Long-Distance Anything

Flying over Jamaica!

Oh hey, it's been a while! A few weeks ago, I took a trip back to the States for my fall break. It was a beautiful whirlwind sandwiched by some heartache. Since getting back to Costa Rica, to say that our internet has been sketchy would be an understatement.

To catch you up-- While home, I addressed a few wedding invites (ok a lot more than a few), ordered a cake, played a few board games, met with our wedding planner, ate some Chick-fil-a, watched the UGA game, ran a garage sale, tried on my wedding dress, went to a seamstress, loved on my family, hugged a few friends, & lastly, held my favorite boy.  

Landing in Costa Rica

Up until now, I feel like I have been a pretty positive blogger. I'm never one to harp on the negative for too long. But honestly, I just want to share heart for a sec. Travel is exciting. Living abroad is adventurous. I'm always seeing & learning new things. But long-distance friendships, wedding planning, relationships, or long-distance anything just isn't that fun. Here's a glimpse into my journal & my heart for the past two weeks. 

Oct 8:

This just doesn't get any easier. Last week, i spent my fall break back in the states and enjoyed sometime with my family & future beloved. As time rolls on and it gets closer and closer to my wedding day, I can't help but feel like being in a different country from the one I love is only getting more challenging. 

In this season, I have grown immensely as a teacher and as an individual. I have been able to draw nearer and nearer to The Lord and pursue him more fully. I have been preparing my heart while still enjoying this adventure. My heart is in two places at once! 

Oct 11:

Sitting in my room, no power, no lights, 11 candles lit, listening to Grace Midtown's message called "Receiving the Spirit". I am hungry for more, Lord! God, I don't want to miss out on what you have for me in this season. I want to experience you, Holy Spirit, and move in power for you. I want the pursuit of your love!

Make-shift candle holders for the power outage...

Oct 14:

On my way to Irazu! We have the day off so I needed an adventure. This was the best option! Ashley couldn't come because she just got back from the beach late last night, so I'm flying solo this time. 

Lord, you have grown my independence and courage so much this year! I am also ready to have my partner by my side. My buddy, my best friend. I am my favorite version of myself when I am with McCray!

Is my heart ready? Can you ever be completely ready for a new unknown adventure? You can have the best packing list, the newest maps, the most informative travel books- but you never know exactly what you're getting into until you're there, figuring it out along the way! 

I can't wait for marriage to be our beautiful adventure!

Volcan de Irazu!

When Love Came to Town (Part 3): The long way home

Travel often seems glamorous & exciting. The pictures paint the most beautiful picture to those glaring enviously at home… 

This post isn't about one of those times. It may be long, but it's worth it, I promise. But, if you don't like reading and you're just here for the pictures-here's the short version: We got up at 4:00AM and made it home at 9:00PM. What was supposed to take 9 hours took us 18. Intrigued? Keep reading.You know you want to.

Long version:

Let's rewind to Monday. As soon as we arrived in Granada, Nicaragua I asked the hostel receptionist to make bus reservations for us over the phone for Wednesday. As I listened to the conversation I smiled feeling proud that I was understanding all the Spanish. It was all set- Thursday morning our bus would arrive at 6AM but we needed to be at the bus station at 5AM. The earlier we could leave- the earlier we would arrive home! 

Thursday night we packed up all of our bags and tried to fall asleep in the sticky heat of our 8 person, hostel dorm room. All we had to do was wake up, grab our bags, and go. At 2:00AM McCray's alarm went off in the bunk above me and he woke up in a panic. Fortunately, somehow in my sleepy stupor I realized that he had forgotten that his phone was still 2 hours ahead of the actual time so we closed our eyes for what felt like just another blink of an eye. We grabbed our bags and headed out the door- all we had to do was find a taxi to the TransNica bus station. 

