Where I come from

Can you believe we are in September??? I'll be married 6 months on the 24th ... wahoo! I recently found a blog called Story of My Life who has challenged other bloggers to do a Blogtember. The host has given several topics outlined for various days and I thought it would be great to join in. I probably won't be writing on every topic but thought I'd give it a shot on some of them.

Today's topic is 'describe where or what you come from. The people, the places, and/or the factors that make up who you are.' I'm going to divide my 'where I come from' into three little areas.

My family at our house in Brazil 

1. Brazil - I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil to American parents who did missions work. I lived my first 9 years of life there. Those years still effect who I am today. Living abroad gives you a new perspective on how you see the world. Some things from Brazil that molded me into the person I am today are:

• the culture - I'm not sure how to describe it because to me it is just 'Brazilian'. They can be laid back, they walk a lot, you have to wait in line forever for business related things, etc. 
• race issues - I don't remember these one bit in Brazil. The culture is diverse there and I didn't notice it. In fact, my best friend growing up there was black and we called ourselves twins. 
• food - amazing!!! rice, beans, meat, bread, fresh fruit and veggies and sugar cane! I think I ate too much sugar cane as a kid because I had 8 cavities in 4 teeth when I returned to America. 
• coffee - let's be real. I've never had a better cup of coffee than when I lived in Brazil. It takes coffee to a new lever. When my parents visited people from church it is customary for them to offer you a little espresso loaded with sugar. You better believed I grew up drinking those. One time one a visit my brother (probably 9 years old) drank 9 of those espresso drinks. ha! 
• missions - growing up as an MK gave me a love for missions. One of my biggest hearts desire is to eventually help missionaries on the field. They don't get breaks, have regular babysitters, gyms with AC, fast food at every corner, etc. It's hard work and sometimes they need relief, a card, a care package or an e-mail. Growing up in a family who did ministry abroad let me see first hand how it can be hard and how people need encouragement. 

2. USA - I moved to the USA when I was 9. Honestly, I cried my heart out when I found out we weren't going back to Brazil. I didn't want to be a prissy American who wore makeup and was scared of bugs ... and now I am one. Also moving back to America my parents had to start over from scratch. To say it was hard is an understatement. My parents worked and worked and worked to buy us food, put us through school and to pay the bills. Those times were tough but seeing my parents hard work and dedication helped me to work hard at life too. I respect them for what they did, as I know it wasn't easy.

3. Family - of course my family molded me but I thought I'd elaborate on it a little more. I talked about my parents some already but other family that molded me were my siblings and my granny. There are four of us siblings in 5 years. Yep! You read that right. With that being the case we were all (and still are) really close. Living abroad and traveling to lots of churches where people pinched our cheeks and told us how we grew helped us be a team. My granny ... I could write a whole book about her! She is awesome. I spent tons of time with her growing up. She lived 5 houses down from us and I took full advantage of spending time with her. I spent the night at her house 3-4 times a week. I can still remember her teaching me verses from Proverbs and Psalms, playing old movies and music from her era, eating at all kinds of restaurants and laughing at so many things.

That is what molded me into who I am today. We aren't a perfect family and we for sure have our struggles but I can say that God has blessed me with a great family and I'm so thankful for that upbringing.