Moving on...

Will we ever get to settle in one place? It looks as though we have a move on the horizon. I hate moving. I hate the process, working out the logistics and most of all, I hate the good-byes. I told some friends recently that I wondered if Sarah ever felt like this when Abraham had her pack up and move.

Moving always seems to involve loss and I guess I have to admit I’m a sore loser…especially when those kind of losses involve loved ones, friends and/or pets. This move will see us saying tearful good-byes to three of our employees, our cats and our dog. And that is such a painful thought that I can’t hardly bear to dwell upon it.

We will be leaving this house that I absolutely love and moving to a condominium in a gated community the first week of December. This is what I have absolutely not wanted to do but circumstances have been pushing us more and more in that direction until we feel that it is our best option at this time…and it’s not necessarily a good option on some levels.

Our next door neighbor has hired 24 hour security guards and they are from a professional guard service which means they are armed. This is the first guard they have had in the two years we have lived in this house. They have also moved their Rottweiler to the back yard so we’re assuming that they’ve had some sort of problem just recently.

Then, someone in the lot directly behind us decided to join the other two houses back there and began to construct a frame for a new house right up against our security wall. They built on a high place so that it would enable anyone to just be able to climb on their roof and they could easily just step over our concertina wire on top of the wall and jump down in to our yard or climb down the platano trees. That made us realize that our security wall was no longer quite so secure.

The empty lot across the road from us now has 24 hour security as well. It is owned by the bank and they have hired two guys to keep an eye on it and to keep squatters from settling there. The guards have put up a plastic lean-to type shelter and cook outside as well as use the great outdoors for their restroom facilities. Not a great view from our perspective and I’m not sure how it’s much different than when the squatters move in.

We’ve also been looking at our own guard situation. Our night guard is a nice man but he’s not at all dependable. Jim has caught him sleeping again and it is not that unusual for him to just not show up for work. It is so hard to find someone who is trustworthy and dependable. We hear stories all the time about folks who have either been robbed directly by their own security guards or they were complicit in allowing someone else to do the robbing.

Periodically, we try to assess how we’re doing economically and we have been talking about how we might be able to cut back on some of our expenses. All of the above things combined with this issue is what brought us to make this painful decision. We both asked some of our friends who we know are our great prayer warriors about their opinion on this and almost without a doubt, they came back with the same answer that we had already been coming back to time and again. We needed to move.

We talked about just trying to find another house but then we realized we would be facing pretty much the same issues that we have here. Security and financial. Even if we should find an impenetrable place, we would still be paying out an awful lot each month in wages and that wouldn’t help our budget any. We just kept coming back to this same place.

I love our view here and I love our house. It has been perfect for us. It is much cooler up here than down where the condo is and the neighborhood initially appears to be a bit better here…but it’s not staying that way. It’s a fairly quiet area most of the time but in the past year, we have had some acts of violence occur right just on the other side of our wall.

Our neighbors in the big house next door usually have an all-night party at least once a month. They had another big shebang Saturday night that lasted until about 5:00 Sunday morning. They had a DJ and a mariachi band. The amplifiers were turned all the way up and the music was so loud that we couldn’t even hear our tv or have a regular conversation. It actually made things in our house vibrate. We shut our bathroom and bedroom windows and turned all three fans on in our bedroom in the attempt to muffle the noise a bit but it didn’t help much. If that wasn’t bad enough, they began shooting off huge fireworks at 1:00 a.m. These were so loud that they literally shook our bed and lit up our bedroom! They must have set off at least two dozen of them. As I lay in bed, I thought that maybe moving wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world after all. Pulling all-nighters at our age isn’t much fun.

Now the down side of this decision…we will be losing three of our employees as we will no longer need our two guards or our gardener. This is where it starts to get really difficult. Night Felix has six children and although it’s true he’s not dependable and I don’t have complete confidence in him, I still feel badly that we will soon be putting him out of work.

But that doesn’t compare with how I feel about having to let Day Felix and Freddy go. These two Christian men are so dear to us. Freddy has been with us since shortly after we arrived. He’s so good to help us when we have something unusual we need him to do and we have helped his family a lot the last couple of years with everything from paying for medical situations to helping them with shoes and food. The only thing that gives me any peace at all is that I know Freddy is still working for Susann 2 days a week and for our old landlord 1 day a week. He’s a go-getter so I’m praying he will find work to take up the slack we will soon be imposing upon him.

The thought of letting Day Felix go is awful. He is so loyal and extremely trustworthy. He has been with us for a year and a half now and he is our go-to guy when we need to know or get something. He has helped us in so many respects and I consider him a friend as much as an employee. He has two little boys and he’s such a good daddy and husband. I am so worried about what will happen with Felix when we have to let him go…jobs are so hard to find. I am going to ask you to please pray for these people that God would bring even better employment opportunities for them so that they will continue to be able to provide for their families.

On top of having to tell our wonderful employees that they will soon be out of a job, we are also going to have to decide what to do with our pets. The cats were just tiny kittens when we moved here and their mother and brothers and sisters moved on a long time ago. These two boys, Skits and Snoops stayed around and adopted us. They are such good kitties, especially Skits, and I’m just not sure what to do with them. We could try to move them both to the condo but it’s in a much more populated area than where are now and right off a very busy road and I’m just not sure how they would acclimate. I had the thought of them getting out in the road and getting killed. Keeping them inside is not an option. Both have claws and both are used to being outside kitties. I am sure Skits would love to be inside but he would also want to have the freedom to be out when he wanted. The option of leaving them here is also not much of a choice. Even though Snoops will disappear for a few days at a time, he always comes back and is ready to be fed and that’s part of the worry…these cats are dependent on us to feed them.

