Looking Back

Wow. I just realized it has been one month today that we were waiting at the airport with all our belongings, two kids, two dogs and some faithful friends who loved us through the whole shebang. Sitting here, I am AMAZED at all that has happened in two months. Really, 6 weeks ago my sweet Gypsy was looking for jobs in the U.S.A. so we could come back and get our bird some help. He applied to everything in the free world and then we prayed for ONE ANSWER! And of course, as faithful and fun as God is, He completely surprised us with that one answer. I'm flashing back over 7 years ago when I said I'd never move to Thailand and that is EXACTLY where He sent us when I realize Dr. Chris Wolski said he'd never teach middle school. Guess where he is? Guess what he loves? I'm telling you, God can use everything for His good purpose. Here we are in Atlanta and now that we have had time to breathe, I realize so many things that came out of this awful time has really made my faith stronger and has allowed me to see God's hand in it all. The most amazing things I am focusing on is that I have friends who came over and cleaned, bought, priced and sold everything I owned in two weeks. I had friends who came and made pricing lists, cleaned, rolled all four of our clothes and prayed and cried with me. I had friends make meals and bring them or invite us to their homes so we could take a break. We had friends take us to the airport and wait for us to be denied flight because of improper paperwork and then do it all again the next night. I'm telling you, saying goodbye to that community was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But boy did it teach me what love is. Coming here was so scary, and I can't tell you how many times I've bowed and wai'd the Walmart greeters or hostess at the restaurant and how hard it is to drive again after riding in a taxi on the "wrong side" of the road. Starting all over again after doing it 2 1/2 years ago was even more nerve wracking but it showed me how far the Gypsy and I've come in our faith that we'd just trust in Him to make it all happen. Thanks to yet more amazing friends and family on this side of the world, we now have an apartment, furniture and a car. I mean, it's so weird to know how loved and how much people really do care. I think before all of this I would never have even noticed, been able to accept or even think of leaning on friends or family for all we've had to. God is amazing. He really is faithful and my faith has grown tenfold over this experience. Yet as you all know, it hasn't been perfect. We haven't gotten everything we want, and we've had some pretty rough patches in the month that we've been back. But to all those who've helped, offered to help and will help in the future, thank you. Thank you for showing us that there can be community here in America. There can be people who reach out and that we aren't as alone as we thought we'd be. Praise God for all the blessings He's bestowed and for those who've made our transition back to America a good one. He's blessed us with you all and hopefully, the Gypsy and I will be able to bless someone in return.