It has been a week since our unexpected return to the Netherlands. Pieter and I spent the first few days in disbelief that we were back here after saying good bye and adjusting our minds to returning to real life at home.
We scrambled to do everything we could to return to America and then came to realize that there is very little we can do for the process. My parents have been incredibly helpful and supportive as we work together from across the ocean. Progress has been made in the process of Pieter receiving access into America, but this process will take anywhere from six to twelve months to complete. This is a discouraging reality. Now, we wait to hear from an immigration attorney to hopefully give us more encouraging answers after he hears details about our situation.
Of course, I miss home. Everything I have ever known is there. It is strange to have the thought looming in the back of my mind that I may not be able to return to America for quite a while.
I find times when I get overwhelmed by the situation and have to distract myself with watching Netflix or listening to music. The language barrier continues to be my biggest challenge. I do not like feeling misunderstood or not understood at all. It is difficult to sit in a room and have conversation going on all around you and not be able to join in with any of them. For a person that is used to making people laugh, giving people compliments, and sharing her opinion, it is difficult to sit back and be quiet all the time.
I also find it to be strange to have so much idle time. I want badly to fix the issues preventing us from getting back in the U.S. and I want to be able to look into the future and see when we will be able to return to America. It is difficult for the future to be so uncertain.
As a wife, it is strange not to have to wake up and make Pieter breakfast, pack his lunch, go back to sleep, get ready for work, work all afternoon, come home and clean and make dinner, and then enjoy the evening with my husband. In order to spend my free time wisely, I have been practicing my Dutch with Rosetta Stone every afternoon and I just recently started watching an Anatomy lecture on Youtube. After two years of not taking nursing classes, it has been great to review. There is a great difference in taking a college class for credit and voluntarily taking a college class to improve your knowledge. I like it. Pieter and I have also been taking advantage of the sunny weather the past few days. He enjoys running and I bike with him every afternoon. It is a good mood booster and stress reducer.
I also find it to be strange to have so much idle time. I want badly to fix the issues preventing us from getting back in the U.S. and I want to be able to look into the future and see when we will be able to return to America. It is difficult for the future to be so uncertain.
As a wife, it is strange not to have to wake up and make Pieter breakfast, pack his lunch, go back to sleep, get ready for work, work all afternoon, come home and clean and make dinner, and then enjoy the evening with my husband. In order to spend my free time wisely, I have been practicing my Dutch with Rosetta Stone every afternoon and I just recently started watching an Anatomy lecture on Youtube. After two years of not taking nursing classes, it has been great to review. There is a great difference in taking a college class for credit and voluntarily taking a college class to improve your knowledge. I like it. Pieter and I have also been taking advantage of the sunny weather the past few days. He enjoys running and I bike with him every afternoon. It is a good mood booster and stress reducer.
As a planner, I had an idea of how I wanted the year of 2015 to go. God has a unique way of testing His children’s faith. I do not believe that God put Pieter and I in this situation intentionally, He is not a God of spite. I do believe that Pieter and I have the choice to take this opportunity to grow in our faith. Do we trust that we are where God wants us to be at this time? Yes. Is it easy? No. Does it make it a little easier knowing that God is in control of the situation? Yes. I find that when I cling to words of Scripture and lyrics of encouraging songs, I feel stronger.
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