My friend Laura Brown is an amazing artist. I've always enjoyed seeing her art. I brought one of her prints with me to Romania and it hangs over my dining room table--a smile each morning.

This week I was enjoying her blog and this piece caught my eye. It sums up bits and pieces I've been thinking about recently.

As I think about the future, I realize in some ways that it's become easier to stay in Romania than to return to the US. I've become deeply connected with life here: my job/ministry and the many lives that intersect in that realm, friends at church and school, furniture and an apartment that feels like home, ability to function in a second language, and yet it seems strange to consider that this feels more comfortable than a return to the US.

Life in the US is full of unknowns...how do those self-service check-outs work? Where will I live? How will I deal with driving again after loving the freedom that public transportation brings? How will I stay connected with people there and here?

When you arrive in a foreign country, no one tells you that you might get to this point--that it will be easier to stay.