So the past 2 1/2 years have been an amazing journey for our family. My husband was in real estate when the market tanked and we didn't have a commission check for almost 8 months. We lived off savings thinking things would bounce back and we would recover, we did not. Things got rough, we reevaluated priorities and found that our God was still #1 (whew!) and homeschooling our kids remained a priority (despite suggestions from well meaning friends that I put them in school and get a job, while everyone else was looking for a job too), and our running and racing remained important. I started doing before and after school childcare for a neighborhood family which allowed me to save for the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge (at Disney World) I had been planning for a year and a half. Things haven't been pretty but my marriage has only been strengthened along with my faith in my God. So all in all good things from a "bad" situation.
But things can't go on like this without consequence and we began working with our bank in October on a trial loan modification. We completed the conditions of the modification and the bank came back with the "modification". They offered us a loan modification for $200K more than it's currently worth. Now we are relatively smart people and decided that was not a loan we could sign off on, oh and did I mention it was for 40 years???
So in December we began talking about alternative options. Now I am not big on change or adventure so God was definitely in this too. In reality, when we moved to this house it was a dream come true. We are in the same neighborhood that my husband grew up in. We have a safe neighborhood with a real sense of community that you just don't find easily. We have the neighborhood pool and swim team which has been such a blessing for the past 6 years. I also felt that the way we got our house was very clearly orchestrated by God, so losing it has been very confusing. When we first started having financial struggles I prayed "Lord, please save my house" but about a year ago I started praying "Lord, please prepare my heart for whatever you have for me." A funny thing happened. When my husband suggested we consider moving out of the country temporarily, I didn't freak out, or cry. I prayed. There was a lot of discussion over the months. Sure we could move out of our home and rent another home, even in the same neighborhood. We decided to look at this as an opportunity. We will not have a house payment for the first time in about 10 years. Joe's business is relatively "location independent". We could live anywhere, provided we had reliable internet access (also one of my stipulations, along with indoor plumbing). We started picking countries. I wanted a Spanish speaking country as I have always wanted to learn Spanish (I did take 3 quarters in college, but I can barely order in a Mexican restaurant) in a Spanish speaking country and take advantage of immersion. I can't imagine how this we would have made this happen without this "crisis". We looked at Argentina but they have a different lifestyle than I am looking for with siestas every afternoon because it's too hot to work or play and dinner is typically served at 11 PM! We looked at Brazil but they don't speak Spanish and Portuguese isn't very widely spoken (so how would we use it when we got back?) and it's really far away! We also looked at Guatamala (hot and expensive) and Costa Rica. We were pretty set on Costa Rica until Joe talked to a friend that he had been training with at the gym. He asked "Why not Nicaragua?" oooohhh Nicaragua sounds so dangerous and unstable. Well it turns out his friend owns a real estate company in Managua, Nicaragua and he loves it there. Joe came home and asked me. We spent a couple of days doing internet research on Nicaragua. I emailed someone who left his email address on a forum. Asked him about some of my concerns with having kids there. He was quick to reply and very helpful. He also gave me an email address of a family that homeschools there. I emailed the wife. It turns out she isn't homeschooling currently but they homeschooled when they first arrived and then put their kids in a Nica school and they are now completely bilingual. She was very helpful and answered so many of my questions, like "why do you live in Granada?" she put me at ease and I could see this a place that we could make a home (temporarily). So we have tried several times to propose a less damaging workout program on our house but God keeps shutting that door. I feel like we have done everything we can to keep our house but it isn't meant to be. Adventure awaits!
So now we are packing up and getting rid of stuff and shopping for stuff that we can't get in Nicaragua (US goods are available but typically 40% over US retail, and you probably know how I feel about paying retail, let alone over retail!!). We haven't purchased our tickets yet as we are planning to return in mid May 2011 and we have to wait until 330 days before we want to return to buy our tickets. We are planning on heading out around August 11 or 12th. We are going to fly into Costa Rica and vacation for a few days before we take a bus to Granada. We are planning to enroll in a Spanish Language school when we arrive and stay with a family (coordinated by the school). Then we will rent a house for the remainder of our stay.
We are hoping to do some volunteer work while we are there and really connect with the locals. Someone whose blog we have followed created this http://bicimaximo.com/ social business in Granada and we are excited to see how God will use us on this adventure.
So even though I haven't really publicized this blog, I am planning to make it a way of updating friends and family on our adventures in Granada, Nicaragua. So stay posted...
