Slow Your Flow

I have been emailing back and forth with a friend who worked with hubby at the Post Office. She is frustrated and burnt out. Not surprising when you work for the good ole' P.O. I wrote and told her that I really believed that added years off both our lives, especially hubby's by getting out and moving.

Basically we just slowed our flow. I mean some days it feels as if we may have slowed it a tad too much, but it is preferable to moving along at a thousand miles an hour to nowhere. I was stressed, he was stressed and the whole family suffered.

All for the "security" of the jobs and the house and the cars, oh the cars! We are planning on returning part time to the States while hubby attends school. After talking about it we mapped out our route so that we could live close enough to his school that we would not have to buy a car.

Do you get the feeling we have had some pretty bad experiences with cars? One of these days I will write about that, it is like a book unto itself. Suffice it to say we are much less stressed and happy to have no car at this point and time. And talk about slowing the flow, a sure way to do that.

You should check out this site speaking of slowing down. I have been following the Happy family for awhile. We even entertained the idea of the whole motor home thing, but decided it is not really for us. Maybe we are too old?

Visiting Teaching

For church we are each assigned two or three ladies from church to visit and keep an eye out for. It is a great system, when it works. I read an article on a blog about how Mormons are great at circling their wagons. That is the truth and that is the purpose behind visiting teaching. If you visit these sisters you know when something is not going well and they need help. A new baby, sick kids, family tragedies and sometimes just a bit of depression or something like that is great reasons for wagons to circle.

I have had the wagons circle for our family and will be forever grateful for those who helped. After baby six I had an abdominal catastrophe that called for two weeks in the hospital after baby, and about four weeks of bed rest. The ladies from church, as well as friends from the Post Office brought in meals for six weeks. That is a long time to get people to cook for a family of eight! They were awesome meals too.

This month I was determined to visit the three women assigned to me and a friend. She speaks a little English and they speak none, nada! I spent the last three days baking bread and cookies and fudge to pack up for them. I sent my daughter with the goodies and let her explain to them, her Spanish is much better than mine.

One of the ladies sent home a gift for our family. A little loaf of fruit cake, drenched in rum. Yup that's right a rum cake to our Mormon family from their Mormon family LOL!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving! It is my favorite holiday of all. Mostly because I am a pretty grateful person on the whole, but also because it is close to my birthday :) That counts for lots.

This year I am especially grateful for my family and friends. Our family has been extremely blessed with excellent health, happiness and joy this year. Even Micah has received a few blessings along the way.

Just going running this morning in the beautiful green place that we are blessed enough to call home. Making it home from the store before the rain hit. Being healthy enough to walk and not have to have a car.

Having a son who is celebrating two and a half years sober, and is happier and healthier than 10 years past. A daughter who has found a great way to realize her dream of being a nurse, even though she has to work and struggle to get there. For a son that finally launched his web site and is sharing his beautiful art work with the world. Another son that has made Costa Rica home and is being invaluable in the growth of our massage school here. For a son that calls Coconino County Jail home, and still laughs and cracks jokes with me when we get to talk three times a week on the phone. A daughter that has finally discovered the joy of reading and is making quick work of the big stack of books we bought at the used book sale. For a baby that was able to survive a whole year of pre-kinder, and the anxiety that finally maxed out her tummy, but still smiled and struggled through. Even though she did not understand much of what was said.

And last but the most, a husband who has learned to accept living without the security of the P.O. and still smiles and makes the best of life.

With that list I can never complain now can I? Life is good!

LABOR DAY

Today is Labor Day in the U.S. Here in Costa Rica we like to celebrate not having JOBS! Just kidding we really work really hard and like to celebrate that with a good old fashioned cook out. O.K. maybe not exactly the old fashioned cook out. We improvise. Pasta salad of course, but with no olives, can't find any today. Potato salad, with the no skin potatoes they have here. And hubby is out foraging for Polish sausages. Sometimes we can find them sometimes we can't, may get lucky today.

I just wish well to all who have a livelihood at the moment, and pray for those who don't. There is nothing as discouraging as being jobless, unless it would be being homeless. We have experienced both and I think the homeless one was a little tough. Of course we had a home, it was in the campground, and at least we had a job.

