Seville

After our unexpected whirlwind in London, we were cold and tired and ready for something we had actually planned on. With Vance’s health so precarious, it can be hard to enjoy spontaneous situations. I often feel torn between creating a “normal” experience for our kids and friends, and caring for and protecting Vance as his exhaustion and chronic issues ramp up. It’s a constant juggling act. All that to say, we were very grateful to get to Sevilla and start to feel settled.“Settled” is a relative term, though. I’ve learned that the first day or two of a big trip + jet lag comes with big emotions. Turns out that those big emotions are magnified when you travel with all your kids and their big emotions.In reality, the kids were doing great. They were handling new food, a new language, a new time zone, and a new schedule with a lot of grace. There was just a good side order of drama, sensitivity, and bickering. All the things you forget to factor into your life when you plan a big overseas trip.The kids and I walked all over the old city, and I tried to get my rusty Spanish up and running again. We went to the Plaza de España, watched a flamenco dancer perform, visited the Fería Market, and navigated the tiny city grocery store (I have an inordinate love for grocery shopping in other countries). Everywhere the Seville orange tree were in bloom, and our memory of that city is tied to that scent forever.We went to the Seville Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and decided they outside was better than the inside. Christopher Columbus was buried inside, though, so that was cool.We visited a tiny little Baptist church near our house, and the kids got a taste of what it’s like to worship in a language not your own. I was so grateful that we knew most of the songs in English, so it was pretty easy to sing in Spanish.We had originally planned to fly to Morocco after a week in Spain, but it was quickly becoming clear that Vance was feeling pretty rough, and he was in no condition to switch continents. It was really the kindness of God that his marketing team was flexible enough to postpone the trip.We were flying by the seat of our pants, and we knew it–shaken out of the security of our normal life, we were freshly dependent on Jesus (at least Vance and I were!). Sevilla was an intense roller coaster of beauty, exhaustion, and adjustment.