Baby, we'll roll with it!

A couple of years ago this country song came out called "Roll with it" by Easton Corbin (He also sings a little more country than that...he's a man after my own heart).  My country spirit immediately fell in love with the song and instantly reminded me of the sweet journey I have been on with Jeff.  Since then, when things go disarray in life we reference our need to "just roll with it" and "get out of this ordinary everyday rut" (hence the blog name) and enjoy each other.

In the 9 1/2 years we have been married there have been many times I wondered why in the world God had given me more on my plate than I could handle, felt overwhelmed with life, and in the back of my mind have questioned if we have made the right decisions along the way. I don't mean marrying Jeff, he's my hottie till the end and I don't regret a day with him, but let's be honest, marriage is anything but easy and the trials we have encountered have definitely tested our marriage.  Through every storm though there has been a peaceful place we have been able to look back experience God's grace and hope for a better tomorrow. This of course just happens briefly before the next storm starts brewing :)  

The past couple of years have felt like our life has somewhat settled and the storms seem to be fewer and far between and much less intense!!  After 2 army deployments, the best surprise of my life (although a couple of years earlier than I had planned :) in the midst of one of the deployments, a rough transition after the long deployment, both of us finishing college with our sweet baby boy in tow,  braces (don't laugh you would be surprised the impact adult braces have on a person:) a couple of lost jobs, couple of career changes, and grad school, I guess that's to be expected :)  

Even though I seriously shutter sometimes at how hard life was at times over the last 9 1/2 years, I love that we are living in a different country living out our dream of living overseas because of all those things we experienced.  All those trials have allowed Jeff and I to be molded into more flexible more easy going and more able to let God lead us wherever He's taking us.  I didn't say it was easy, I said MORE than we were before :)  I still struggle with trusting that God is in control, but I really can see how God has used those experiences in my life to help me relax, enjoy the sweetness of life a little more, and love my family with out feeling so stressed about the little things in life.  I love my life, I love that God gave me Jeff, I love my precious blue eyed boy, and I love that we are on this new journey together regardless of all the little things that are throwing me for a loop here.  Up to this point the only crying break down I have had is the grocery store, other than that I have been able to laugh at all the things thrown my way, although I'm anticipating one in the next week or so, I figure it's about time :)

I laugh to myself that about the time life settles for us, we up and move to Costa Rica!!!  Really???  Even though we made life more complicated (even more so with recent events, blog to follow on a night I'm not so tired), we are absolutely loving our new adventure and are continuing the theme of our lives "Baby we'll Roll with it".  I used to hate that life was always changing and scared of what change might come next, I am now embracing it and loving that we literally just "roll with it" cause as long as I have my partner in crime by my side, we can laugh, love, and make it through whatever curveball comes our way, even grocery stores in Costa Rica!

To the love of my life, may we have many more crazy years full of laughter, love, family, and opportunities  for  us to  roll with it and follow wherever God leads our free spirited lives!  I absolutely love our journey and love you more than you will ever know

Doggy Do, or Doggy Poo?

In the States it is a well known common courtesy for dog owners to pick up their dog's poop wherever that might be.  In Latin America that is not a common courtesy.  Since we have been here I have packed doggie doodoo bags everywhere we go and pick up MP's poop whenever she lays it down.  Our neighbor boy Gabriel is 10 years old and literally on 3 different occasions has told me I am weird for picking up her poop, and that all the other Costa Ricans think I am really weird because; why would you pick up a dogs poop?  I get it, they don't pick up poop around here, I'm fine with that, but is it really okay for me to not pick up my dog's poop here?  I mean I just wonder if in some capacity I would be seen as the "rude American who doesn't pick up her dogs poop! She just walks around like she owns the place, her and that stupid dog!"  (I have crazy thoughts that role through my mind everyday, I can't help it, it's just me)  

I have picked up every single poop, until the other day when Jeff, Gentry, Gabriel and I were out.  We were walking to the beach and of course MP has to stop for a little business on the way.  Gabriel instantly starts saying "don't pick up the poop just leave it, it is weird when you pick it up, I'm serious"  He went on and on, and so I caved...which might have been okay for my conscious except for the next day when we were walking to the beach and I saw the business she had left the day before on the side of the street with a foot print in it!  Good Golly Moses I felt horrible!  I'm sure it was some poor soul on their way to or from work and they were cursing the entire rest of the way about the "stupid Americans that bring their blankety blank dogs down here like they own the place".

