A Few Changes

It's been a crazy few weeks since my last entry. Actually I don't even think it has been that long; it just feels like it. My last week in Chiang Mai was full. Andrey had already left and I had a week to get rid of some last things, get our house ready to hand back to our landlords, pay bills, cancel accounts, sell our truck, make two trips to the dentist, and spend time with friends. There was just no time to do anything on the computer.
Thankfully, with the help of a very kind staff member from Andrey's former office, the truck was sold and all the paperwork was done just 16 hours before I left for Cebu. I was so happy to have it taken care of instead of having to deal with it long-distance later. I am so thankful to God for helping us with this.
What a contrast my life is now to what it was so recently. The evidence is in my appointment calendar I keep in my purse. Look at last week for example. It is full of writing and scribbles listing meals & meetings with friends, appointments, to-do lists... and then this week in my calendar looks quite different. It is completely empty. This may sound like I'm feeling sorry for myself or like I'm complaining. I'm not. Observing this helps me to understand why I feel so awkward and out-of-sorts. Yes, there is some adjustment that is taking place right now. Once again life has changed. It is time to embrace the new, while at the same time release the old. The life we were blessed with in Chiang Mai is over and will never again come to be. This may sound dramatic but when I was experiencing something similar having first moved to Thailand, I found it helpful to realize that my life previous to moving overseas was gone and would never be the same. It validated my feelings of loss. It enabled me to grieve - and it was a very normal, healthy process of grieving. I felt sad for a few months, allowed myself to cry when I needed to, and over time I stopped feeling that way. This is what I expect to experience in the coming months.
Gratefully, I know that moving to a new place is not all about loss. It is also gain - new work, new friends, new experiences, new ways in which to grow and learn. There is an excitement in the uncertainty. The Lord knows best that I like surprises. He created me this way. That's why I am excited for the surprise around the corner; that is, what I will be doing here and what life will look like for me specifically and for Andrey and I together.
I am thankful for opportunities. I realize I have so many opportunities, so many things I could do here with my time. This is something I can and have taken for granted in the past. There are so many who have no options, no opportunities. For me, my prayer is that whatever I end up doing, that it will be something that I was clearly led to do by God. Until then, I intend to learn to rest and enjoy life as it is until God shows me exactly what is next.