It's Official

Well it is bound to happen, you go into a new culture knowing that everything will be different and you are bound and determined to fly through and be positive.

  Then it hits you, culture shock

 There are many stages of culture shock, one being the "honeymoon stage" this is where everything is great and exciting and you just want to know and experience more each day.  It goes with out saying that the honeymoon stage of culture shock is relatively painless and even fun.

Following the honeymoon is the, well I don't really remember the official term for it but basically the honeymoon is over and you really don't like being in your new land.  Little things frustrate you and basic living skills seem way harder than what you know they should be.

This "the honeymoon is over" is the stage we have been stuck in for a while now.  It is very interesting to me the psychological game you can play with this culture shock.  I personally have just been telling myself that it is OK, it will get better, this is to be expected, it is only temporary. 

We can try to ignore these feelings of frustration we have but yet they just keep creeping up on us as we naturally resist the ultimate change that has occurred in our lives. 

For our family we now are flipping back and forth between the stages of culture shock and sometimes we love it and hate it all in the same five minutes of a day.  One can start to think they are going crazy but really it is all about how we as humans adapt to our new environments.

We find it very helpful to connect with each other, talk about what we are experiencing and feeling and then pray together as a family.  We really are blessed to have Internet, to connect with family and friends.  It is amazing how things happen just when we need them.  God is so gracious to us in the timing of things.

This has been a hard week and yesterday was particularly hard then I got a great e-mail from my sister and  today, the boys got a call this morning from dear friends asking them to skype, a few moments later my Mom called just to talk and later today we got an awesome care package from Scott's sister "just because". 

These things may seem small but to us they are HUGE. Thank you for being there for our family.