Six Months

Today marks 6 months of being back in the U.S.  I believe there is significance in time.  I remember when we moved to Belize, they told us it would take about a year for it to feel like home.  I feel like with each of my kids, whether by birth or adoption, it has taken about a year to adjust to the "new" person.  So I am halfway there.  My home is feeling more like my home with each new memory we make here.  Getting a puppy brought a new life to our home.  Made it more homey.

I notice that I feel the sting of reverse culture shock a little less.  But it is still there.  I feel it is easier to move to America than to move to Belize.  Things are more convenient here.  But there are things that are harder here.  More pressures to keep up, do things more professionally.  Some of that is living in Katy.  Planting a church here, 18 years after the first time we planted here, the pressures are higher.  Life is more complicated here too.

The holidays were different for me.  Like better in some ways, but then not in other ways.  I was thankful to be with family.  We have missed that.  I loved bringing in New Years with old friends.  I love celebrating with the familiar.  But I found that I missed some of the simplicity of our Belizean holidays.   I missed the way everything just shuts down for days around Christmas in Belize.   I missed going swimming at the beach the day after Christmas with just my kids.  Its a tradition we started in our later years.  I miss a lot of the foods from Belize.  I made Stewed Chicken, Rice and Beans this week, but it was not the same.  Even with Marie Sharps.  There is no comparing to Morencos!

I am loving our church family.  Some I knew from before, but some are new in my life.  I love the hospitality of the people in our life.  Love the community that has developed so quickly.  Love that we have a church full of people who are willing to serve.

I loved having all my kids here for Christmas, in our new home.  It was cozy and just pure joy to me.  I love having a daughter in law.  Love that Tori lives close and so we actually see her pretty often since she is brave to drive back and forth to college now.

Six months.  Wow.  A lot has happened in that time.  More than my brain can wrap around.  Hopefully the next six months will be a little calmer.