My greatest accomplishment, thus far.

I have managed to live in a foreign country. I have finished tasks, done errands, and ordered food without understanding a single spoken word. I have learned some Portuguese. I have had conversations in Portuguese with complete strangers and actually understood them. I have successfully navigated myself through a major city. I have learned to make new foods. I have adjusted to a new and different way of life.

I have learned and accomplished many things since moving to Portugal.
However, my greatest feat is found in none of these.

I, Tiffany Michele Hodge, have learned to drive a stick-shift!

In the words of Hodge, "Don't you just feel
cooler driving a manual?" Yes, I do!

A couple months back, my very sweet and VERY patient husband started giving me driving lessons. The first time was filled with grunts, complaints, and several expressions of "I can't do this!" The next time was a little less grunt-y but just as frustrating, on my end. Even though Hodge never gave up on me, I decided to stop my pathetic attempts after trying one or two more times, convinced that I would never successfully drive a manual. 

Then, last week happened. And o, what a glorious week!

We both decided it was necessary for me to learn. So, we continued my training in a large gravel parking lot near our house, going back to the basics. Taking off, switching gears, stopping, and backing up. This time, I forced myself to remain calm when I made mistakes. And as he did in the past, Hodge encouraged me whilst explaining how the gears worked. This time, it made sense and stuck. After many minutes of practicing had passed, Hodge was even nice and brave enough to play the "random pedestrian suddenly stepping foot on the crosswalk" as I practiced not hitting him.

When we moved to the streets, I had to work even harder to remain calm, but that tactic proved its value. A huge smile would splash across my face every time I started off smoothly or maneuvered some kind of challenging obstacle. As I made it to fourth gear for the first time on the long road running parallel to the ocean, I felt very proud of myself.

Hodge kept asking me how it felt to work
alongside Vin Diesel and Paul Walker
in the Fast and Furious movies.

The car and I settled our differences
and became friends.

When all is said and done, I think Hodge is just happy to be chauffeured around after having done so for me the past several months. My next challenge will be to "head out on the highway, looking for adventure and whatever comes my way," born to drive manual!

"Home"

Last week, our colleague asked the question: "Do you feel at home, here in Portugal?" The answer practically fell out of my mouth. "Yes!"  I then gave a rapid answer to my rapid response. But now as I sit at a cafe in a small town that isn't really "home," I reflect on why I did give such a rapid response.

My reasoning does not lie in the fact that I love this place. I mean, I do love this place. The people are wonderful, our little community has been very welcoming, and while the language can be difficult, I actually find it quite enjoyable overall, and... well... Do I really need to say it? We live 50 yards from the beach! As I count all these appealing factors on one hand, I then look to the other hand. The hand that holds those days when I don't want to hear another word of Portuguese. Those days I would rather stay in, watch American TV while I eat my American burger with American mac and cheese and dream about all the places I want to go once I am back on American soil. Some days, the culture and "the way things are done" here drive me crazy.

So, I look at my hands. But then I see bigger hands. I see the hands that have put me in this specific place at this specific time. I see the hands that have shaped my life and my heart and have brought me to this moment. To this season in life. I see the hands of a God so powerful and so perfect and so generous as to allow me to share in His work here.

I am not here because I want to be away from family, friends, English, comfort, or convenience.

I am here because God has called us here, and I am here because I believe He has made us for this.

And the reason I answered so rapidly is just this: I feel so "at home" because I have never felt so close to God. I have shed tears over missed relationships, and I have panicked over doing things that would be so simple in the States, yet requires so much effort in a foreign country. But in the midst of it all, in my very vulnerable state, He has allowed me to see more clearly my need and my desire for Him. I feel as if He has awakened my spirit by first bringing me through a state of desperation for the things I once thought I needed to a state of complete contentment and joy in Him alone. He has brought me to my knees and to His Word. And while there are still days that I fail to completely trust Him and I remain as sinful as ever, God continues to displays his unconditional love for me in many ways, but mostly in the fact that He continues to teach me and allow me to grow in my faith. 

"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven... And knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord - for we walk by faith, not by sight."
1 Corinthians 5:1-2, 6-7

And so, my feet go forward in faith, and my heart is at home because I am walking with the Lord, and that is the closest thing to "home" that I am going to get on this earth.

If a picture says a thousand words, I just wrote a novel.

I thank my husband for editing and taking several of these pictures :)