I’d like to think of myself as older and wiser now, after my early adventure days, really I’m just more raw.  No more show, no more perfection.   Truth is, this recent season has been the hardest journey yet.  Yet as Anne Lamott says, “It gives me hope for things to be scary and to find a way for them to be funny.   I think that’s what my message usually is: If I can get through it, you can.”  

So why Shebraham?  Though I’ve traveled the world, even lived in Asia and Europe, my most recent international move has been different than all of the rest.  Along the way, I find myself identifying with the story of Abraham in the Bible.  In the first book, Genesis 12:1, we read, “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”  As I have jotted down my writing notes over the years, I kept coming back to name “Shebraham” as my own “Abrahamic” journey.

When I met Chris, he had recently quit his consulting job to start Tegu, a toy company in Honduras. His mission was to create jobs there, and he was preparing to move to Tegucigalpa.  I found myself drawn to his adventurous nature. I wanted more of that. Though I had recently started my own adventures, I was impressed by his initiative not only to move to a third-world country to fulfill a social mission, but also to create something out of nothing with Tegu. My logical self preferred to have a safe and predictable life. In contrast, his true spontaneity and calculated focus was refreshing.

Within a year, we were dating, and a year after that, we were married. So five years after I fudged my vow never to move for a man, I was packing for my honeymoon and future life in Honduras in two suitcases.  In all the excitement, I didn’t really know what it would mean to “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”