While I was stuck in bed this week, I had lots of time to think about family and people who have been in my life.
Of course, not all memories were perfect but there was one person who came to my mind that the memory of her was perfect and precious. This was my little exchange student who became my daughter for nearly a year. She still calls me Mom and I still keep a picture of her in my pocketbook along with the rest of my family.
She and I had lost touch with each other but she has never left my heart. For the past three months, I have had this gnawing pain in my heart to get in touch with her. What I didn’t know was the same thing was going on in her heart. The only chance I knew of getting in touch with her was to call her sister’s exchange mom in Oregon to see if she knew anything about her. The next day, I got a call from Cindi who was my exchange student’s sister’s American mom. What she told me was unbelievable. She told me that Adriana, (Verawati’s sister, my exchange daughter) now lives in Omaha, Neb. She said Adriana had gone back to Indonesia two months ago to see her family. While there Vera had broken down and cried telling her how much she missed her Mom and Dad in America and that she had tried and couldn’t get hold of me. I no longer have a phone in my home other than my cell phone number, so she thought we had either moved or something worse.
To make a long story short, Vera’s sister Adriana called me and told me she went to college in America, fell in love and married and now lives in Nebraska. She has two daughters and she told me Vera has married and also has two daughters. Vera called me the next day and we couldn’t talk fast enough to try and catch up with one another. The words “I love you,” were three-fourths of our conversation.
Vera, I knew, went to Australia for college. She told me her oldest daughter goes to an international school and can speak English. She told me she had been trying so hard to get in touch with me. Which goes to prove, God works in mysterious ways.
I also have to say that was one of the best Christmas gifts, since my mind is at ease now. I had worried so much that she and her family had possibly been in the tsunami episode. I had tried to study every face on “The Amazing Race” while it was in Indonesia to see if I could catch a glimpse of my Verawati. While she lived with us, every day was a joy. In fact, never have I seen a child who tried so hard and was the perfect child. Everyone who met her loved her. I remember crying two months before she left, thinking how much I would miss her when she left.
I guess the moral of this story is if there is someone who has been tugging at your heart strings, try to find them. Chances are they want to speak to you as much as you do them. I now have pictures of Vera and her daughters, and can keep up with her through email. We have so much to catch up on.
Another Christmas memory I have made this weekend was getting to see my grandson Hayden in a church Christmas play. He did his part great as did all the children in the Christmas play, “The First Leon,” at First United Methodist Church. It is so important to involve the youth in the church and the church has a very good youth program. I think this makes the leaders in the future when a child is involved in a church youth program. Thanks to all who did the work for this program.
Christmas is such a special time of year for so many reasons. I love it and feel so blessed to get to see another Christmas, something I used to take for granted.