Xander is another huge issue. What to do with him? We’re hoping that Day Felix might take him because Xander knows him and likes him…and Felix knows how to handle him. But we also know that Felix won’t and isn’t able to take care of Xander the way that we do…he will become a thin, mangy Nica dog and that breaks my heart. Plus, I have to confess that he’s just part of the family and is used to living well. He’s used to lots of hugs and pats, playing with his toys with us and chewing on his chew bones. That would all stop. But taking him with us is not feasible. There’s no way to make Xander a condo dog and there’s no yard to keep him in. Xander will have to go also.

All of that “letting them go” business is enough to make me sick at my stomach and sick in my heart. I just keep praying that God will give us a clear answer and clear assurance that they will all be okay but right now, I don’t know how that will happen.

So, all that being said…I hate the thought of moving! But, the place we’re going to move to is not all bad and we think we’ll be much more secure there. It has 24 hour guards and is a gated community. No one who doesn’t live there comes in without having to leave their ID at the guard house. It also has a security camera and guard dogs. There is a high wall that goes all around the complex. It is not a huge complex but is large enough that it will provide a nice, secure area to get out and walk in. We’re both excited about that prospect. We’ve not been able to do that without worry since we moved here. The complex also has a tennis court, a playground area and a swimming pool. Not sure that any of those pose much interest to us.

This complex is one that is one that doesn’t keep empty units for any length of time due to the security factor and the size of the condos. Most are pretty small here but in this complex, the units are a little larger. There are a lot of missionary families who live there. And most of them are young with small children so the noise factor will certainly be there but I don’t think it’s going to be as disturbing as the fireworks, gunshots and mortars that we hear on a regular basis now. In the small cul-de-sac type area where we will be living, there are also folks from Korea and there are Nicaraguans. The landlord does speak some English which Jim is happy to hear. Our next door neighbor on the attached side of the condo is a young couple with a two year old little boy and she is expecting another baby in a few months.

We are actually going to be moving in to a condo of some friends of ours who will be going back to the States. It is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath unit although the bedroom downstairs is used by them as more of an office area and I’m sure we’ll do the same. Their condo is a little different than the others in that they closed off an open area upstairs last year in order to make it into a small bedroom for their new baby girl. Although the condo does have more rooms than does our house here, the rooms are much smaller. Even so, I think we’ll be able to fit our furniture in it if we move a few things around a bit.

Downstairs on the ground level, is a small living room, the eat-in kitchen, the study/bedroom with a walk-in closet, a bathroom and a nice sized walled-in laundry area that has bars across the open roof area. Upstairs is an open area in the hallway and three bedrooms. The master bedroom is small but it has a built in wardrobe and its own bathroom. The spare bedroom also has a walk-in closet plus its own bathroom. The other room upstairs is the created bedroom…it’s a small room but is big enough for a twin bed and can also be used for storage if necessary. There is a small deck off the master bedroom that overlooks the parking area…not much view from any of the windows. That’s a real negative compared to where we are now. The yard is non-existent…just a small little patch of grass in front and there is no covered parking which will be miserable during the rainy season.

Our friends had bought 4 ceiling fans and installed them in various rooms in the house, including the kitchen and the living room and they also put in a small window air conditioner in the small room upstairs. They are going to sell all of those to us which will be nice to have. The two bedrooms upstairs also have built in window air conditioners that come with the condo. I think I’m more excited about the idea of a ceiling fan in the kitchen and living room than I am an a/c in the bedroom but I’m sure that will probably change this next March and April when it’s so hot here. The showers already have widow-makers in them so we’ll have hot water showers and not have to buy more widow makers. The kitchen is a little short on cabinets but my kitchen here is, too, so I’m sure I’ll manage with what I’ve got.

The plan right now is that our friends have to be out by November 30th and they are flying home just a few days after that. Because they have a team in during that week to help them get ready to leave, they will be staying their last few days with the team. We are hoping our landlady will let us stay for the first week of December and just let us prorate the rent. That would give the condo maintenance people time to clean and paint whatever needs to be painted (and with 4 kids, I’m sure there’s got to be some touching up to do) and give us time to move without trying to do it as a marathon event.

So, that’s what we’re looking at in the next few months. We’ve not said anything to our employees yet and won’t do so until the time is closer as we will need them to stay with us until it is time for us to go. Since the move won’t take place until the first week of December, we will be obligated to pay all of our employees their 13 month wage plus severance pay and holiday pay along with their regular pay. Believe me, that all adds up to a chunk of change! Adding that to the usual first month’s rent, last month’s rent and security deposit that the condo complex requires, this is a sobering thing to think about financially. We’re praying our current landlady will be honest enough to return our security deposit here to help a little with the expense on the other end but neither one of us have high hopes as she’s not honored her word in any other aspect of our dealings with her. Even with the expense we’ll be facing moving, Jim says we’ll still be better off in the long run. Although the condo’s rent is higher than here, what we’ll be saving each month in wages for the three fellows will make it a more sound financial move and that’s not even touching upon the peace of mind we’ll have for safety and security.

So, I know we’re going to be making the right move…it’s just not going to be an easy one. We would really appreciate it if you would please pray for timely jobs for our employees, good homes and protection for our pets and favor with our landlady so that we can make this move with causing the least amount of pain or hurt possible to anyone or anything else. We have some rough days ahead of us in the next few months once we begin making these decisions known. Thank you for your prayers.