Un poco mal...

Move #24 is in process. I’m supposed to be packing but thought I would take a few minutes to try to recap the last few weeks for you. Moving seems to have dominated our life this past month. How many times have I said “I hate moving!”? If you ignore the times before I was verbal, I would guess at least 20. This move is no different.

We are once again almost in a state of limbo. We have to wait until our neighbors move out for us to move in. And I say that with such mixed emotions…I love our neighbors and I don’t want to see them move. I would almost be willing to stay where we are if they would decide to stay here…but the lure of much-longed-for family and the American way of life has won out and they will be leaving Nicaragua very soon. We anticipate being able to start moving in to their place in the next day or so and hopefully, that won’t take much more than two days to get everything moved and then, I am going to start the “nesting” process all over again. I don’t know how birds do it!

After living here for a month, we have learned somewhat the things we can “work in” to our smaller accommodations and those we will have to let go. I’m afraid the freezers are going to have to go. The old upright is currently serving as a shelving unit in the bodega (the enclosed open-air laundry room) and the chest freezer that I love is currently occupying too much of my precious kitchen space. Both are going to have to find other homes. We have talked about getting one of those really tiny little chest freezers just so that we can keep ice on hand and the occasional frozen foods that go on sale, but that’s a conversation to be continued on another day.

Let’s see…we just had company for a week. Sadie (our youngest daughter), Marc (her fiancé) and Brittni (Sadie’s friend from vet school) came to spend Thanksgiving with us and we had a very busy week. We made three trips to Tipitapa which is what I want to share with you today. We went once for Saturday English class (with 28 in attendance!), once to attend Kenneth’s little sister’s (Lindsay’s) graduation from preschool in to primary school (a 3 hour event!) and once for Lindsay’s 6th birthday party. Actually, our family took care of putting on the party, supplying the piñata, gifts, cake, soda, balloons, etc. but we had it at the Rayitas de Luz school inviting the neighborhood kids. Lindsay loved it! She was dressed in a princess outfit and she played the part to the hilt…she loved being the center of attention.

It has been difficult of late for Lindsay. She is finally old enough that she is very aware of the fact that Kenneth often receives more attention than she does and even though Kenneth’s cancer demands that attention, it’s still hard for a little six-year old girl to try to process what all of that really means. Rarely does she say anything, but Lindsay has become acutely aware of how she is impacted by Kenneth’s cancer and her child-like frustration became evident the past few weeks.

Two weeks ago, when it was time to have school pictures taken, Lindsay didn’t get hers because that was money that was needed to take Kenneth in a taxi to the hospital…he can no longer walk to get on the bus. We didn’t find this out until after school pictures. We have taken pictures for the family to have but it’s not the same. Lindsay was happy and her parents were very grateful but all recognized the fact that Lindsay appeared to be the obvious one who had to make a sacrifice.

Also, Lindsay was told she was going to have to miss out on her graduation as the family had no way of going and taking Kenneth. The three block walk would have been over badly rutted dirt roads and it would have been too difficult trying to push Kenneth’s wheelchair…the pain would have just been too much for him. Even though Lindsay understood why, her disappointment at missing her graduation was very evident in her tears. Thankfully, we found this out the day before and we were able to juggle some things around so that we could get everyone, including Kenneth, to the school on Sunday for the big event. We were even able to get Lindsay some new shoes to wear as her old school shoes had holes in them. I don’t know who was happier that day, Lindsay or her parents.

The other big looming disappointment was the birthday party. Danelia had told Lindsay that they just couldn’t do a birthday party for her this year as all their extra money was going to transportation and medicines plus various other items for Kenneth. That’s when the tears also were accompanied with the accusatory “why’s”. Why did Kenneth get a big party for his birthday and she couldn’t have one? Why could Kenneth have a piñata but she couldn’t?...plus, I’m sure, a litany of other questions.

We were there for part of that and seeing the tears in Arturo’s eyes as he tried to explain the adult answers to a child’s questions in terms that she could understand, was enough for me. That’s when I knew that we were going to do a party for Lindsay. Here’s the part that I want to reiterate to you…we couldn’t be helping pay for taxis, buy medicines, food, shoes, pictures and birthday party supplies without you. Jim and I feel so privileged to witness the impact you make on the lives of so many people here…I wish you could see it first hand for yourself.

