Grateful Beyond Measure ~Reunited with My Sister

What I love about the days preceding Thanksgiving is seeing some amazing stories of gratitude featured on the news, or tweets and updates rolling through my stream on Twitter and Facebook. I aim to live a life of gratitude everyday; but as Thanksgiving approaches, I like to search my heart and give God thanks for all that He has blessed us with.

As I contemplate on all the amazing things that the Lord has done in my own life personally…this year, I’m especially thankful for my precious sister Huyen (Hu-wien). I can’t thank God enough for reuniting her with my family after being separated for 14 years (1975-1989).

In 1975 after the Fall of Saigon, my family and I escaped from Vietnam. There are seven members in my family– mom, dad, and 5 siblings including me being the oldest. However, not all of us escaped Vietnam together.  One of my siblings stayed behind…

My sister Huyen at the time was four years old and living with my grandmother. If you know the history of the Vietnam War, it had been going on for many, many years (15). During the war, my father was in the South Vietnamese Army while my mother was home raising my siblings and me; however, my sister Huyen was being raised by my grandmother (obviously an agreement between her and my parents).

When South Vietnam was defeated in April of 1975, a mass chaotic exodus to escape communism took place. My parents, 3 other siblings and I were among those who escaped by boat. My grandmother and sister Huyen lived quite a distance and although they also attempted to flee, they were caught and sent back to their home. There, they lived under the new Communist Regime in which their life had changed in an instant.

We fled Vietnam in 1975 and it wasn’t until 1989 that my sister Huyen reunited with our family in the United States— 14 years later. She was 4 when we left and 18 years old when we saw her again. My parents attempted to bring her to the US when they reconnected with her after the war was over but it wasn’t until my grandmother was close to the end of her life; and her urging my sister to leave Vietnam that Huyen finally agreed to join her family in America. She was devoted to caring for my grandmother. Actually, they were committed to taking care of one another.

When Huyen arrived in the US at age 18, my father enrolled her into high school as a sophomore in order to give her an education. She studied effortlessly to learn English and to excel in school using an English-Vietnamese dictionary to translate her homework assignments. With determination and will power to overcome the language barrier and learn a new culture, she graduated from high school with honors and went on to college. Huyen eventually graduated from UW-Madison, Wisconsin with a degree in Sociology.

Today, my sweet sister Huyen is a “Sister” (sometimes refer to as a Nun) at a Convent in Connecticut. She shocked the family when she announced this news. After all those years apart and now a life in the Convent would keep her distant from the family. But with such conviction to this calling she felt, she  headed out East just a few months after graduating from college in 2001 and has been committed to her calling ever since.

I’ve been extremely blessed over the years for the opportunity to get to know my sister Huyen and the woman that she has become. I’m constantly learning more and more about her. Fourteen years growing up in two different worlds, our conversations are often quite interesting. Hopefully, we can share our story together one day…alot of details have been left out for the sake of keeping this post short.

I’m grateful beyond measure to have been reunited with my sister and not taking for granted the precious moments that we have with one another; they have been far and few.

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Tagged as: Gratitude, Inspirational, Reunion, Thanksgiving