Gifts and Transition

I've been busy.

I returned from Asia less than two weeks ago, went back to work two days later, had a friend fly in to visit for the first weekend, worked through last week, and parked at my aunt and uncle's house a few days ago because we have people staying at our place right now.

Audrey graduates next week (more guests!), I'm planning weekend roadtrips, and in three weeks I'll fly to Spain to help with an English camp for the second half of June.

At some point I need to procure a job here for next year, find a place to live, and get on top of all the independent grown-up stuff I've been so deftly avoiding.
(Including writing thank-you notes. Oy.)

The truth is that I want to be busy right now. Whenever I leave the country and come back, it always takes a few weeks for me to realize that I went somewhere. I have to give myself time to emotionally connect back to the experiences I had, and if I try to sort myself out too early I just get frustrated over my lack of feelings.

Last night, I finally missed my eighth graders.

No, I wasn't with them for very long, but I did pour into them a lot for the short amount of time I was there. They were my first ever class of middle schoolers and being with them taught me a lot about myself as a teacher. 

My experience in Mongolia was different from the other times I've been overseas. It was the first time I spent every day thankful that I was able to be there.

It was like God handed me a giant bag of Christmas presents labeled: 

To Laura: for a period of maximum growth and impact with the least amount of pain.

Made more beautiful by the fact that I wasn't expecting any of it.

To go to Mongolia.

To teach challenging, creative lessons.

To be with such a vibrant team.

To live in a cute, already stocked apartment.

To be surrounded by quality chocolate.

To see my Chinese babies again.

I'm facing a new period of transition, which can be stressful and emotionally challenging, and I'm absolutely positive I will go through periods of
what's going to happen?
what am I going to do?
and
I don't have control of my life which makes me a FAILURE. 

During those times, though, I'll be able to remind myself of the abundance of gifts that I was given not long ago, all at just the right time.

This is my Kazakh friend, Daulet, who I met in 2010 when he was doing a work-and-travel university program during the summer. Over the last year he's been studying at UPenn and he got to pay us a visit last week. ANOTHER gift that wasn't expected.