Prelude to the Week o'Fun

Well after several failed attempts to pack up our bags and go on a much needed (and deserved) family vacation, we finally decided to buy tickets to Cali and leave the next day. Some of you may be thinking, that is so cool, you can just buy a ticket and leave in 24 hours... I wish it were that exciting and romantic! It was more along the lines of that final straw successfully breaking the camel's back and ta da, adios Guatemala! Honestly, we weren't sure we'd be coming back-- it's been a rough a couple years my friends and I was beginning to think someone up there was telling us enough was enough and it was time to move back to America. In retrospect, considering that we did in deed return, I'm hoping it was more of a, "time to go and take a family vacation but then be sure to come back."

So what exactly spurned this spontaneity? Well, for months we had been planning a trip with the Riches to make up for a trip we flaked out on last year (again-- it was completely out of our hands). Anyway, we had been pining for a getaway with these guys and it had been months since we'd seen them so it was high time we went on a little vacation together to reminisce about the good old days sans kids and responsibility, while the kids got to know each other a little better.

Well, the nature of the monster we call "work" is one which prevents us from making any long-term plans. The last 4 trips I've taken to the States have been planned 24 hours in advance, one of which entailed me showing up to the airport to buy a ticket for a flight that left in 70 minutes. Not so fun. So naturally we were waiting again to the last minute to see if we could go on what I had built up in my mind to be just about the best time I could possibly fathom. The twins too were getting excited, everyday announcing that they would be "going on an adventure with Charlie" which while it warmed my heart, also induced an astronomical sense of anxiety, tightening up my chest as I worried that this dream just might not come to fruition if something came up at the very last minute. And oh boy, did something come up.

6am and I am teaching my early morning seminary class when we get a phone call. Someone broke into the factory and stole about half our machines, drugged up our guard and that was all we knew. Besides all the machines (and not to mention our guard's life in question), we had a crazy amount of merchandise that was packed and ready for a shipment for that afternoon and if that was gone...well, I burst into tears. And my poor seminary class... and here I must regress. These kids are unreal. They are so dang good. Really, so good. So this missionary president's kid, Gabriel Martinez, looks at me in my frazzled state as I sit there mumbling about how everything that could possibly go wrong in my life has gone wrong, and that I just plain couldn't take it anymore, and he says, "Liz, do you want to say a prayer?" Bless his heart. They offered a prayer and still, I'm left thinking about how grateful I am they were there at that moment to help.

Well, a couple hours passed and what ensued is what Guatemalan's consider to be an intensely thorough "investigation" performed by the national police/mafia, accompanied by the usual threats of water-boarding for anyone who they considered a suspect. The situation promised to get uglier when they questioned Dave with, "And you are one of only three who have a set of keys, correct?" Anyone who knows Dave knows that Dave's first reaction to even hearing about the robbery was to assume he'd be key suspect, so the guys in the black jump suits with big guns and bushy mustaches only exacerbated his unsubstantiated (though otherwise entertaining) paranoia.

Once Dave was removed from the top 5 list of suspects, the investigation really started moving. Turns out it was an inside job with old Domingo the guard orchestrating it all. Nice. Regardless, we had 3 huge orders that were supposed to ship in 5 days and we were missing half of our machines. What were we going to do? I was convinced the heaven's had spoken, it was time to close the operation down, count our losses, and move back home (wherever that is...). Dave could do design, I could finish the Phd and that was that. Well, Brent would have nothing to do with that. The man does not give up. He bought as many machines as he could, rented what he couldn't and they were up and running in 24 hours. It was an amazing, admirable feat.

I was still not convinced, however, and that afternoon, I bought our tickets to Cali. We needed a break and time to think about our future and what on earth we were supposed to do with ourselves in the interim. Dave hesitantly agreed and I called the Riches with 24 hours notice announcing that we would in fact be joining them in Palm Springs. This was perhaps a bit presumptuous of course to assume that these guys still wanted us to tag along but we threw caution to the wind and we were off.

These guys are the greatest hosts-- I highly recommend you befriend them if you want at least one guaranteed fantastic vacation a year. They do get a little peeved when you beat them their own card games, but besides that, extremely gracious hosts. We actually stayed at Mike's parent's house and besides having a panic attack every time the twins got near the Ming Dynasty pottery they had in the entryway, it was truly a great week.

I'll write more about the trip itself next time, but for now let me say:

I am grateful for:

United Airlines and $450 r/trip tickets to LAX on 24 hour notice.
Fox Rent-a-car and $15 a day car rentals.
The Riches for taking us in and showing us one great time, also on 24 hour notice.
And...
Dave and the twins and the complete and utter happiness and peace I feel when I'm with them.
My parents and for their example of integrity and perseverance, and of course for letting us leave them when things couldn't possibly get worse so we could go and regroup, and spend some time with our babes.