Now, I’ve mentioned Kenneth a lot but haven’t directly addressed where he is right now with his cancer. If you read my Facebook entries, you already know. If you don’t, I will give you a quick rundown. Kenneth’s pain in his legs and lower back has progressed to the point he can no longer walk. After various x-rays and sonograms, his pediatric oncologists said that the tumor in his pelvis is beginning to grow again and is now pressing on nerves. His bowels are no longer working as they should which has added another dimension to Kenneth’s care. This is due in part to his medication and in part to now being immobile. We are continuing to seek ways to help Danelia cope with this latest development. He continues to battle pain and nausea and both have caused a decrease in his appetite.

The pain medication is obviously a double-edged sword. It does help in keeping Kenneth’s pain somewhat manageable but it is loaded with side effects and taking it in conjunction with his latest round of cancer meds has opened up a whole new world of challenges along with the things I just mentioned. He has an itchy rash now that he mindlessly scratches until raw. I always fear infection and check his rashes every time I’m there. He’s often either very lethargic or the other extreme of being very agitated and short-tempered. His frustration with being held prisoner by legs that no longer work and pain that makes its presence known takes form in unpredictable mood swings. Kenneth still tries on occasion to give me his sweet smile but more and more, when I ask him how he feels, the smile no longer appears and he answers with “un poco mal”…a little bad. That is devastating to hear coming from him. He says a little bad but it’s obvious he is in pain.

Kenneth’s prognosis now? According to the doctors, there is no hope. According to God, there is always hope. And so we do. Our hope is in Christ, as is Danelia’s and is Kenneth’s. I know God has put this family in our lives for a reason and I don’t want to waste or trivialize one moment of what they are teaching us. These latest developments with Kenneth have come much sooner than we had thought. We were all on board when Kenneth seemed to be in remission and the doctors said the tumors were no longer visible in his chest. We all tried to ignore the “inconclusives” that we kept getting on so many of his tests. We all kept hoping that the leg pain that had returned was due to over-exertion from playing too hard or riding his bike on those bumpy roads. Even the doctors wanted to look for bladder infections and kidney infections to explain away the back pain. But that doesn’t seem to be how the book on Kenneth’s life has been written by his Author. Right now, I’m not sure how I feel about all of this. I guess I would have to say, like Kenneth, “un poco mal” and trust God with my own pain.

Oops!

Okay...somehow, things didn't post as I had planned.  So, regarding the posts below about our move...The Move is the first part and then The Move - Part 2 is posted right below it.  Hope you can figure it out...but I'm thinking it's going to be much simpler for you to get it right reading it than it was for me trying to get it posted!  Sorry!

The Move...

NOTE: I wrote this on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 but then we lost our internet capabilities and am just now getting it posted. So…here’s a quick update even before you read the blog…which is probably a little like putting the cart before the horse…but we now have internet, hot water in the showers and the stove is hooked up. Now…you can step back to last week and what I have just written will make more sense after reading the following blog.

It’s time for me to catch everyone up on what’s been happening here. Life has been very busy for us since our return from the States…it was hectic when we left but it has been crazy since we returned. I’ll try to bring you up to speed.

Tipitapa: The foreman of the construction project at the school in Tipitapa has been down for almost 2 months now with shingles plus some other infirmity and is in a lot of pain. Not only is that a problem for him, but it has been a problem for us. We had waited hoping that Adrian would be well enough to return but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen for some time to come. Danelia and her family knew that we wanted to get back on track so several weeks so she asked her brother Anibal to take over the completion of the project. That was almost one and a half weeks ago but we had a sudden change of plans and didn’t get to go to Tipitapa last weekend, so we don’t know if there’s been any more progress or not. I’ll explain our change of plans later.

