Pierced not Poked

After having a conversation with a friend, I felt compelled to go back and read the very first post I wrote on this blog. When I learn a lesson, I want to be pierced by it, not merely poked. You see we've been praying through and processing our options for what do to come August 2013 when Aaron is done with grad school. The journey has been WILD. It's been HARD. But it's also been packed solid with lessons that I don't want to lose. I don't want to walk away from this time into a different season and leave behind what the journey has taught me. The reality is, I'm afraid, I'm not the same person I was prior to this crazy adventure. But what have I learned, what is different, what does it mean for who I am going forward? A dear friend that says you cannot live in what you used to be. If you've learned a lesson, you have to live in light of that, because that is who you now are. Hummm.... So I am asking myself, what are those lessons? I have a long way to process, but I'm beginning it here because I want something to come back to. I want it written down. I want you to read it to help hold me accountable to live in the lessons I've learned. May I be a good steward of this straining, exciting, exhausting, yet life giving journey our little family of four has been on. So here's a start...

Not having a car connects you to community

But a car would have kept us from knowing "Tio Davidson" who runs the pet store on the corner. We would have missed out on so many smiles and entertainment from the tire store down the street where the boys love to watch the guys work.We wouldn't know our gatekeepers as well. The boys would miss out on the homemade biscotos (cookies) one of them regularly makes for our family. I wouldn't have shared tears and received encouragement in motherhood from Dona Beatrice who's raised 3 kiddos of her own.

Needs verses wants can be so relative

One day Aaron and I were pushing our stroller on horrific side walks here in Sao Paulo. I couldn't help myself. As humbling as this was to say this, I was compelled, "Aaron, shame on me for thinking the civic was too small for our family when we lived in Texas. Shame on me." You see this is something I said (nagged?) fairly regularly to Aaron after having Jonathan. The truth is our civic was plenty big for our family.

A simplified schedule unites brothers (family)

I have never been the homebody time. I like to get out and about. I love being outside. I love being with other people. Sao Paulo has slowed us down. The weather is constantly changing. Rain could come at any minute. Traffic is incredibly difficult and going somewhere typically means at least two modes of transit (a bus and a subway, two buses, etc). All these things have kept us home a lot more- not by choice! It has been such a gift to see how this has developed Austin and Jonathan's relationship. They are buds. They share such joy in one another. Even around others, they stick close together.  

 

My first role - Woman before my Lord 

I have said for a long time, I have to be woman before my Lord before I can be anything to anybody else - wife, mom, cook, house cleaner...etc. These two years have made me put this concept to practice in a significant way. There's no way I can meet the demands that come at me daily without processing them with God first. I heard a man I deeply respect address this. Someone asked him, how can you get up at 5am and still do all you do in a day. He answered by saying it's because he gets up at 5am to be with God that he is ABLE to do all he needs to do. It's through in coming face to face with God Almighty in His Word that I receive the strength that ENABLES me to live in the day to day.

 

 

Even as I re-read this I am kneely aware that these lessons only skim the surface of things life has taught me. I need to think on this more. I need pinpoint what I can gather from these crazy adventures and hopefully allow the lessons to shape me.