A Few Steps into the Unknown (Part 2)

Part 2 of 3: Staking Your Claim on Today.

As you recall from my last post, I left the story at a point where I was in a state of pure joy. My husband and 2 children where living in South East Turkey and were pinching ourselves, completely elated by the prospects of world-wide travel opportunities we had had and the prospect of what lay ahead.

BUT, what are you going to do when life throws in a few plot twists?

Fast forward several months and a wave of bombing came crashing down around us. First Amsterdam, then Paris, Istanbul, Ankara and Adana, the very place we were living. The threat to our safety was growing ever closer to our home near the Syrian border. We began to realize that our time living there would soon come to an end and our dreams of exploration and being immersed in another culture would shift. I was crestfallen.

I remember walking to the market one day watching palm trees sway in the wind and thinking about the cost of freedom. It occurred to me that no matter what happens around us, we are all free to choose. Free to choose how we act, free to choose what we feel inside, free to choose what we will do. This gave me hope and I remembered that rain running so clearly down the side of the new rosebuds. I remembered that I wanted to feel all this life has to offer. I wanted to know joy and sorrow, to have dreams come true and disappointments challenge me. I wanted see and feel and know and experience, for myself everything. This realization felt like a blessing from heaven. To see clearly that the plan to be on this earth was to have all the feelings and take advantage of all the emotions.

As a result of no longer feeling safe where we lived, myself and my children were evacuated by the US DoD. On the day I boarded the plane to leave, I said good-bye to my husband one last time. Not knowing when I would see him again as he needed to stay and fulfill his work commitment. We wondered if It would be days, weeks or even months until we would be reunited. It would be an understatement to say that this may have been one of the biggest steps I have taken into the unknown. As I walked across the black tarmac, I remember thinking, how poetic, the sky is painting a beautiful sun-set. And my time abroad ended.

Sometimes, even today, I will see the sky ablaze with orange and red and will be reminded of that night and the leap of faith it took to get on that plane, to trust God, that my prayers were being heard to guide an uncertain future, having no idea what was next for our family or when we would be back together again.

My story picks back up as I was greeted by the Red Cross at each transition of my journey back to the United States. Join me next time, to see what will happen next.