Home, sweet home

Well, we've been back for a week now. The moment we got off the airplane we felt at home - familiar sights and sounds, familiar weather, familiar faces. Yet at the same time there is the thrill of seeing things as if seeing them for the first time.

We have arrived back in my favorite time of year - the days are amazing with beautiful blue skies and pleasant temperatures while the evening cools off and the nights are cold.

It's been a tiring week in some ways and it does not feel like we've been back for just 7 days. It feels like it's already been a lot longer...While we were in Germany we had various people staying at our house so our days have been filled with unpacking and reorganizing our home, looking for things that have been put in a different place and readjusting to life here. Plus, we had to catch up with all that has been happening at the Day Care Center. And have a new team to take care of. So we've been busy.

The boys have been very challenging. I'm not sure if it's due to our transition back and on top of all that having a new baby brother. They have never been openly jealous but really love him and yet it is a huge change for them and they too have to process it all. At times I forget just how much must be going on in their little heads. Elliot still can't verbalize all of it but Dylan does come up with things that give us a glimpse of what he is thinking about.

I guess us being so busy has not helped them to feel relaxed and settled and so I hope that next week will be easier and better as we ease back into a routine.

Before we left for Germany we were exhausted and often contemplated if we should return at all. The last year was difficult in many ways for all of us and I wasn't sure if I was ready to face it all again. But having time to relax was good and it helped to just be away in a totally different place for a while to regain some perspective.

Now that we're back I have had moments when I wondered why we are doing this to ourselves. But my overall feeling is that our time here is not yet over. I can't imagine living anywhere else at the moment and even though life here REALLY challenges me at the same time I love it and marvel at the opportunity I have of living here and raising a family here.

I have been encouraged by Psalm 84: "Blessed is he who sets his heart on pilgrimage...". I am learning that what really matters in life is to have an eternal perspective and that in the end it all boils down to attitude. No matter how bad things are or how difficult my kids are or how hard life is, it's a matter of my attitude towards it all and how I react to all of these things. And most of all I have to ask myself: do I trust God to give me the strength that I need and the right attitude or do I try to handle it all on my own?

And so I rejoice in another day here and another opportunity to try and live a joyful and content and meaningful life focusing on the eternal. And that is what I hope I will be able to pass on to our boys. I hope that they too will see this adventure as a privilege and that we will not only survive but thrive.