hello, Pastor

It's funny how you forget how things used to taste.

Prince smelled his real apple jacks and said, "American cereal even tastes better."

Prince's family and several families in our home church {kinda} surprised us

 by shipping in a very large box of American groceries.

This was the third time we've shipped in barrels or crates of belongings

 and it can be a very nervous time.

To start off, you either have to have something worth shipping or purchase something.

Then you have to pay the guy in America with the boat to carry it to you.

Then you have to pay them a little more when they get it here.

Then there are the numerous hands waiting for their share

 while you're at the dock trying to claim your belongings.

It's a little scary to me, because there is no way of knowing for sure

 how much it will end up costing,

 by the time I get the stuff home.

We've had missionaries who used to be here, tell us "horror" stories of customs agents making them pay hundreds of American dollars or they won't let them have their barrels.

So you have to go into the process with a lot of prayer.

Children are not allowed on the dock, so I stayed home with the princesses

 and Prince headed off to claim our shipment.

I sat home and waited....and waited....and waited...for hours.

No one in Jamaica gets in a hurry and everything (I mean everything) takes all day!

While he was gone, one of my "little hair bows with big ears" heard me tell someone

 that Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Christine had shipped them a dollhouse.

News travels fast in our house.

  I found the 3 older ones sitting on the veranda in the sun watching for daddy...

hours before he arrived home.

After they find your barrels they bring them where the customs agents personally inspect everything.

I usually have to dig all my precious belongings out and lay it on these

 {questionably} clean countertops.

The whole time wondering how I'm ever going to get the extremely tight packed space back in.

It never fits back in the same. I have armloads that just end up being carried to our bus.

When Prince was waiting for the agent to come,

 he heard a voice behind him say," Hello, Pastor."

When he turned around the agent assisting him

 was a lady who had attended our Church Christmas Service.

Out of all the customs agents in Montego Bay,

 God decided to send her to help us.

This turned out to be a huge blessing and it only cost us around $8.00 US!

God is so good.

I was absolutely overwhelmed at the graciousness of everyone back home.

So many things, I had honestly forgotten about, and now I'm relishing each bite!

The girls are LOVING the canned mandarin oranges, and I made a canned ham salad sandwich.

I made {Louisiana} BBQ sandwiches today,

 with velveeta shells and cheese, and canned black eyed peas.

Mummm, it's been a long time.

I'm sooo very excited about the American sugar and baking flour.

 (One idea they did that I think is pretty awesome

 is they wrote some names and Bible Verses on the canned goods.

Fun for the Princesses to peel off and look them up.)

It might sound funny to you, but it's like manna to us.

I'm sincerely humbled and thankful for the families back home who made such a big sacrifice to be a blessing and encouragement to our family.

Thank you just seems so inadequate.  Love,

count your blessings

#168 God's unexpected surprises

#169 a big bowl full of American cereal (aka Peanut Butter Captain Crunch)

#170 "As for me and my house..."