You can take the Midwest out of the girl, but you can't take the girl out of the Midwest

Yea, yea, yea, I know my title is a bit backwards. But after 5 years of not living much in the Midwest, and even more years of wanting to be out of the Midwest, I don't feel like a Midwesterner. My midwestern heart has been replaced with wanderlust and strong southern leanings. But despite my best attempts to not live in the Midwest, it's a place I guess I just can't escape.

Despite its location {and long, depressing, cold, ugly winters}, I am so so so excited to announce I have accepted a position to teach a 6th-8th combined class at Providence Christian Academy in Schererville, Indiana!

Although I'm a bit nervous about the prospect of teaching the kids and grandkids of people who are closely connected with my family (they watched me grow up--yikes!), I also know it will be a great blessing to return to a close, supportive community of parents, coworkers, and students. I am so excited about the age of the students I'll have the privilege to teach and mentor, a small classroom size, the commitment to a great Christian education, and the manageable distance to my parents, 1 brother, and sister, as well as the close proximity of my other brother and soon-to-be niece or nephew!!

Through this application and interview period, it has been clear that God has been working both in the circumstances and in my heart. Things have been coming together so well, and I am so excited and peaceful about this decision. Thank you all for your prayers, and praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

"Que Blanca Ella!"

"Que blanca ella!" --- she's so white! exclaimed a young child as I passed by the other day. It still surprises me, this reaction--both Gracias and the town I was in at the time have enough white people---either touring or living--that seeing a gringa is certainly not out of the ordinary. Even so, for the first time in my life, I am the minority. I can't blend in; it's obvious I don't belong--I'm white, blond haired, blue-eyed, tall, wear shorts, and I butcher Spanish whenever I try to speak it. Where I come from, all of that puts me in the majority. It gives me privilege, though often unacknowledged and taken for granted.

After a lifetime of being a part of the white, middle-class majority, I am now a minority. I miss diversity: I get pathetically excited when I see a new white person in town. The rare Honduran-African people are beautiful, just because they are different. I miss seeing more Caucasians, Africans, Asians, and Hispanics all together in a bustling city center. Diversity IS beautiful. It adds interest and appeal in a walk to the store or people-watching in the cafe. 

Also, I miss fitting in. I miss the obscurity of being "normal." I miss not being charged more simply because I'm white. I miss not being cat-called constantly because of the ubiquitous thought that white/blond = sexy. I miss the opportunities for personal growth and learning a more diverse classroom would provide...instead, I have students who equate Asian with ugly. I hate that some of my girl students wish and pray for blue eyes and lighter skin because that's the ultimate standard of beauty--it's what they see their brothers, uncles, fathers, and friends catcalling the most and it's all that they see in most magazines and movies. Diversity IS strength. It makes it less likely than any one person or group stands out in a negative way. It makes us appreciate the beauty in our differences. The cultural clash in diversity changes us--for better or worse--as we face our stereotypes and either confirm or disprove them. 

In just a short time, I'll be returning to middle-class, white circles. I hope and pray I don't forget the discomfort, the awkwardness and the yearning for greater diversity as I settle into my comfort zone again. 

After bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and when giving them His law, God reminded the Israelites that they were to show kindness to strangers and foreigners among them: 

"He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." (Deut. 10:18-19).

And why does he command them to love the stranger: not only because He loves the stranger, but because the Israelites had been in that same position. They had experienced and understood the position of being a stranger in a strange land. Now, I don't really want to go into making any political statements on immigration in the States, but being a stranger in a strange land will have given me (I hope) new empathy for strangers. It could be a new immigrant, but also a church visitor who doesn't fit into the church culture/customs, or a new student in the school. I have experienced the awkwardness of being put into that position, and the Bible commands and commends hospitality to strangers (Rom. 12:13; Matt. 25:35). Hopefully, my own experiences have better equipped and motivated me for that back in the States.