When we were first married there was no job and none in sight for hubby. He would go out everyday pounding the pavement to no avail. After months of this he finally decided to go back into the military. It was a last resort and to this day we wished we would have waited just a few more months. After getting out of the military it was the same old smell. No jobs to be found. We had two kids and number three on the way and he was flipping burgers at the King. It sucked.

Along came the post office offering a whole $9.50 an hour! We thought we had died and gone to heaven, until he started working there that is. What he did not realize was that he sold his soul to work there! Good thing he is free of government employment, finally!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

These are the cards I mailed out to our lucky family members for Valentines day this week! I have to put in a plug for premium postcards. It is awesome that I can make cards and send them all over the world, for a really good price. I think the cards I made like the above were about two bucks. The best part is that since they mail from the U.S. they get there in just a few days.

No this is not a plug for the good old PO, we have left that far behind us. Different life for a different time. It is interesting to see the cuts the Po is making in light of the economic crisis. I'm sure that with Rick having over 20 years in it would have taken awhile to trickle down to him, but it would get there for sure.

The biggest hit we would have taken if we were still in our old lives, would have been to my business. Most of my beloved clients were in the housing industry in some form or other. I wish all the best and send really good juju vibes to my predecessor all the time. But I do realize that at times massage may seem like a luxury. Let me see do we eat this week or do I go get a massage, let me think about it.

This is a good time to know massage and practise on each other. I say that very tongue in cheek because we have three freakin massage therapists in this house and I can't get anyone to work on my poor sore legs!

By the way the message the kids are sending in case you missed it Eye, Love, You!

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Ever had one of "those days?" Today was definately one of those days for me. I was totally looking forward to doing a long run with my daughter and woke up really early, not being able to go back to sleep aaugh!

Finally got to her house and she took me on the long run from you know where. We went over hill an dale, "oh yeah mom, I forgot there were so many hills".

She does like to school me once in awhile when I get too cocky or something. Just likes to put me in my old place and make sure I know who is the younger of us. It was actually fun, except for the getting lost part! A really beautiful Costa Rica day which was great, at least it was not raining also.

I spent the day out after waiting by the phone all day yesterday for word from my sons lawyer. We have been awaiting word from the prosecuters office for almost a month and in the mean time my son has decided he wants to go to trial. I guess we had best buckle our seat belts and get ready for another ride.

I am just very thankful for being able to talk to him often and keep up with him. I sent him a card yesterday with the above pic of his little sister. Those are his favorites pics, the ones with his sisters. The Post office has a place you can go to create a letter, or card with your own pictures, and write it up, and they deliver it. It is awesome I can write to him once a week and he will actually get it in about three days. Now isn't that a miracle? I love technology!

SNAIL MAIL

I do believe people have forgotten how to write letters. Actually I think some of the younger generation never learned how to write a letter, address the envelope, buy a stamp and mail the letter.
We got two letters in our mail today and it made my day. The only problem was one of them was from me :) I had ordered our Christmas cards to be printed up, and delivered through a card company and wanted to see what they looked like. I ordered one to be sent to my daughters family through us so I could see it.
We have a mail box in Miami so that we can mail stuff, and letters that otherwise will not mail to a PO box. Mostly it is for online shopping, but hey we also like mail.
The other letter was from my son in Flagstaff. He has been in jail for six months and is just now figuring out how to do the whole mail process. He asked me last week on the phone if he just addressed it to our Miami address and how many stamps he should put on it! OK son it is just going to Miami, one stamp will suffice.
Hopefully now that he has seen how easy it is to mail a letter he will get fired up and send more, they are great to save in his scrapbook. One of those fun activites he can spend a nice family night with his family going over some day. As he constantly reminds me "this is just an experience for me to put into my life."
I would challenge you all to write a letter this week. Just take a few minutes to write to someone you have not written to in a long time. Not an email, a real live letter. I read the book, "Wednesdays Letters", and it was great. A handwritten note is priceless.
By the way I am in no way promoting the Post Office, my husband quit there about one and a half years ago!