Home.

Living in Europe now, for my fourth and final year, I’ve finally come to the conclusion in my mind that I’ve completely and fully accepted this fact: I love it here. Now, I’m not going to say it again for certain unknown reasons(*ahem* I’m talking to YOU mom and dad).

But seriously though; I would always say to my mom and dad when we first moved to Hungary, ‘I’m never going to like it here’ and, ‘we should just move back home’ and sometimes, I even went as far as saying, ‘I hate it here’. They always told me I’d come around though and as much as I don’t want to admit it, they were right. Hungary has grown on me, and honestly it feels like home now more than ever before.

Home. Now THAT’S a word you don’t hear a lot in an MK or an expat’s vocabulary. When asked where ‘home’ is for us, we usually start listing off about every place we’ve ever lived, we don’t have one specific ‘home’. But that wasn’t always the case for me. I’ve picked favorites over the years, and when we have had to move from a favorite, I moped around complaining about what I couldn’t have. For example, when I first moved here, I would not accept the fact I was going to be stuck here for at least two years. But God works in mysterious ways. Soon, over the course of these three years, I discovered how beautiful this place was, and along the way, I discovered my passion for photography(look at the Budapest Adventures folder on Facebook at your own risk, this is my only warning).

God moved my heart and tested my faith when we began our journey overseas and moved to Hungary. He showed me many obstacles ranging from the language barrier and culture to the extremely difficult obstacles at school, where a shy introvert had to find her way among the vastly different European lifestyles. I have to admit, it was a rough two and a half years, but the journey is slowly starting to pay off. The ocean that was roaring, crazy and wild seemed like a never-ending storm has slowly started to become a calm, still and serene environment for me to thrive in.

I wouldn’t trade my journey for the world. It has built my character, my testimony and who I am today, and I thank God for giving this opportunity to me. My journey here is still continuing and will for the next year and I can’t wait to ride out the wave. So here’s to life throwing me about a million more curveballs before I graduate. I may not be ready for them myself, but my God is always willing and able to stand by my side and help guide me through them no matter what happens.