Transition

Transition is always a hard thing, but especially on a family with small children. Our family is of course no exception. To paint the picture of what our transition has looked like over the past five months I'll list all the places we've been.

Kite City (January) - packing our house and saying goodbye to our home and friends we've had the last two years 

Thailand for two weeks (Jan. & Feb.) - vacation with Neal's family

Fly 36 hours back to America (Feb. - May) 

- Kristen's parents house in Arab for one and a half weeks 

- Gatlinburg, TN for one week vacation with Kristen's family

- Neal's parents house in Madison for almost two weeks

- Kristen's parents house

- Wake Forest, NC to visit our dear friends and church of 3 years

- Neal's parents house

- Kristen's parents house

- Neal's parents house

- Day trip to Nashville

- Kristen's parents house

- Neal's parents house for our last night in America

- Fly 25 hours to Garden City, India

- New team leaders house for a month

- Moved into our new home here in Garden City...been here two weeks :)

Ridiculous? Oh yes, that's a ridiculous schedule of change for a two year old and a baby. Not that we aren't so thankful for all this time, especially our time home, but the displacement feeling can become wearisome. 

I (Kristen) have come to learn so much about Elijah through all this. I've learned that when dealing with stress and transition he becomes quite disobedient, emotional, and eats about three different foods and that's it. Even when he's offered things that I know he loves, he refuses to eat them. He really struggles with not having a good routine and he fights sleep, although he needs it so much. The Lord's been helping me as I parent and love him through all this. He's been helping me to learn when Elijah is acting out of stress or culture shock, etc., or when he's just being defiant. I haven't perfected noticing the distinction, but I'm getting much better. 

It honestly hurts my heart to watch these things unfold in my sweet son. I know that he's two and so many of these things go along with his age...but it's still hard as a parent to see and deal with. I pray so much for he and Elise. My desire and what I'm trying to cultivate in both of them is a love for the Lord and His Word, the fruit of the Spirit, sharing, love for people, etc. The best way to teach is to model, but it's not always easy during transition to have these areas really strong in my own life, much less overflowing in order to pour into someone else's...so again, transition is hard on us all. 

Since we've been in our new home though, I can already tell a difference in not only Elijah, but all of us. We are all getting better sleep being back in our own beds, and own rooms. Elijah has been sleeping through the night almost every night we've been in our home, and Elise only wakes up once in the early morning. Both kids have been eating so much better. Elise is just eating more because she's always eaten anything I give her, and Elijah has started branching back out with eating different foods. I didn't say all foods, but many that he enjoyed eating before the transition started. Praise the Lord!!   

Thank you Lord for the life you've called Neal and I to journey with You in, and for my sweet children. Thank you for giving me children who through tough times and transition are pretty easy going to just roll with things. Thank you for Your grace towards us, and helping us to be gracious towards each other. I'm blessed!

The three of us at a popular coffee shop (CCD) our first week in Garden City