Sunday, July 18, 2010

Born in the USA

Well... I wasn't born in the USA, but it's been home to both of us for 25+ years. So back to the USA it was for a month long visit this summer. Here's a re-cap of what we did during our visit:
** Sorry if we neglected to take a picture of you while we were home...

Tempted small children with our hamburgers

Graciously accepted rock donations

Hung out with some wonderful SGF people


Said goodbye to the Thompson Family (they're moving out of state)


Held small babies


Booped small babies on the nose

Went to a few baseball games at Target Field, the new outdoor Twins stadium




Went fishing, canoeing and camping in the BWCA with my dad for a week





Had lunch at Cafe Latte with family & friends

Caught up with some TLO friends



Saw movies

Visited Pete & Sarah in Colorado (and sucked in as much fresh air and cooler weather as possible)




Went to a Rockies baseball game (which was the longest [time-wise, not inning-wise] in Rockies history and went to 15 innings)

Ate at Chick-fil-A (an unexpected, yet delectable surprise)

Met new family members

Visited Grandma

Had good times with awesome friends










Helped Ian with his fashion sense

Bought awesome, awesome burp rags for the plethora of babies being born at ICS. They were made by Dana, a friend from MHS

Other:
Played games
Ate at many different restaurants we had missed
Stamped/made a lot of cards
Played volleyball, basketball and softball
Went shopping and loaded up on things that we can't get or are too expensive to get in Bangkok
Enjoyed worshiping at SGF

It was a crazy month where we literally ran from one thing to the next most days, but it was good to be be back to catch up with family and friends that we hadn't seen for a year. We were blessed to be able to see so many people. Please forgive us if we didn't have the opportunity to see you... we would have loved to see you all, but we were limited on time.

I prayed for three things for myself during our time stateside: 1) That I would have good conversations and times with people 2) That I would feel refreshed (despite the busyness) and be ready to dive into school week upon return and 3) That I would not become overly attached to things or people, thus making it hard for me to want to go back to Bangkok joyfully. God was gracious to me in our time and home and all three prayer requests were answered. However, I was most blown away by how He answered prayer request #3: He confirmed and affirmed time and time again that Bangkok is where we are supposed to be. Places I missed and wanted to eat at didn't taste as good as I had remembered... people encouraged and affirmed us in our ministry... we were reminded time and time again about how technology (skype, blogs, e-mail, FB, chats, etc) makes it so easy to stay in touch...and MN didn't quite feel like home in a certain sense either.

Anyway, all this to say that we're back in Bangkok now, have moved into our new apartment (and are loving it), and are getting geared up and excited about the new school year. Thank you for supporting us in this ministry, for praying for us, for sending us encouraging packages/letters/e-mails/FB & blog messages, for spending time with us while we were stateside, and for being a part of our life. We are grateful for you.

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you know Bangkok is where you are supposed to be but you are greatly missed! We loved the time we had with you while you were home. It was precious because you both are!

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  2. Great photos! Love the Boundary Waters photos, that is one place I find myself missing a great deal - Belgium just cannot compare. Glad you had a great time back in the US!

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