It's a "NEW" Year

A friend and co-worker from the past, gave me one of the highest compliments today. She said, “I was on her list of most favorite people and I inspired her to be fearless.”  It really resonated with me and was one of those moments I had to make time standstill. I wanted to savor that my choices, my words of encouragement and my advice had an impact. We very rarely are fortunate enough to know if we are actually making a difference in someone’s life or will have an effect on the path they will take. You hope, especially as a teacher, that you are truly impacting little lives. Today I realized we all have the power and potential to impact any life around us.

So with that said, it’s time to get back to sharing about our adventure.  I want to be fearless in what I share. I want to be raw, real and I want to be completely honest… even when it’s scary. We struggle a lot here, but all in ways that are growing us into better versions of ourselves. Sometimes we fear letting people know that it isn’t always this amazing adventure; that real life still happens.

We have had hurts and heartbreak. We’ve been taken advantage of and we feel guilt about being so far away daily. However, amidst all of this we truly know that we are supposed to be here. We know that we are choosing a path much different than anyone in our family. This is scary, but also exciting. If we so choose, each day can be an adventure. It can be a test of our patience, our ability to effectively communicate and deal when things will never work out the way you think they should.  We can easily go out and find “culture” and can seek out opportunities to learn new things or meet people who are completely different than ourselves. 

I am energized. I am inspired to continue to share our story, not necessarily for others, but for ourselves. We need to be constantly reflecting on how we’ve grown,  on the experiences both good and bad that are shaping us. We need to appreciate every bit of it. Each photograph, each memory and each interaction capture the beauty of what we are doing. It is also important that one day Jaxson will be able to read our about journey and realize a big part of this move was for him.  We want him to have an expanded worldview as he grows up, have friends from all over the world, never see skin color and grow up just loving people. Because after all that is what we are here to do… to love God, love ourselves and love people.