I like to be in America.

So I've been home for just over three weeks now. I'm finally sleeping regular hours, I have found my room and discovered many lost items, I have said hello to the my family, boyfriend, and most of my friends, and overall I'm thrilled to be here. Of course it all hasn't been easy. I've been overwhelmed with English, both when it is spoken and written. I've been challenged with explaining what this year has meant to me succintly, a trait I don't usually posses. I've had to decide which relationships in my life are worth fighting for.

The hardest thing, as I knew it would be, is being without the people that I wedged out places in my heart. I miss my students! I miss the friends I made in Cieszyn. I miss the other missionaries. It hurts my heart to be talking about someone and have to translate their name into English. Asia is not just a continent any more. Kuba is not just a country we have an embargo with. They are not Joanna or Jake or Peter or Maggie or Mike. They are Asia, Kuba, Piotrek, Magda, and Michal-people who taught me so much and encouraged me to keep going through the year. And most of them I will never see again. (I just felt like I twisted a knife in my own chest.) They are the ones who changed me, who made me laugh, who made me cry, and made my year in Cieszyn everything that it was.

It was a beautiful year. And it's over. And I'm home. And in one month I'll pack my life up and move again. And though I will never forget this year in my life and I will always carry these memories and lessons with me, it is time to end here. Writing this blog has been a great release for me, an outlet for me to express myself when I was in a place that made that very difficult to do. Thank you for reading. Thank you for praying. Thank you for caring.

Love and prayers, always,
Colleen