Dear Friends and Family,
I’d like to announce that I will be back state-side on November 20th! I can’t believe it. I’ll be flying into JFK on November 20th and back home with my family shortly after.
Wow. There are so many emotions that come with the fact that I’ll be home in 27 days! Excitement, sadness, fear, happiness, worry…. I could go on.
I want to say a few things to you my friends and family to keep in mind upon my arrival home….
1. I’m probably going to have a really tough time coming back after living for almost a year overseas with some really great people around me 24/7. In the first few weeks I’m going to need time and space to re cooperate and process the year that may seem like a dream. I may be very tearful(to those who know me well, this won’t be anything new) please bear with me. It won’t last forever. You see, I am excited to come home but coming home also comes with a lot of other things. I’m 100% uncertain about my next steps, I’m going to be missing my friends, I’m going to wish I was surrounded by the community I’ve had for the past year. We literally do EVERYTHING together. Eat, Sleep, Work, Hangout and as gross as this is, we sometimes even poop together.(Shoutout to my home girl Sara who walks to the “port-a-potties” with me every morning.) I’m going to be so overwhelmed with emotions that I’ll probably be a huge puddle of tears most of the time. Not all of them will be tears of sadness, very much of them will be relief and happiness to finally be back home, to see some of my people, attend my church, eat Taco Bell and just go to Target or Sheetz.(shoutout to my brother Matthew!)
2. I may need space but I may need a hand to hold or a hug, or just some company. Again, please bear with me. I’m trying my best and I’ll tell you what I need when I need it.
3. I want to hear all about your year just as much as you want to hear about mine! I however may not have the words to say or even know where to start so asking me “How was the world race?” Is a sure fire way to get the response “it was really great!” If you want to know more, hear stories, see pictures, watch videos, hear what the Lord taught me and so forth, just ask more specific questions. Like “What are some of you favorite memories?” “Tell me the biggest thing you learned each month.” “What’s the craziest thing you did all year?” Things like that will help me zero in on what to say AND what YOU actually want to hear about!
4. I do want to ease my way back into normal life. It may take a while for me to fully get there but I do want to. However, “normal life” for me will be very different than it used to be. I’ve seen, done and learned things this year that make it almost impossible to go back to the selfish, gossipy, defensive Kierstin that I was when I left in January. I hope you will never see that girl again.
My prayer is that in coming home I can catch up with every important person in my life properly. That I can hear about your lives and the things God has taught you, your victories and funny stories and that I can share the same with you in return. Ultimately I just want to ask for your grace in the moments when I’m at a loss for words or I’m in another world thinking about these last 11 months. I’ll cry a lot, I’ll probably need some of my favorite ice cream and a listening ear. But I’m also FULLY confident that I will be present and invested in life back home just as much as I was on the race this year. Just as much of a challenge it will be to come home is what it was when I started the race. I was thrown into a team of 5 other girls that I didn’t know at all but had to do everything with 24/7 and all I wanted was to call my best friends back home but often times lack of wifi prevented that. So anyway, it was just as hard for me to jump into this community as it will be to leave it. Do not think for a moment that I’m sad about coming home or that I’m comparing home and friends state-side to the race and my community here. They’re incomparable. But both are incredible things and I’m SO thankful!
I love you all and will see you in a few weeks.
Thank you for everything you’ve done to invest in me and love me along the way and all that you’ll continue to do to invest in me and love me from here on out.
