Give Smiles Change Lives: Preparing for our Trip to Costa Rica

The Gendreaus have arrived in Costa Rica. After several months of planning, organizing, and praying, it definitely feels surreal to finally be here. We want to take this opportunity to give all our partners updates on all the details on the preparations for this trip.

After my last day working at Glidewell on July 16, the process began immediately for our sorting, packing, and de-cluttering. We needed to distinguish the things we just needed to give away, and to identify which things would go with us on our trip to Costa Rica and to El Salvador. Our flight to Costa Rica was scheduled for September 2nd, but we needed to have our house empty by August 15 to allow our renters to move in. Phil and I also planned our family vacations during the end of August, so we had to arrange our things for all our separate trips prior to the big trip to Costa Rica.

Selah and Shiloh having fun at our Garage Sale

We will miss our home at Lake Forest, CA

In the midst of all this preparation, we found out that my mom was diagnosed with early stages of breast cancer. This definitely has been a heavy burden on my heart. Not only are we leaving our familes, but it is hard to leave knowing that my mom will be going through a difficult stage in her life. However the surgeon has reassured us that my mom has a good prognosis, and that everything will be ok.

Our photo with my mom during our visit to Vancouver, Canada

We are thankful to our church family and friends for sending us off and for covering us with prayer and encouragement. We realized despite the fears, trials, negative doctor reports, and relational challenges, we knew that something great was waiting for us here in Central America.

After we spent some time saying goodbye to all our family and friends, Phil left to go visit his grandfather and cousins in France, while I took the girls and my mom to visit my oldest brother in Vancouver. Although it was great to visit family, we definitely missed not being together as a family. We were apart for a week, and then we reunited in Dana Point, CA and stayed with Phil's dad who has graciously opened his home to us for a few days. The kids were definitely struggling with all the travelling and different changes. We were very excited to take a family vacation to San Diego. It was nice to just get away and enjoy each other's company after all the stress of finalizing everything for our big trip to Costa Rica. During our family time, we were able to visit some of our partners and friends, and we were also able to go to Sea World and Disneyland. It was a great mini vacation for Phil and I to just focus on our marriage and spend some quality time with our children before finally leaving for Costa Rica.

Here are more photos of our last few days with family and friends.