365 days later

One year ago today Jon and I spent our first full day in Korea.

It amazes me how time works. It just doesn't make sense how a month can go fast but three minutes can feel like an eternity. I guess it's all about the perspective with which you look at it. Our year here has been....what words can I use to sum it up? Random, difficult, steep in the learning curve, wonderful, fun, painful, revealing, hilarious, educational... I could add several more. This year has been more than we bargained for in many things, but also more than we had hoped for in others.

We have both learned a lot about ourselves this year. It is as if layers have been peeled back and being in a new situation has revealed more to us about our own character. We have been challenged as a couple... who wouldn't be when you literally spend approximately 80 waking hours a week within ten feet of each other, no exaggeration. What has been so cool is that we haven't gotten tired of one another at all.. You would think we would need to just get away from each other sometimes... but we can count it on one hand when we just needed to take a breather from being attached at the hip. And as pathetic as it is when we are apart for a couple hours we miss each other. Ha. How mushy. But it is a testimony to how good God is and how precious our friendship is.

We're more proud to be Americans. I never was very patriotic, but there are so many things about my culture and heritage that I realize I have taken for granted. I am thankful that I didn't have to go to school for 12 hours a day. I am thankful that I didn't grow up eating rice and fish soup for breakfast. I am thankful that people smile at each other, and I am thankful that people back home don't push to get to the front of a line or bump into you on the sidewalk. I am thankful for fresh air. I am thankful that the highest cause of death for young men is not suicide. I am thankful for cheese-its and toothpaste with flouride. I am thankful for grass. I am thankful for gardens. I am thankful that I can go swimming at the beach in water deeper than mid-thigh and not get a whistle blown at me by the lifeguards. I am glad I can go swimming without wearing long sleeves and a hat. I am thankful that I didn't have loads of homework from my school during summer vacation. I am thankful that a size 6 doesn't mean you are fat. I'm thankful that hello kitty isn't cool for college students and I am thankful that Jon and I never had to wear matching clothes when we dated to pronounce our love.

Don't get me wrong.. there are lots of things I like about Korean culture I wish America would adopt... but hey, whose perfect?

Anyway, time is a mystery and here we are ready to come home for a short break before coming back for a second year. This is a little off topic, but I recently heard a sermon in which the guy was talking about God being outside of time. He described time as if it was a train running on a long track and each car is like a different year. God can be in the 1903 car and he can be in the 2050 car. He can be in my future and in my past at the same time. Anyway, when it comes to predestination I have heard different takes right, well the best one I have ever heard and just LOVE is that God in the future sees that I will choose him, so he goes to 1989 where he sees that I chose him and he says, "I choose you first!!!" He knew I would choose him and so he says I pick you first! I love that God is not bound by time. How magnificent is our God?

So we plan to make the most of this next year.. soaking up the time together and learning from the lessons that will surely come our way.