My Life in Cebu....: Reunited!

After nearly eleven months away from home, I walked out of the International Arrivals doors and was reunited with my FAMILY! I hadn’t seen my mom and brother that whole time. Thankfully, my dad and sister had come to visit me in Cebu just a couple months earlier - but I was still thrilled to see them too! It was absolutely remarkable to hold them in my arms again. I had done it, I had finished my year, and I had made it home in one piece!

There is truly nothing like family, and I had learned to value them in far deeper ways than I ever had by being away for an extended period of time. To have a family who loves and treasures me, and is excited about me being home and in their presence is a true blessing. This is something that the children I’d left behind at CSC didn’t have. They were given up by their families. They didn’t have a family who longed for their presence. That is why we pray for new families for them – for a family who will adopt them and be the kind of family that families are meant to be.

So by being around children with difficult stories for a year, I developed a far greater appreciation of my own family. They had been a huge support to me while I’d been overseas, through the good and the hard times. Even though we were away from each other, they carried and encouraged me in numerous ways through those several months. What an enormous blessing to be reunited!!!!!

Talking to my grandma - she was SO glad I was home safe!

The new winter coat that my mom had bought me. It was an extremely cold spring day, and had just snowed the night before I think! What a huge transition!