simply Spain

Now despite losing Bunny and all the "bad" and "ugly" parts of getting to Spain I really have one thing to say:

It was worth it.

We love being in Spain. Last year the boys were so enamored with it that they listed it among Canada and Uganda as where they are from. 
Our one week conference was in Nerja which is in the South of Spain. Our apartment was ocean front and completely lovely. The conference itself was fantastic and provided childcare which I gladly dropped all three of our boys off at every day. We had some initial struggles to get the older two boys to go, but overall they loved their teachers {as proof: Noah invited his teachers to come and eat dinner with us when he saw them waiting in line to get their food. So.Cute.}.

We had a "free" day and we spent the entire morning at the beach.

The boys and their friend Sebastian who is STINTing {with his parents of course} in Scotland.

It was freezing, but that didn't stop the boys from playing in the Mediterranean.

We later explored town, enjoyed some gelato {have you ever had Ferrero Rocher gelato? AMAZING.} and walked the beautiful streets of Nerja.

Jamie and his friend Andy rented mopeds and bombed around town during the afternoons and in the evening when our boys were in childcare, Jamie took me for a ride during the sunset. It was amazing. Quite possibly my favourite moment in Spain. Riding along the waterfront, watching the bright, red sun setting and reflecting over the water. No pictures, but I'm pretty sure it'll stay in my mind forever. 

One afternoon I took the boys for a walk up to a nearby park. It's been almost 2 years since I uttered those words. A walk. On a sidewalk. To a park. These are the things I've missed from Canada. Strange how it's the little things that we end up missing the most.

Now this park was a bit lame, but the boys played on it by themselves for a good hour while I basked in the sun with Blaise. GLORIOUS.

My view from the park.

It was such a great week catching up with friends. The boys even performed in their first on-stage song ever! It was SO cute. Jude actually did the actions and while Noah stood and faced the wall the whole time, I was proud of him for actually making it on stage! Check it out!

God is watching over you from Vanessa Strickland on Vimeo.

I enjoyed a one-on-one coaching session with a fantastic staff woman {and friend} from Canada. She listened to me and my experience and understood a lot about living in Africa {she's married to an African and lived in Ghana for a time}. We talked so long that I was late for my next appointment. Which was counseling. 

I've never been to counseling but it was offered for free so I thought I'd try it out. I'd also seen some anger in me that surprised me and saddened me as I interacted with Noah who had refused to go to childcare a couple times. Let me tell you, I am a total convert to counseling. I didn't really know at first what I wanted to talk about, but I talked and she listened and asked some really good questions and pointed out some words I had been using as I talked about the things I wanted for my kids and our home and our family. It's something I am going to look into as we move back to Canada and I continue to work through thoughts and life stages and transition back to living in Canada.

Our time in Nerja was a total blessing. Stay tuned for our time in Barcelona!