One of our suitcases busted open on the flight to Miami. I think the zipper broke and there was no repairing it. We decided that we would go out and buy a suitcase to replace it. When we told the Sherwoods we needed to do that, they quickly said they had an extra suitcase that they never use and we could have it. It ended up being a great sized duffel bag on wheels that Will is planning on using it as “his” suitcase from now on. Okay, so now we don’t have to buy another suitcase.

- Sunday morning when we were getting ready for church, we couldn’t find Emma’s new Keen sandals anywhere. She had worn them to the beach the day before and we weren’t sure if they made it back home or not. We looked everywhere. It was a weird feeling realizing that my daughter literally did not have any more shoes (remember…left the crocs in Memphis). Karen’s daughter Lily wears the same size as Emma so she was able to borrow some of hers. When we got to church, a lady named Jennifer took Emma and me to her childrens class at the back of the church. I somehow starting telling this lady about Emma losing her shoes and that we were going to go buy her some more before we leave. After church, Karen got a text from Jennifer saying that she would really like to buy Emma some shoes. Okay, so now we don’t have to pay for more Keens. We actually found the shoes as we were packing up, but that was such a generous offer from someone who didn’t even know me.