Wait... where am I from?

Lately I have been wanting to get more consequent about blogging more often but it seems things always get in the way... the list of excuses is really long.. but when I saw this "Blogtember" challenge over at Story Of My Life I thought it might be a good chance to start blogging more. I won't be doing every day... but I will do as many as I can! 

Today is day one and the topic is to describe where or what you come from. Seems like the perfect place to start! 

There are so many sides to this topic but lets start with the where. I am very proud to be an American. Its definitely part of who I am.. but I have now spent more than half my life living outside the states. When I was little my parents became missionaries to Lithuania and now for the past 4 years I have lived here in the Netherlands! 

Each place I have lived has really influenced who I am in so many ways. I am still very proud that I come from the most amazing country on earth (in my opinion) and I know that being brought up in an American household has formed my ways of thinking in a lot of areas. an outgoing attitude. a can-do way of thinking. and yes.. a strong sense of patriotism. 

  Our years in Lithuania also taught me a lot as well.. about adjusting. about what is really important. about how just because things are different doesn't make them wrong. I spent my teen years there and it changed me forever. 

And yet I continue to learn and grow and adjust here in Holland. It helps that my husband is from here.. and that the culture is so diverse.. and that I have an amazing support network of friends and family who are there on the days when I don't feel that I fit in. 

I have gotten a thicker skin. Grown a tad more sarcastic (it rubs off on you after a while :)).. I've grown up and become more independent. more reliant on my relationship with God. and I have fallen in love with this country and the people here. 

I have the feeling sometimes that I don't necessarily fit in anywhere. But instead of trying to focus on that part of it I try to take the best from all the places I have been in my life... and let it form me. hopefully for the better. 

I was also planning on writing today about the "who and what" part of where I come from but I feel I have rambled on for long enough already. 

I hope you enjoy maybe getting to know me a little better this month. Have a wonderful day! 

xo Carly

linking up at SOML!