At Home

We  are really appreciating being back in the states.  We take so much for granted!  Our trip home went well, except–we got so excited in Amsterdam when we learned that the Twins won the playoff game with Detroit, that we left Jolene’s purse set.  And “someone” apparently “claimed” it as their own.  Thankfully, I had the passports and credit cards, but when we got home we did have to change our checking account, get a duplicate driver’s licence and a replacement cell phone.  We figure that if that is the worst thing that happened, we did pretty well.

We have spent quite a bit of time going through pictures.  I am guessing that I took over 2000 and kept some 600.  We then printed off about 200, and had to narrow it down to 120 to fit an album we could show family members.  And then we concluded that there is no way pictures can begin to tell of our experience.  But we will keep trying.  My next project is to pull them into a slide presentation for my first weekend back, November 1.  We will have a combined Bible Class on that day.  I will also be putting material together for a longer Bible Class to follow.

After only a couple of nights in our own bed, we set off to see family on the weekend.  We saw Jolene’s parents on Saturday, then Tony and Sarah (looking more and more pregnant), before staying overnight at my parents’ home.  We worshiped with my parents on Sunday morning, and stayed a little longer so we could look in on their later serivice which is primarily in Hmong.  We got home in time to grieve with many others as the Twins lost to the Yankees.

A Sabbatical is supposed to be a time of rest and relaxation–and I really hope to finally do a little of that in these next two weeks.  The time has gone quickly, but it has been inspiring, and I pray that this experience will prove to be of benefit to the congregation as well as myself.

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