So, this last weekend has been the hardest one yet. At this time, there are only 2 days until we fly to China. We spent great (though very short) time with some very important people in our lives, and as we have gotten closer and closer to the time of departure, my heart gets heavier with thoughts of those I love and will be leaving. My family is so important to me and has been such a big part of me growing up. We always had family celebrations and traditions that we kept alive from year to year...and as you know, we got older and things changed. Distance separates us.

We traveled for the last time to my hometown, where we drove by the house I grew up in. It brought back so many happy memories of the times I had there as a child. It is funny how you have in your mind a perspective, a picture of how you remember a place or time and when you return to this place, time has changed it. Time changes all things, and to go back it all seems so much bigger. And yes, a lot of it was, the trees are taller, the bushes fuller....and though basically things were the same, it was different.

One thing people have said to me over and over is how big of a move this is, how brave I am to be doing this and asking me if I am scared. And no, I'm not scared.  Though I never really understood what the big deal was... To me, I was just following my dream, going somewhere that I have always wanted to go, doing what I have always wanted to do.  My trip got me thinking more and more about this though. People each have their level of comfort, looking around you will see people who move away from their hometown's and people who stay and raise their own families there. It occurred to me how big this was.

We went to church this evening with my brother. We hadn't been in a while, and my home church is always welcoming and the best to come back to, though over the years it too has changed.