Kde domov můj? // Where is my home?

The Czech national anthem has a fitting name, both for the Czech people throughout their tumultuous history and for those of us who choose to live as ex-pats in this beautiful country. As we have lived here the last two years, invested in people and places, bought furniture, & figured out our European shoe sizes, this has become a question we have asked more and more frequently: "where is my home?" And as it came to decision making time this year, we had a tough choice in front of us.

A video of the Czech anthem (with Czech, English, and German lyrics):

In the end it came down to two things for us: personal growth & God's plan.
We know that no matter our location or occupation, God will use us how He needs us, and so we actually felt very little pressure to make the "right" choice in this regard. While we clearly felt God calling us to live overseas, we did not hear such a clear call for this decision. What we did feel was a peace that whatever we chose, God would use. And we really do believe that either choice, in this regard, would have been the "right" one.

But personally we have felt like these last two years we have been living in a very transitory state, consistently in transition, waiting to return to a life we put on hold. And that is exhausting. So we said either we fully commit: sell our things in the US, rent our own flat in Prague, stay for at least 5 more years, or we go "home."
And neither choice seemed easy.
But in the end we have decided to return to America at the end of this school year. We plan to leave Prague in July and move back to Illinois in August 2016.

After first making this decision, we were really excited looking forward to all the things we've been missing from our home culture these past two years. But now as the months are speeding past us, and leaving becomes both more real and more imminent, we are greiving the many things we will leave behind in our adopted culture. There are people and places that I look at and think, "How can I leave this?"
And so we would very much appreciate your prayers.
If we are returning home to you, we are so looking forward to it. We are excited about it, and hope you are, too. But please don't be offended if it takes us awhile to really seem happy once we return. Yes, we made this choice. Yes, we think it's the right choice. But it is not easy, and at the moment, it does not make me happy.
And if we are leaving you, we are so sad. We have been embraced by many Czech people who we have come to truly love, and if we could take you all with us back to Illinois, we would in a heartbeat. Please know we will miss you. And you are always, always welcome to visit us. And we fully intend to come back and visit you.

We have heard it said that once you live in another culture, you never really go home again. And so, maybe we, like our Czech people, will continue to ask, "Kde domov můj?" As it is, we will continue to praise God for this opportunity. For the many people we have met and who have loved us during these two years. For the friendships and relationships we'll continue to build even after we leave. And for the Home we can look forward to with Him.

Praha // Prague

Prayer Requests:
- For our transition time over the next few months as we prepare to return to life in the US.
- Also, once we're back in the States, we will need jobs, a place to live, health insurance, a car, etc.
- The English Drama Club performance is this week!! We perform Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday evenings. So prayers for the students and ourselves as we finally put it all together!

Praises:
- We had an intern with us through Teach Beyond this past week, and she was amazing.
- Spring weather is here! We had 5 straight days of sunshine this week!
- Brittany's mom is coming to visit in 11 days!