Keys

Hey friends, I know that there has been some "radio silence" on social media and my blog during the last part of my time in Costa Rica and now the first two weeks of my being "back" in California.  But I was thinking the other day that I should write another post, and this idea of keys kept coming back to me.  Keys, you might ask? What does that have to do with my transition?  A lot, it turns out.

I was first thinking about the literal metal object that allows one to have access to a building or a car or a locked object.  Living in Costa Rica, I had a number of different keys that I was in charge of.  Keys to the Tutoring Center, keys to the SI office, keys for my Suzuki and keys for my home.  When I left Costa Rica on May 11th, I had to give all those keys up.  I didn't make sense for me to have them anymore or to take them with me because I wasn't going to have access to those things or places anymore.  Keys symbolize ownership or belonging to a place or of an object, and my time of living and "belonging" to Desamparados and SI had ended in the every day sense of the word.  

And now I have a different set of keys that I carry around with me.  The familiar key to my Mazda that has been here in California all this time.  And the house key to my parents home that is more on loan than a permanent key in my collection.  But once again, the fact that I have that key to this sweet country home in Shafter, California means that I belong here for this time.  That I have access to it and a place here.  I know that I will always "belong" here at my parents' house and that their key will always be available to me, and that is a source of comfort in this time of transition.  I do look forward to the time when I will have a new set of keys to the next place that I will be able to call "my home."  Where that will be and when that will be, only God knows.  And I'm so thankful that we "belong" to Him and have access to Him.  I wonder if we will have keys in Heaven?  I actually kind of doubt it, since I imagine that everyone there will have access to everything. :)

Thanks for your prayers and kind words and conversations during these days and the weeks to come.  Transition is a journey and I imagine there will be days of longing for Costa Rica and days of great joy of being in California again.  Kind of like how we are to live each day to the fullest here on Earth but also look forward to and long for Heaven!  
 
A few pics from the last days in Costa Rica and the first days in California:

Goodbye and receiving a signed apron from the 4th-8th grade students

Goodbye party with the 1st-3rd graders

Celebrating my birthday with my family!

Dodger game with the Frantz guys