Today (and the past month and a half) has made me so grateful for everything that my BFF, Jesus, has given me--especially for my family and friends all over the world.
Today I received my acceptance letter to graduate school. I posted a Facebook status about the acceptance, and the numerous likes and comments on it make me thankful for the support of my family & friends.
Today I attended a meeting with my cousin (little did I know that I would have to stand in front of everyone there, be introduced, and then welcomed by each individual person...[awkward baby turtle haha]) and listened to her give a speech about the path that God laid out for her thus far in life. Afterward, her 5 year old daughter sang a song called "Blessings." (I've added the song towards the end of this post. This song makes me tear up and/or cry pretty much every time I hear it.)
Today I attended a birthday party for my grandma--she's celebrating her 91st birthday this year. I was also happy to tell her that I got accepted to graduate school, and she said I'm smart--to which I replied: "of course--because you're my grandma!"
Today I spent time with relatives from both sides of the family.
Today I spoke with my parents and my brother.
Today (and every day) I am thankful.
The past couple weeks have been challenging in more ways than one, and I'm thankful for my family and friends (both near and far) that have helped me through them.
I am also entirely grateful for the generosity, hospitality, and love from my family on this side of the world. I can't even remember how many relatives I have met over here. I can't find all the right words now, but I'll start with this: thank you. I am so appreciative for everything...that I'm getting teary just typing this. For a lot of you, this is only your 2nd time seeing me...yet you have welcomed me with open arms, and I can't thank you enough for that. You have opened up your homes to me, given me delicious Filipino food, driven me around to places, accompanied me to the store down the street so that I wasn't alone, spoken in English to me, helped me in my attempts to speak Filipino, and so much more. I really appreciate you taking the time to look out for me and make sure that all is well during my stay here.--I'm sure my parents appreciate it, too! Sometimes it's really difficult for me to be away from home, but having you with me does make it easier.
I don't have that much time left over here on this trip, and things are already bittersweet. Part of me is ready to move on to the next leg of the journey since it will be somewhere new and one step closer to being back home, but another part wants this time to move slowly so that I can soak up more experiences and spend more time with people here at places that I've finally become (mostly) used to...still can't get used to cold showers haha.
I continue to pray to my BFF, Jesus, to watch over me on this journey of new experiences and personal growth. This trip has taught me a lot, and one of the top things on that list is the importance of family. My friends are my family, too--so to my friends out there: y'all are included in that!
This simple blog post only scratches the surface of how deep my thankfulness is to my BFF, Jesus, for putting all these wonderful people in my life. To my family all over the world: Thank you/Salamat po...I love you/Mahal kita.
Peace. Love. Happiness.
--TR
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