8 Things I Learned in November

November was full of leaves changing colour, long walks listening to my audio book, my husband passing his instructor pilot’s test, and reconnecting with family and college friends.  We have been on the road for over a week and will continue our travels until the end of December.  So far we have been in Missouri, Illinois and now Florida.   It has been a busy but good month.  Here are my lessons for the month.

1. According to my children, furlough is like vacation but you still have to do school.  It does feel like vacation getting to see people we haven’t seen for two years, eating at restaurants we have never tried, and watching a movie in the theatre.  On the other hand, we still have to do school and keep up with our other obligations.

2. Some places actually feel like home.  Coming back to the states, I wondered if any place would feel like home.  Fort Worth has felt like home for us.  We were surprised.  This is where W and Big D were born.  This is where we lived for 14 of our 21 years of marriage.  This is where we grew in our faith and made deep friendships as a family.  It has been good to have a place that feels like home to rest and regroup.

3. We can’t see everyone.  There are so many people we wanted to see in these five months.  Right now we are in Florida and I had hoped to see a couple we had worked with overseas.  Time with extended family was more needed though.  Overall our family is introverted so we need to balance that with our time with others.   Some days we need to just push through it and be more social, and others days step back and regroup.  It’s a balance that we are still trying to figure out.

4. It is encouraging when people say that they are praying for you.  I realise that we only do what we do by the grace of God and the prayers of His people.  I am reminded of it more this month as I intercede for team members who are ill, planes that are broken, and visas that need to be granted. I am inspired to do a better job of praying for others because of the prayers of others for me.

5.  I love to hear what my teenagers are thinking.  This takes work, patience and a lot of prodding.  Last week as part of their school, I had them give their testimony.  I had tears in my eyes as I heard them share about their walk with God.   We need to talk about faith and what God is doing in our lives more often.

6.  I am an ISTJ (introverted, sensitive, thinking, judging).  Supposedly my personality is similar to Aragon in Lord of the Rings.

7.  I need to verbalise more what I am feeling.  Often I will internalise too many things.  There are times it is important to just let things go.  It’s no big deal.  Other times I need to speak up more for my sake than anyone else’s.  Of course, my words still need to be seasoned with grace which is where it can get tricky.  I am not always known for my grace but keeping the communication lines open is important.

8. Stretching is really important for my alignment.   I have been seeing a chiropractor for a sore hip and learning that tight muscles are partly to blame.  This month I have been working harder at stretching daily and keeping active.  So far this trip, my hip is only hurting just a bit so I think I am making progress.  Sitting in the car and sleeping in different beds seem to make it worse.  Hopefully by the time we head back, I will be able to maintain my stretching and keep aligned.

This month, W and I are reading through Emily Freeman’s book Graceful.  I wish I could have read it as a junior in high school.  I am linking up with Emily at her blog Chatting at the Sky on the things we learned in November.