and 8 to go....

The hours and minutes are flying by.  

The move went fantastic.   And thanks to Barbie, Verna, and Ruthann- the house is sparkling clean and the yard looks great.   My shed has been torn apart and reorganized.  Multiple loads of "stuff to burn" made its way to Kendall or Leon's burn pile.    And other furniture and various household items found homes or was stored in Kendall's attic.   The cable was disconnected and modem picked up today, the chimney was swept, the septic tank was pumped, a new lock was installed by Matt,   weeds were whacked,  roundup was dumped,  massive amounts of trash were picked up.   The only project that remains is a bad dimmer switch which Chad might take a look at tonight.  Holy cow guys-  I can't believe this is all happening or coming together.    

I think it's all going by in a blur.   8 days til the DR.   I've got one bag packed and two to go.   

Oh and the Phils took 2 from the Red Sox.   wow.    It's good times all around.

nik

Faster than a speeding bullet

Moving day.  I have the next 24 hours to pack up my entire house (sans about 4 big pieces of furniture) and move it out.  

GAME ON.

(where's the coffee?)

nik

Who wants my grill? (and other musings......)

Suddenly I realized I kinda have a lot to do in the next two weeks.   But it's all good.  The first question is:  Who wants to help me move on Tuesday the 28th?  And the second question is:  Who wants my grill?   It's not great but it is functional.  And it could be yours FO FREE.

Today I did stuff like cancel my utilities and current health insurance (i'm going international now jaja) and buy new smoke detectors and collect some moving boxes and set up the chimney sweep and septic tank cleanings and all that jazz.    My current cell will be null and void  (610-246-1136) as of July 10th and I will have the Dominican cell up and running by the 8th (829-982-1136).  Craziness.  It seemed like it would never come and now I'm scrambling to pull off everything that I should be.  One last shift Thursday night and I will be finished as an obstetrical nurse for at least a year.  Wow.

So I've had a blast with fam and friends the last two weeks...hanging with my peeps at the cabin, at ball games, at gatherings, on Father's Day.   Following are some pix from the life of Nik Eby.... one blessed gal....

Me & mis manitas at Pine Creek.  LOVING IT

Mowing lawn at cabin.  Endless.  Horrors.

Me, Jess, and Cliff Lee striking out 10.  Awwww yeah...

The Eby fam chowing on some righteous Dominican comida. 

Me and Aneesa in Beulah Landddd

So there was an incidence with my fence collapsing at the house....

Cousin Kendall and Uncle Bob to the rescue!  YAYYYY

Me and Jess at her 22nd birthday celebration (22? right, Jess?)

Me, Jess and Tracey still celebrating ....

baby Coco!  She's so cute!

Tina, Jane, Carey, their families, and me at Chris & Carey's house!

Good times with precious pals!

Father's Day with the nephews, folks and Grandpa.  Donavon and I reading....

I love my Grandpa!

Landon and I eyeballing the train setup at Landis Homes.

Father's Day with the best Daddy in the world- MINE!

Drumroll pleassseeee

Oh gosh- the time is here.  Or nearly here.  I'm so stoked that my fingers are shaking typing this but the gig is up- the house is rented (or at least the lease is signed) and the plane ticket is purchased.  I am officially preparing to depart the USA for a year to return to my second home in San Juan de la Maguana, RD.    I think it was hard for me to keep from huge grinning for most of today (or at least the parts in which I was awake).   The departure date is July 8th, which gives me 3 weeks (from tomorrow) to somehow get in gear, get my current tenants moved out, all my stuff moved out, the house and yard polished up a bit,   and a lid put on my life here in Chester County, PA.   Oh- and I might need a haircut before I go.    I made a to-do list at work 2 nights ago and promptly lost it.   But I think there were some things on there like:  goto chiropractor, cancel cell phone,  call chimney sweep, have cesspool  pumped out,  begin packing, buy shower curtain, change health insurance, write thank you cards, etc.   Change sleep cycle to sleeping at night should be on there too.  :)

I guess it's kinda overwhelming but I am still SOOOO psyched that I don't know if it's even sunk in yet.   The one thing I'm sure of is that somehow on June 28th I need to pack up all of the stuff that is in my house (and there is a lot) and move it out.....within 24 hours.   Any and all help would be appreciated.   I'll buy the pizza.  We all know that moving BITES.    Call me at 610-246-1136 if you are interested.  

