As mentioned in the last blog, we were supposed to skip school on Wednesday and go to Palo Verde, a national park in Costa Rica. But a few things happened that changed our minds.
It started on Tuesday.
Getting to school and adjusting to our new classmates was going smoothly that morning. (New students arrive every Monday morning at the Spanish School.) Ralf and I had a new student in our class, Kathleen, who was from Florida. She was married to a Brazilian and had lived there for several years and spoke Portugese with a very strong American accent. (Granted, I don't speak Portugese, but I can definitely hear American accents) When she spoke Spanish, or attempted, it was a huge mess of Portugese, Spanish and English - and neither Ralf or I understood what she was saying. Needless to say, it took the fun out of Spanish class.
The other factor in the diminishing enjoyment of Spanish class was we had new teachers, who I didn't particularly like. They handed us a bunch of worksheets and waited quietly while we finished them. Not my idea of a roaring good time. Honestly, Spanish class was getting a little, well, boring.
With high expectations of finishing off the day with great surfing, we met our instructors and headed out to rougher waters. The sun was warm, the water was warm, it was perfect. The kids were popping up on their surfboards like they were standing still, while I, had a bit rougher time. The instructors kept saying, "Relax, don't stress Judy. Bend your knees and feel the waves."
I was talking to myself, "Breathe, relax, bend your knees, relax" and then I would get up and stand straight as a stick on the board and promptly fall off. So much for positive self talk. After one such fall, one instructor, with great empathy in his voice says, "It's ok Judy, I'm sure you're good at other things."
Hmmm….that woke me up from my sun-soaked stupor. I am good at other things. I am a little stressed I had to admit.
You see, this was supposed to be a vacation for the whole family, Balin included. But here I was with the two kids, by myself, in a hot and loud environment. Balin had to stay home because we had a lot going on. I thought it would be good for us to get out of town so Balin could get his work done, he was going to be traveling anyways. And it was good; for a week.
After the surf instructor made that comment, it snapped me awake. I heard a little small voice saying, "it's time to go home, you've got work to do. Work I have for you needs to get done. And you're good at the work I've given you."
I believe the still, small voice was God's and He did have work for me to do.
You see, Balin and I are in the process of selling FSR Engineering. The close date is April 7th, 2014 - which means that Balin has a lot of work to do making that all happen.
Part of the process includes moving our family from Prescott to Spokane, by April 15th.
As you can imagine, that means there was a lot of work for me to do in selling the Park house and other various items connected with our life in Prescott. We've been in this process of selling things and packing for the last 6 months as all this was supposed to close in December, but it got postponed until an undetermined "later" date.
So here I was in Costa Rica, sucking at surfing, kids starting to get homesick and wanting to go home with much to do at home.
Tuesday night I got online, changed our tickets for the next available flight, which was Thursday. Part of me was disappointed at leaving, mostly because it felt like I was giving up when things got difficult. The other part of me was proud of myself to know when enough is enough and to call it quits.
The other factor that made it much more palpable to spend the money on the ticket changes, was we were needing to find a place to stay for the weekend in Arenal, where the volcano is. After being in pretty rustic conditions with no hot water and lackluster food, I was looking at staying somewhere nice, like $400/night nice. (for everything else there's Visa…) Thankfully there were no rooms available at that price and the only rooms available at this resort were $800/night, which woke me up from my silly dreams. So when the tickets only cost me $375 to change for all of us, I didn't think twice.
Plus, we would be home in time for Balin's birthday. The perfect gift: to spend your birthday with your family. And we gave him his other gift: we sold the Park house on Saturday.
That's right. I got home late Thursday night, Friday told our real estate agent to put the house on the market. (From bed I might add as I got a pretty bad stomach problem from CR that kept me in bed all day Friday.) She called the previous owners (who actually designed and had the house built), who had shown interest in the past and they made an offer Saturday afternoon, which we accepted.
Done.
I can't take credit for any of this but instead have to give the credit up to the One who spoke quietly in the waves and sun, telling me to come home.
Last night I saw the couple who are purchasing the house at church. I had never met the wife and I went up to her, gave her a hug and told her, "Thank you for letting us live in your house for the last 4 years." It was a beautiful confirmation that it was exactly the way it was supposed to be.
