A Year Later...

I've lived in Bosnia-Hercegovina for a year...WOW!!! That thought is still a little hard to fathom...A little over a year ago I stepped off an airplane on to BiH soil. I was wide-eyed with excitement, ready to get to work, a little naive (HA! that an understatement!), and well after coming from two weeks of training....tired!
So much has changed in the past year....especially me!  Like any year in life there's been some rough times, some fun times, some "alone"times, some times of WISHING I could just be alone, times of rejoicing, times of crying, times of wondering why I'm here, and times of never wanting to leave.
I wanted to share some of the ways in which life has changed over this past year...ENJOY!!!

-A year ago THIS is how I got around.  I miss driving my "Scapy-Scape". We had some fun adventures together!

-1 year later...THIS is my main mode of transportation. (My best friend will probably freak out at the dire need my feet are in for a pedicure!)
Sorry Marta Marie!

-A year ago a typical schedule was Monday-Friday: wake up, go to work, come home, unwind, go to sleep, do it again tomorrow. Weekends: hang out with friends, and go to church.

-1 year later a typical schedule is....HA HA!!! 

Is there such a thing? 

I know at some point I will drink coffee (either alone or with someone, but coffee, in BiH is a "GIVEN"), at some point I'll eat, and sometime at night I'll go to sleep. 

-A year ago this is what I would have considered a "luxury" meal. Not somewhere I went all the time because well, let's be honest a seminary student doesn't make enough to eat at Cheesecake Factory very often!



-1 year later THIS is now what a "luxury" meal looks like! Yep...you are seeing right! That's the Sarajevo McDonald's...somewhere I would've ONLY gone in the USA if my nieces begged me has now become my "splurging" restaurant...because comparatively it's a MUCH more expensive meal than local places...

-A year ago I'm not even sure I had seen a crow (the bird) before...Except maybe on TV.

-1 Year later...crows are basically my alarm clock! They are EVERYWHERE! and SO loud!

-A year ago I only had seen documentaries and well, by that I mean TLC's reality shows about Roma people. (Just an FYI: while SOME Roma cultures may look like they do on TLC...PLEASE, PLEASE, do not get your perception of the Roma people from a reality show!)  =)

-1 year later, the Lord has used the Romani people to humble, teach, and grow me in ways I didn't even know I needed! So blessed to get to know their culture!

-A year ago, our family was just beginning the journey to bring this little one home.

-1 year later...it's as if he was never NOT a part of this family!!! 

(This boy holds his Aunt CaCa's heart! Oh I love him!)

-A year ago I had tattooed on my arm "abide" because the Lord was constantly reminding me of this as I began my move to this country. He gently and lovingly reminded me just to hold on to Him, to walk with Him, and come what may, that this was what He asked and wanted of me...to just abide with Him.

-1 year later, He's taught me SO much about what it looks like to live out abiding with Him, what it looks like to trust when life is abnormal, when there's so much outside my comfort zone, when you don't understand even what the lady at the bakery is trying to say, when there are things that you can't change but your heart literally hurts wishing you could, when you see poverty like you've never seen before, when you just wish you were home to hug your best friend after her engagement, when you have nothing around you that was familiar even just a year ago...

His voice has been here...saying, "I am the same yesterday, today, and forever...just abide."  

So, it's been a YEAR...a very blessed year...and through it all He's still teaching me about surrendering, proclaiming, enjoying, loving, serving...and learning more about what it means to "abide".