Coming Home

After spending approximately 50 hours in a bus with 16+ people and traveling approximately 2500 miles (round trip), I'm home from Mexico!

Shannon and I in our "spots." Creatures of habit...all of us!!

Occasionally, the faces changed...but my view for many an hour.

And through it all, God was faithful. When I am truly honest, I expected nothing less from Him. It is me who does the scrambling.

What a week. I have much to say on the subject....and lots of pictures to go with it! (I just counted up 42 pictures to share...and that is just a smatter of the highlights!!) For the last couple of days since I have been home, I have been overwhelmed with how to summarize such a week. To put it all in one post would be just ridiculously long...and completely insufficient. So to help me get over the largeness of the task ahead, I decided to break the week up in many posts. So, if you want, keep coming back to hear more.

To begin to summarize, I couldn't help but start with the ending.....Coming Home. After my departure post that talked about my fears of leaving on such an adventure, it seems only appropriate to talk about God's goodness in Coming Home. Isn't that what our life should be? A testament to God's faithfulness through our scrambling fears and all-too-human thoughts?

One of my "fears" was leaving my kids for as long as I did. For the last 10 years, my life and daily happenings has been defined almost solely by my children. What do I do and who am I when I am not with my children? Or thinking about my children? Or planning around my children? I think that my longest stretches of leaving them has been for a long weekend to Women's Retreat, which is 2 half days and 2 whole days. I was gone to Mexico for essentially 8 whole days.

God is faithful. I know that I am not irreplaceable. Other people are just as good, or better, at washing clothes, keeping house, making meals...etc. But, in my household, that has been my job. And no one loves my children more than I do. (And who wants to know that you can be replaced!?!) I left my children knowing that the next best thing to me was going to be there caring for them.

On the weekends, Tim did a great job doing his Daddy-thing. It sounds like they had a great time together! On this last Sunday after coming home, something happened that revealed to me that my time away was a good thing for my children and their daddy. Caden took a fall on his rollerblades, and had a cut big enough to cause some bleeding. Usually, when my children are hurt, it is my name that they yell. That day? They yelled for Tim. "Dad, Dad, come quick. Caden is hurt and he needs you!" I did the best thing for the situation. I stayed right where I was and let Tim handle it. It was a good thing.

During the week, while Tim worked, I was blessed to have my parents come and do their Grammy-and-Papa-thing. Bonus on top of all that was the arrival of Auntie Tresa and The Cousins, Alyssa and Kyle. It sounds like it was a whirlwind of adventures, exciting times and trips to McDonald's! I'm kind of sad that I missed the Hoopla....but I guess it was because I was gone that the Hoopla happened!! Good times. Good memories. Thanks, Mom, Dad, and Tresa. You were a blessing.

I would suppose that it was the knowledge that my kids were left in such great care that I really didn't worry about my kids. I don't think it was until Thursday, as we drove by, in the light, some homes that we had visited the night before in the dark, that I really missed my kids. I had thought of them and wondered what adventures they were experiencing, but I hadn't really missed them yet. On that Thursday, I just wanted to grab them up in my arms and hold them tight. They are a huge part of the blessing that I was reminded of while I was in Mexico. I missed my kids.

On Friday, after crossing back into the United States, my friend was wonderful enough to share her cell phone with me and I was able to call home and talk to my family. It was so good to talk to them. I was sort of worried that they would be too busy with Grammy and Papa to give me much notice on the phone, but it was music to my ears to hear Luke express his thoughts. After telling me about a few exciting things, Luke declared: "Mom, I think I kind of miss you." Wow!! That did my heart good, especially after he responded "O.K." after I told him that I loved him!!

Saturday, our last day of travel, was a tedious, antsy day for me. I just wanted to be home. It hadn't helped that I hadn't slept much the night before and was tired and a bit cranky. Every stop was a testing of my patience!! I had a good day of practicing restraint. Okay. I wasn't really that bad, but there was a part of me that desperately wished that I was Samantha of Bewitched and could just twinkle my nose and be home!! I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to pull up the driveway of the church, hearing the bus' horn scream out the cheers bursting in my heart, knowing that my family was waiting for me right there!

Let me tell you, there is nothing better than being greeted by my children all clamoring for me at once. I felt like a celebrity!! I couldn't hug them or kiss them nearly fast enough. I had a whole week to make up for, you know! For the rest of the evening, they were all talking to me at once, trying to tell me everything at once. "Mom, why aren't you listening to me????" "I don't know...you are all talking to me at once!!" Everyone was touching me and hugging me as if they were as hungry as I was to be with them. Even though it was exactly what I needed, it exhausted me too. Not sure why, all I did was sit in a bus all day!!

It is so good to be home. My own bed. A hot shower. Familiar foods. A beautiful home. Renewed gratitude. It is good.

Yet, I can't believe how hard it has been to get back into the swing of things. I sort of feel lost in my own home. The kids were missing some items and asking me where they were. How was I suppose to know??? I hadn't been around for 8 days! My mom also did a little rearranging in my cupboards....good...but sometimes I feel lost!! But it sure is nice to be home again.

I have been really tired this week. I probably need to just crash super early some night since my regular sleep schedules don't seem to be enough to catch me up. I've just been a puddle this week. It hasn't helped that my tummy, and other things south of that, have been off a tad this week. I know...more information than you needed. Yet with all that, I can't complain.

Have I mentioned yet that it is good to be home?