Old chapter and new chapters...

It's funny that even when you know a big change is coming...you're still surprised when it actually comes. It's funny how when even you have time to prepare...you still feel so un-ready when the day you've prepared for comes. I remember the first time I went home to the U.S. for a friend's wedding after moving to CR and crying all the way back to CR on the plane...thinking about how long two years was going to be and how much I would miss people. Fast forward two years and I see myself in an opposite position. Crying all the way back to U.S. thinking about how short those two years went and how much I will miss the people in Costa Rica. I guess what Ecclesiastes says about God making everything beautiful in its time is true...when you give things time and wait on God, a beautiful transformation takes place-even when at first glance it seems uncomfortable, difficult, or even impossible. As I look back over the past two years at what God has brought me through and how He has made me grow- I see faithfulness. God is so faithful. He provided everything I needed in Costa Rica...and then some :). I learned Spanish, I was a successful teacher, I made friends, I learned how to cook, etc. Now my goal is to apply that learning and remember that God is going to provide in the future. I could not be more thankful for the people He blessed me with, the wisdom He gave to me and the love that He showed me over the last two years. As I wiped tears out of my eyes after saying good-bye to Albin and Kate, and looked over the mountains right before getting on the plane, I couldn't help feeling like I was leaving home again. I found myself asking if it was a blessing or a curse to have two homes. On the one hand, you are always going to be missing someone, but on the positive side, you have more people to love and more people to love you back. So through all the frustrating language problems and misunderstandings of culture and how things are done in different cultures, through all the different foods, new people, sickness, expensive plane tickets and missing of family, I've realized that living in CR for the past two years has changed me- I'm becoming more of who God has created me to become and I'm becoming a person who is learning what it means to surrender to God's plan. It's the most amazing adventure ever. And now, as I sit in Ohio with my dog by my side and take in all of the things that are "normal" again, I realized that I don't think normal will ever be normal again- for I have changed. And even though I change, normal changes, home changes- Christ remains the same. He is same yesterday, today and tomorrow and no matter where I go- He is my constant and He is teaching me the beauty of doing the different, following His adventure and embracing the unknown. That is truly the life worth living.