God, as usual, in His ultimate timing, showed up in both huge and obscure ways this week.

I met my tenant at Rocco's in Parkesburg a week ago.   We signed a lease last night.   My fence blew over in a storm at the house, inciting tears and gnashing of teeth on my part.  But then Cousin Kendall and my mom came down and we made short work of the clean up.  And Uncle Bob showed up last night to plan the rebuild.   The truck went kerflooey on the way home from work yesterday morning- but limped into the shop...and then I was gifted an emissions/inspection today.    Blessings all around me.   Small group tonight- looking around at these dear faces that I love, that pray for me and share burdens together.  It was GOOD to sit there with them.  

So many of these little things....I'm starting to see how beautiful they are and were.   The time at the cabin last weekend WAS epic- we played a lot of Rook, ate junk food,  saw a BEAR, drove around- chilled like villains.   And then I cruised around with Matt and Mis and Callie King for a couple hours on a beautiful Sunday evening.   And I plodded around out on Creek Road by the creek today.  It really put me in a mindframe of tranquilooooo.    I have PEACE about how the whole rental thing went down.  I mean, I know it's alway scary to enter into this sort of thing- but I just believe that Jesus is on it and over it and through it and working always despite me.  

So yeah-  3 more weeks, si Dios kiere.  And I'll be headed back.   I found a letter I sent out to my friends after I spent my first month in El Cercado, gosh- i think it's been like 4 years ago now.... I read it again and I thought I'd share it here too.  It reminded me of my beautiful life...messy- but so rich.   How God loves to shower us with these gifts..and sometimes we don't realize that we have been showered upon until we look back.


"Jesus said "I have come that you might have life...and have it
abundantly". I am here to say that I am living this abundant life.
I am living vida como mango...life like a mango. Sweet...rich...not
too many rotten spots....messy of course....but a delicious life.   I will miss
the mangos that we get sometimes by throwing rocks
into trees. I will miss the juice running down my face and turning
my fingernails yellow and the citric acid burning the outside of my
mouth. I will miss how excited we all get to find or discover
mangos unexpectedly...how people give them as gifts....how we talk
about different kinds of mangos as though we are discussing
politics. Life like a mango...I am so lucky.

I will remember...how abundant life has been for me here and how good
God is..and has been...and the hope I have to return. Thanks
all..for your prayers, wishes..and funny responses. Thanks for
experiencing this with me vicariously...of course when we had
power..right?"
2008

Here we go now.  Next step.  Gracias A Dios- soy lista.

Because God is good, my life will not turn out like I planned....

Thanks to Miss Kim for the inspiring sentence above.  I keep muttering it to myself and I will keep saying it because IT IS TRUE.   Despite the fact that of course I would love for SOMETHING to come to fruition here.   But I'm going to espere para Dios.    Have I mentioned that I have a house for rent in C-Vegas, PA (Cochranville)?    It really is cute.  I would LOVE to rent it.    I am waiting for God to send the perfecttttttt tenants my way.  :)

Jesus Calling from June 7th was a whammy:   My Presence with you is a promise, independent of your awareness of me.   Many things can block this awareness but the major culprit is worry.   My children tend to accept worry as an inescapable fact of life.  However, worry is a form of unbelief:  it is anathema to Me.   Who is in charge of your life?  If it is you, then you have good reason to worry.   But if it is I, then worry is both unnecessary and counterproductive.   When you start to feel anxious about something, relinquish the situation to me.    I will either take care of the problem Myself or show you how to handle it.   In this world you will have problems but you need not lose sight of Me."

I keep asking myself "Who is in charge of your life?" ..... What a great reminder...especially to control-freak me.

