My church has a new bold and brazen pastor name Gilbert. Today I had the joy of listening to him define a BIG vision that called us to a life of greater significance and there were two things he said that I LOVE.

1.      Exponential faith thinking forces you to your knees in prayer and creates something you can’t take credit for.

2.      “The point of life is not to arrive safely at death,” credit to Mark Batterson or Hunter Thompson.

Today marks my final day of TRUE VACATION. Time away to recharge, reflect, and do whatever, whenever, without limitation or schedule. I’ve been in North Carolina for the last ten days while Michael graciously agreed to keep the girls at home in Costa Rica.

I signed up for the Blue Ridge Christian Writer’s Conference a few months ago while solo parenting. Michael was on a ten-day work trip in Thailand, and it had been a hard night with the girls. My writing was at a standstill with little hope for inspiration in the coming weeks.  “Well, maybe I should check out a writer’s conference,” I thought. Somewhere between peanut butter sandwiches and snotty noses, I signed up.

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The day before we left the States to return home – I visited my Grandpa Kaiser. He was recently diagnosed with dementia at 92 years old. As we sat to talk, he was grappling with the reality that his mind couldn’t remember words, people, places, or even how to do simple tasks. He described the embarrassing reality of having someone knock on your door to let you know that you’ve left the car door open, or worse, the car running. And then the sadness that it may be time to stop driving. What do you do when you’ve been praying through names your whole life but can no longer remember them – “well you know who, God.”

Then he suddenly switched to tell me, “You know what I’ve been thinking about? We all live in little worlds. And why don’t we care to know about the little worlds of others?”

There is joy in accomplishing a goal. Especially when the goal seems unbelievable, even unachievable.

We began training for the Chicago Marathon when I was three months post-partum. At the time, I couldn’t do a mile without walking. I remember gasping for air and checking my watch to see that the pace barely hit a 15-minute mile. How in the world we were going to run 26 was beyond me. Consistency is Key – they say. Isn’t that the truth for almost anything? Practice makes perfect. It’s the small moments…all those cliches – they are cliches for a reason.

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What a colorful world we live in. Antigua is a small city surrounded by three volcanoes. It has cobblestone streets, the cutest boutique shops, historic ruins and delicious food. Having traveled to more than 50 countries collectively, both Michael and I agree that Antigua is one of our favorite cities.

This was also our first time traveling as a family of five to a new location. I think it takes a lot of trial and error to get the hang of an enjoyable vacation with litte kids. We learned that slower is better, and sometimes a calm afternoon at the airbnb is better than an adventurous day out. Naptime is essential (for both them and us) and packing light does make things easier. On this trip we didn’t pack any diapers (we bought them there) and did a few loads of laundry to recycle our outfits.

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This Monday, June 24th, my dear Aunt Heidi had a heart attack, and just like that she was gone. Totally unexpected. It was her day, it was her time.

For many reasons, I couldn’t make it to the small graveside service that was held earlier today. One of the biggest challenges of living abroad is missing out on the family life and events of our extended selves.