Packing

Last Tuesday I turned in my two weeks notice at work, and my last day is this Friday, September 23. I plan to fly out of Orlando to Madrid on Saturday the 24. Not much time in between! Luckily I've already been packing, my mom is coming down to help me pack, and Matt's parents are coming next weekend also. I only have a week left and I'm already tired of packing! I've just gotten to a point where I'm not sure what to pack next, so I'm sure having my mom down here will help a lot! I just need someone else around to make me get it done. I would rather be shopping for fun new clothes to bring to Spain...but maybe if we get a lot done we can go shopping toward the end of the week.

It feels weird that it is my last week at work! This is the first job I've ever had, and I'm not really sure what I'm going to do when I get to Spain, so I'm trying to enjoy this last week of getting up early and being at a desk all day. I would like to have a job in Spain just to fill my time. Other wives of basketball players in Europe have told me I'm going to be really bored, but I'm looking forward to it! My mom is giving me a Nook for my birthday (I can't wait to go pick it up!) which is the perfect gift, so I will get to read a lot. I plan to work on my cooking/baking...I figure I can learn to cook some Spanish food, and also if Matt and I miss some American comfort food, they are bound to have the same basic ingredients over there right? So maybe I will learn to make some things from scratch. I would love to be a great baker, also. And I figure I can go for a run every day, spend time with God every day, all the things I want to do now but always seem too busy to find the time every day. I've heard that in Spain (and really in Europe), everyone takes life slower and really enjoys things - like the taste of food (not just eating to be full), and nature, and meeting new people (not just quick awkward small talk). I didn't make it all the way through the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" but I got the gist of it. I'm really looking forward to living in Europe and I hope I can learn to slow down and not always have to be entertained by something the way we are here in America. All the other basketball wives we know suggested I think of things like these to fill my time while Matt is busy or traveling.

I hope I'll be able to get a fun job too, to fill my time. I would love to be a nanny to just one or two kids, I would love to work in a cute clothing store, or maybe tutor someone in English. The problem is that I don't speak much any Spanish...but hopefully I'll pick it up fast once I get over there! I'm trying to learn some now, but I don't have anyone to practice speaking with.

I'm so excited to finally see Matt again and to see the cities of Avila and Madrid! Matt's team is supposed to book my flight, so I gave them the information for a flight on Saturday, but we think they may book it at a later date if they haven't found us an apartment yet. I'm not expecting to know when I'm flying out until maybe the day before! That has been the trend in the past, so I don't know why I should expect anything different now :). The earliest I would go is Saturday though, so I'm just going to be prepared for that.

On a side note, Matt had another pre-season game the other night and scored 17 points which made him the highest scorer on both teams!

Two Weeks

Matt has now been in Spain for two weeks and two days. I miss him so much! It really hit me over the weekend how much I missed him. I think the hardest thing is not having a day to look forward to when I will see him again. Hopefully I can book the flight soon, though!

Tonight while I was on Skype with Matt, FJ called. Basically, it sounds like FJ is meeting with some of the Fuenlabrada GM's tomorrow and may even have the contract for Matt to sign at the game tomorrow night! It sounds like they added some things to the contract, like Internet, our flights, meals for Matt and possibly me, and of course the apartment. It's not anything luxurious, but as long as it is enough for us to live on that is all we need this first year to be happy with the contract. The awesome thing is it sounds like there is a clause that says the contract is renegotiable in 3 months, which gives Matt a chance to earn more if he does well. Now we just have to pray he gets a chance to do well; I know if he gets a fair chance (reps in practice and a decent amount of playing time) that he will do great. He's such a hard worker, I've never doubted his ability to do what ever he wants because I know he will work as hard as he needs to in order to accomplish it.

Avila had a pre-season game on Saturday and they started Matt! He said everyone got to play an equal number of minutes, so it was about 18 min a person, but he said he played well and he scored 10 points, 5 rebounds and a steal and a couple assists. Sounds good to me! :)

I've been working a ton with the September 15 deadline coming up (corporate extensions are due). Every night I'm working late I just can't wait to turn in my notice! I am actually going to turn it in tomorrow morning though! (I can write this because no one knows about my blog yet...so no one will hear the news until later.) I cannot wait.

Cool God story below - sorry - kind of long:
It was really neat how I felt like God has been with me in deciding when to turn my two weeks' notice in. Last week, we thought I should turn in my notice on Thursday when Avila seemed to be negotiating Matt's contract. For some reason I just had a bad and worried feeling about it and did not want to turn it in. We tried calling Emilio to ask his opinion, and he didn't answer. Later that night, I was just sitting listening to some worship music and praying, and while I was still praying, God answered me! Emilio called me back and gave the perfect answer - he told me to wait to turn in my notice, and that the contract would be final in the next day or two, so I wouldn't have to wait long. I felt so good about that answer and about waiting, and I felt like God just gave me His peace about the whole situation. He built my faith that He hears our prayers by answering mine so quickly.

