Sunday, January 22, 2012

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..."

8 comments:

Melanie said...

Beautiful. Sometimes it really is the (not so) little things.

Melissa said...

Awesome!!

Nothing funny about it!

: )

cwesley said...

I'm glad it only cost you $8. I was worried how much they were going to try and charge you.

Chris and Carole said...

How wonderful!!! I love the part about the lady custom's agent! God is so Good!!! Enjoy your precious cargo! :-)

Heidi B said...

Awesome! Glad you got a little taste of America, and so thankful God sent that lady to make sure you weren't taken advantage of! Enjoy!!

Susan said...

Praise the Lord! We've heard the horror stories too, from my in-laws, so I know how sweet it was to get the customs lady you did! And the box of goodies - awesome! We can get most things we need and like here, but there are a few things that we like that we can only get in the US. We have folks bring them to us if they're driving up, and it's so fun to have those goodies. Enjoy!

Andie Jaye said...

wow. i had no idea. so glad that you were able to get all of your goodies. makes me ashamed for all that i take for granted. blessings and hugs.

Anonymous said...

It is such a blessing to receive care packages!

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