A World to Know and Love

I love to move around meeting new people, and finding old friends. I have lived in 25 homes in my life, and each place has had its ups and downs. I find that I have a hard time opening up to most people when I first meet them, but once I do let them in and we become friends, I am their friend for life. While in Germany, I heard the Germans compared to M&Ms. They have a hard outer shell, but once you get past that they are just pure sweetness. That is how I feel at times. Why do I have my shell? Only Freud knows that one I guess.

This past week, I found out that a friend's daughter Gracie was recently diagnosed with cancer (www.graciecare.blogspot.com). We had known them in NY, and then within our first year, they moved to my former hometown in Oklahoma. It is such a small world at times! I looked at their website for Gracie last night, and my husband and I both began to cry because she is so similar to our own little girl who is only 2 weeks younger. I remember the two of them crawling around in church together and then both learning to walk. When they moved away, it was fun to get e-mails and to hear of people they were meeting and such because I knew these people as well. So wild and fun.

I know that God puts us in places for a reason. So that we can meet people and share parts of our lives with them. I know that I was supposed to make the friends that I did in NY, and I'm sure that I'm supposed to do things for my new friends here in IA. I sometimes find myself asking "What am I here to learn or share?" At times it is clear, and at times it is a mystery, but through it all, I enjoying seeing more of the World and loving it.

I wish it were easier to travel with kids. If only it didn't cost so much to fly. I would love to see more of Asia, to see Africa, to walk in Antarctica. There is so much that I would love to go and see, but for now I will just enjoy meeting people around me and enjoying the little piece of the world that I have been blessed with seeing.