truth #16: there and back again

I took a trip. I went home. If any of you are wondering why you didn't get previous notice of this whirlwind trip let me give a small explanation (that is really a bit longer than I intended). When asked by my mom the week before my trip back to the states "Tabitha are you ready to come home?" My response was "Home? Well I have only had the chance to think about it for approximately 30 seconds every two days." Busy, hmm that might be the word to describe it but it seems to fall short for my life here in Ecuador most recently. I began to get busy, I began to get stressed, and I also began to get sick. When all of these things occur, especially together, my response is to withdraw. So I did. For about three weeks before June 11, I began to withdraw from everything that was not my work. I quit emailing home, I quit updating my blog, I quit hanging out with friends. Yes, I know, not healthy. My parents finally emailed me saying "Tabitha, just send us an email and let us know that you are alive. We understand if you are busy but we are worried". Lets just say that this trip home was a life saver for me. I finally started packing for my 11 days home at 2am on the morning of the 11th. My plane was due to leave at 9:30am.

I arrived at the airport exhausted only to find out that my flight had been delayed 40 min which would mess up my layover in Miami. So I had to change my flight from Miami to Dallas to 6pm instead of 4pm. I was a little irritated, which the lady misunderstood for fear and uncertainty.. "Its ok dear there is nothing to worry about." Well, don't worry, I bit my tongue. :) After arriving to Miami I realized that the whole incident was a blessing rather than a trial as all the flights to Dallas had been canceled except the 6pm! There were over a hundred people waiting on standby!

I didn't go straight home when I got in Thursday night as on Saturday my cousin, Ethan Moore, was getting married to Sarah Shelton. So we went to Corsicana, TX. The next day my little brother arrived back to the USA from Mozambique. He was on a two week mission trip working with an orphanage. That night we had the rehearsal dinner in which all the family of Ethan cooked and served the meal. It was in a room full of stuffed animals that is why James and I are pretending to be animals...

The wedding was beautiful but a tiny bit warm. It was so nice to see family, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, siblings of grandparents.. I am also very happy to say that I have a new cousin Sarah Moore. She is a wonderful woman, bright, athletic, loves God and is a lot of fun to be around.

This is the family, my uncle Eddie (brother to my dad), my aunt Jeanette (sister to my mom), their son Ethan and his new wife Sarah, then their daughter Erin and her husband Jeremy Walker.
I also got to see my Papa and Earlene at the wedding. It always makes me happy to see them.

The first of the family photos is the Moore Family. The second is the Walker family.

After my adventures at the wedding, thankfully not similar to my cousin Erin's wedding two years ago when my skirt blew up to my chin... And strangely enough the parking attendant who witnessed that event was a friend of Ethan's and was at his wedding too. I made a sure to steer clear of him, recognition might have been embarrassing. My family took a vacation to the lake. It was a nice three days of rest and hanging out with them. I spent my final weekend catching up with a few friends (sorry I didn't have time to see you all!) and gave a short presentation in my church on Sunday morning about my work in Ecuador. My return to Ecuador came around rather quickly and I now find myself back in Guayaquil right back in the thick of things. I am about to move into a new apartment and will update you on the going ons of July.

PS. Thankfully no more robberies.... yet