First impressions...

This is the dorm. It is a just a house in Camarma that the school rents.

This is our street. Every house is exactly the same.

This is our minivan, provided by the school. It's very "mini," as is everything here. All the cars here are stick shift, which means David will be doing all of the driving. It comes in handy that he drove professionally for 3 years before he started teaching. :)

These are our appliances. The skinny refrigerator, small oven and tiny microwave.

Everything is small here. This is a litre of 2% milk.

This is our washing machine, in the kitchen, of course. We tried it out today, after having to call someone to come show us how to use it. I mean, could you understand this...

(click to enlarge picture)

Mathis loves watching the clothes swish around and around.

And this one is for Lisa. :) Most Spaniards do not have dryers, although our house does have one. It is unbelievably dry and hot here (think desert) so I took advantage of it to save energy. Believe it or not, these were hung out this evening in the shade and were completely dry within 2 hours.

Safe Arrival

After a very long day and overnight Monday, we finally arrived in Madrid Tuesday morning, with all our bags and two relatively happy children. Thank you for all your prayers! We had very gracious helpers all along the way, from the airline people who checked our bags, to a very sweet flight attendant who went the extra mile to bring us our kids' food before the rest of the plane and even helped us getting all our carry-ons off the plane. Then once we had gathered all our bags at the baggage claim, a very gracious man offered to help wheel one of our carts, since David had one and I had both kids. Thank You, Lord, for your favor.

We were warmly greeted by several of the staff at ECA, who helped us get all our stuff to our house (pics coming soon), provided snacks and dinner for us and have been extremely helpful in general with helping us get settled. We are six hours ahead of Chattanooga here so the children are especially tired, but hopefully they will adjust quickly. Last night, we all slept about 13 hours. Our phone and internet were not working when we arrived, hence the delayed update. But now I am feeling somewhat settled and ready to finally get back to my interneting.

David and Rachel on the plane

Mathis attempting to use the headphones. He didn't quite understand what they were for and they didn't really fit, but it was worth a shot. Another funny Mathis-ism is that when we were at the airport, he would run to the window and point at the planes and say, "Boat!?" I'm not sure why he thinks they are boats, but it's cute anyway.

It was sooo nice that each seat came equipped with its own screen, which allowed us to choose whatever TV or movie we wanted, when we wanted. Also, there were video games to play. "Bejeweled" kept me entertained for quite a while. :)

And this is our arrival photo. After David had stacked all those bags on the cart, Rachel said to Mathis, "Wow, Mathis! Look what Daddy built!"

We have our passports!

Thank you for your prayers concerning our lost passports. They were “found,” Thursday evening in the New Orleans post office and were delivered to us today. There is no question in our minds that it is because so many people were praying around 8:45 Thursday night that it "just so happened" the envelope was found and scanned right then. As we mentioned previously, David has his visa, but we are still waiting on Keri’s and the kids’ visas to be approved, but we can still enter Spain as “tourists,” as we continue to wait on their approval. Please continue to pray with us about this situation, that our visas will be approved quickly, but mostly Praise the Lord for such a quick and clear answer to your prayers about our passports. Not only do we have our passports in hand, we are thankful for the lesson in trust and for the patience and perseverance the Lord continues to work in our hearts.

Update

The express envelope containing our passports was scanned in the New Orleans post office as of 8:55 p.m. last night (two days after they were dropped off, but anyway...) We are anxiously hoping they arrive tomorrow. More updates later...

p.s. - I firmly believe that it is because so many people were praying around 8:45 last night that it "just so happened" the envelope was found and scanned right then. KEEP PRAYING!!

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

We are writing this update with anxious hearts. Many of you have been praying for our visa situation for several months and we are so thankful for your prayers. David's has been approved, but Keri's and the kids' have not. We contacted the consulate Tuesday and they agreed to mail our passports back to us since we are leaving Monday (meaning Keri will have to return within 90 days and pick up her visa once it is approved. She and the kids can still travel to Spain as "tourists," until the 90 day limit is up). They sent our passports via overnight express mail Tuesday but the post office has no record of it being picked up and cannot locate the package. There's not much we can do at this point but pray and wait. Please pray with us about this situation. 1) that our passports will be found, 2) that the Lord will continue to work in our hearts to develop patience and perseverance.

We will update you as soon as we know more.

With much love and gratitude,

David and Keri Young

David's visa approved

Thank you to everyone who has been praying about our visas for the last three months. We just received word that David's visa has been approved. Keri's, Rachel's, and Mathis' visas have not yet been approved - please continue to pray about this. We are working with the headmaster at ECA to get their visas approved before we leave in August.

It's amazing how much stuff we have...

A few weeks ago, a couple of friends helped us move all of our belongings into storage. Almost everything that we own is stored in a 10x15x8 foot storage unit.




We have also packed most of our bags for transport to Spain. We are trying very hard to limit ourselves to 10 bags that we will take with us on the plane. We got a great deal on some large, blue, Hawaiian-print duffle bags. No one will mistakenly pick these up off the airport carousel!