In case you were wondering, there are two TransNica bus stops in Granada. We went to the other one. When we pulled up, I knew we were at the wrong place. There was no sign of anyone nor anything but a TransNica sign on the wall. Luckily, I had my map. We quickly resolved the problem and headed on our way. Eventually, we pulled up at the other "bus station" that really looked even gloomier than the last one. It was just a door in the wall with yet another shabby TransNica sign. Nonetheless, the taxi driver insisted that we were in the right spot. We hesitantly got out of the taxi and sat down on the curb.  5:00AM came and went...then 5:30...still no one arrived to open the "station". This was certainly a different experience than our organized departure in San Jose. 

As we watched the town come to life, we fought the butterflies in our stomachs. Despite the nerves, it actually was nice to watch the sun rise, see the milk man come around to each "house"/door in the wall, and hear the baker walking up and down the street singing "El Pannnn"(bread) for everyone to hear. It reminded me a little bit of the beginning of the movie Beauty and The Beast. 

Our view at 5AM

Finally, it was 6:00AM. Were we in the right place? Would the bus actually show? A wave of relief poured over me when we saw a TransNica bus round the corner. As we stood up with our bags, the bus slowed to a stop. The bus driver got out of the bus and held up his list. Then he said the words that we replayed in our minds over and over again for the next two hours, "ustedes no están en la lista" (You guys are not on the list). After about a minute of futile arguing, the driver got back on the bus and drove away.

How could this be? I had heard our reservations made with my own ears. All we could do was wait until the "bus station" supposedly opened at 7:00AM. 

At around 6:15AM McCray suddenly has to go to the bathroom- and no, not just number one. This may seem comical, which of course after the fact it is, but if you've ever been in that situation, it's a very real real and serious dilemma. We were at a loss of what to do.. there were no stores around us or any sign of a possible bathroom location. But if we went to hunt for a bathroom, what if we missed that bus that we so desperately needed? 

So, I began to pray. Yep, I was asking the Lord to provide a place for McCray to go poop. In my mind I just prayed "Lord, please open a door". In reality, I meant that metaphorically. But as I looked across the street, I saw a door open. With no explanation I told McCray to go over to the door and say "Estoy esperando para el autobus pero yo necessito el bano por favor"! He rushed across the street and I watched him enter the door. It worked! Thank you, Jesus for your provision even in silly moments like that.

At 7:30AM a man walked up to the door and unlocked it. The "bus station" was finally open! In the calmest voice that I could muster in light of the events in past 3 hours, I explain to the man in Spanish what had happened at 6:00AM. The man then went on to tell me that the next bus would be departing at 12 Noon and that we would have to pay extra because it was an "ejecutivo"(executive) bus. I firmly told him that we would absolutely not "pagamos mas" because we had reservations for the normal bus that were apparently disregarded. I must have either been pretty convincing or he might have just felt bad for me at that point. Either way, he set us up for the 12 noon ejecutivo bus back to San Jose.

At this point, it was about 7:45AM. The last thing that we wanted to do is wait 4 more hours. Let me tell you, those 4 hours DRAGGED on. We left the bus station (after I made sure that our bus station man would be there to vouch for us at 12PM) to go find somewhere for breakfast. We were scared to go too far for fear that we would get lost or encounter some other dreaded circumstance.
At last, we found a hole in the wall cafe where we were the lone customers. While waiting for our order, we pulled out McCray's bible and began reading some Psalms. When I read Psalm 34:6 aloud to McCray, it resonated with my current feelings. 

"In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;

    he saved me from all my troubles."

Suddenly, I was humbled by the realization that this situation wasn't "trouble" or dismay. David, the author of this Psalm, was being hunted for his life. Now THAT is trouble. Being persecuted for your faith is "trouble". Having no food to eat is "trouble". We had a hot breakfast in front of us and we were allowed to read the word of the Lord freely, without fear. We were merely faced with a less than appealing inconvenience. This epiphany drastically changed our outlook on the day- and on our current less-than desirable long distance relationship for that matter. Despite these things, we are so blessed. Blessed to be with one another, blessed to experience new things and blessed to make unforgettable memories. 

