Around the World and Back Again...

My parents are getting ready to move....again. This time, supposedly, it is for keeps. My dad is retiring in December and they are going "home." Home to them is where they both grew up and where my grandparents have always lived. So, despite my great efforts to have them move near us (i.e. HELP ME WITH THEIR ROWDY GRANDKIDS), they are moving there in just a few short months. They've already found a house and are in that whole process of signing papers, boxing up their house, and trying to sell the house they are in now.

My parents moving isn't weird for me. Moving is just what they do. It is what we have ever done. What is weird for me about their whole transition is that this really probably is the last house they will live in. That never happens with our family.... The thought that my parents are going to be "settled" -- completely foreign concept.

My dad blogged a few days back about this whole transition period for them. Then, my sister went and did the same thing. Now I guess it is my turn....

My life has been nothing but one huge transition period. As a kid, we were always moving. Always experiencing something new. In fact, in the time that I've been married to Kirk, I've experienced more stability (as far as location) than I have in my whole life. I have lived longer in my house now, than I ever lived in a house as a kid. So bizarre. I have no idea what it is like to be one of those people that never moved out of their childhood home until it was time to go to college. My family never had door posts marked with the growing heights of me and my sister. And although my parents have TONS of stuff, it is all packed in boxes (ready for the next move), not stuffed in the corners of attics or the depths of a storage building.

I'm sure my math is going to be off by some, but I'm going to give it a shot....

In my lifetime:

• I have lived in 3 different countries.
• I have lived in 3 different states.
• I have lived in 8 different cities (overseas and here in the US).
• I have lived in 15 different houses (some weren't technically houses...one was a motel, one a guest house, one a dorm room, and one my grandma's house!).
• I have been to 24 states (including Hawaii) and Washington D.C.
• I have been to 14 countries (more if you can count only landing in the airport).
• I have been to 3 continents (more if you count the airports!)
• I have been to villages where the floors of the huts are made of mud, cow dung is used as firewood, and we ate our dinner (with our hands) off of banana leafs.
• I have seen the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, and Mt. Everest.
• I have learned 3 different languages (4 if you count Spanish in highschool...I really don't)
• I have ridden elephants, seen cock fights (legal overseas!!), and had snake charmers charm their cobras in my driveways.
• I have ridden in taxis, rickshaws, mini-buses, tuk-tuks, vans, cars, buses, trucks, small one engine planes, and huge jumbo jets.
• I have been homeschooled, attended 2 International schools, 2 U.S. public schools, and 1 Baptist University.
• I've had friends from every country imaginable.

My list could go on and on.

Looking over the list and thinking over what all my life has held...I'm extremely thankful for all my life experiences. They are just a part of me...nothing that I think about on a daily basis, because to me they are not that exotic. Other people are fascinated by the things I've been able to do and see. Me? Not really. Just grateful. Just grateful that in my parents answering a call to be obedient to the Lord, they were able to provide my sister and I with an incredible gift.

(Now here is my disclaimer...I totally stole this list thing from my sister's blog....Thanks, Mich!)