Kenneth: Kenneth needs your prayers again. He has been experiencing an increasing amount of pain in his lower back and left leg over the last few weeks and when we were there last, he was unable to walk without assistance. Jim had to almost carry him to his seat in the classroom because he didn’t want to miss out on our English class. His face was etched with pain but he still managed his sweet smile when asked how he was. This is so heartbreaking to see. After class and when most of the children had left, I sat down next to him and asked how he was feeling. He said in a very soft voice so that the other children playing nearby couldn’t hear, that his leg hurt. I thought I was going to cry right then. Those tears came later.

After the remaining group of kids got busy playing, Jim and Arturo sat down and began to talk about the construction project. Since they were right by Kenneth and could attend to him if he needed something, Danelia and I moved our chairs out back of her house where her outdoor kitchen once stood…it is still a mess from the construction, but it was a shady place to sit and it offered us some privacy to be able to talk…although “privacy” as we know it seems to be a foreign concept here. Danelia began telling me that in the past week, Kenneth had lost his appetite and was not wanting to eat and that he was having trouble using the bathroom. She said he would wake up crying at night due to the pain and that it was so hard to see him suffer like that. That’s when my tears joined with Danelia’s. Her fear and frustration were contagious and for a little while, all talking stopped and we simply just sat and cried together. We both agreed that sometimes, that seems to be all we can do.

Once the tears had lessened, we then began to have the same conversation we have had so many times before…that God has a plan, that we have to hold fast to our faith, that He is sovereign over all and that our responsibilities as Christians do not change even though our circumstances might. I don’t know if it was the fact we had cried ourselves out for the time being or if it was the fact that we were putting voice to the truth, but either way, we both began to gradually feel God’s peace coming over us. He is faithful to be our Comforter just as He had promised.

Our time ended with me praying with Danelia. Usually, she asks only for prayers for Kenneth but this time she asked that I would also pray that God would strengthen her faith for the coming days. She said she wanted to be strong and accept with grace everything that God was going to bring to them because she knew that the neighborhood was watching. There is so much superstition about illnesses that still exists here and Danelia has had to suffer accusations of unconfessed sin and even being aligned with Satan. She knows all too well the importance of showing Christ regardless the situation. It’s just that the possibility of losing Kenneth is a situation of far greater magnitude than hurt feelings from thoughtless words thrown by uneducated neighbors. And Danelia knows this is a walk that she cannot make without the hand of her Savior leading her. I think right now that she wants the strength to hold His hand as tightly as He is holding hers.

Kenneth had several more appointments and had additional testing done this week at two different hospitals here in Managua, but it appears that the doctors are still guessing as to what is causing this increased pain in Kenneth. They have given several possibilities…kidney infection, bladder infection, strained muscles and finally, the one we all were dreading to hear…the possibility of a tumor. They gave an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory along with more pain medicine and said that they wanted to wait and see if it was just an infection or inflammation of either the bladder or kidney. If he’s not better next week, they said they want to do more testing. I don’t know what else they really can do.

I struggle so much with the lack of good medical care here for the poor. The doctors do their best but so much of the equipment is old and outdated and often is not working properly. I’m also not so keen on many of their methods for treatment. The words “hope”, “encourage” and “faith” are rarely heard and if someone is to utilize any one of those, they are going to have to do it on their own without assistance from the medical world. So…once again, I am asking you and all your believing friends for prayers for Kenneth. Please help us in carrying this need before our Great Physician. Our flesh desires healing but the Spirit in us reminds us that we are to pray for God’s will to be done. I’m praying they are one and the same.

CINAFE: We came back to lots of challenges at CINAFE. Some of the children had been acting out while we were gone and things had risen to a higher level of chaos than that which normally occurs with 15 children living together. We were bombarded with problems when we drove through the gate and it seems as though life is just now starting to return to normal there. Well, as normal as it can be when we’re also in the middle of trying to put on 3 different quinceañeras at the same time for girls at CINAFE…it’s like trying to put on 3 simultaneous wedding but for girls who will be turning 15 years old! That’s a lot of hormonal activity to deal with, believe me! The grand event is this Saturday afternoon and I’m sure all of the adults at CINAFE are going to join us in one gigantic sigh of relief when Sunday finally comes!

