Hugs are the Best Gift

For the first time ever I feel like I am a star in a movie. Sometimes I have the script and sometimes I don't. This coming back to the States stuff feels like walking around on a movie set. Not because it is fake but because it is so different. I have lived in the US for almost 30yrs and yet it is like I am experiencing it all for the first time again. A year in a land that is so different than mine causes me to feel more like my one year old niece Bella than my friends of my age.

Flipping on the light switches is difficult with so many choices and them being placed in normal places and on the inside! So, many choices in Target is overwhelming that my sister has to help me place what I need. So many clothes to wear to try to keep warm. The difference in temps of inside with the heat and then outside being so cold is hard. But, as the Christmas lights twinkle I could sit all day. I love it and laugh at myself a lot! It can be hard and a lot to take in but I know it is because I am a lucky girl and have found a home in two very different places in the world!

My favorite things so far!?? My niece Shelby who can not leave my side. The snuggles with my little (not so little anymore nephew) buddy Ethan. Being able to squeeze my niece Bella for the first time. Spending time with my siblings and their families again is a true gift. My grandma who teared up as she looked up and saw me for the first time. Though she didn't say my name she told me she knew who I was as we both welled up with tears.

The hugs of family and friends are my gifts of this Christmas! I am soaking it all in but there is a part of me that is homesick for the new land and its people that I have fallen in love with this year!

Prayer Points~

• Please pray for my transition to the States, with CMF, and sharing how God is working through our team in Tanzania to continue to grow HIS Kingdom!