A Change of Plans

A change of plans, yes, nothing new with us. I am learning that one of the things I needed to learn on this adventure is that plans change all the time and that is ok.

We have some changes in our boating plans.  It has been evolving and changing ever since we left for our boating adventure.  Let me explain… after all, everything is a big, long story with me.

We have been thinking about our boat plans since this past fall.  We have loved some aspects of our new life: the ocean, seeing new places, meeting new people, learning new skills, the great sea creatures, the sailing (Paul and I really liked) but we haven't loved some other things like: heat and humidity in the Florida summer, stressful and frequent boat repairs, scary lightning storms, sailing-kids don’t love it as much as Paul and I).  Then, in October when we were listening to General Conference and the new changes were announced for missionary ages ,that also brought on some potential changes as Jack is getting ready to serve an LDS mission. We talked a lot and prayed a lot.  We decided that we would probably just do the boat thing until the spring so that we could still go out to the places we were excited to see, but  then come back to get Jack off on his mission a little sooner because our whole family is really excited about  this upcoming adventure for him.  After deciding this, we decided that maybe we should think about selling the boat sooner than later because if we waited until spring or early summer that is not such a good time to sell a boat when hurricane season is coming on.  We were concerned that we would get stuck with the boat for many months and have to pay to keep it in a marina (expensive) during another hurricane season (stressful because of the storms). So, we decided to list the boat for sale and to see how much interest there was in the boat, and if we did get a contract maybe we could arrange with a potential buyer to finish our few more months sailing before completing a possible boat sale.  So that was the latest plan as we left the US for the Bahamas.  At this time, the weather and the boat were not being cooperative. Then we got a full price, cash offer to sell the boat.  We had a very hard decision to make. We were not loving the boat at the moment, and a few other things had come up back in Utah as well.  This was a great offer and possibly a great answer to not have to worry about holding onto the boat during the upcoming hurricane season, but the buyer really wanted the boat by the beginning of February which was a couple of months sooner than we wanted to give it up. We talked to the kids about their thoughts too. That would mean that we would have about 2 more months to enjoy the Bahamas. They said that they were all fine with it either way.  So we decided to accept the offer after much deliberation and prayer. 

After that, the boat and weather started working great for us and we were really having a great time in the Bahamas. Paul and I sometimes thought that maybe the buyer might change his mind (he could do that anytime until the survey-inspection was done the end of January).  At this point, we were kind of wishing that we could do this longer, but a few of the kids were more excited at the idea of coming home. The last 2 months of great weather and great sailing flew by  and we had a fabulous time. We felt some anxiety just wondering how it would all work out- would we be selling the boat or staying on it longer.  We made our way back to Florida and just enjoyed and experienced everything we could as we went and just trusted that it would work out  the right way for our family.

So now the latest. The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind.  We made it back to Florida, the buyer did not change his mind, and we have sold the boat. We have had mixed emotions and will miss many things. But we are excited to come home and get back to family and whatever our next adventure in life will be. I feel so very thankful that we were able to have this experience. Even though it was 8 months instead of a year, I don’t regret it for a minute. It was the hardest and most challenging experience of my life  and at the same time the funnest and most exciting experience of my life.  And the coolest thing has been seeing how great it has been for my family. We were able to visit some of the most beautiful, amazing places on earth, that can only be accessed by private boat, along with some more popular cruising locations.  We met and made many new and interesting friends along the way.  We loved seeing how it has brought us closer as a family and helped us to appreciate our many blessings and to learn the things that are most important to us. My hope is that we can get back into the business of life but not forget the lessons and experiences we have had and not let life's distractions get in the way of what is most important to us.
So, that is the latest. Now that we are back in the country, maybe I can start  uploading all of our pictures we took in the Bahamas that I couldn't load when we were out there, so I will start working on that while we get settled back into the winter life here. :)

And the most exciting new news!! Jack just received his mission call!!  He has been called to serve in the California, Oakland/San Francisco mission.  We are super excited for him.