Simply Thankful for Both

I can't help but sit and write a few thoughts of reflection and humble thanks for this past year. One year has already passed since we packed up our young family, few belongings, very full hearts and many, many memories and left the country that had become our home and the friends who had become our family.

I believe I will forever stand by my conviction that we will never truly be able to single out the various ways that we were changed by those years in Mexico. It seems trite to call it an "experience" - it certainly was in many aspects.....but all those little aspects blended together to become much more than an "experience" - it became our normal, daily life. We grew and we gained and we lost and we laughed and we struggled and we failed and we doubted and we celebrated and we cried and we questioned and we started over and...we changed.

We left Mexico looking much different than we arrived - and I am not just referring to the increase in family size :)

Several of those things would have likely happened in any place we might have lived. We would have added children to our family, we might have learned a different language, we still would have faced the loss of my Dad, the loss of our babies, our faith would have been challenged and our marriage would have faced its ups and downs. We would have learned about ourselves and experimented with doing our best at parenting. We would have made neat relationships, and we may have thought outside the box, and learned to appreciate people, and on and on.

But those things didn't happen in a different place. They happened in Mexico - and for that reason, Mexico will always be part of us and who we have become and are becoming. Although we aren't living there anymore, it is still living in us.

This isn't a milestone to celebrate..."a year since we left the field!" Yet it is something to thank God for because throughout this year, He has taken care of us and worked things out for our family. We have each faced transition in different ways - the boys, me, Benjy. But He has shown the way and although it hasn't always been easy or completely clear, when I look back I can see how prayers have been answered. I sense we are walking where he has lead us, and that feels good. It is encouraging to be able to look back with fondness and look forward with anticipation while today being simply thankful for both.

I thank God for providing Benjy with a new job which he is enjoying. We continue to make new friendships and develop old ones - here and from afar. And we continue to celebrate great things that are happening in the lives of our Mexican friends.

So, I guess you could say there is some bitter-sweetness to this day. But nothing that a little reflection can't do to soothe the soul.