"Learning To Change"

I am almost afraid to re-emerge here, it has been so long. I have been completely and totally engaged with the nitty gritty of life and adjustment to South Africa.

We have extended our time here through November which means our limbo season has been longer than we expected. Each of my girls has handled this in different ways and I want to share my twelve year old daughter Isabel's most recent reflection on how she is feeling about all the change that she has gone through in the last three months.

This is an excerpt from her blog:

LEARNING TO CHANGE

Here in South Africa I've learned a lot. How to try new things WITHOUT thinking they look gross. How to haggle in markets. How to tie a sarong. How to take risks and adapt your recipes. (The chocolate cake adaption turned out great, the flour-less chocolate cookies not so great.:)) How to take a chance and ask questions. how to use a camera to its full capacity. How to deal (With my dad's very eager help) with male attention. How to mix paint. How to watch no movies except the occasional babysitting movie. How to put a memory card into the computer (I learned the hard way. Trust me to put the card in the only slot you shouldn't. Hehehe). How to PUT DOWN a book if it's to "Old" for me. How to put together a coherent (barely) sentence in Afrikaans. But mostly, I've learned (or just started the lesson) on how to accept change. Plans have changed. Ideas have changed. Relationships have changed. I've changed. And I'm learning to hold onto the things that don't change, and to enjoy things that I have while I have them.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert. I find change really painful. Changing from house to house, from country to country, mindset to mindset, from child to teenager (don't rush me!); I find super hard. I don't think I'd change anything that's happened, but I still cry over things.
But in every painful change I've undergone, God has put wonderful things in them, too. I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe I'm learning to trust that there is a plan in the chaos, a reason to the pain, and more importantly, there are things that never change. Ever. I'm learning what they are.
But, even though change is so hard, in a way I'm glad I get so much of it. With all of the different things I've seen and felt and heard, and all the amazing people I've talked to, I wouldn't trade my life for the most rooted, stable place on earth.
I used to think (and still kind of do) that my mom was totally crazy to like moving and change so much, but now I think I understand her better. In any case, I don't think I have a choice not to follow in her footsteps, though they stretch all over the globe!
(Anyway, everyone knows my parents are completely, without a doubt, totally crazy!:)

Isabel