Here

As the Author has taken a 8 week hiatus from writing this blog, it is about time to buckle down and start to recount the summer furlough and the impressions I had as we returned to our new home "Here" and left our beloved family and friends "There."
 
Our summer furlough was truly a blessing beyond our wildest dreams.  We experienced family time as we had never been afforded the opportunity to before.   With many special exchanges that brought healing in relationships, some that had been broken for many years.
 
After arriving in the US on June 27th we began a whirlwind visit that left us exhausted but FILLED UP with love, encouragement and faith for our second year here. 
 
We have pictures from our furlough that are in various storage locations (CD's/memory sticks,etc) I do hope to post a sampling of those over the coming days.  Today you get two offerings:  our family reunited (all present included our oldest son "The Rockstar" and his wife "The Princess" and of course our oldest daughter, who is college bound in 1 week, "Butterfly") in the Midwest and the kids throwing some peace signs your way (as every picture of our neighbors Here, includes.) 
 
We savored every single moment of the visit with our people from our home fellowship, had a record-setting first experience with all our extended family on Momma's side of the family (7 days together in a lodge), drove across the country to ooh and aah at Yellowstone Park, Mount Rushmore, a massive (and free) outdoor music festival featuring a few of our favorite C bands, laughed for hours on our road trip, got lots of hugs and love from Daddy's side of the family with our 7 day visit to the midwest, then returned for our final ten days including stays with Grandma, a visit with Grandfather's gang from sunny Florida and shopping, visiting, speaking, and EATING our way around our old hometown.
 
OH MY!
 
We will post pictures, I promise.
 
We arrived Here, in our new hometown, just before midnight on Wednesday night.  We were worn slick from the 24 hours of travel and the weighty feelings of missing our dear loved ones...but it was fascinating how my mind woke up to the sights and sounds around me as we squeezed ourselves back into the matchbox mini-van that had come to retrieve us from the airport.
 
The night air was thick and humid.  It smelled of Here, a mingling of smells accentuated always with a hint of burning coal.  It was 85 degrees at nearly midnight.  Our local family here greeted us with warm hugs and much needed assistance with the 14 suitcases we brought back with us.  The bags were stuffed with school supplies for our work here, various western foods for the dozens of meals we will serve in our home for guests and some clothing items that are required to cover some of us who have feet larger than a size 7 in woman's and clothing larger than a size 10 (which is a XXXL here!)
 
The windows were down as we rolled through our little city of 10 million people.  Every now and again we'd come upon a brightly lit corner, lanterns hung on strings strung between poles that illuminated brightly the open air restaurants, with throngs of shirtless men sitting around tables eating steaming bowls of noodles and drinking cold beers.
 
Ladies walked arm in arm with their handbags and their lovely strappy, high-heeled sandals, giggling as they carried home some fresh vegetables from the markets still open at that hour.  I was struck that women here feel free to walk the streets of the city at night with no fear of being harmed.
 
The sound of the engine of our mini-van was often punctuated with sharp screeching noises of the metal on metal breaks of massive trucks lumbering their way through the city streets.  One piled high with chipped concrete nearly lost it's load on our hood as it's diesel engine chugged a memorizing rhythm.
 
We had to stop suddenly as one of the dozens of scooters raced in front of us.  The small motor-bike made for 1, with 3 pressed together wheeling through the uneven pavement...no helmets to be seen...everywhere...three people to a scooter laughing and talking as they zipped through the steamy night.
 
Rows of darkened businesses, their shop owners asleep with their families inside...a block long tire shop silent and shadowy, no sign of life except for the clothes line hung out front between the city's trees planted along the sidewalk.  Pants, shirts and underwear hanging limply...even a few pairs of a child's "split pants" hanging on the string to partially dry in the humid atmosphere.
 
Driving further revealed alleyways here and there...brightly illuminated by the shops clustered inside and still, at nearly 1 am, shoppers bustling about buying fruits and vegetables, cigarettes and such.
 
Taxis lined up in a queue 30 cars deep, drivers standing outside of their cars, reading the paper and smoking cigarettes waiting in the unmoving line to fill up their tanks with gasoline.
 
The occasional Mercedes darts in front of us, or turns without a signal...it's driver one of the growing groups of "Have's" against the backdrop of too many "Have nots."
 
Over the mighty river bridge to our side of town...winding through the lake the night air cools even more as our excitement builds to return to our eighth floor home.  A blast of the driver's horn wakes up the guard as he hastily opens the gate and warmly waves us in.
 
Our bright white walls and cold tile floors were so welcome to our traveling eyes.  Finally, we collapsed into our beds...with a moment left for this author to marvel at how in just one year...this city with it's formerly "foreign" sights, sounds and smells
...felt like coming home.
 
 

---

Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.