It started on Tuesday.
Getting to school and adjusting to our new classmates was going smoothly that morning. (New students arrive every Monday morning at the Spanish School.) Ralf and I had a new student in our class, Kathleen, who was from Florida. She was married to a Brazilian and had lived there for several years and spoke Portugese with a very strong American accent. (Granted, I don't speak Portugese, but I can definitely hear American accents) When she spoke Spanish, or attempted, it was a huge mess of Portugese, Spanish and English - and neither Ralf or I understood what she was saying. Needless to say, it took the fun out of Spanish class.
The other factor in the diminishing enjoyment of Spanish class was we had new teachers, who I didn't particularly like. They handed us a bunch of worksheets and waited quietly while we finished them. Not my idea of a roaring good time. Honestly, Spanish class was getting a little, well, boring.
With high expectations of finishing off the day with great surfing, we met our instructors and headed out to rougher waters. The sun was warm, the water was warm, it was perfect. The kids were popping up on their surfboards like they were standing still, while I, had a bit rougher time. The instructors kept saying, "Relax, don't stress Judy. Bend your knees and feel the waves."
I was talking to myself, "Breathe, relax, bend your knees, relax" and then I would get up and stand straight as a stick on the board and promptly fall off. So much for positive self talk. After one such fall, one instructor, with great empathy in his voice says, "It's ok Judy, I'm sure you're good at other things."
Hmmm….that woke me up from my sun-soaked stupor. I am good at other things. I am a little stressed I had to admit.
You see, this was supposed to be a vacation for the whole family, Balin included. But here I was with the two kids, by myself, in a hot and loud environment. Balin had to stay home because we had a lot going on. I thought it would be good for us to get out of town so Balin could get his work done, he was going to be traveling anyways. And it was good; for a week.
After the surf instructor made that comment, it snapped me awake. I heard a little small voice saying, "it's time to go home, you've got work to do. Work I have for you needs to get done. And you're good at the work I've given you."
I believe the still, small voice was God's and He did have work for me to do.
You see, Balin and I are in the process of selling FSR Engineering. The close date is April 7th, 2014 - which means that Balin has a lot of work to do making that all happen.
Part of the process includes moving our family from Prescott to Spokane, by April 15th.
As you can imagine, that means there was a lot of work for me to do in selling the Park house and other various items connected with our life in Prescott. We've been in this process of selling things and packing for the last 6 months as all this was supposed to close in December, but it got postponed until an undetermined "later" date.
So here I was in Costa Rica, sucking at surfing, kids starting to get homesick and wanting to go home with much to do at home.
Tuesday night I got online, changed our tickets for the next available flight, which was Thursday. Part of me was disappointed at leaving, mostly because it felt like I was giving up when things got difficult. The other part of me was proud of myself to know when enough is enough and to call it quits.
The other factor that made it much more palpable to spend the money on the ticket changes, was we were needing to find a place to stay for the weekend in Arenal, where the volcano is. After being in pretty rustic conditions with no hot water and lackluster food, I was looking at staying somewhere nice, like $400/night nice. (for everything else there's Visa…) Thankfully there were no rooms available at that price and the only rooms available at this resort were $800/night, which woke me up from my silly dreams. So when the tickets only cost me $375 to change for all of us, I didn't think twice.
Plus, we would be home in time for Balin's birthday. The perfect gift: to spend your birthday with your family. And we gave him his other gift: we sold the Park house on Saturday.
That's right. I got home late Thursday night, Friday told our real estate agent to put the house on the market. (From bed I might add as I got a pretty bad stomach problem from CR that kept me in bed all day Friday.) She called the previous owners (who actually designed and had the house built), who had shown interest in the past and they made an offer Saturday afternoon, which we accepted.
Done.
I can't take credit for any of this but instead have to give the credit up to the One who spoke quietly in the waves and sun, telling me to come home.
Last night I saw the couple who are purchasing the house at church. I had never met the wife and I went up to her, gave her a hug and told her, "Thank you for letting us live in your house for the last 4 years." It was a beautiful confirmation that it was exactly the way it was supposed to be.
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