For me to be able to sleep that night, I had to keep telling myself that the person who stepped in the poop was a complete jerk face vacationing here trying to pick up chicks all day long at the beach only to be rejected, and then stepped in a pile of poo on the way home and cried himself to sleep.  I felt a little bit better when I reframed the situation like that (reframing is a technique I like to use often in my life).  

I feel like a choice to make here.  Do I ostracize myself as a full blown crazy American and let all the Costa Ricans think I am weird, or do I blend in to the culture and risk being thought of as the rude American that doesn't pick up her dogs poop?  Please weigh in the poll on the top of my blog, I need some feedback!

Just a normal Tuesday in Jaco...

 

Today started to seem like normal everyday life.  It really has felt like a vacation but I feel like we are slowly settling in.  Gentry and I have been in full mode homeschool.  It's going well but it such a different world for both of us.  He still kinda just feels like he's hanging with mom, so today I had to break out the big guns.  The Red, Yellow, Green, and Gold cards went up on the wall today!  For the first time in his school career he got put on the red card.  Through his tears he assured me Mrs.  Omer gave him way more chances, and through my gritted teeth I assured him he did not whine and cry to Mrs. Omer like he does to me.  That red card straightened the boy right up!  You would have though I sold Molly!  On one of his breaks he claimed he was just so tired he needed to nap with Molly Paws.  He really does love that dog!

G:  "Mom what is that?"  

Me:  "It's a pay phone"

G: "Like it's just a phone on the side of the street?  That's so weird, why would you use this phone and not your cell phone?"

Me:  "This is what people used to use before cell phones"

G:  "That's so weird"

Later we went to the beach.  Jeff and G swam and I took MP for a run.  On our run we saw a guy riding a horse with an extra one in tow!  I seriously want to be friends with this guy and ride horse on the beach everyday :)  Just give me some time, I will be riding horses on the beach with this guy, I promise!

The Iguana is sun bathing!  Oh wait no he's not, his head is gone!! Damn sharks!  :)  

We ended our time at the beach with a beautiful sunset!

Dinner on Calle de Pops

One of the most overwhelming things since we have been here has been the whole food situation.  Of course they have grocery stores and restaurants and I can get mostly anything I want.  BUT it's all in Spanish, it looks different, taste different, and there isn't a McDonalds on every other corner for default to in case we are in crunch.  If we are going to eat out we would actually have to go to a real restaurant to sit and eat.  The penny pincher (AKA Jeff) is not going to be down to spending money on eating out like that so I am left to figure things out in a hurry!

The dilema I have with that is quick decisions are literally my worst enemy!  Unless I have time to think, plan, compare, research, and have plenty of time to feel confident in my decisions, I feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and seriously regret whatever decision I make.  This disease is very frustrating at times, but I have learned to live with the disease and so most times just try and prepare myself before hand.  I say this with all kidding aside, mundane decisions in life are literally the bane of my existence...unless of course I have time to make a good one that I'm sure of...especially at the grocery store!

At home I know what we normally get but if I don't have my list and know exactly what I need, it's a catastrophe!  I come home and have at least a bag worth of stuff I have no idea why I bought it, we don't need it, I'm frustrated cause we have random stuff we don't need, didn't get what I did need, and Penny Pincher is mad cause I spent too much money!  Seriously the grocery store is a dilema even at home if not prepared!  Times that by 10 and just imagine my overwhelmed mind walking through a grocery store: I can't read anything, all I hear is people talking a language I don't know so I can't ask for clarification, Gentry at my hip asking me if he can get whatever the heck that is he's holding up in front of me, Kathia and the kids waiting for me outside cause they were giving us a ride home from church and we didn't want to walk with all of our groceries, and Jeff asking me why I picked this kind of whatever the heck that is instead of that kind!  Ya my first grocery store visit ended in tears rolling down my cheeks, leaving the cart behind in the middle of the aisle, Gentry still asking if he could have that thing...whatever it was, and Jeff standing there realizing his wife was overwhelmed in a new country trying to survive the best she could in one of the situations she hates more than anything even at home in the familiar King Soopers store.  Needless to say both boys backed off a bit, the people in the store thought I was the crazy American, and Jeff finished the shopping while I took G outside to sit with Kathia and the kids and eat ice cream.  

Since then life with food is slowly getting better.  Let me emphasize the SLOWLY!  Today was a success :)  I headed down the street to the fruit/veggie stand ALONE and came out feeling like a million bucks :)  Here are some pictures from my journey 100 meters down from our house!