The most recent “big news” for us personally has been our unplanned move to a temporary place this past weekend. Without a doubt, this is a story of God’s Hand of provision and protection. You know we’ve been tossing around the idea of moving for awhile now and we had come to the decision we would do so at the end of November, when things had calmed down some for us at CINAFE and in Tipitapa. But God’s timeframe proved to be different than ours. I hope I don’t confuse you with all the different names in the following. If you have followed our time here, most of them will already be familiar to you.

On Wednesday (the day before we had planned to give our 30 days notice to our landlady), when we came to work at CINAFE, Felix (our old day guard who now works at CINAFE) asked if he could speak with Jim and me. I asked him to wait just a few minutes while we got settled in and then honestly, I got busy and totally forgot all about talking with him. Sometime later, Felix appeared at the screen door to our office, acting very nervous and he had a very serious look on his face. I invited him in and apologized for not speaking with him sooner. He said he had something important to tell us. At the time, I wondered if he was not happy at CINAFE and was going to quit. But, his news had nothing to do with CINAFE.

Felix said that the day before, he had gone to a neighborhood right next to ours to pick up his wife’s pay for the ironing she had done that week. He always goes to picks it up or goes to meet Blanca so that she does not have to ride the bus by herself with a “large amount” of money. While in that neighborhood, Felix was talking with one of the security guards who knew he used to work for “gringos”. That guard warned Felix that Eddie, one of our former night guards who has been implicated in several prior robberies in our neighborhood, and a friend of Eddie’s, were planning on committing an armed robbery of our place that next Saturday…just a few days away. The guard said that Eddie would often come by and talk to him and that he probably didn’t realize that this guard also knew Felix.

The guard said that Eddie knew that we are gone every Saturday to Tipitapa and that he and his friend would have only our new day guard (Miguel, our friend from Tipitapa) with whom to contend. Eddie had told the guard he was talking with exactly where on the wall they were going to get in and that they would have the gun with them in case they had any trouble. The guard knew that Eddie was thought to be the one who had committed the other armed robberies in our neighborhood but didn’t want to call the police because he thinks Eddie is too dangerous. After all, Eddie carries a gun and most of the police don’t. Actually, sad as it is, that’s pretty good reasoning. The police are generally only effective if you cross a solid line while driving or if you don’t stop before crossing a line…of which neither apparently need to be visible to the naked eye. But I digress.

Felix took the news from the guard very seriously as he also knows Eddie. When he was sharing all of this with us, his hands were shaking. He said that three other security guards in our neighborhood were friends with Eddie and that they had covered for him when the police would come looking for him. He was fearful that if Eddie tried to do something that no one would do anything to stop him. He also asked us not to say anything about him warning us as he did not want Eddie coming after his family as retribution.

Jim and I just sat there stunned at the news. Felix said we needed more guards and maybe even guards with their own guns. At that, I snapped to and immediately said, “No! No guns!” Felix normally will be quiet if I contradict him in some way, but not this time. He then said that he had an uncle who was a police man and he would call him and see if he or some of his police friends could help us. I smiled at Felix and told him that I didn’t want to involve his family and thanked him for the offer. But honestly, I didn’t want to take a chance on bringing a fox in to the hen house, so to speak. Felix then said that he would come back to work for us on his days off from CINAFE until we could move at the end of November. Another offer that was appreciated but not at all practical – for him or us. In between his various offers of solutions, he kept saying very emphatically, “Doña Lynne, it is dangerous for you and Don Jim to stay there anymore.”

I looked at him long and hard and knew that he was right although I didn’t want to admit it. Even if we were able to defer Eddie this time, the neighborhood has changed so much this past year with so many negative things happening that it would just be a matter of time until someone, if not Eddie, would break in and we would once again lose our electronics or worse, someone might get hurt. I couldn’t bear the thought of that. But neither could I bear thinking about the fact that our only good option was to move up our moving date to the next few days. I wasn’t emotionally prepared for that and all that I knew it would entail and I could feel my eyes filling up with tears.

