Home sweet

We arrived safely home last night after three days on the road. The kids traveled surprisingly well, and we felt a deep sense of God’s protection and provision at every turn. Favorite car moments (and good reminders why we don’t want vehicles with DVD players in them) were: Aaron reading “Go, Dog, Go!”; Mercy and Aaron singing “Pharaoh, Pharaoh” together (thank you Shoreline Covenant Church VBS); Aaron singing a song about Ariel from the Little Mermaid (basically repeating her name over and over again–and we though Belle was his true love); Mercy making a pretend phone with her hand and ‘calling’ me in the front seat from her seat in the third row to tell me things; Aaron showing Barret the Bunny (his favorite stuffed animal) all of the important sights like Snorts, airplanes and mountains out his window; playing rhyming games as a family; learning that Aaron can rhyme; those occasional moments of total silence when both children would sleep, heads cocked at matching angles in their carseats.

We enjoyed one night on the road in Medford, Oregon with the family of one of our church members, a former Servant Partner’s intern, who just happened to be in Meford visiting his family. His family was so gracious and hospitable, and the swimming pool, trampoline, and poodle were a hit with the kiddos! The house seemed like it was eight stories high and I lost Aaron a few times (he was in hide and seek heaven there), but Mercy got a great swimming lesson from Richard and Aaron set a record for how many times a kid can go down the pool slide in an hour.

The next night we spent in our friends’ apartment at Stanford where they both begin medical school in the fall. They happened to be out of town but arranged for us to get a spare key so we could crash at their place. Neither of us had ever been to Stanford before and it was fun to see–we couldn’t believe how huge it was! We arrived needing to eat dinner, and with no campus map or sense for where we were, we ended up in this little campus pub at an outdoor table. Doug got a post-long day in the car Guinness, the kids ate noodles, and it was one of those surreal happy moments.

The van did great on the road and, though she looks a bit out of place in the hood here (with her Thule carrier on top and bike rack in the back), we are so grateful for the series of events that allowed for us to make the purchase. After calculating airfare for a family of five, we have realized that any trips home from this point on will likely require driving.

We were surprised to learn that while we were gone, a large chunk of our ceiling came crashing down onto the floor, so today our home is undergoing the final stages of repair for that. We thank God that this happened while no one was here, especially the kids–those chunks of lath and plaster weigh a ton! As a good friend reminded me via email today, we love and serve a God who sees and protects.

Thanks to all who have prayed for our journey. Regular posts resume tomorrow!