This is a local restaurant on our street, these are what the common "restaurant" looks like here and they all serve the same thing.  Gallos pinto with a little slice of variety but not much :)  The other pic is just the street view down Calle de Pops as you walk out of our apartment complex.

This is the skate park right next door that Gentry is dying to go to.

And here is the fruit/veggie stand right down the road!  It's no Whole Foods but it's working for me!

Look at all the fruit/veggies and all the decisions I had to make!  Thank goodness Jeff and Gentry weren't with me, it could have been another "Mega Super" experience!

After 20 minutes or so of deliberating this is all I came home with :)  I felt very happy of myself :)  I'm learning to only get what we need for the next day or so cause I can just walk to the market for some more healthy fresh treats.  This is helping to eliminate some of the anxiety I feel about going to the store here :)

This was the beginning of my gallo pinto (the rice and bean Costa Rican dish that Kathia taught me to make)  Turned out pretty good :)  We were all to hungry when dinner was finally made so I didn't get any pics of the finished product!

Sunday Spesh...Tico Style!

Most Sundays Jeff, Gentry, and I can be found at Don and Mello Wilcox's house enjoying a delicious "spesh" with some of our favorite people in the world.  It is a tradition we love because of the food, but also because of the people there.  On average there are 8 boys aging from 4 months to 9 years.  It's so fun to eat good food, mingle with good people, and watch the craziness unfold with all the boys running around.  Obviously we won't be making it to spesh's anytime soon, so we must invent our own Sunday spesh...Tico Style.  Here's what went down!

Our property manager that we have gotten to know so well over the last couple of weeks invited us to come to BBQ on the river with friends she has from Nicaragua.  So we packed up in her tiny car, stopped by the store "Maxi Pali" (closest thing to Wal-Mart we are gonna get here) and headed about 10 minutes down the road into the forest and up a river.  Yes you read right I said 10 minutes!  We are so close to the beach and the forest!  It's kinda crazy!  

We had so much fun from fishing, to jumping in the river, cooking, and hanging out.  Although hanging out when you don't know the language is a different experience! I figure the more we are around the more we will learn it and soon enough we will be conversing with our Tico friends just like we do with our American friends!  Everyone was so kind even though we couldn't really speak, they tried to include us and teach us, and made Gentry feel apart of all the other kids.  Putting all the fun aside, it was a sweet experience to watch the kids try to help Gentry, speak with him and include since he was the only little gringo out there.  He was definitely shy and hesitant at first but finally warmed up and became one of the boys :)  

All of us piled into Kathia's tiny little car!  Don't look mom, you will be stressed out we aren't buckled in!  Don't worry we were packed so tight no one was flying out of the car I promise!!

 I actually feel a little guilty even posting these pics cause I know driving with 7 in a car meant for 5 would been horribly looked down upon in the States, and everyone would be wondering if I was even a fit mother for that cute curly head, but here...it's the Tico way!  So I don't feel judged or even like a bad mom, I feel like we are learning to fit in :)

Gabriel, Gentry, and Jeff

At Spesh's in the States, we drink orange juice, occasionally followed by a sonic.  At Spesh's in Jaco we drink coconut juice, maybe followed by an Imperial!

We started with fishing.

                                             

 

They only caught tadpoles :)

                                                

Then a couple of rounds of shooting were in order.  

G is getting pretty good!

                                            

Katherine wanted to touch the tadpoles.  She of course screamed as soon as she did :)

My dad would call this "the water hole"

Gentry jumping off the very slick branch, into the not very deep water, with rocks and sticks everywhere...They had a blast!!

At Spesh's in the States, there are usually 8 boys and 3 girls in utero , and 1 unknown on the way.  In Jaco there are 9 boys and 3 little girls sprinkled in the mix but none of them attempted the not very safe boy made diving board!

This little guy nearly gave me a heart attack all afternoon!  He kept doing back flips off the branch!  Luckily he pulled it off every time!

After a while I had to walk away because these boys started jumping off together, backwards, sideways, front flips, back flips, and every possible move that would advise your boys not to do.  Boys are boys no matter where you are I guess!!

                                             

This face explains everything I was thinking every single time one of the boys went off the branch, especially the boy in the background doing the back flip!

