Frustration has began

Today was the first day of school for the Pruitt family and let me tell you, it has been an eventful day. The kids caught the bus at 7:00 a.m. and Shannon and I didn't have to be at school until 9:15. Our school starts at 7:45 but they had a meeting this morning and we started late. Which was fine by me! So we get the kids ready for school and then get ready ourselves. We head out around 8:55 because it's about a 20 minute walk. My classes are over at 12:00 and Shannon has to stay until 2:45. So, we had made a plan for me to walk home with the girl next door, Rebecca. When we get to school the schedule had been changed and Shannon and Rebecca now had the same schedule. What to do now? I could either sit at the school and wait for them to finish, or walk home alone (which was not an option), or take a taxi. Take a taxi? Are you kidding me? That would be so stupid to take a taxi in a foreign country where you can't speak spanish, right? That is what I thought. But, the girls at school said "you will be fine". So, they called me a taxi and gave him directions to our apartment. By the way, there are no street signs in Costa Rica, so that means no addresses. In my mind I am thinking, what if he kidnaps me and does who knows what and I would never been seen again. But I do it anyway. Scared to death but I did it. I did make it home safely with a little hand gestures for directions. It was crazy to say the least. I guess I better get use to it because it looks like it's going to be my daily routine.

The kids get home and need a few things for school the next day and we need a loaf of bread. So we decide to run to the store. Surely it wouldn't take that long to go get a loaf of bread, two locks, and two water bottles. So, we head off to the store. It is raining and the streets are crowded with traffic. Let me tell you a little bit about the traffic here, it is nothing like the US. They do not, I repeat, do not stop for pedestrians. We have two major intersections to go through before getting to the store. The major one is a rotunda, which is a round-a-bout like in Branson except this one is 3 or 4 lanes. It makes me a nervous wreck. If you are out in the road and a car is coming they honk at you. We got honked at several times. By the time we got home, it had taken us 2 hours to get a loaf of bread, two locks, and two water bottles. So, needless to say, I am starting to get very frustrated. I never thought I would be stressing out over going to buy a loaf of bread. I did buy the largest loaf of bread that I could find. There is a place here called Price Mart, which is like a Sam's club. I am going there as soon as I can and buying as much as I can in bulk. I can not handle having to run to the store every other day. There is no telling how tomorrow will be!

On a happier note, the kids really liked school today. I was really nervous about the school thing. But, they are both excited about going and that makes so happy. They will have to wear uniform shirts and they don't even mind that. Another thing that they are excited about is there is a cafe at their school where they can buy snacks, cokes, candy, etc. And, they are allowed to microwave their lunch if they need to. There are only 7 kids in E's class and 18 in Megs. Please keep them in your prayers as they are still trying to adjust to a new school and a new country. They are doing really well.

This is the Feria (farmers market) that we went to on Saturday. It was really neat.

Me and the kids before we left for church.

This is the bus that the kids will ride every day.

Megan on her first day of 6th grade.

Ethan on his first day of 8th grade.

A few pics from today

We have been so busy since we got here. Today we went downtown San Jose for a tour and then we ate "tico" food. We left from Cincel around 9:30 and walked to the bus stop. The bus ride was a whole 35 cents. Our tour guide was Rudy, he is a maintenance man from the language school. There were so many people downtown! We spent around 4 hours there and headed back to school for orientation. The kids spent half the day on a field trip with their school. They had a really good day. Tomorrow we are going to an open air market to buy fruits and veggies. We will be starting school bright and early Monday morning. I am not sure how much blogging I will have time for. I think we will have a lot of homework, something that I am not looking forward to. I will try to post pics of our apartment tomorrow. (maybe)

This is an indoor market.

You could buy fresh flower there really cheap. I think these were 6 bucks.

There were so many people there, it was crazy!

These are bananas on our banana tree in the back yard.

Here is Ethan climbing our lime tree.

Here are the limes. The Costa Ricans call them lemons.

Off to Costa Rica

We are at the airport right now waiting for our flight. While I had a few minutes I thought I would update the blog one last time. I don't know when I will be able to again. We have been up since 6:00 this morning and last night was a little emotional. We are all very excited!

Shannon and Douglas

Megan and Amber

Shannon and Grandma Pruitt

How would you like to show up at the airport with all this? We checked 16 bags!

Waiting......E looks thrilled!

Family and friends

We had a very busy week, from going to last Dr. appointments to visiting with friends and family. Not to mention all the last minute items we needed to purchase and all the packing. We are so ready to go!

Here are a few pics from our week. Hope you enjoy!

