Pull-ups, Peanut Butter and Packing

We are now at less than two months from when the kids and I get on the airplane. Don only has about 6 weeks before he starts driving south. Just saying that makes me have a little panic feeling! I am stumped on how to pack us!

When we have gone for 3 or 4 week trips, I have always been able to pack enough North American products to last us. Things like chocolate chips (their chocolate is terrible there - very bitter) and peanut butter. Sometimes I have had a hard time finding brown sugar or powdered sugar so I pack it. I have also always packed containers of Clorox wipes so the kids can wipe down the bathrooms everyday. This seems to help with germs and us getting the traveler sickness. I have also packed some canned goods in the past and snack things. I can't pack enough of most of these things to last us for 7 months! North American products in Guatemala are usually only purchased by the North Americans that live there. If we try to buy the same products that we purchase here, our living expenses will be much higher. We were asking our missionary hosts how much they think we need to budget for monthly groceries. Their response was that it depends on how "North American" we eat. We also have to pay for our checked bags this trip so I am trying to not pack quite so much. We have always maxed out the number of 50 lb. bags that we can take. Because Don will not be with us to help with baggage and we don't want to pay so much extra, we are trying to keep the number of bags down.

One thing that we have decided is that we cannot possibly take enough pull-ups for Samuel. He only wears them at night but we don't have enough room for seven months of nights. We aren't sure we could even buy them in Guatemala but if we could, they would be way too expensive. We have been having Samuel wear his big boy pants to bed at night. He was doing very well until the last three nights. We have two months to get him to where he has more nights without accidents than with!

Then we have the packing of the 4runner. There are certain rules about which things you can take through Mexico. We also have to have Don packed two weeks before the kids and I leave. Everything that he can't take will have to go with me or not at all. I have been really praying for the Lord's direction on all of this. It is making me think about what we NEED vs. what I would really like to have. This trip is just so different. We are going to have to get by with what we can purchase for the most part and not rely on what we can pack. It is all part of the adventure! We so appreciate your support and prayers! Thanks for reading!