So instead of chocolate chip pancakes and omelets we had gallos (a piece of steak set in a corn tortilla) and chirulitos (a chip somewhat equivalent to hot Cheetos).   Instead of a game of soccer or football on the side of the Wilcox's house, we had a round of shooting bb guns and fishing;  instead of running and screaming through the kitchen where boys could have a hot plate of food spilled on them, the boys were running and jumping off an unsafe branch into shallow water; and instead of catching up with old friends, we were attempting to make new ones in a language still new to us.  Overall I would say we had our first successful Sunday spesh in Jaco!  We miss our normal Sunday spesh crowd of friends, and of course Donnie's delish spesh creations, but we are hopeful to make and find new traditions here, and I think we might be on our way to doing so.  Miss you spesh crowd and can't wait to be with you again!!

The Worry Box

Gentry and I have been starting our mornings with a quick little devotion before we dive into our Spanish lessons.  Yesterdays devotion was on worrying.  We discussed how worry doesn't help us and usually can't change what we are worried about.  Gentry and I had a great conversation about worrying, and he shared that since we have moved to Costa Rica that he had been worried that he and Molly might get lost on the beach in a storm and would be all alone with big waves and no one around to help them.  My heart was sad that he really had been thinking of such a horrible situation.  At the same time it turned into a great time of me just listening to his fears and thoughts and ended with me being able to provide some security and peace surrounding a fear of his that seemed so plausible in his mind.  

It also provided a great opportunity to talk about how God protects us and we can always pray when we start to become afraid.  During the end of our conversation I began to question what I was telling him.  The reality is, bad things do happen.  Bad things happen to people who pray daily for safety, bad things happen to the most undeserving, bad things just happen.  I couldn't help but think of the reality that it's possible that something bad could happen.  Now let's be honest, do I think Gentry and Molly Paws will get stuck out in the ocean with big waves all alone without someone there to help them?  Of course not, he has a mom that's full of all those fears I'm telling him not to worry about and trust God with!  I'm like a hawk when it comes to my sweet precious boy!  The kid can't hardly move that I'm not a shadow right behind him since we have moved here!  But I do think it's possible and most likely probable that some day he will face pain, hurt, or loss that he prays will never happen.  

So how do I reassure Gentry that God does protect him, love him, hear his prayers, and also prepare him that life here on earth is nothing close to perfect and often full of pain and suffering?  You got me on that one!!  After discussing God's protection and love for us, I did gently breach the topic that even if we didn't see our prayers answered or even if something bad happens, God is still at work in our lives, He loves us, and we can still trust Him to protect us.  It's hard trying to explain something that is still so confusing to yourself!  But I tried and oddly enough he seemed okay with answer and discussion we had.

After our discussion we decided to make a worry box.  The worry box would be a place that when we have fears or worries we can write our fears on a note card, stick the card in the box, and then pray that God will keep us safe and that He will take the fears away from us so we don't have to worry anymore!  Gentry drew a picture of he and Molly Paws in the ocean with big waves around him.  We put it in the box and then prayed that God would protect he and MP every time they go to the beach, and that Jeff and I would make good decisions and have wisdom when it comes to Gentry and Molly at the beach.  It felt like a win in the game I call motherhood.  At least until that afternoon!

Jeff, Gentry, MP, and I all headed to the beach that afternoon around 3pm.  Literally as soon as we walked around the corner from the street to the beach, there was a huge crowd of people all gathered around, police cars were there, and we saw an ambulance in the distance driving up the beach.    My heart sank.  I had no idea what happened but there was no way to shield G from the fact obviously something bad happened.  I took G and MP with me and we started walking the other way down the beach.  Jeff went over to see what happened.  When we were walking G kept asking and talking about it "Mom what happened?  I think something bad happened cause all the police are there and that ambulance was driving fast.  Is dad gonna tell me what happened?  I wonder if that person is going to die?"  As he kept talking my eyes filled with tears cause of course I could only imagine the worst!  We stopped a little down the beach and we prayed for whoever was hurt.  After we prayed G said "Well if that person dies, it's okay mom, it just means that God wanted them to come to Heaven.  Are you sad?  Why are you sad?  You said that even in bad times God is there and loves us and protects us" It was about this time that Jeff came up and shared that a women had been bitten by a shark on the leg.  They said it was a small shark and she would be okay.  In some weird way I felt relief, but then what did I start immediately doing??? Worrying of course!!  

We decided we would not go into the water, even though literally everyone else just went back into the water like nothing had every happened!!  G was sad and kept telling us how he would just hit the shark and swim away if it came by him, and if he did get bit, he would be tough and just get some stitches and then be fine!! (Oddly enough this didn't provide me with any peace of mind)  At that point I got to remind him how we prayed that God would give Jeff and I wisdom on how to keep him safe when we were at the beach :)  and this was just one of those times!  

