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When we were 21 years old, had been engaged for 5 months and were only 3 months from our wedding day, my husband-to-be went to North Carolina for a grad school visit at Duke. Before he left, I was adamant in my thoughts and prayers that there was no way I was moving across the country, away from everyone we knew and loved, and was mentally already preparing for a move to UCLA. Of course, you know how that worked out...I remember hating everything about Durham when we first got there. It was hot. And sticky. The pollen coated our car in yellow dust the moment it was warm enough for the blooms to emerge. I didn't understand the weird freeways and bypasses and business routes. I counted the months until we would move back to California, cried over ridiculous things, slammed doors, picked fights...and before I knew it, this strange place started becoming my home. I made friends. I started learning how to be a wife, part of a whole but still whole myself. We experienced life together as newlyweds, having only the other to depend on, laugh and cry with, and support. I had amazing experiences at Duke where I met a mentor in science education, faith, and life, went to numerous basketball games, and made more friends who have become like family. Our first son was born in Durham. We have come to love that city, now missing it so much since we left it in 2008, eight years after we arrived. I tell this story because I think it has had a direct correlation on our ability to say yes to big adventures and changes.
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Finding out that Pepperdine's international programs setup allowed for a faculty member to go to one of the six countries where they run programs along with the group of students was so exciting for us, and one of the things we were most excited about when Tim accepted the job offer there. I believe that moving across the country as newlyweds was part of the preparation of our hearts for this sort of adventure. There were hard times this year - we live in a small apartment inside a house full of 50 college sophomores, who are amazing people, but they get tired of each other, or of us, or stressed over their futures, or homesick. I thoroughly enjoyed just loving them, cooking tacos for them on Thursday nights, hugging them when things were hard and rejoicing with them in the amazing times. I love that they had this adventure at 19, and that they will look back and know that God brought them to this moment in their lives with these specific people for some amazing reasons. I love that we got to come along, teaching our boys that we don't need a lot of things to have fun because we can be creative and make toys out of cardboard boxes and lots of tape, or that there are pieces of art that only exist in one place in the world and they got to see them, or that just because someone doesn't speak English it doesn't mean you can't be friends and learn their language. I learned so much about being humble this year, since I did not manage to learn much German beyond ordering food and words that are important for travel or asking Benjamin "Was hast du heute gemacht?" (What did you do today?). I will never ever forget how it has felt being the one in a foreign country who only speaks a tiny bit of the language. I made a friend here when I never really expected to, someone who will be part of my life forever and is truly like a sister to me. We have spent hours playing with Legos with the boys, endless board games, far too many movies on weekends and on trains and sometimes at dinner, watching Duke basketball games the day after they were played, were therapists, parents to 50 extra kids, happy most of the time, sad sometimes, angry a few times, saw some once-in-a-lifetime things in ten European countries, and we are so thankful that we said yes to this adventure. At our final dinner together, a group of students sang "Seasons of Love" from Rent for the director. It perfectly sums up his year - it was full of love. I have also realized what troopers our kids are - every day we walked to school, about 10 minutes downhill, which means that at the end of the day at their most tired we walked back up the hill. When we went on trips, we would walk a lot. We just spent 12 days in London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Brussels, where we basically walked 7 hours each day. They complained some, but not nearly as much as I might have at eight or five years old. Noah likes to look at paintings and tell me what he sees or tell stories about what is happening in the painting, and Benjamin has learned a lot about art from his Grandma J, who taught art to middle schoolers. He especially liked the Van Gogh museum!
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We have some VERY talented students here with us, and a few have made some videos. Here is a series of four videos by David. I love that we have these to look back on after this experience!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe2eIUj6KvqAwNay6u1aeO8ZLBmzPDHWT
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe2eIUj6KvqAwNay6u1aeO8ZLBmzPDHWT
