Coming Home, part 1

After four months, four continents, seven countries and a kaleidescope of friends and new experiences we’re home and savoring all that is summer in Minnesota. I am grateful beyond words for the glorious months of adventure we had. So many gracious, generous people made this possible for us. We’re planning a thank you dinner but it will be an inadequate expression of the indebtedness we feel to so many.

The second of three flights we took home from Africa was one of the longest possible – 16 hours and one minute. It gave me a chance to reflect and lean forward towards summer at home in Minnesota. As much as the past four months have been made of over-the-top exciting stuff, I watched a favorite old musical on the plane that reminded me of the simple summer pleasures of past years – rich memories of times with my grandmother, mom, and daughters.

Shady trees and lilacs and fresh rhubarb. Times of creating and hospitality and curling up with a good book. Cut flowers, board games, and a glider on the screened porch. Baking cookies for friends.

As kids we took naps on a sheet spread on my Grandmother’s living room floor with a fan blowing on us. I’m thinking that might be a great tradition to revive.

At home now, I head into each day with no other plan than to pray that God will make our next steps clear. Meanwhile, my place is where He chooses to put me each day and I’m savoring the lovely things of a simple summer.

What’s a summer memory you’d like to relive?