Transitioning with Baby Steps
We've been in the states just over two weeks.
Usually any "normal summer" is filled with visits to family and friends, a bit of traveling, enjoying all the goodies and treats we can cram in (can you say Dairy Queen blizzards?), and soaking up the time off of school. Some parts of it are restful and some parts of it are very busy making sure we do everything in the short three week period of time.
This time it's a bit different.
This time yes, we are here for summer break but it's also the knowing that we're living in the United States until next June. It's the remembering that before we left Nicaragua this time we boxed everything up and put it in storage, said goodbye to friends, our home, our dog, Bella. It's the weird feeling that we're here to stay for a while and that we've never actually lived in the United States together before.
There are some benefits to this of course. We feel less stressed trying to run around and see everyone in a short amount of time. We feel less need to eat at a certain restaurant or buy a certain kind of food right then because it might be our only chance.
I'm sure we go through a small-scale transition every time we are up for a few weeks of summer or Christmas break but this time we know we are in it for the long-haul. We are very much looking forward to our time at MTI the last week of July as we attend a course on Debriefing and Renewal. It will give us a chance to debrief and reflect on our time in Nicaragua as well as have some tools for transition.
So, even though it's only been about two weeks, the transition has begun (and actually had already begun prior to actually leaving Nicaragua).
We're taking it slow and steady, like baby steps. And surprisingly enough, it's been interesting to see little 3 year old David going through a bit of transition of his own as he processes being in a new place and away from his home.
Here are some quotes from him from the past week and a half.
"Mama, look at all these volcanoes!" (My response: "Yeah, they look like volcanoes like we have in Nicaragua, David, but actually they are mountains. Aren't they so pretty here in Colorado?")
"Where is Bella?" (multiple times already)
"Lauren is mama Jojo and Noah." (Neat to hear him talking about our neighbor boys.)
"Hola!" (to any Latin American person he sees)
"I go swimming with Yader?" (another friend from Nicaragua)
Usually any "normal summer" is filled with visits to family and friends, a bit of traveling, enjoying all the goodies and treats we can cram in (can you say Dairy Queen blizzards?), and soaking up the time off of school. Some parts of it are restful and some parts of it are very busy making sure we do everything in the short three week period of time.
This time it's a bit different.
This time yes, we are here for summer break but it's also the knowing that we're living in the United States until next June. It's the remembering that before we left Nicaragua this time we boxed everything up and put it in storage, said goodbye to friends, our home, our dog, Bella. It's the weird feeling that we're here to stay for a while and that we've never actually lived in the United States together before.
There are some benefits to this of course. We feel less stressed trying to run around and see everyone in a short amount of time. We feel less need to eat at a certain restaurant or buy a certain kind of food right then because it might be our only chance.
I'm sure we go through a small-scale transition every time we are up for a few weeks of summer or Christmas break but this time we know we are in it for the long-haul. We are very much looking forward to our time at MTI the last week of July as we attend a course on Debriefing and Renewal. It will give us a chance to debrief and reflect on our time in Nicaragua as well as have some tools for transition.
So, even though it's only been about two weeks, the transition has begun (and actually had already begun prior to actually leaving Nicaragua).
We're taking it slow and steady, like baby steps. And surprisingly enough, it's been interesting to see little 3 year old David going through a bit of transition of his own as he processes being in a new place and away from his home.
Here are some quotes from him from the past week and a half.
"Mama, look at all these volcanoes!" (My response: "Yeah, they look like volcanoes like we have in Nicaragua, David, but actually they are mountains. Aren't they so pretty here in Colorado?")
"Where is Bella?" (multiple times already)
"Lauren is mama Jojo and Noah." (Neat to hear him talking about our neighbor boys.)
"Hola!" (to any Latin American person he sees)
"I go swimming with Yader?" (another friend from Nicaragua)
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| Proud of ourselves for getting most of our storage items into this closet. |
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| The day we left our house -- looking so empty! |
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| Saying goodbye to Bella. |
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