The Sturm's Life: Roatan

We were so fortunate to have the time to visit Roatan while waiting for paperwork. Friday, Sept 9th our entire family flew to Roatan on Toca Airlines. We were getting the run around all week on when we would actually sign our adoption decree. Our plan was just to leave and fly back whenever they were ready. Finally on Thursday, Sept 8th they set a date for Monday, Sept 12th to sign the decree. Luckily for us my younger brother and sister-in-law decided that they wanted to visit us there so a month prior they set a date to meet us in Roatan (much guessing of dates when into this plan but it worked out perfectly). We landed in Roatan the 9th, they came the 10th, we flew to Tegucigalpa, the 11th, signed the adoption decree on the 12th, flew back to Roatan the 13th, and then flew "home" to Tegucigalpa yesterday, the 21st. Our oldest 2 stayed with Uncle R and Aunt S while the 3 of us flew to Tegucigalpa. It was so nice to see family and experience life with them in such a beautiful place. Especially at a crazy time like this.

It was heavenly and almost felt like a vacation. Infinity Bay had the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. White, sandy beach with clear water. Perfect for snorkeling. Four of us enjoyed it, and the youngest snorkeled, but on the beach. Every day we enjoyed swimming in the ocean or the pool, and explored the island. We went swimming with the dolphins at a marine biology park, and visited an iguana farm. The island is very expensive with prices being comparable to a U.S. resort. The grocery store was a bit more pricier than the U.S. but they did have Coffee-mate vanilla liquid creamer, which was a treat on this trip. I did "cook" with dinner consisting of pancakes, grilled cheese, or peanut butter/jelly sandwiches. Ok and a night of cereal, but no one complained and neither did I :)

For 4 of the days we stayed in a home on Brick Bay. The home was on a hill overlooking the Bay. The water was not conducive to swimming because of the trash that had accumulated there, but it was a nice break to play outside with Leo, the kitten, or look for mini-crabs. One night after the kids climbed in bed we were about to say our prayers when all of a sudden the fans stopped, the AC in the room turned off and the lights went out. We were in total darkness and silence. Immediately it started to thunder, and rain. A lot of crazy thoughts went swirling about my head. Our lives are about to end, we are gonna be robbed, who will even know? We were in the middle of nowhere by ourselves. Bob tried the caretakers phone and couldn't get a signal. It was a scene out of horror movie for sure. After about 5 minutes of freaking out together, silently of course. We just tried to lay they and not think about the sweat that was starting to accumulate on our brow. Forty-five minutes later all was well. We were not going to be robbed, we were not going to sweat to death. We would be alright.

Justin will be swimming in no time. He loved the water. Brett said, "Mom, this is really, really cool" as he was snorkeling for the first time. Madeline just took it all in and loved everything new and Bob and I said this place could be romantic. Maybe we will go back just the two of us.