Gentry and Jeff stayed and made a sand castle and I took MP for a run down the beach.  As I was running it took everything in me not to break down and cry and throw in the towel to living here!!  My son absolutely LOVES the water and has NO fear what-so-ever and now I have one more thing to worry about living in this new unfamiliar place!  At the same time I was reminded of the discussion G and I had that morning.  Am I going to let fear rule my life and inhibit my adventurous son from becoming who God designed him to be?  Or am I going to pray, use wisdom in parenting, and trust God?  The right answer is of course the latter, but man is that hard!  I'm trying though!  I came home and guess what I did?  Yep I utilized the worry box :)  Here's to one worry, one prayer, and one day at a time!

The Deets of the Move!

4 trunks, 3 back-packs, 4 suitcases, a guitar, and Molly Paws Kennel is all we left Colorado with! (Not pictured is MP's kennel, my back-pack, and my suitcase)  I can't believe this is our life for the next year or so!! Everything else is sold or in storage.  It actually felt freeing to intensely go through our house/life and figure out what we really had to have to live, and what was worth storing for an entire year or more.  We made numerous car loads to Good Will and it felt oh so good!

We decided to get a 2 month lease in a semi-cheap place when we came down here just to get out feet on the ground, and then figure out permanent housing when we were here so we could get to the know the town more.  The place we are currently staying is, less than ideal and is tiny!!  When I say tiny, for the love of Pete, I mean TINY!!  Here are some pictures of the place.  Our entire living space is literally the size of our living room in our house in Longmont!  We are surviving and it is actually helping us be thankful for all we have back home.  

This is the front looking from the street.  

 

 Here's the kitchen, the bedroom is right over on the other side where you see our bags piled up on the top bunk.  There is a bunk bed and a queen bed all in the same room!  Sharing a room with Jeff is hard enough sometimes, but sharing with Gentry David and Jeff...it's not quite as romantic as one might think :)

 Here is the porch that Jeff works at every day, and where we hang out when we need to put G down to bed until he falls asleep, which is about 10 minutes at the most everyday!  Hallelujah for that cause the mosquito's can be pretty fierce at night!

 This is the front gate that heads into the apartments.  It stays locked at all times, and the owners brag that they have never been broken into in all 6 years they have owned it!  Apparently that is something to brag about around here :)

There are 4 apartments here.  One of our neighbors is an American who works down here, I have no idea what he does and haven't even met him yet!  There is a couple of single guys next door who are down here traveling.  The are about as opposite from Jeff and I as they come.  They party most every night, often throw out the F bomb and don't even notice there are kids around, and sleep til about 2 everyday.  Other than driving us crazy at night and the constant F bombs that we have to shield Gentry from they are okay guys.  One night about 1am Gentry got out of bed and started screaming at the top of his lungs "Are you kidding me?  It's the middle of the night people!  When are you dudes gonna go to sleep already?  Your killing me!!"  Jeff and I laughed hysterically, the guys didn't even notice, and we then invested in ear plugs for the entire family so our sweet 7 year old can sleep!

There is a mom and 2 kids that is the property manager that lives downstairs.  We absolutely adore them!  Kathia has been giving Gentry and I Spanish lessons in the morning.  She has taught me how to cook some local dishes,  and took us to church with her last week.  Her son Gabriel is 10 and he and Gentry have become buddies.  He goes to the beach in the afternoon with us most days.  Her daughter Katherine is 3 and is seriously the cutest thing you have every seen.  For some reason she absolutely loves me and want to play with me all the time.  We can't really communicate because she speaks only Spanish and I only speak English, but somehow we make it work.  The most common phrase you will hear us both say is "Como se dice..."  

Katherine is seriously cute!  Most days she just has on a t-shirt and little princess undies :)  She sits in on our Spanish lessons and helps me and G pronounce words and corrects us when we get them wrong.  She softens the blow of not knowing the language :)

Our daily routine consist of hitting the beach with MP and Gabriel around 3:30 pm.  The beach is absolutely beautiful and during the week hardly anyone is here.  It's so hot during the day we stay inside and then come out when the sun is heading down, it's working out pretty well!

Gentry and Gabriel have set up a bb gun range in the parking lot of the apartments.  G is a pretty dang good shot!  He gets it from his momma...maybe his grandad and dad have a little something to do with it also :)

The Woe's of Puppy-Hood!