I looked at Jim and asked, “What are we going to do?” I wanted him to tell me it was going to be all right and that Felix was over-reacting. Instead, he said, “I think we need to leave.” That’s all it took for the dam of tears to break. Jim immediately said, “We’re going to be okay,” and Felix said, “I am sorry, Doña Lynne but you need to be safe.” Both of them thought it was the threat of a possible armed robbery facing us that brought those tears. But it was more than that. It was the fact that I wasn’t ready yet to move. I wanted to pack on my terms, I wanted to leave on my terms and I wanted to love on my animals for another month…on my terms. Sitting very still and listening to Jim and Felix tell me again for the umpteenth time that it was the best thing for us to do, I realized I had no terms. 

I know this is long. So to keep it from becoming even longer, I’ve divided it up in to 2 blogs. Obviously, you know we are okay or you wouldn’t be reading this, right? So, that may be enough for you. If you want to follow the next few emotion-packed and exhausting days after we had that bombshell dropped on us, you can read it in the blog above.

The Move...Part 2...

NOTE: I wrote this second part about our move also on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 but then we lost our internet capabilities and I am just now getting it posted. For chronological posting, read the blog below first. 

I love different houses, I love decorating, I love “nesting”…I’m not so crazy about moving. I had told Mandy that I had moved 18 times in my life. I was wrong. I had forgotten several moves when I was a baby and a couple during my college years but after writing down each move, and including the upcoming move at the end of this month, I will have moved 24 times. That’s too many times for someone who yearns to be “planted”.

When I had talked about this with Mandy & Jim while we were Stateside, I said then that I wondered if Sarai ever cried out to Abram…”I just want to settle somewhere! I want to put down roots!” If so, I think I understand a little of what she might have felt. My hat is off to any woman who had or has to live a Bedouin lifestyle. Maybe God keeps moving me so that when that day comes that I get to my “mansion” in heaven, I’ll know I am finally home and I can settle in for good.

By Wednesday afternoon, Move #23 was just a few hours away. After Felix left the office and I got most of my crying out of my system for the time being, Jim and I sat and discussed all of our options. We came to the conclusion that moving early really was the “best” choice of all the lousy ones that we had before us.

Our first call was to David and Sherah, the couple whose condo we will be moving into the end of this month. We wanted David to contact the landlord at Quinta Allyson (the gated complex where they live) and ask if they had a unit available. He told us to come right over and we could go talk to the landlord. When we got there, the landlord wasn’t there but his sister was and she said there were two empty units that had just come available. David had already told her that we would be moving in to their unit at the end of the month and so she said that she would allow us to just go ahead and rent a place for the same month’s rent that our monthly rent will be in the new place. Typically, they charge several hundred dollars more per month for renting a place for any time frame less than a year. She told us to come back the next day at noon and they would have the unit cleaned and ready to go and we could sign the contract.

The next phone call was to Susanna to see if she would accompany us to act as a translator for our visit with Doña Sara – our landlady. That was a visit none of us were looking forward to making. Susanna has dealt with her in the past and I think she was dreading it as much as we were. And, the visit was almost as unpleasant as I had feared. Doña Sara immediately was very unhappy that we were moving and let us know that she was going to keep every penny of our last month’s rent and our deposit. She said it was a terrible time of year to try and rent the house and that she needed more time to do so. She felt we were being very inconsiderate even though we had explained why we were leaving on such short notice.

Her son, who is a Harvard educated lawyer and speaks English, was also at the meeting. He was sympathetic to our reasons for wanting to move but deferred to his mother at every turn. They both impressed upon us that if it was just the security issue that was prompting us to leave that they had friends who were government officials very high up in the government and that they could help us with protection. We thanked them but said that we thought that it was best that we go ahead and move. That’s the last thing we need at this point is to get involved in owing favors to someone in the government here.

Obviously, Doña Sara is used to getting her way and so she tried another tactic. She said she would drop the rent by $125 a month and we could use that money to help pay for 24 hour armed security but we would have to sign a contract to stay two more years. My “No” wasn’t just clear, it was adamantly clear. And even though I was very respectful when I said it, I’m sure that didn’t help our case any.

