One Week Ago

It's hard to believe that a week has gone by since our move to Grand Cayman.  Many things have changed in our lives in that short period of time.  We don't drive on the right hand side of the road anymore and whoever is driving doesn't sit on the left side of the car anymore.  We turn the water heater on only when we need it and the dryer door opens up horizontally rather than vertically.  The currency we deal in has dimes that look the size of our nickels and nickels that look the size of our dimes.  


One week ago we lived with lights on all over the house, washed half-loads of laundry and ran the A/C as cool as we wanted at very little expense.  Now we are challenging ourselves to wash the dishes and the laundry, take a shower, clean and cool the house using much less water and electricity than we ever did before.  We have also changed from living in a home we purchased, have become landlords ourselves and now live in someone else's investment.


One week ago our two boys were begging for a pet lizard, iguana or snake.  Now they have a multitude of those critters at their disposal in various colours, shapes and sizes.  Centipedes before were stepped on because they were found inside our home and they grossed me out. Now they are whacked very aggressively, inside or outside, with whatever large object you can quickly get your hands on because besides being gross they are much larger and known to pinch!


Grocery stores here are very similar to those with which we are familiar, except of course the prices!  Cost-u-Less is perhaps the best place to shop - it is very similar to Costco other than there are no membership fees and it is missing the Wii section (as noted by Robert).  Other than that it will still Cost-u-More!!  Eggs in the Caymans are very cheap and we are becoming experts at hunting for those "manager's special" or "reduced for quick sale" stickers.  Menu planning is quickly becoming a new hobby of mine, which is ironic because I have procrastinated in that area of organization for a long time!


One other thing that has changed is that we are having more heart-to-heart chats with our children and their bear hugs seem to be more frequent and perhaps even a little more intense!  


As I look back over this one short week I would have never imagined that so many changes could take place!  So many of our adjustments are positive as we are learning to conserve, share and appreciate things in ways we never thought possible.  In some ways we are being forced to make changes we would have never been willing to submit to previously.  God has an amazing way of accomplishing His work in our lives and, if necessary, will take us to whatever corner of the world He deems best in order to mold us to be more like Him.