McCray told me in that moment that in two days- when he would be on his way back to the US- he would be wishing that he could just be in hot Nicaragua waiting those 7 hours with me again. I couldn't have agreed more. 

The same street at 12 noon

Eventually the time passed and we boarded our bus home to San Jose. 
(Also, as a helpful tidbit of info- if you're ever crossing the border into Costa Rica on land, you need proof of your ticket out of the country in order to be allowed in/get another 90 day Visa. I was so glad somebody told me!)

So happy to finally be on our bus.

When we finally made back to my neighborhood in what felt like the middle of the night, we walked the last few minutes listening to our favorite song and singing at the top of our lungs. 

"Ahh Home. Let me go home. 

Home is wherever I'm with you. 

Ahh Home. Let me go ho-oh-ome. 

Home is wherever I'm with you."

All this time we had been longing to make it home- 

but really "home is whenever I'm with you". 

With a tearful goodbye, I loaded McCray into his airport taxi on Friday morning. We will be reunited again at the end of June. It has been two months since then and now there are only 2 more months left. But who's counting?

UPDATE Nov 2013: 

This blog has since been added to Kiki's link up, 'All About Travel' at In Its Time. 

When Love Came to Town (part 1): Santa Ana Days

I have been kind of (well, pretty much completely) avoiding doing this blog post until I had the time and energy to do it justice. So this is a little behind the times, but here a much overdo post about that crazy week when my hubby-to-be came to town!

The week was choc full of excitement, new experiences, growth, and learning. God really blessed us with how much we learned and grew together in only one week.

It was almost Semana Santa and everyone in Costa Rica was getting excited- this meant Spring Break, vacations, and celebrating the Holy Week. McCray flew in late Thursday night and I had butterflies in my stomach. It had been 2 months since I had seen my handsome fiancé.

When he finally got here we were so giddy. It didn’t feel real! Unfortunately, I still had to work the next day. But that gave him an excuse to sleep in and then come play with my class! My students were thrilled to finally meet my "prometido".

Saturday, I gave him the grand tour of Santa Ana- we rode bikes, went swimming, took a bus to the giant Multi Plaza mall, and enjoyed just getting to be a normal couple again. Even the normal moments were exciting moments, because we were together.

Some gems that we found at the "librería" in Multi Plaza:

We are long distance walkers so this was a cool find.

Harry Potter in Spanish? Yes please!

 By the time Sunday rolled around, we had decided it was time for an adventure. So we woke up bright and early (it’s hard not to when the sun rises at 5!) and took a bus to San Jose. Being the experienced Costa Rican traveler that I am, I decided that we needed to get off the bus (when in reality it was far too early) and we ended up walking around San Jose and asking for bus stop directions. Typical.

Finally we made it to the bus station for our day trip destination: Jaco Beach. Not extremely glamorous but it’s the closest beach to Santa Ana (about 1hr away). We were just in time to catch the 8AM bus—except it was standing room only. The next bus didn’t leave for another hour…. So we decided, what the heck.

Once we got to Jaco, I promptly bought our tickets back to San Jose so that we wouldn’t have trouble finding seats on the way home! Then we headed over to JaguaRiders – the company who was setting up our horseback riding tour (Yes, McCray loves me THAT much).

This was the tour description:

“Horseback riding is a picturesque experience thru Costa Rica’s jungle countryside, giving you the opportunity to approach an exuberant natural world of tropical plants and wildlife.

From the lookout points you will enjoy exceptional views of the coast all the way north to the Gulf of Nicoya.

All horses are well trained, and saddles and equipment well maintained.

Trail includes a visit to a waterfall, where you can freshen up and enjoy a mud bath.”

There’s not much that McCray loves more than waterfalls and cold water so that’s how I roped him into horseback riding.

So, we get on the horses and start riding. It was fun! But let me tell you, it’s not as easy as it looks! Especially up the steep hills that were leading us to the waterfall. About halfway through the trip, our guide stopped and had us get off our horses.

I’m thinking, “is it finally waterfall time???”

