Does life ever go as planned?

You know, as kids and as teenagers, we always have a plan for our lives. We want to have a specific job (I wanted to be an oncologist until I realized how insanely hard it would be to become one), get married, have this many kids, live in a certain place, travel the world, have lots of money, etc... We have all been there. And then, over and over again, we realize that life doesn't go exactly according to our plans. Some of us never find that special someone, some have trouble having children, some can never get that perfect job, some get an illness that prevents them from living life how they always dreamed, and so many more outcomes in life that seem "unfair" to us, and we don't understand why life isn't going how we always dreamed.

Now, don't get me wrong -- I have had a great life so far. I have been blessed beyond words. I have a wonderful husband (who definitely wasn't in my "plan" since it took us three years to even have a decent conversation :), I love working with deaf children (even though I studied for a year to become a doctor of audiology before changing my plans...), I have a wonderful family and same for my husband, I've been able to travel to several countries the past year and a half, and I am 16 weeks pregnant without any medical intervention (which seemed improbable after being diagnosed with PCOS). I could go on an on, but in all, I am blessed.

So, why this topic? Well, two years ago, my husband and I had this plan, this BIG plan, to live overseas and work for however long we were supposed to. We were really thinking "long-term". We sold almost everything we had, got on a plane, and started living in China. This was my calling -- what I was born to do. Fast forward to now... After a year and a half of living overseas, we are back in TX. We have dealt with medical problems since the second month overseas. And now we are back, for who knows how long. We have to make some big decisions -- the main one being going back after all is well or making a life here. We had lots of struggles over there, lots of trying times, but we never thought of returning back home until the doctor told us to. Now, with the unknown cause of N's weight loss and my pregnancy, we have to make some huge decisions on where we are supposed to be in a few months. It would be a much easier decision if it was either TX or California, but it is TX and a world away from home -- China. Isn't life supposed to be easy? Isn't it supposed to go according to our plans? No, I guess it never does. But, I guess if it did, we would not have married who Father would have us marry (we would have married that hunk/supermodel instead of marrying the most perfect person in the world for us), we would not have adopted those precious children from all over the world or dedicated our lives to serving others, we would have way too many doctors instead of all those other jobs that need to be filled, we wouldn't learn how to appreciate life and the time that is given us, we wouldn't learn how to rely completely on Father and know that His plan is so much better than our own.

It's hard to understand sometimes, but there is always a reason for everything, whether we see it now or not. All we have to do is trust. There is a reason our life didn't go according to our BIG plan, and I know I will see the reason someday, sooner or later.