One More Day

We have one more day here in Costa Rica, before our big, rather unexpected, move back “home”. (More on where “home” will be below.)

It has been a whirlwind 14 months of living here, and although we didn’t plan to leave so soon, (read a little about why we made this decision here and here, if you haven’t read the Ministry Updates already) it’s amazing what lessons were crammed into this last year or so that our family will take with us. We have learned more about

patience,

perseverance,

planning,

community,

communication,

leadership,

vision,

and most recently, self-control,

than we ever could have if we had decided not to come. Even though we leave disappointed in many ways, and even disheartened, we also are deeply aware of God’s greater plan and vision for our life. As our pastor Richard Dahlstrom always says, “God is writing a story in your life that you could never write on your own.” That statement has never rang truer in our lives than now. (Side note: Check out Richard’s amazing blog here; more often than not his words resonate so deeply with me that I am moved to tears. Not to be melodramatic or anything… He’s just had a very profound impact on our lives.)

So we are moving forward, trusting in His story, much like we did when we first decided to move to Costa Rica. And truthfully, we are pretty excited for this next phase of our life!

Here’s what this next phase will look like, or at least what the next few months entail:

We will first be traveling to North Carolina, where my dear parents reside in the little town of Waynesville (that’s in the Appalachian mountains, in Western North Carolina, for those of you unfamiliar with the geography of the east coast).

We will celebrate Christmas there and then travel down to Savannah, GA for a few days.

The backyard of the Marsh House in Savannah.

From Savannah, we have a quick trip out to the Northwest, where we’ll be seeing friends and family in the Portland, Seattle, and even Eugene area (my grandmother is turning 90 in January, so we’ll be celebrating with her!).

Then it’s back to NC for a few more weeks (the original plan was for us to fly back to San Jose, CR from there on January 15^th – yep we already have tickets – but with the exception of Joe going back to pick up a few things, that won’t be happening for Kate or me).

And after another restful month at my mom’s house, we will all fly back to the Portland area in mid-February, where we will crash at Joe’s parents’ house while looking for a place to rent in good ol’ Washougal, WA (or somewhere close by). 

So “home” will not be Seattle for now, and it may not even be the NW for long – we’re going there because we have family and friends and familiarity – and that’s where our insurance will cover the birth of baby boy. After that, who knows? The future is wide open.

Right now, we are focused on our very last day here. One more day to:

·      Weigh our bags one more time (I mean, we seriously have weighed each of our eight bags 18 times. “42 lbs… we can fit in 12 more pairs of underwear and these four books.”)

·      Donate a few more toys, books, or bags of food to the Project or to friends.

·      Eat whatever is left in the fridge. Lunch may be a mix of carrots, milk, wheat germ, yogurt, apples, cheese, grapefruit juice, protein powder… maybe I’ll just mix all that together in a blender.

·      Say our goodbyes one last time. Of course, this is the serious part. The hard part. But we will be mostly saying “see you later” instead of goodbye…

And then we’ll be up at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, on our way. So here's to one last day.