Season Finale

I've been putting off this blog post for a long time now because I just don't know how to write it. So I decided I would just start writing and see what comes out. You see, about 1 month ago, we learned that we will be returning to America. While we had anticipated staying in the Czech Republic until the end of this year, Brandon was offered his next position with Black & Decker in Maryland. After much, much prayer, discussion, and more discussion, he accepted the position and we will be flying back to America on July 2nd.

People ask me how I feel about it all and to be honest, I'm an emotional roller coaster. At one moment, excited to return to America but in another moment completely torn up by the thought of leaving what we have grown to love in Prague. Prague is an amazing, unique, life-changing kind of place. The people we have met and the friends we have made are dearer to my heart than I can even begin to put into words. I know that when we leave this place, I will be leaving a part of my very being behind.

Who would've guessed that a place and culture so different from my own could have such a hold on me? On the surface, one sees the cheerless Czech faces, the grey, graffiti covered buildings, the remnants of so many years of Communist oppression. But look a little deeper and you find incredible friends. People who are willing to be vulnerable, to give encouragement, lend a hand without being asked. Surrounded by these friends who understand completely what it's like to live through long, grey Prague winters or to struggle with the nearly impossible language or to trek to the grocery store only to discover they are completely out of chicken... I have never really, truly been alone here.

Don't doubt it for a minute. I will NOT miss:
1. Czech work briefs
2. angry babičkas (grandmas)
3. Miss Lemon
4. Dog poo on the sidewalks
5. All-wheel-swiveling shopping carts
6. Having to pay for plastic bags at the grocery store
7. Overpriced "foreign" foods

But don't doubt it for a minute. I WILL miss:
1. Reasonably sized food portions
2. Awe-inspiring architecture
3. European vacations
4. The world's most amazing baby sitter (that's you, Nina!)
5. People who ask how you're doing and really do care about your answer
6. Hearing "YMCA" sung in Czech over the supermarket sound system
7. Dear friends too numerous to count

And God has been doing amazing things in my life. Oh, I'm confident he's not finished yet... Prague was just Act I, but from the looks of the playbill, Act II should be even better. Where will I go from here? Well, literally, to Maryland. A wise Czech woman gave me some words of encouragement yesterday. She said "Oh, to be sure, you are a very different person from when you left America 2-1/2 years ago. But God had to take you away from America to change you. And now that you are a changed person, He can use you in America in a way he couldn't have used you before".

So I suppose instead of thinking of this as a "Season Finale", the real title should be "To be continued..."

Please keep all of our family in your prayers. These next 2 weeks are daunting... not only in a physical sense, but equally from an emotional sense. Please pray that we will finish this leg of our race well.