I've told my team over and over again how the next two months will be hard for me. One, it's the last 2 months of Asia for me meaning by the end of December, I will have been in Asia for half a year. Some of the culture I have come across are legit but I am ready for Africa! I am ready for some new culture! So, the fact that we have two more months in Asia is rough to think about. Also, the next two months also represents the middle of the Race. We will have been gone from home for so long and going home is just as far away. Most Racers, I hear, get into a slump in month 5 and 6. I can feel the slump coming…
The next two months also holds within them the two big holidays were the squad and I usually celebrate with our families; Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Thanksgiving, the time where I usually go visit multiple different families that I consider my families as well. I stuff myself with food to where I think it is physically impossible to eat at all for the week to come and I talk to my biological family back home. It's a time where I always spent with my loved ones in cute clothes which probably included a sweater of some sort and surrounded by people I know well.
This Thanksgiving I will be teaching English to 3 different classrooms in Cambodia. The students ages range from 3 year olds to 27 year olds. The curriculim goes from shapes/colors/numbers in English to proper grammar and sentence structures in English. I will probably play some volleyball during the day as well and the team and I will have some team time. A few days later, we might meet up with another team and have a “Thankgiving Dinner”. This is the time where my “cute clothes” will be replaced with yoga pants and quick-dri tank top (maybe a scarf if we're lucky). And where my loved ones are replaced with more loved ones, even though I might not know them well, who I consider family.
Christmas is too far off to write about right now, but I'm positive that snow probably won't be in the forcast neither will be presents wrapped in bows. But we'll talk about that when the time comes…
What is my life? What do I have to be thankful for? Everything.
My life is not what most people would consider a “walk in the park”.
There is pain in my offerings, but I'm still going to offer.
So, even in the pain and even in the uncomfortable living situations, I have so much to be thankful for:
I am thankful for
– My families.. Yes plural. I have my biological fam: Dad, Mom, Jake, Steve, James, Jeremy & Emily. Without these people, I would not be the person I am today. I love them very much!
– My Texas Family: Linda, Joe, Jenee, Nate, Jolie & Heath. Without them, I have no idea where I would be today and their constant encouragement brings me so much strength.
– I also have so many amazing friends who God has just blessed me with. Their constant love and encouragement has made me a better person and seeing how they sacrifice their time and how they serve others above themselves keeps me striving to be better every day.
– WHAT MY LIFE IS.. are you kidding me?! I can look at people's “exotic screensavers” on their computers and actually recognize some of the places because I have been there. My life is something I never imagined that it would be. I am forever grateful.
So, even though these next couple of months will be especially hard, and I might even feel the twinge of loneliness and homesickness, I am forever grateful and thankful for what the Lord has placed in my life, who He has specifically chosen to walk with me through this life and where I am this year.
To God be the glory forever, Amen.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