Megan, Ethan and Matthew Hughes - eating in Russellville

Eating with the Gabards and the Doans in Conway

Ethan met Michael Sanchez in Conway at the Market Place. (it made his day)

Megan and Aunt Laura

Me and Laura

Megan, Madison, and Ethan sporting their Converse

Going Away Party!

For those of you who are interested:

Going Away Party for the Pruitt's

Place: Scottsville First Assembly

Time: 12:00 - 2:00 (come and go)

Shannon will be preaching his last sermon here in the USA. We would love to see all of our friends and family before we leave.

Pictures to come......

Friday in Branson

We have had a very fun day and we have enjoyed spending time with Shannon's family. We hardly ever get to see his sister, Shonda, and have really enjoyed getting to see her and the girls. This is the first time that we have all came to Branson together. So glad that we did!

We started off the day with breakfast at the Belgian Waffle House. (grandpa's favorite)

Macen, Megan, Madison, and Ethan enjoying time together.

Then we headed to the Track and played mini golf.

Shannon and Shonda

Grandma and Grandpa Bull (Shannon's grandparents) with the great grand kids.

And we rode go-carts!! Shonda and Macen getting ready to ride.

Then we went and rode the bumper boats. They all got soaked.

And last we rode the bumper cars. They said that this was their favorite.

To top it all off we then played games in the arcade.

Madison hit the jackpot!

We had a great day. After the Track they decided they wanted to go swimming. So, that's what we did. I think we spent the day doing whatever the kids wanted to do. It was so much fun and great memories.

13 Days!

We now have 13 days until our departure. We are all so excited! We are so busy trying to get everything packed and visiting friends and family. Here is a run down of the week so far;

Monday - Took my dog (Molly) to meet my mom. She will be staying with her for a year. It was a sad day, I will admit it. The kids did very good, it was hard for me. I know that my mom will take really good care of her. I wish that I would have been able to spend more time with my mom, but it was so hot and we couldn't leave the dogs in the car. I am so thankful to her for watching my dog and keeping some of my most valued possessions.

Molly

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Tuesday - We took Haylee and Cooper Spence to Razorback Pizza. We had lots of fun!

Me and Carla

Ethan and Megan, Cooper and Haylee

Wednesday - I had a Dr. Appt. in Conway and we ran a few errands. Then we went to see my brother Patrick and his wife Kristi. They are having a baby in March and we won't get to see it until next August. We are very excited for them! (No Pictures)

Thursday - We got up and headed to Branson. We are going to spend a couple of days her with Shannon's family. I will post more pictures of the trip later.

Shannon and the kids in the pool at Branson

Update

We have ordered plane tickets and will be leaving August 26th at 11:20 a.m. from Little Rock.

We have turned off our cell phones and if you need to contact us please call, 479-280-0655.

I know that I am getting lazy. The last few posts that I have made I haven't posted any pics. Seriously, I am just too tired. I am tired of driving, tired of going to services, and tired of not having my own space. And, I am so missing our van! I know that vans are not cool, but they sure are comfortable and the kids have their own space. It seems like we have things to do everyday of the week. There are so many things that have to be done before you can leave the country. Things are so crazy! We are down to 20 days and can't wait. Now it's on to all the last Dr. appointments before we leave. Shannon has been having some back trouble and is going to try to get one last injection before we leave. Please pray that he can get in and get that done. Ethan is off to the allergy Dr. tomorrow and hopefully he will be off his shots.

Thanks Jonesboro First

Jonesboro First bought our STL vehicle! Thank you so much! We were able to be in service with them this morning and were so blessed. You guys have a great church and pastors.

Shannon with the pastors at Jonesboro First

This is us with the youth from Jonesboro First

We have a busy week ahead of us. It is hard to believe that we only have 24 more days before we leave. I am a little overwhelmed with all the things that I need to do. That is only a little over three weeks away. We will be ordering our plan tickets tomorrow so pray that we get a good deal, especially on the luggage part. It's just our luck that a lot of airlines are now charging for checked bags. I'm really not sure how many bags that we will be taking, but it could get expensive. We will also be taking our dog to my mom's house very soon. So, be praying for the kids. Not really, be praying for me, I think I will take it worse than them. I will continue to update as often as possible. Many blessings from the Pruitt family.

100%

We are now at 100% and have received final clearance from Springfield. We will be ordering plane tickets next week. Our scheduled date to arrive in Costa Rica is August 26th. We are so excited! We plan on keeping most of our services that we already had scheduled for this month. But, we are going to try to take some time off too. We plan on turning our cell phones off in the next week and we will post a temporary number on here soon. I will keep updating as much as I can. Please continue to pray for our family.