Our Grand Adventure

Many times as Liz and I have driven places, and along the way we've gotten lost.  This was mainly before the days of GPS, when we had to depend on printed maps.  We didn't like getting lost, so I often told her not to worry, we were going to have an adventure. 
    Sometimes, adventures are unpleasant, that's in the nature of them.  But sometimes they let you go places and see things that you hadn't planned, but that are wonderful.  Example: one time Liz and I were wandering off the main road in a remote little town in Texas.  As we drove along the narrow road, we passed a house with a sign in front that said FABRIC.  Liz was getting into quilting at that time, so we stopped and went inside, where we found a very good selection of fabrics that were perfect for quilting, including a couple of  cotton prints with Beatrix Potter's paintings of Peter Rabbit and friends.  Those fabrics eventually went into several blankets that she gave away.  THAT was a good adventure.
    As we prepared for our mission, I felt a lot of uncertainty.  We wanted to go someplace outside of the U.S. or Canada, but not quite so uncertain as deepest, darkest Africa.  The application to go on a senior mission has an interesting rule.  You don't have to request a destination, but if you do, you MUST make at least 4, and no more than 8, selections.  Why?  I don't have a clue.  Once you select them, though, you can rank them, from most desirable to least.  We wanted to go to Croatia, so that was our number 1.  Our other selections were wide ranging:  The Phillipines, England, New Zealand, Australia.   Notice that three are English-speaking, while the Phillipines is Spanish-speaking, and I have a smattering of Spanish.  Only Croatia had a totally foreign language.  That gave me some stomach acid to contemplate.  I don't like being where I don't understand what is going on.
   Well, with that heartache, I told Liz that our mission was going to be our GRAND Adventure!  I meant to convey that it was one of those uncertain times where we didn't know precisely where we were going, but we had an excellent chance of having something good happen to us.  More than on any adventure we've ever been on before.  I also told her I very much wanted to go with her to Croatia.  I was all-in, 100%, no matter what happens it is what I want most.  I just knew it was going to be the biggest adventure of them all.
  And it has thoroughly lived up to my declaration.  It has, indeed, been a Grand adventure, and it just keeps on getting grander all the time.  We were told we would spend our 23 months living in the same apartment in Osijek, but we've already lived in another city, and are about to move on to our third.  We weren't required to learn Croatia, but we wanted to, and now we are going where they speak Slovenian. 
    But that is being delayed. 
    Before we go to Slovenia, I get to be the "general contractor" as the mission home is re-built.  Wednesday, we had the building inspector out, again.  When he came the first time, it was the day after the 7.2 earthquake that sent cracks zig-zagging across the walls on the main floor of the house.  The house is built of bricks, with a plaster veneer.  His assessment was that they were just cracks in the plaster and not structural.  But then, 3 weeks later we had a second, smaller 3.5 earthquake that opened the cracks up.  Some of the cracks turned into gaping holes.  On the surface, it looks like the 3.5 quake did more damage than the 7.2 quake, even though it was a fraction as strong.  It seems that the big one broke things, but the smaller one moved them.  We have to remove all the plaster from the walls with cracks, before the inspector will certify what has to be done, but it looks like the main bearing wall that holds up the roof, will have to be rebuilt with solid concrete pillars to support the upper floors.   Two or three more walls may need the same treatment, or maybe not.  That is a huge job, because you have to hold the upper floors up while you remove the broken one and re-build it.
    The mission president and his wife expect to soon resume their normal schedule of traveling all around the five countries in the mission to oversee and interview all the missionaries, so they need somebody to be here to oversee the work while they are gone.   I've told him several times that I am in, 100%, whatever he needs.  This time he needs me to be here in the dust.  Isn't this GRAND?
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    Oh, and the cherries are getting ripe!  I picked a few of the pie cherries from the orchard this morning.  They are not quite ready, but they are turning red, so we'll need to start picking them soon if we expect to beat the birds to them.