Journaling the Journey Part 1

In the hills of North Carolina

So we began our recent journey to SE Asia in August. Giving snapshots of this journey through my blogging is the theme for the next few blogs.
This journey starts out with us living life for 3 weeks with an American family as we located our own spot to be.  We became 2 of this 7 member "family" sharing chores, sharing meals, sharing space, and sharing life stories.  This experience meant that I had to be flexible.  I had to dig deep and allow myself to move past my uncomfortable boundaries. I had to stay calm at times when my mind and emotions wanted to scream and ask "When will I have my place?  When can I stop living out of suitcases?". I had to allow myself to mold into this family life and share life with people who a few days before were strangers to me.  So some thoughts from this journey in my expat experience:

• Learn to be GRATEFUL-- even when your space is not just YOUR space.
• Learn to be GRATEFUL-- even when you feel in a constant state of change and uneasiness.
• Learn to be GRATEFUL-- even when you can't see the end of the tunnel.
• LEARN TO BE GRATEFUL AT ALL TIMES!
• Learn to BELIEVE in one another.
• Learn to BELIEVE in the process because you know WHO is helping and directing it.
• Learn to BELIEVE in yourself--You CAN make it through one step at a time.

I remember an experience I had a few years back as I went through a survival training weekend...
We (there were about 20 of us) had to backpack (with full backpacks) into our campsite.  We had been hiking about 3-4 hours when we came to a small dam that crossed a small lake.  We had to cross this dam on a small ledge in the night.  On one side was the lake we could fall into and on the other side was the ravine we could fall down into.  Neither scenario seemed very inviting to me (ha!).  Nervous, cautious, unsure...so many emotions and thoughts BUT I knew I had to do this!  So I focused on Believing and Walking.  When we came to one spot on the dam, we had to take a large step around a structure.  A couple of people on our team decided to help the rest of us.  They stood at the structure and took our hands (and back packs for some) as we streeeetched to step around this structure and NOT fall!  At that moment I had to also Trust.  At that time, I was so glad I had not made that journey alone.  I was thankful for the connections with the team and TOGETHER we all made it without falling!

Here are Some Photos of August