We’re Here!  The grace of God covered us and led us through every leg of our journey yesterday.  We arrived safely in DC on Wednesday night and when I said the van would load at 6:45 there were a few groans, however the excitement was already flowing when half the group was waiting at the vans before 6:45 to load up.  We ate breakfast and enjoyed 10 miles of DC rush hour traffic to get to Dulles airport.  The group unloaded at the curb for TACA airlines and when we walked in, the line was winding and extended well past the rope ques.  I was able to ask an airline official about our group of 21 to see if they wanted us to do anything different.  She said she would check us in and made a line that went directly to her desk for our group.  Once the tickets were in hand, my anxiety level dropped drastically.  The next stage would be security, which we were prepared to be rough.  As we entered the security area we walked into an empty line and were happily greeted by TSA agents who were intrigued by our flood of bright yellow shirts.  With two obstacles overcome effortlessly, we went to our gate and enjoyed coffee and doughnuts before take off.  Although some in our group had given me a rough time about a Latin American based airline, we didn’t have to sit with chickens, bring our own chairs, or protect the kids from the fiesta.  Both flights went incredibly smooth.  The first time fliers seemed to really enjoy flying and everyone’s nerves were calmed by the good food and incredible staff.  We had an hour layover in San Salvador, El Salvador and as the first plane landed I was fearful for our luggage making it to the next plane, but from a window we could see Katie’s polka dot luggage and many of our pieces of

The last hurdle to cross would be customs in Costa Rica.  After making it through customs and getting every piece of our luggage safely from the conveyor belt, we went through declarations without a question asked about our saws and drills.  Not a single fear I had about getting a group of 21 people and our luggage through the airport became a reality.  It was rainy here in San Jose as we drove nearly 45 minutes to the AMCA house on the other side of the city.  After unloading our luggage we enjoyed pizza and Pepsi.  The group hung out, unpacked, showered off the day of travelling, and enjoyed a night time reflection about how God’s grace has guided us this far and we are all excited to see what he will do along the next leg of the journey.

The only hiccup we have had in this first few days is that the internet crashed as soon as we got to the house.  I believe a couple of people were able to call home, but it crashed before I could do any group updates.  Such is what we were prepared for being in another country, as with everything, God’s grace will cover this.