Unfortunately, much to our dismay, we found out through our broken Spanish conversation that there was no waterfall- that’s on the other side of the mountain.

Disgruntledly, we trekked back down the mountain. Afterwards we found out that the guide knew where he was supposed to take us but he must have just wanted a shorter trip instead. It wasn’t the fault of JaguaRiders (very nice people, really) and they gave us back half of our money. We weren’t thrilled but at least now we had more money to save for the rest of our week!

We brushed it off and relaxed on the beach, had a few drinks and a nice dinner and headed for the bus. We were excited to be back at my cozy bungalow for a movie in about an hour. Or so we thought.

As we were boarding the bus, I cleverly asked the driver if he could just drop us off on the highway that passed by my house about 30 min away from San Jose. We passed by it on our way out of town so I couldn’t imagine why that would be a problem. Until he replied that this bus wasn’t going THAT route…we were taking the back roads. I had made the rookie mistake earlier in the day of not clarifying if this bus was a “Directo” to San Jose. Instead of 1 hour, it took us 3.

Finally, we arrived home at 9PM. Exhausted, sweaty, and salty. Just our luck again- the water was out at my house. Dirty and shower-less, we packed our bags for Nicaragua. We were leaving at 4:30AM the next morning. I was feeling a little more than stressed, tired, and nervous about our imminent trip. Just when I thought I would cry- McCray stepped in and helped calm me down. He told me that we had control over the spirit of anxiety and that I had the authority to tell it to leave. He washed my dirty feet prayed over us. I remembered again why this is the man that I am marrying.

As we quickly found out, adventure is exciting, but often not luxurious or comfortable. The next blog post will chronicle our escapades through hot Nicaragua (click here)!

Meet Mr. West

As many of you know, just before I left for the trip of my dreams- I was surprised with the most gorgeous ring from the man of my dreams! 

Everyone told me that he was smart to put a ring on it before those Latino guys tried to woo me. I guess I agree ;)

So, believe it or not, I've been planning this wedding via FaceTime, Gmail, & iMessage. Special thanks to Apple for making this possible!

Lets rewind. Before I left....

We asked "the who"

Sara & Becca

Way back in January, I asked all of my bridesmaids to brunch at my favorite restaurant in Athens, GA: Mama's Boy. Ask anyone in town where to find the best home-cooked Southern breakfast, they will point you in that direction. 

Here's the catch: none of them knew that the others would be there. 

One by one, they showed up and joined the group. Everyone was pretty confused about why they weren't the only one at the table with me, but out of courtesy, nobody really asked why. After we placed our orders, I passed out my handmade cards to the whole group and watched their faces light up as they opened them. 

Erica & Melissa

Needless to say, none of them were too upset that I had tricked them after that! 

Jessie & Corbin

Laura & Callie

I can't wait to have all of those beautiful girls by my side on my wedding day.

Picked out "the where"

After lots of searching and a few unsuccessful visits, we found an indoor venue that was perfect for our cozy winter wedding: 

The Carl House, in Auburn, Georgia!  

Decided "the when"

For a variety of different reasons, we finally settled on January 25, 2014. By this time, I will have been back in the USA for a month and a half-- hopefully enough time to pull together the last details.

The cool part: After picking our date, McCray was looking back through some old journals and found that on January 25, 2012-- exactly 2 years before our wedding-- a good friend came up to McCray out of the blue and said, "the Lord agrees with the marriage in your heart". Little did his friend know that we had been praying and asking God to show us if we were supposed to be  together. We were so blessed by that word then and even more now that we will be celebrating our wedding on that same day!


Now, we're just filling in all the gaps the best that we can until I visit in June for a wedding-whirlwind month!

To find out more about our love story, 

visit our Wedding Website: http://www.weddingwire.com/McCraylovesLauren

All of this madness would certainly not be possible without:

My mom...

(haha- thanks Mom!)

My sister (Maid of Honor)...

My bridesmaids...

and of course, my Hubby-to-be!

Part 1 of my fiance's visit to Costa Rica is coming up next!