As this year winds down, I want to pause for a few moments to reflect.  Reflection is something we talk about here at Melibee.  We believe it is a fine art and one that requires a lot of practice.

There is much to reflect on as 2012 inches to a close.  MelibeeU kicked off with a workshop on Global Service Learning with the very talented Dr. Eric Hartman.  We brought on a team of fantastic interns who embrace exploring creativity in our field . They have more energy than can truly be imagined – and for that I’m so incredibly grateful.  We launched our first tool around re-entry, Beyond Abroad:  Innovative Re-entry Exercises.  We had our first Melibee speaker travel abroad for a presentation on sustainability. We launched a Melibee store – something that unfolded very organically as we grew this year. Back in October, we celebrated our third year of blogging on issues we think are important to international educators.

We also had personal joys to reflect on. We celebrated a baby girl being born to one of our fabulous team members, Katie.  Our lead bee, Danielle, graduated and landed what could be described as nearly anybody’s dream job in international education.  Our sole male bee, Kyle, moved cross country for a new career opportunity. Other Melibees (our pet name for our team) started graduate school.  Sadly, we were devastated when one of our bees lost her mother very unexpectedly and we think of her daily.

On a happier note, another of our hive members moved abroad to live her dreams in Spain. Others have committed to the job search and resume crafting (and re-crafting!) Some have moved on to focus on other priorities in life while we welcomed some “newbees” to the hive with open arms. To wrap up the year,  Tony and I actually got married this month too!

2012 has been a very special year for our bunch.  We hope that it is for all of you too and we wish for …

PS – special thanks to our very own Melibee, Maria Snyder, for creating this beautiful card of peace.