Musings after a year and a half overseas...

“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder 

than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. 

Suddenly you are five years old again. 

You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary 
sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street 
without endangering your life. 

Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” 

Bill Bryson

It's been a year and a half.  One year and six months.  I can't believe it.  Some days, it feels like we got on the plane yesterday.  Others, it feels as if we have been here for a lifetime.

I thought, given the occasion, I would ask the kids the following question:  "What is something you have learned or realized in the past year and a half - either about yourself, about Macedonia, about America, about our family - you pick.  Just name one thing."

I'll share the answers with you (I got permission from the kids, first).  And then I'll give my thoughts about each of one of them.

"I didn't know that Macedonia has the best gevrek I have ever eaten." - Josif (who will be 11 in two weeks)

Let's not confuse ourselves with whether or not Josif actually ate a gevrek before moving to Macedonia.  :)  What is important is his realization that gevrek ROCKS!

Something to which we have all had to adjust is the eating habits in our new home.  The food we eat here is different - sure, we ate meat and potatoes and bread in America.  But sirinje cheese (the closest thing I can think of in the States is feta) was never a daily part of our meals.  Here, it is.  We also never ate cucumbers every single day.  Here, we do.  The eating times are also different.  And, I must admit this is something we haven't really figured out yet. Our family still eats on American time.  Which is nice when we go to restaurants, because we usually have the whole place to ourselves.  :) However, it's quite confusing when we are trying to get together with our Macedonian friends/family. In the States, it goes something like this:

Breakfast:  7:30 AM
Lunch:  Noon
Dinner: 6:30 PM (largest meal of the day)

Macedonia is more like this:

Breakfast:  9:00 AM
Lunch:  3 PM (largest meal of the day)
Dinner:  10 PM

It's a tad confusing for us! :)  It's funny, now, a year and a half later, to look back and see how many things you didn't know that you didn't know.





"I didn't know that I wouldn't have my last birthday in America. You know, when I was 7." - Malachi  (who will be 8 next month)


This one was a little harder for me to swallow.  So, Malachi and I sat down and talked about it.  I wanted to figure out exactly what he meant.  It was actually a profound statement that spoke volumes to this mama's heart.


Holidays and celebrations have been tough since we moved overseas.  We are still trying to navigate the waters of "what is our family tradition?" and "what does it look like in Macedonia?"

Malachi's thought from the past year and a half is one that I have struggled with myself.  "Regret" is too strong of a word.  But the most concise way to put it is this:  "What would I have done differently if I had realized that my last year in America would be my last year in a America?"  We knew, of course, that we were moving.  But things got so hectic and time went so fast - selling all of our stuff, packing what we planned to take with us, looking for a place to live, organizing, planning, sending Nattie on a mission trip ahead of us, sending Zo and Aleks ahead, moving into a temporary house a month before, having a foster placement stay with us for three weeks the month before we moved.... All of those things kind of took over life (which makes total sense).

But now that we are here, and life continues to go on....what do birthdays look like when your friends are on the other side of the world? When Christmas is a Skype call that has a four second lag time between sentences...When children knock on your door on some random day in January (well, random to us, not to them) and sing a song in a language you don't understand, and expect you to give them candy....What do we do with all of these things?

We are learning.  We are growing.  And we are leaning toward God (and each other) to hold us when it hurts.  And we laugh.  When it doesn't work out like we expected.  And our hearts are warm, when we finally get it "right".

"I didn’t realize that some of my quirks that I thought were strange in America (like walking slowly) would fit in so well in Macedonia, and that my personality has a lot of similarities with the culture here." - Aleks (who will be 15 in two weeks)

My sweet Aleks. He cracks me up.  He always sees things differently than everyone else around him - sometimes that's a good thing. Other times, not so much! :D 

Aleks seems to fit in really well in Macedonia.  Some of the cultural differences that the rest of us don't understand, he just shrugs and says they make total sense to him.  It's been good for all of us. To watch him integrate.  To watch him enjoy things that make us want to pull our collective hair out.  :)

Aleks has helped me remember that people are people, no matter where you go.  Deep down, we were all made for relationships.  Deep down, we all want acceptance and love.  And this year and a half has helped me to step back and slow down - to remember that the projects are great, but the people are greater.  To work on my own integration with more enthusiasm.  To enjoy it more.

"I have come to this conclusion:
All life's chaos and confusion
Is best expressed in lyric form,
For poems calm the nomad's storm."  
 - Nattie, 16


Storms.  Yeah.  Chaos. Yup.  Confusion.  We've had em all.  Emotions have been all over the map.  For all of us.  From insane rage when you can't find the matching sock to sobbing hysterically when you see a Taco Bell commercial during a football game you're streaming.  (the struggle is real)  

Nattie's realization has been one that we have all needed.  We must all find the outlet that works for us.  To process. To grow.  To move on (in a positive way).  To heal. To embrace this change. To make progress. To do what we were called here to do.  Because, it's hard.  No sugar coating it. Some days it's really hard.

But God is faithful.  And family is good.  And life in Macedonia is exactly what it needs to be.  And it's only been a year and a half. And we need to allow ourselves some time to settle.  God has seen fit to allow our family great progress in this area, and for that we are grateful.

We are looking forward to the future.  And we are excited about the opportunities.