The Eight Year Itch

When I left my mission in 04' I cried like a baby. I wish I could say that I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. A big baby. The night before I didn't sleep and I made myself sick to my stomach thinking about leaving Poland and the people that I loved so much. I remember that day clearly. We had to get up early in order to catch a train to Warsaw, where the mission home is. The rest of our district and some members met us at the dworzec (train station). It was tradition to send the missionaries off. Again, more tears. Hugging those people that I taught and loved so much, not knowing when I would see them again, pure torture.

My mission to me was more then just 18 months that I set aside from the real world. I didn't want to just go and come back like I was on some holiday. I was serving the Lord! I really gave it my all, and for that 18 months I was gone, I became Polish, and I made all those people my family. I never wanted to just forget about my experiences there. So I made myself a promise to go back as much and as often as life would permit! At the time, my goal was every 5 years. Hahaha..... I was so young and naive. But, in my young mind, I thought it was totally possible.

Much to my delight, I was actually able to go back just 7 months after being home from my mission.

I flew into Heathrow with my parents and sister, then I ditched them and hopped on a flight to Warsaw. I was in Poland for five days by myself before my family met back up with me in Krakow. While on my own, I stayed in Warsaw for a day then hopped on a train to Poznan to meet up with mission buddies who were all serving in the same district at the time. From Poznan, I hopped on a night train and made my way down to the city I love more then any other city. Krakow! While in Krakow I stayed with my beloved Czeslawa until my parents joined me a few days later.

I spent three days with my parent showing them around the city that I loved and served in. It was the coolest experience!  They got to go to church with me and meet my Polish family and my beloved Czeslawa who I wrote about often in my letters home. Walking around with them was pure bliss. I wrote to them in such detail while I was gone, that I felt like they belonged with me all along.

After a week in Poland, all good things must come to an end right!?

Wrong!

Even though I was saying goodbye to my beloved city, I had other plans on my agenda and the fun was just beginning!

I jumped on a night train to Prague were I met up with the BFF. And from there, the two of us saw the world together, and we loved every minute of it!

Prague
Italy
Rome
Paris
Dublin
London

I cherish that time and am so grateful for the opportunity.

That adventure was eight long years ago. So for eight years, I have had the itch to go back. And I was sad that I had not been able to achieve my goal of returning every five years.

Luckily (well actually, I don't consider it luck, more like divine intervention from a loving Heavenly Father who knows what I need) I married  Jordan, who loves travel and different cultures as much as me. More then me actually, he is a Culture Geography major.

Jordan and I have so much in common  when it comes to our missions. Having served in Europe himself, we are able to relate to similar experiences and I LOVE THAT. I could not have married a man who didn't appreciate the fact that I served a mission. In fact I think that's why it took me so long to get married :) I actually had a guy break up with me because I served a mission, no joke. But.. he was a male chauvinist pig who didn't want a woman with opinions, so he did me a favor :)

From the time Jordan and I started talking marriage, we also started talking about someday going back to Europe and doing a 'mission tour' and of course some other countries along the way ;) It has been a goal and dream of ours from the beginning.I thought that we would not have been able to achieve this goal until after our children were old and gone. Because as much as it was a goal for us to return, having children was our number one priority. I would easily, EASILY give up going to Europe if it meant that I could bare children. HELLO that is not even a question. But, as you all know that is just not what the Lord had in mind for us 
                                                                                                                                                                  So as we prepare down this long and stressful road of adoption, we both felt that we were missing something, almost like something was nagging at us. We prayed about it a lot and knew what we needed to do before we were knee deep in the adoption process (right now we are only ankle deep:)The decision: return to Europe to visit our missions and embark on a grand adventure together.                                                                                                                                                                              As strange as it sounds, once the decision was made I felt as if a burden had been lifted and I was at peace. Now in no way does this mean that we are forgoing our adoption. We will still go forward with as much of the paper work as possible before we leave, and pick it back up when we return. We both just feel really happy and that's it's all part of the plan. We can't help but think that maybe, just maybe the whole adoption process will go smoother now for us, and that things will fall into place.  Who knows! Only time will tell, but we are putting our trust in the Lord                                                                                                                                                                   OK sooooo.... here's the fun thing.....thinking back to my original goal I had made to myself and the Lord when I left my mission. I said I would return every five years. Well it  might not be exactly every five years, but if you do the math, that's returning two time within a ten year span. And since I was there in 05' and will be there in 13', it seems as if I am making my goal after all.  And that feels my heart with so much joy!! It's an example to me that I can't see the whole picture, but my Heavenly Father can.                          With that being said, I know I will be a mother, because the Lord has promised me that I would! I feel more and more at peace everyday!