By the end of our meeting, Doña Sara would not allow us to have our last month’s rent back because we did not give her 30 days notice that we were leaving (which was true, reasons why aside) and our deposit was also hanging in the balance depending on how her “walk-through” of the house came out. She said that she would be at the house at 12:30 on Monday afternoon to do the final inspection. She stressed that in order to get our deposit back that the house must be in the same condition in was in when we moved in. We should have known this was a set-up statement. She has not been honest from the get-go. I was sick. We needed that money to help soften the blow of the upcoming move.

After the afternoon of meetings, we returned home to begin packing. Susanna came over for a couple of hours and she got my dishes and books packed up before she had to leave. I began packing all up our bedroom and office things while Jim started in the spare bedroom closet. We both were staying very focused on the tasks at hand and tried not to talk about what to us was the elephant in the room… our pets - Xander, our much-loved dog and our cats, Skits and Snoops.

Jim and I made the decision to not tell our families or friends what was happening. We knew they would only worry and we didn’t want to burden them with that. But I felt that we needed to let someone know so that night, I called Jackie, our Missions Director at our home church, First Baptist in Cassville. I knew we would be out of touch for the next few days and I also wanted someone to be praying protection not only for us, but for our employees as well. I explained the situation and she encouraged us saying that we were making the right decision in going ahead and moving. She let me share my concerns but continued to tell me that what we were doing was the right thing and then she prayed with us. I want you to know that was a cherished prayer. I can’t even imagine what my life would be like today without the prayers of godly people like Jackie Hendrix.

Xander sensed that something was wrong and he was very agitated and nervous, staying under my feet practically every step of the way. He knows he’s not supposed to be on the bed and he kept putting his front paws upon the bed and stretching the top half of his body across it. Telling him to get down did no good. I would have to stop what I was doing, walk over to the bed and physically lift him off. Normally, if I would have done that, he would have wanted to wrestle and play, but that night, he just wanted to be loved on. I don’t know how many tears covered his coat that night.

Thursday, we began packing again. Susanna returned mid-morning and we loaded up her car, our car and the borrowed pick-up of our friends in Ohio, Karen and Dwane and headed over to Quinta Allyson so that we could hand over a hefty sum of money and sign a year’s commitment to rent. The list of rules and regulations covers a full page but what I kept reminding myself was that it would be a safer place for us to live than where we were. When Rafael, our new landlord, spoke about having pets, I could feel a lump rise up in my throat. We then drove on over to our new “home” for the next month. It turns out that the unit is right next door to the one we will be moving in to so at least the next move won’t be far and won’t require so much packing and unpacking.

Jim and I spent the rest of the day Thursday filling action packers, suitcases, boxes and totes. We made several trips over to the new condo and by that night, we were beat. It didn’t seem like we were making much headway. Where, when, how and why did we get all that “stuff”??? I realized how imprinted we are with being Americans. We love our “stuff”…it brings us comfort and makes us feel secure. Moving to a smaller place which will not comfortably accommodate all that “stuff” is definitely going to force us to pare down some and that’s not a bad thing at all.

Doña Sara’s brother came by and tacked up a “For Rent” sign on the place. All the neighbors, on our street and behind us, were well aware that we were moving and the security guards in the neighborhood watched our comings and goings with great interest. We wondered if word would reach Eddie. That was our last night to sleep in the house. It was a fitful night. I wish I could say I slept well in the condo but I didn’t. My mind was too filled with things to think about.

Friday morning was clear and the view was stunning. I thanked God for allowing me to enjoy that beautiful view one more time from my favorite spot on the deck. Skits was rubbing against my leg and Xander was pawing at him trying to get him to play. It was a moment I wanted to last forever. My heart hurt every time I thought about not having them with me anymore. But there wasn’t time to dwell upon that for too long. It was the day to move the big “stuff”…all the furniture.

