So much has happened in the last 6 months (as you can imagine)! We have been busy preparing even more in our lives. I met a gentleman on a plane who said that I needed to be writing more of our experiences. I love these “nudges” from the Lord!

When we came home from Vancouver Island after Christmas, we felt lost. There had been an enormous push right before Christmas because of closing the sale on our home. Cleaning out the quonset (48′ X 72′), a heated shop (24′ X 32′), the original house on the quarter that we used as a storage shed, the barn and the house (4500 sq. ft.) was nearly overwhelming. Oh, we thought…”We can be moved out in 30 days”. I think we were losing our minds! By closing date, we still had the tractor, the acreage mower, the elliptical at the acreage which the new owners so graciously let us keep there for a few weeks while we figured out what to do with them. Erik had been taking loads up to the lake on the flat deck trailer and the cargo trailer. We were slowly filling up our bunk house which I call the “Little Blue Motel”. Three bedrooms with their own separate doors comprise our “motel”.  Erik had built a small shed and we also booted the boat out of it’s garage and filled up the garage with more belongings. We had been selling our belongings on the Olds Buy & Sell. A friend of ours commented and said that we were owning the Buy & Sell. Our veranda at the lake was covered in boxes; we were overflowing even though we had sold so much!  Christmas was a bit of a blur as we had no time to get into the Christmas spirit. I did put one Nativity on top of the water cooler. Within 3 days of closing the sale we were on a plane to Victoria to spend Christmas with our family. Much of that week was spent driving and going someplace everyday, so the frenzy of our life just continued. It was when we arrived home to the lake afterwards that we sunk into ourselves and wondered, “What on earth has just happened?”

Erik & I then started working on the moving boxes and doing even deeper purging. Many more items went to the Lacombe thrift stores. Erik started posting items for sale on Kijiji. While we were continuing along this vein, I started wondering what we needed to do to procure the job that Erik would be doing in the Middle East. Because we had been working so physically hard for the past year, it felt like we needed to continue with the hard push. One day, in my prayers, I was asking and the Lord said, “Be still, I am preparing the way.” Wow! Be still…now there’s a concept. Quit racing your mind and be still. A change of perspective needed to happen yet again.

Early in January, my friend Julie called and said that her husband was on his way to the Middle East for some meetings for their company. She wanted to know if David could use Erik’s name as a petroleum reference for their company. I agreed and we carried on. By the middle of January, we received an early morning call from David. Erik was on the phone for an hour and then tells me that David has a contact that is interested in dealing with us. Excitement starts to build as we think that something will happen soon. Julie sends me a message that evening and said that there have been new developments and our interest is piqued even further.  We talked on Monday morning and Julie outlined some of David’s experiences in Kuwait and we talked about paperwork that we needed. One item that we were missing was our marriage certificate. If you want to live together in the Middle East you need to prove that you are married. When Erik & I were married, the Bishop put the wrong date on the forms. I ordered a marriage certificate afterwards and discovered the error. Unfortunately, we were poor students and didn’t have the excess funds to correct this mistake and I tossed the certificate because I didn’t see any significant reason to own a marriage certificate. Fast forward, thirty three years and discover that it is important to have this piece of paperwork. Perspective!

I go immediately to Registries that day and order a new marriage certificate.  At this point, I don’t care what day the government thinks we were married! After I turn in the form I filled out, the clerk looks at her computer and says, “Oh, there’s a problem!” Really!?!  Another error was discovered in that Erik’s middle name was interpreted incorrectly. It needs to match his passport, so I pay for two certificates and go home to await an amendment letter from Vital Statistics. After a month with no letter, I felt like I needed to call Vital Statistics and find out the status of our amendment. They proceed to inform me that they are only working on October’s amendments and that we wouldn’t receive our amendment request for months; maybe May or June. I’m slightly exasperated at this point. After getting off the phone, I said to the Lord, “Well, you have the details. When you need it to be ready, it will be ready.” The middle of April our amendment letter shows up and we immediately take it to a lawyer’s office to be notarized and sent back to Vital Statistics with yet more money. Now we are waiting on the certificates to show up!

In February, we were on our way to a funeral and as Erik was driving, I closed my eyes and asked the Lord if the job was going to come through David and his contacts. A beautiful brilliant white light surrounded that thought. Then I asked if we were to look elsewhere and a black curtain came down on that thought. Well…that was a very clear answer! We knew we needed to focus on that line of contacts. Previously, the Lord has said to me that the job was going to come in a way that we didn’t expect; not your typical hand in a resume and have an interview.

We were getting promptings to get our house in order to prepare to leave it. We managed to clear everything off the veranda. Within a two week period, the Lord sold our tractor, acreage mower, elliptical, two quads, and a quad trailer. It is very exciting to see His hand at work. We felt like it was taking a long time for the Middle East job to materialize and were itching to do something. Between me feeling sorry for myself about not being able to go on a cruise this year and needing something to do, we thought that we should go to Mexico and find a property to start our vacation rental fleet. When I asked the Lord if it was okay to go to Mexico, he replied with a not-so-hearty, “Okaaay.”  We came to Huatulco and after seeing four properties decided on one and made a deal.  We had been to Huatulco nine years ago and fell in love with the atmosphere there and authenticity of the area. Was this another distraction? Perspective about life is different now.

Back in Alberta for April, we did more preparations on the lake property. Erik & Braeden did landscaping and laid sod. Erik was building steps and finishing the addition to the deck. I was preparing a list for furnishing the condo in Mexico and quilting placemats and quilting a large quilt to hang in the master bedroom. I’m feeling more at peace that the Lord has everything in hand.

It is truly a miracle in the chaos of the world around us, that we are doing so well. The Lord looks after our needs. Erik hasn’t had a job in 16 months, myself in 11 months and still He sustains us. I have recently said, that we are running out of things to sell, to live off of, haha!  Well, there is definitely more we could sell if we needed to. Perspective.

As of this writing, we are in Mexico preparing the condo for renters. The furnishings are coming together and Erik has been great at figuring out all the ways to get the most out of our finances as to transfers and exchanges. The Marina is directly below us and yesterday we saw a big 8 foot marlin come in to the dock. What a blessing to be here and learn more of the culture of Mexico and forge relationships with people. My seatmate on the plane from Salt Lake City to Mexico City made the 3 hour trip go so quickly as I shared some of our experiences with him. He kept saying, “You understand how unusual this is?” Well, this new life has become our new norm and I think we sometimes forget that what we are doing is unusual. As Trevor said, “Living without purse or script.” Yes, our perspective has definitely changed as to what and how we “should” live our lives. When giving your life over to the Lord’s will, your life can become even fuller and more abundant. We are not without trials but I see that these trials come through lack of faith in whatever the circumstance happens to be.  Peace truly has come to us through our faith in living how the Lord would have us live. He truly sustains us and provides so many opportunities for growth and learning to love even more. In Salt Lake City, the baggage clerk, turned to us without preamble and said, “You two are going on to do great things. I feel it in my heart.”  What a beautiful confirmation of the love that the Lord has for us!