Well, then it was a rough weekend. I really missed Matt and was in a bad mood because of just being frustrated with not having a contract yet and Matt being gone and work. So there was more and more talk about the contract, but nothing final yet. Matt and I really miss each other, and decided Sunday night that I should turn in my notice today, Monday. Mostly just cause we want to get the two week clock started so we can be together sooner. We agreed I would wait til the end of the day today because the partner I want to inform first about all this was out of town until Tuesday. So I went to the HR office, and the lady had left early today! As I was walking toward her office, I was wondering if I was disobeying what I felt like God had told me last week. I just wasn't sure what I felt and where it was coming from, me or Him. So I felt like He protected me from disobeying him by the fact that she wasn't even there, so I could not even turn in my notice today if I wanted to! Then tonight on Skype, FJ called and gave us all that information, and I feel perfectly great about turning in my notice in the morning! The partner will be back in town, the HR lady will be in tomorrow, I feel the "go-ahead" from the Lord, Matt should finalize his contract tomorrow. It all worked out in God's perfect timing. I don't understand why this couldn't have happened a month ago like we thought...but He has been with us all summer in every decision, and I have to keep trusting Him, even though I failed today, but luckily He saved me. I just know if I had turned my notice in today, I would have wondered if I should have waited and if it was disobedient, and I wouldn't have felt right about it. But I feel great and excited and not worried about turning it in tomorrow.

God really has been with us all summer, teaching both me and Matt faith and trust, this is just one small example. I need to write down all the ways He has shown Himself and answered our prayers so I won't forget.

Hopefully I'll have definite news tomorrow!

One Week

Matt has now been in Spain for one week and a day. I miss him! He had a rough time for the first several days with traveler's sickness, just a combination of jet lag, different water, no sleep, and altitude sickness made him not feel so great. Normally not a big deal, but throw in two a day killer work outs and conditioning and he wasn't feeling well. It made me sad that he was by himself in a foreign country and he was sick! I wish I could've been there for him. But he's tough, he made it through, and he's feeling all the way better now.

A little background...this is pretty much all I know.... The first division in Spain is called the ACB, then there is LEB Silver and LEB Gold, then some other divisions below that I haven't learned yet. Divisions in Europe are different that college Division 1, 2 and 3 here. They are all professional teams, and they are all pretty good from what I hear.

Matt was with Fuenlabrada, an ACB team, the first 3 days he was in Spain. They did heavy two a day work outs with lots and lots of running and conditioning. Fuenlabrada is the name of a city right outside of Madrid, and that is also the name of their basketball team. This team has already signed the amount of foreign players (2 or 3) they can have on the team, but they took a look at Matt which could be for something in the future. Also, Avila, an LEB Gold team where Matt is playing now, is related to Fuenlabrada (Same GM maybe? and players can practice and play with both teams, regardless of which team they are actually signed to?).

On Wednesday night Matt went to Avila (again, name of a city about an hour outside of Madrid, and also the name of the team) which is an LEB Gold team. He's been practicing with them ever since Thursday and finally got a day of rest on Sunday. He feels like he's been playing really well, and we are hoping for a contract maybe sometime this week.

I got Matt to give me a virtual tour of his apartment via Skype, and it looked pretty nice. The buildings outside looked really pretty too. He says Avila is a beautiful city and that I would love it. He also really likes the coach and his teammates, so hopefully this will be where we end up!

Matt didn't have Internet for a few days this week while moving from Fuenlabrada to Avila, so we went without communication for a few days. He found a way each day to let me and his family know he was okay, but it was hard! I took for granted the fact that I could Skype with him every day at first. Now he has Internet again, so I'm trying to not take for granted every time I get to talk to him! We are waiting for him to officially sign a contract, and then I will turn in my two weeks notice at work. It's so weird because this is my first job, it feels strange to think about leaving it. At least I would be leaving because I would be moving to Spain instead of leaving to work somewhere else.

My sister came down this weekend to visit me, and I was so glad not to be alone! We went to Jacksonville and saw our cousins, aunt and uncle, then came back to Orlando and went shopping which was really fun. It was fun to have her around, especially after being alone for a week in my apartment! Also, we went to the library and found a DVD that teaches Spanish - it is awesome! I've already learned a lot, so I'm really excited to have something to do and work on while I wait to go meet up with Matt.

 I definitely miss Matt a lot! Right before he left, it hit me that if he were here while we were moving, he would be the one to get the U-haul, hook it up to his car, and figure out what should go in the U-haul first, and make sure the power got cut off on the right day... and I'll have to do all that without him. It just made me realize how connected we have gotten in only two years of marriage. There are so many ways that we are joined together, we just do life together. He has certain things he does, and I do other things, and together we have our life. And we love it, and it works well. So that said, I am missing him for everything he does, but also just having him around. He loves me and treats me so well, I miss coming home from work to him waiting for me. But hopefully all that will change and soon I'll get to join him in Spain!

I think this has been long enough. Hopefully I will update again soon if we get a contract!