Tara Talk: We are family

Family, by definition, is the people with whom you share a blood relation. I am so fortunate and blessed to have been born into a wonderful, silly, and God loving family. The Frantz family is my biggest support system for my living and working in Costa Rica, although I know they miss me a lot. And I miss them everyday as well. I got to spend last week with my family and friends in California, and it was a wonderful time that made leaving again quite bittersweet. My sweet niece Kate will be nine months older by the time I see her again, which means she will be running around and babbling to everyone. Thankfully, there is this great invention called the Internet that makes communicating with each other in real time quite easy.

But lately I have been learning about other families that I am a part of that I was NOT born in to. This past month I had a situation that I needed help from one of my co-workers for, and knew that he had gone out of his way, above and beyond, to be of help to me. I thanked him profusely at the time and then also later on when I sent him a text to thank him again. He told me that "we are your family here, Tara" and "con mucho gusto." That really hit me hard, knowing that my friends on my staff think of me in that way and have my back when I need it.

Going to both Nicaragua and Guatemala last month and spending time with the Students International staff there was also confirming that I'm part of a bigger family of people who love the Lord and are interesting in serving and working with communities in Latin America and also with students from the States. Although we live in different cultures, have different ministry sites, and speak with different Spanish slang and phrases, it was so refreshing and encouraging to my heart to get to see a bit of what SI looks like there.

I think the Lord knew what He was doing when He created family.