Time Warp

How do I begin again after a month and a half of silence? Well I guess, I can assure you that no news is good news…very good news for us. We praise God for the many blessings we have received upon our return to the States. These blessings included a quite uneventful 24 hours of travel between Addis Ababa and Chicago.

Micah slept probably 75% of the 17-18 hours in the air and seemed to enjoy exploring the Istanbul airport to help us pass the layover time.

His biggest meltdown was in the US immigration line in Chicago, but even that was short lived and everything was made better when he was greeted by grandparents, and other BALLOON-wielding relatives upon breezing through customs. It was great to be together with family again, not to mention the Dutch apple pie for breakfast.

We have been back in the States now for about 6 weeks and one thing we have been asked is, “Was it a big shock to come back?” Our answer, “Surprisingly no.” Sure, our nieces have gotten older, things have changed around our home towns, but, as Andrea puts it, it feels less like a culture shock and more like a time warp. Yea, it’s nice to drive on smooth roads, we love the convenience of a cashless society, and it’s ridiculous how many choices of cereal there are at Piggly Wiggly, but we expected all of these things.

Our little two-year-old boarded a plane and woke up in an amazing amusement park, and apart from the occasional sensory overload, he is loving it.

 Bicycles, strollers, playgrounds, water to play in, dogs that he is actually allowed to play with, and eating more sweets each week than he got in his first two years of life. Of course he enjoyed my goal of eating ice cream at least once a day for our first month in the country (a goal which I not only reached, but exceeded).

People have asked how we are coming on our top 100 list and the official count today shows that we have met 48 of them, with plans in the works for more even later this week. It has been very fun to share some of these dreams with family and friends. We appreciate all those who whether intentionally or unintentionally helped us enjoy this transition.

More than that, we are enjoying the opportunity to reconnect with many of you in person. Having now visited three supporting churches, we are being filled beyond capacity with encouragement, more and more convinced of our privilege to serve as only one part of a wide network of people who make this Gmz Bible translation project possible.

Ps. I expect the blog entries to be less frequent and more intentional during our time in the States, first of all, because I want to spend more of my personal time in personal study these next five months. In addition, I could tell 10 stories a week about fun things such as go-karting with Antney, going to a Brewer game with my bros, Micah’s new bike, Frisbee in the street, the gift of home-grown veggies, blueberry picking with grandma, meeting great-grandparents, fishing on Lake Michigan, and riding with Micah down the huge State Fair slide, but I don’t sense that this type of story is what you as readers are wanting to find on this site. Instead I will try to stick to telling stories that have taught me lessons, events through which God has challenged my thinking, hoping that he may challenge yours in my retelling.