If you ever attended a church summer camp in the 90's, chances are you heard - and gave half-arm-side-hugs with members of the opposite sex to while singing - this song.
Saying goodbye to the amazing friends we've made here in Kuwait is proving much harder than I'd anticipated.
And I'd anticipated it being pretty damn hard.
(pretend there is a picture of me and Bahrain Tina inserted here...we had our goodbye get-together just over the weekend, but neither of us took a single picture - even though we talked before hand about the need to do so! - because we are the worst blogger/picture takers when we get together)
Before we made the move to Kuwait, I prayed God would bring me kind friends, and He delivered ten-fold. I've made friendships here that I have no doubt will stand the test of time and distance that is about to be between us, and I'm so thankful. I've been blessed with people who have helped me find my way around this foreign land, made me laugh so hard I cried, fought for my life - literally- while I was in the emergency room, loaned us their car for two months, watched our kids, hosted us for Christmas in their home, prayed for us, and invited me and my family into their homes and into their lives.
What a gift.
Last month I got together with some of the sweet friends I have made in Kuwait.
Just a small portion of the homeschooling mommas that brought me into the fold of their group, and encouraged me while I pretended to know what I was doing homeschooling my twins...
When Emily came to visit our first December in Kuwait, I was really struggling with acclimating to life here. She had spent over a year living as an expat in Zambia, so I remember telling her to observe me, and if she saw things I was doing that seemed helpful, point them out to me...and if she noticed things I was doing that were getting in my own way, point those out to me as well.
I remember when we came home from a homeschool group gingerbread house making party, and Emily said to me "be around those women, as often as you can. You lit up when you were around them. You laughed more today than I've seen you laugh the entire time I've been here."
She was so right.
What a fantastic group of women.
They've been an endless source of laughter, encouragement, and education for me.
They are from all over the globe, and getting to know each of them as been one of the best things that's happened during our time here in Kuwait.
I'm so thankful they still let me/us hang out with them even though we didn't homeschool this past year =)
At the end of the evening, they gifted me this beautiful necklace...
It's my name, written in Arabic, inside a camel.
I was so touched, and it's something I will always treasure.
They said it was to remember them by...as if I could ever forget.
I miss you already! xox
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