A Practical Walk

One year ago we set foot off the airplane, onto American soil. I’ve done this dozens of times in my life, but this time was different. We were coming back to stay, this wasn’t just a visit.

Unknowns flew all around us. There were decisions to be made, and each decision made seemed to lead to another set of decisions.

So much has happened in these last12 months, much of which is “unbloggable” to use Elisabeth’s term. I really like that way of describing it. Many of the hard things we faced we didn’t feel right about sharing with everyone, especially the things that involved other people. Carrying an “unbloggable” or “unspoken” burden is a different kind of heavy.

The problem with these silent struggles is that people don’t know you’re going through a hard time. When our son was in ICU, everyone knew it. People showed us grace if we didn’t message back, they brought us food, they prayed for us, we felt so supported. But with quiet burdens, people don’t realize what you’re going through.

You’re other option is to not be quiet about it, but just do it in vague terms, but that also has it’s risks. I’ve found sometimes when I say something very general, people draw a worse conclusion than what it actually is. So we ended up being very selective with who we told what.

Before moving on, I just want it to be clear I am NOT advocating staying silent on issues. Somethings need to be said to the people involved, pastors, counselors, leaders, etc… And I do think certain things do need to be made known to everyone, like if a person is a danger to others, but some issues don’t need to be announced to the whole world.

All that to say, lately I’ve found myself reflecting on where we’re at one year after arriving back and all that’s filled up those 12 months. There’s so much that’s unbloggable, but here’s some of the bloggable ones:

• We left the organization we had been with for 10 years. That was a huge and difficult decision.
• My husband started a professional handy-man business. It’s been cool seeing God provide a work truck and clients for the business.
• I started Dandelion Deals, selling items on ebay.
• Our kids are getting lots of driving hours and pretty close to getting their licenses.
• We’ve been able to help our kids with other “growing up” things, like getting bank accounts and debit cards.
• We’ve continued to homeschool and are very grateful for our local homeschool group.
• Our son is loving Taekwondo and prepping for a test to move up a belt.
• Our daughter adores her college art class!
• We’re getting to live close to my husband’s parents, something we’ve never gotten to do before.
• We’re able to attend a church and fellowship with the believers there.
• I’ve loved attending a ladies’ Bible study.
• My parents and all of my husband’s siblings and their families have visited us. Also some of our co-workers from West Africa came to visit.
• We got Bruno, Nacho, fish, shrimp and 2 frogs.

One day I went outside and was shocked to see this flower in Bruno’s kennel! I’m very proud of his gardening skills! (PS- He looks kinda scared in this photo, but he’s really a very happy dog).

Don’t worry! There’s a lid on the tank!

Having 2 permit drivers is like having 2 live-in chauffeurs.

2024 was the most continuously challenging year of my life. Now, there was another year that we had some real tough stuff, but 2024 was different in that it was hard from start to finish. And most of those hard things were unbloggable.

I don’t know what all is related to what, but I can tell you during that time, my sleep was very disrupted, often waking up in the night and being awake for long periods. I seemed to be getting migraines more often. And I can’t help but wonder how much of that was stress-induced.

2025 started seeing some improvement, but also still had ups and downs. I don’t feel like it’s been until more recently in the year that things are really starting to smoothen out. And I’m so thankful! My sleep’s better and headaches are less, which I think is a result of less stress.

There’s more I wish I could say, but a blog is such a public space, so I’ll just conclude with this:

Over the last couple of years, we had to start making some of the most difficult decisions we’ve ever had to make. But I’m thankful to be where we’re at now. I praise God for showing us the way, even when at times, the way He seemed to be leading, wasn’t what we wanted. He knew, and still knows best, and I’m grateful for all the ways He’s carried us through.