Felix took a vacation day from work so that he could join Freddy in helping us move. The boys worked like machines, stopping only to eat lunch. Friday night, when we were through moving for the day, it was decided that Felix would go ahead and take Xander home with him that night. None of us wanted to take the chance of Eddie coming by at night and possibly hurting him. I knew I couldn’t go say good-bye to him and I cried like a baby when Jim, Freddy and Felix left the condo to go pick Xander up to take him to his new home. It was a very sad night at our place.

Saturday came and Miguel, Freddy and Felix met us at the house. No one said anything about Eddie that morning but I am sure he crossed everyone’s mind at some point. Jim had to go take care of some business at CINAFE and I continued to pack things up while the boys loaded the car. Right after Jim left, he called telling me that he had seen Eddie next door at the neighbor’s house. He warned me to be careful and to tell the guys that he was next door. I did and from that point on, they wouldn’t let me out of their sight. I couldn’t even go downstairs to the basement without one of them coming with me. It was really quite touching that they were so committed to making sure I was going to be safe.

Evidently, Eddie must have had second thoughts about trying to rob what was obviously an almost empty house. He hung around for most of the day next door and then left right before the guys made their final trip for the day. It was almost an anticlimactic end to the day but not a disappointing one, that’s for sure. We don’t know if Eddie had planned on doing anything or not and I don’t suppose we will ever know. What we do know is that God protected us, our employees and our animals and that’s what mattered.

So, in summary. Doña Sara refunded our deposit but not our last month’s rent. Xander is now living with Felix and I have yet gotten to the point I can talk about him without crying. Skits and Snoops were left behind after much prayer and discussion. They started out as wild kitties and they retain much of that in their personalities. Snoops is a good hunter and Skits can hunt if he has to do so. They are best buddies and brothers – they need to be together and both are outdoor cats. They know their area and there are places for them to find shelter. We are gone most of the time during the day and neither would do well locked up in a condo all day without anyone here with them. I believe it was the right decision albeit a painful one. More tears. I do believe I have cried more in the last two and a half years here than I have in the previous two and a half decades. Maybe it’s because I’ve had to say so many good-byes since God called us to move here. I don’t know.

The temporary condo is serving us well or at least it has in the six days and nights we’ve been here. While it’s true that we don’t yet have internet or television and we’ve been taking cold showers every night (we finally got our hot water “widow makers” installed today), it does seem to be more peaceful here. We have amenities here we would never have had staying in the house. We had a downpour last night and there wasn’t one leak in any of the rooms! The stuff in the open part of the bodega got soaked but that was due to poor arranging, not a poor roof.

My stove still isn’t hooked up but Jim bought the necessary parts today so that may happen tomorrow and I do have just about everything unpacked thanks to late night and early morning hours. Jim went in to CINAFE and I stayed home to get laundry done and to keep unpacking. Margarita came today and cleaned the floors and helped me rearrange the bodega which was really helpful. We’re slowly settling in for as much settling as a person can do while knowing there is another move coming up in less than a month.

There are several things that have really hit home with me this last week. First and foremost is God’s provision for us and His protection over us.

We are also very thankful:

• to have gotten word of the planned robbery with enough time to avert what appeared to be imminent danger

• there are prayer warriors who were faithful to carry our concerns before the Lord for us

• that we were able to borrow Karen & Dwane’s pick-up truck

• that not only was there a place available for us to rent, but it is right next door to where we will be moving…which also enables us to give a month’s trial period to find out what we need to have and what we can get rid of here

• the condo complex appears to be a safe place to live with good neighbors, many of whom are here also serving in missions.

• Doña Sara returned our deposit…it’s not everything we had hoped for but it’s more than we thought she would do

• there are people who aren’t the type to say, “Call me if you need help,” but rather are the type who just show up and help…such a good lesson for us to learn ourselves

• God has placed so many wonderful Nicas in our lives…they far outnumber the few “bad eggs” we’ve encountered

I could go on and on with how God has blessed us…and I don’t think God would mind a bit…but I do think the blog would be even longer than usual so I will stop for now.

Someone asked me this past week if I was ready to move home. I’m assuming they meant back to the States. I have to say that at this moment, the only move I’m looking forward to making is to my Laura Ashley suite in the sky but I would imagine there will a few more earthly ones between now and then!