Some frustrating things happened today.   My trumpet vine and fence blew over into the neighbor's yard tonight in the storm.     I was late to a meeting.   I spent HOURS trying to set up some stupid stuff online that was a total bust.  Things kinda didn't go as planned with another meeting (see......my plan- what a joke).   But some great things happened today too...and I'm going to choose to rest in those things...... like......

I was in on a great Board meeting for the Parkesburg Point tonight.    I am forever inspired by the folks who sit on the board with me and really give a hoot about our community here and want to be part of God's great plan for the kiddies (and families) in Parkesburg.  Seriously, it's the coolest.  I am HUMBLED to be among them.   I get to see God in crazy action in P-burg and LIVES ARE BEING CHANGED.  

I ran 1.3 miles today in the 100 degree heat.    Granted, it was all downhill.  But everyone was boo-hooing about how horribly hot it was and I went for it anyway (you whiners would never make it in the DR in August).    The sweat felt good.   I won't lie- Sue Eby picked me up at the bottom of the hill so I didn't have to run back up but stillllllll-  small accomplishment.  

I had some folks send me money for the DR and others commit to supporting me while I'm there.   It's so exciting to know I'm getting closer and closer and closer to my fundraising goals.   Dios es Rey sobre todo!

I had some great conversations with friends...that got me all pumped up for God's latest greatest scene.

Verlander had 10 strikeouts for my fantasy team tonight (and Hamels had 9 for me last night).    It's not enough to beat my boss but still...heads up on my stellar pitchers.   Fantasy baseball is better than soap operas for sure- you become intensely connected to your team.   I'm hooked.

I was cancelled at work today which meant that I SLEPT.   Which has been in short supply lately.    Seems that my body can't figure out when I'm supposed to be sleeping so I'm often up at 2 or 3am staring at the ceiling wondering how bad I'm going to feel at 6am when the alarm goes off for work.    Then I wonder why I'm weepy and falling apart at lunchtime.  :)  Sooooo looking forward to the consistent dayshift in the DR!

I am leaving for the cabin in the morning with my bestie Venus, her beau Michael, and my favorite beautiful niece Aneesa.    And I'm psyched.  We are going to go deer spotting and play in the creek and look for bears and eat burgers over the fire and mountain pies and chocolate chip cookies and Dutchway's macaroni salad.   I think it will be epic.

 I think I will sit on the porch there and stare at the mountains and see God all around me.   I think He will be patting me on the back reminding me that He's got this whole thing in His hands, that I seriously can chill out and enjoy the ride, that He created me for days like these.    I think He's telling me that it's not about the destination (which I'm kinda interested in getting toooooo) but it's about the journey.  It always is.

nik

Salmos 25 (Psalms 25)

A ti, Senor, elevo mi alma;                                 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul
mi Dios, en ti confio:                                           in You I trust, O My God
no permitas que sea yo humillado,                      Do not let me be put to shame,
no dejes que mis enemigos se burlen de mi.        nor let my enemies triumph over me.

Quien en ti pone su esperanza                             No one whose hope is in You
jamas sera avergonzado;                                      will ever be put to shame
pero quedaran en verguenza                                But they will be put to shame
los que traicionan sin razon.                                who are treacherous without excuse

Senor, hazme conocer tus caminos.                     Show me Your Ways, O Lord

Muestrame tus sendas.                                         Teach me your paths
Encaminame en tu verdad, ensename!                 Guide me in your truth and teach me!

Te eres mi Dios y Salvador:                                 For you are my God and my Savior
en ti pongo mi esperanza todo el dia!                   and my hope is in You all day long.

Acuerdate, Senor, de tu ternura y gran amor,  Remember O Lord your great mercy & love
que siempre me has mostrado:                              for they are from old....
olvida los pecados y transfresiones                       remember not the sins of my youth &
que cometi en mi juventud.                                   my rebellious ways
Acuerdate de mi segun tu gran amor,                   according to your love remember me..

PORQUE TU, SENOR, ERES BUENO.              FOR YOU ARE GOOD, O LORD.