Hello friends~ We are back!!! Sorry we kept you all waiting a little longer than a week. Zo & I spent some time away from Logan & enjoyed "us" time. It was wonderful & much needed. We unplugged for a bit & we are just now getting back settled into routine. Here are a few pictures from our time away.
I also turned 30 while the blog was on hold! :) So the goal setting & focusing was happening when I put pen to paper. But we are BACK and ready to share part 2 with you all...
If you haven't checked out PART 1 of our testimony, here is the link:
PART 1
PART 2, here goes...
The sellers didn’t get us down too much and we ended up
closing and getting what we wanted…our new home! (Thanks to LOTS of hard work
on our brokers end, our realtors end, and my mama’s end).
We were excited, we were grateful, and mostly we were
thankful for all the support from so many people in our lives (friends and family)
the year prior where we were so disheartened by life in general.
God doesn’t make mistakes; He knows what He is doing. More
on that in a bit.
So we spent summer in our beautiful new home. We had lots of
visitors and my sweet sister even moved in for the summer break from college.
We even welcomed our best friends to the suburbs (they live 5 minutes from us
now!!!). We enjoyed nights out on the deck, Logan enjoyed his new backyard, and
mama got her decorating fix (well, the beginning, I have so much more to
do!!!).
And then end of July came.
Offers were coming in but they weren’t what we really
wanted. The prior season didn’t go that great for Zo and for circumstances he
couldn’t control his playing time wasn’t that great and the numbers weren’t
either. Zo was working camps all summer (like usual), working out everyday and
waiting for the next call. July passed; August came & almost went when we
got the call for Lithuania.
First off, for those that don’t know my past so well, I was
living in Lithuania 9 years ago under some very different and hurtful
circumstances. My life was different but it was revolved around basketball even
then. I was a broken mess at that time so at first thought hearing “Lithuania”
I went into a slight panic. I would go back to that place? Back to those
memories?
Zo told his agent we needed time to figure it all out. For
the next few days we prayed continually without ceasing, we called upon others
to pray for us, we prayed separate and we prayed together. This decision was
going to be difficult. We truly felt God was saying GO this IS it. But we also
were looking at the contract thinking no we can’t go.
We had our faith tested, our marriage tested, and
now…FINANCES.
In the past 9 years Zo has done well on teams. “I was
fortunate to come out of college when overseas basketball wasn’t an overly
saturated industry. I did well to get on good teams, the Euro had always been
high and experience proved to land me in the right spots. Over the past few
years, teams have started to accept more Americans, more people are coming
overseas for less money, and the Euro and the dollar are now almost equal.” (Zo).
So when we saw the contract for Lithuania we were a little
uneasy. Selfishly, I thought that my amazingly talented husband was worth way
more, that this was year 10 and he deserved the best contract to date.
This contract wasn’t the highest he’s ever had, and he
really wasn’t 100% sold on the numbers, but GOD was saying yes. We wrestled
with God for 48 long hours; we wrestled with ourselves, with each other. I
wrestled with my flesh a ton! I just thought…”this isn’t fair God, after the
past 2 seasons, we just want a break.”
But when the time came and we had to make a decision, we
100% went into it with a YES. God was saying YES and He had carried us through
so much that His voice was so clear we couldn’t say no, we just couldn’t. God
clearly was sending us to Lithuania and we were ready.
**Some of you might think, “well that’s way more than
plenty”, “those numbers aren’t bad at all.” “I would take that”. But you also
have to understand that this industry is temporary, we build our lifestyle upon
a 15-year gig. Those 15 years will have to carry us through a tough transition
called retirement that happens before Zo is even 40 years old. It isn’t a
regular job; 1-year salary really needs to feel like 3-4 years salary for
sustaining life after this game. **
THIS WAS NOT EASY. The year was not easy, it was
frustrating, and it was hard on our marriage. We had NO other Americans on the
team
& date nights were zero. (We did have some super sweet
Australian teammates, thankfully because they were the best. I think we all
saved each other!). We didn’t have our sweet nanny, no babysitter, and not much
time off. The weather in Lithuania isn’t the best either. Its snowy, gloomy,
freezing cold, and windy! Our city was so small and there wasn’t much to do so
we (our family of 3) was separated for stretches of time because we had to get
Logan back to the USA to play, be around other kids, be around friends and
family, to have some normalcy, but separated from dad. IT WAS HARD.
Oh but our God...He knows what He is doing.
So I went home with Logan in January. We went home for the
bulk of the winter season. Logan was really down, his sweet and vibrant
personality just wasn’t the same when we were in Lithuania as it was at home.
As soon as we were home our boy went back to himself, and although this
transition away from Zo was extremely difficult it really was the best thing for
our sweet boy. Logan had his friends back, his extended family, his room, his
playroom, all his special toys, his backyard, he just remembered and loved home
so much. Sometimes with this lifestyle comes hard decisions, and if we are
fortunate, those decisions are worth it; this one was.
I also had to leave early at the end of the season. We made
ANOTHER tough decision that after going back to Lithuania in March, that we
would return again in May to the USA and leave Zo to finish the season until
June.
Mama had a good thing too. I truly believe that God had His
whole hand in our first trip home. The week after I got home our church started
a 6 weeks series on faith and believing in a miracle. Really God? C’mon man!!!!
You are just too good. The very first lesson was something I will never forget…
“Stop telling the RESOURCE there aren’t enough RESOURCES.” That stung my heart
and mind. For the past 2 years we had struggled with this. The evening after
the first service I just broke down. I told Zo that I absolutely needed to be
home in the USA for these 6 weeks. And let me also mention that for the FIRST
time, that first Sunday, Logan stayed in the church nursery without crying and
had a huge smile when I picked him up. God you just rock!
Part 3 next week…
Xo,
Zo & Mo
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