He's Back!

It seemed like only 3 days earlier, but there we were back at the airport 3 months later picking up our son.  It honestly felt like we had just dropped him off.  Like most things, it zoomed by.  It was amazing to see him and within minutes we were already laughing most of the way home.  His humour is awesome and every story he told had us in stitches, pardon the pun.....

When we arrived back at the house, my parents and my in-laws were there, along with all the siblings who had made a huge brunch for all of us to enjoy together while we listened to him reminisce about his time.  The first thing one everyone noticed about him was his ridiculously long hair!  He hadn't cut it in 3 months and it had grown all the way to his shoulders.  I personally think he could lose a few inches.....everyone else says it should stay!  The other thing my other son noticed was his skin.  It was flawless and before he left he had a few issues with breakouts and was always wishing his skin was better.  He figures it's because he didn't eat fast food once, barely had any sugar and drank gallons of water.  Plus the sun helped, he was in or around 30 degree weather all the time.  I tell my other kids the dangers of fast food all the time, but this was the proof! 

I could tell he came back a different person right away.  He had left perhaps a little insecure - would he navigate all the airports ok?  Would he figure out all the different connections?  Would he be robbed or lose all his luggage?  It was obvious.  He was full of confidence.  World travelling can do that to you.  And a few operations......

I know so many people were praying for him while he was away.  The funny way I could tell their prayers were answered was because he literally had a boring time in some ways.  Yes, he saw a lot of disgusting things on the operating table (I saw the pictures!) but all in all he was safe, only saw a live cobra once - while driving safely in a car - and stayed relatively healthy (except for one incident where he was very sick for a couple of days, but he was with doctors so he was treated right away).  I'm so grateful for that.

He's already up and gone this morning, back at work at Marineland until school starts again.  That'll help him make some money as well as keep him busy until school starts up again in January.  Then, Lord willing, he'll write the MCAT exam for medical school and apply this Fall.  This trip definitely confirmed for him that that is the direction he wants to go.  Seeing some of the pictures we saw and having him describe them to us was mind boggling.  He didn't flinch and he saw some pretty disgusting procedures and participated in all of them.  That has to be a little bit helpful when you don't mind the gore. 

The whole time he was there working under this one doctor he rarely got feedback from him, so day after day, week after week, he wondered if he was doing ok.  We kept encouraging him that he would have told him by now and to assume all was well.  At the very end of his time, he still really had no idea, but the doctor had to fill out a report and my son did as well, giving feedback on my son and vice versa.  Turns out the doctor said my son "exceeded his expectations" and that he thought he was in the "top 5 % intellectually"!  He also welcomed him back once medical school was done.  So, I think it's safe to say it was the positive feedback my son had hoped for. 

He's already making plans to head to Brazil where he could get more practice with his Portuguese.  He may not be fluent entirely, but he apparently really used it a lot with the patients and even had to translate occasionally when no one could speak English.  So there might be more trips in his future.  We'll see....one day at a time....one mission trip at a time.....

All along, one of my fears was I was never "doing enough" as a homeschool mom.  I would tell others the goal of homeschooling was always to just instill in them a love of learning and to show them how to get and find the information they needed.  I believed I was doing that, but there was always a nagging thought in the back of my mind that I still needed to do more, so I was saying one thing, but doubting myself at the same time.  Having him come back was kind of the feedback I needed to help remind me that somehow, even in my inadequacies as a homeschool mom, even with my doubts and fears, my son managed to become a self- learner.  It isn't really anything I can take credit for.  Is is a good reminder to me tho trust the Lord for each one of my kids and their futures.

I've written before how God speaks to me through His still, small voice.  On the day I picked up my son it was cold and overcast, kind of dreary.  On the way home from the airport he said, "I had kind of hoped it would be snowy and wintery looking." I had hoped so, too!   Oddly enough, on the way home, it started to snow.  By the time we were up the hill we live on, our whole street was covered with white.  One of my kids said, "It looks like it's snowing feathers!"  That happens, no big deal.  Later on though, when I went down the hill, it was all rain.  Hmmmm....I thought to myself, I guess it all melted.  Then I went back up the hill a couple hours later and literally, just before you turn the corner onto our street it was all white again.  It literally had only snowed on our part of the "mountain" all day.  As soon as you left our street, it was rain.  It was as if God only made it pretty where we lived, just for us.  The funny thing about that is that all week I been singing a song in my head by Chris Tomlin and Audrey Assad called "Winter Snow".  I had written about it in a devotional for the homeschool moms, including these powerful lyrics, "But you came like a winter snow, quiet and soft and slow, falling from the sky in the night, to the earth below...No your voice wasn't in a burning bush,  No your voice wasn't in a rushing wind, It was still, it was small it was hidden".  And that's my favourite line - "It was still, it was small, it was hidden".  Once again, I felt like God gave my son, and maybe even especially me, the winter snow that day, as a welcome back gift, but a hidden one.  And for me, to remind me how He likes to talk to me, in a still, small voice.  Anyone else can see that it is winter and that it is supposed to snow in winter, but occasionally my eyes get opened to the hidden side of life and for me, the snow was a direct message from God.  I needed that.

Now, to go plan for all the food I have to buy and cook.  My grocery bill was dramatically reduced when he was gone.  Apparently, even though they fed him 3 times a day, he was on the verge of starving all the time, no snacks, no extra food, just enough to sustain you and keep you alive, but cooked for him!  So he couldn't complain!  Off I go.......