One of the hardest things about living overseas is the amount of family and friend fun stuff we miss. Graduations, weddings, birthday celebrations, new babies, vacations, parties, and so much more. We know we can’t complain because we chose this life and we don’t regret our decision. But that doesn’t make it any easier when it feels like the world is moving on without us. And of course the world is moving on.  And so are we.

Throughout all our training, we were encouraged to love well and to be loved well. And while that’s great, it also means we hurt too. We hurt when we have to say goodbye; we hurt when we can’t give hugs or be there when our people need us; we hurt when we miss out on good things; we hurt when tragedy hits and we can’t be there for support. Sharing life together is such a special thing and we have been blessed by so many people whom we’ve shared life with. And we miss those people.

Don’t get me wrong, we love our life here and we are making friends and sharing life on this side of the world. We are making lifelong friendships with people who get us and all our craziness of living in Uganda. And we know everyone has good times and rough times, no matter where they live, and that’s a unifying feeling. But moving on in life is still hard. It’s hard when friends drift apart, it’s hard to not be as connected with family, and it’s hard to not know what’s going on a regular basis.

We don’t want to wallow in the challenge of being far away, but we also don’t want to brush off the difficult feelings as if they aren’t real. So whenever you think of someone you love, send them a text or an email, make a phone call, or write them an encouraging note. Let your people know that you are thinking of them, and it’ll help bridge that gap in distance, time or relationship.