So the transition down to Costa Rica was not as smooth as one would have hoped, but then again we were moving to a different country so bumps were to be expected.  The major bump was our new sweet dog Molly Paws.  Before you ask "why in the world would you get a dog before moving to another country????"  There really is a good answer!  We actually intentionally got Molly Paws cause we are the proud parents of an only child!  G-man doesn't have siblings to play with, comesirate with about the move or anyone but Jeff and I.  When we decided we were going to move, we decided it would be good for G to have a buddy to move with, not to mention the kid had been begging for a dog for the last 3 years!  So even though super inconvenient we bought a puppy 4 weeks before we left for Costa Rica!

Anyhoo I thought I had everything figured out before we got her as far as paperwork and protocol to getting her to Costa Rica, until it got closer to us leaving. The first issue started because according to the average Golden Doodle size and age, MP was supposed to just travel with us on the plane as a checked bag...well MP is Ginormous for her age and so it was very apparent that she would indeed not be going with us in the cabin.  Frontier does not take pets any other way, so we couldn't even check her as baggage with us.  We then looked into the PetSafe program through United.  Which was a great fit, she could be sent as cargo, we wouldn't have to be on the same flight, except for Costa Rica started this new law a couple of months ago that they sometimes follow and sometimes don't, which consist of requiring a pet permit, hiring a pet broker, paying a cargo tax on the animal, which was all adding up to around $1000!!  What???? I mean I love that sweet dog, but seriously???  It was at this point that Jeff said "You know what we have to do don't you?" No I cautiously answered.  We gotta get rid of her there is no way we are paying more to get her down there than we paid for all 3 of our tickets!!  While I certainly agree it was becoming quite absurd, there is no way in Heaven I could part with the dog, or break it to my poor son who is being ripped away from everything familiar to him that he will also be forfeiting his new dog that he absolutely adores!!

So to make a long story short-ish I ended up buying a new ticket on American airlines so she could come with me as a checked bag, had to fly a different day cause the temperature had to be above 45 degrees (it was 5 degrees when the boys flew out), had to get a special addendum from our pet stating if the temp dropped a couple of degrees below 45 she could still fly, checked in on Thursday the 17th only to be turned away cause there is only 1 plane America Airlines has that can't fit that size kennel and of course that happens to be the flight we were on, so we went back bought a new kennel, tried again the next day and succeeded!  Sadly we were delayed in Dallas for 2.5 hours so poor MP was in the kennel for 13 hours!!  All that is behind us now and we are happy she is here...most of the time!

She is definitely in full fledge puppy mode.  Which means when we go to the beach she eats as much sand as possible and poops sand doodles...ya I said sand doodles.  She also LOVES rolling in the sand after she has been in the ocean which means that those cute blonde curls turn black, and we spend a good 30 min washing her off when we get home.  She chews everything in sight, bites Gentry on a regular basis, knocks over innocent children who think she's cute, escapes from every single blockade we made for her so she can run to our downstairs neighbors trash and scatter it everywhere.  She is definitely in the terrible twos of puppy hood!  The sad part is she's so stinkin big for her age you assume she's older than she is.  She is a real life chewing, slobbering, fury, baby Huey with teeth and they are sharp!  We love her but man will we love when puppy stage is over!!  With all that said is there anything sweeter than a boy and his dog on an evening stroll on the beach?  Na, I don't think so either :)

I'm Back!

So after a 2 years of taking time off from blogging, I'M BACK!  Grad school and working full time for the last 2 years has certainly taken me away from blogging and I'm so glad to have time to blog again!  So much has changed since I was blogging!  I finished Grad school with my Master's in Counseling, got an awesome job working with survivors of Domestic Violence, Gentry is in 1st grade, Jeff started his own business and works from home (and LOVES what he is doing, for the first time in his career), we got a dog (took G a good 3 years of begging for one) Molly Paws, and last but not least we have officially moved to Costa Rica for a couple of years!

Moving over seas to a Spanish speaking country has been something we have wanted to do since we were dating.  We have wanted to learn Spanish, experience a different culture, and just go on an fun adventure, and so here we are!  Of course there was more to it than just up and deciding to leave, but it really has been amazing to see how God opened every door for us to come, and somewhat quickly!  We feel so blessed to get to be on this adventure and know that it will be life changing for all of us!  So it's perfect timing to start blogging again, as I am sure there will be lots to share!  From living overseas, to our adventures in a new culture, to homeschooling G, I'm so glad to be back!!