Resolve for the fifth time to start anew tomorrow. I am pretty excited to attend a Thanksgiving brunch at K.K.'s home. It's really sad that we're leaving so soon just as I've got to know so many expat moms who finally, finally understand exactly where I'm coming from. I think the usual period of time to acclimate oneself to a new place is about four months. And that's about how much time we have been here. Everyone we've befriended asked us to reconsider, and I've been very, very surprised by how much longing I feel as well in not wanting to leave them. My husband said that it's always this way: when the struggle to put up with all the crap is finally surrendered, then we become free to really love the people we're with. I should remember this.
That's really it: I will miss so many people I could call friends by now. But for more reasons than I have time or energy to record just now, I'm also a bit excited that we're leaving in about a month's time, God willing. I'm glad for all the problems we ran into, because they prevented us from getting too comfortable here, so that we really examine if it's worth remaining here. And how that is not all that relevant to where we want to go as a family and even as individuals.
And besides my needing to pull myself together again for the sprint to the finish line, we are awaiting some of the loose ends to resolve themselves as they are out of our control. Their outcomes bear drastic changes to our direction, one way or another, and if I had been the person I was before I came to China, I would have been on pins and needles right now. But I have learned a great deal about trusting God since then. And what that looks like in a world where we both have the absolute freedom to choose how we spend our time and where, and yet paradoxically rest securely in His timing and plans.
