One of the reasons I was late getting ready Monday evening

I was in my bathroom getting ready for a date night when Eika came in and told me that Jude had climbed up on the counter to get watermelon.  I was about to nix the whole endeavor, but then I realized how cute he was.  I mean the overalls sans shirt, the piece of melon as big as his torso...it really would have been a shame to just shut it down.  So I took pictures.

Reading and Feeding

We are on a road that leads to Burundi.  Our hearts are already there in many ways, but there are a thousand steps before our feet and hands will be there.  IF we do in fact go there.  The going could mean so many different things, and we don't really know what this road looks like further on ahead.  But in the meantime, in the waiting that is not standing still, there is lots going on in the discussions of our minds.  Feeding those discussions are a few profound books.

First, Dangerously Alive by Simon Guillebaud.
      In 1999, Simon Guillebaud arrived in Burundi, which was reckoned to be the most dangerous country on earth at the time.  "The book combines prayer letters, diary entries and reflections from ten years in a war zone," says Simon.  "It includes thoughts on witchcraft, miracles, evangelism, Islam, orphans, street kids, AIDS, and many stirring stories of triumphant faith in the midst of hideous suffering."

Simon wrestles throughout the book with the gruesome suffering of the warring people around him, admitting that many times he wishes to excuse himself from engaging with those in need.  His challenges to himself become challenges to the reader as he repeatedly chooses the path of true active faith.  He recounts the true story of a pastor who had told a homeless woman that he would pray for her but did nothing for her physical need.  She wrote the following poem, which subsequently found its way back to the pastor:

I was hungry,

And you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.

I was imprisoned,

And you crept off quietly to your chapel and prayed for my release.

I was naked,

And in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

I was sick,

And you knelt and thanked God for your health.

I was homeless,

And you preached a sermon on the spiritual shelter of the love of God.

I was lonely,

And you left me alone to pray for me.

You seem so holy, so close to God,

But I am still very hungry--and lonely--and cold.

 

Our longing increasingly becomes to GO and DO and TEACH.  Yes, there is a need for the bigger picture discussion of how to truly help a nation out of its poverty (which is why I'm looking forward to reading Poor Economics next). 

 

God, please don't let the overwhelming need of this tiny nation convince us that nothing can be done.  We have to pray and debate and discuss and preach (and listen!) in addition to, not instead of, taking action.

 

 

 



Dinner Conversation

What do dinner table conversations sound like in your family?  This evening we somehow found ourselves discussing blow guns.  Daddy described the long hollow bamboo tubes used to blow poison-tipped arrows forcibly through the air. 

Several minutes later we found ourselves in an all out blow gun war in the dining room.  It's a good thing that there were no poison dart frogs around (otherwise we may have ended up with poison-coated ammo).  See those white dots all over the place?  Those are dried beans.  We also found that milkshake straws will do in a pinch if you have no bamboo at your disposal. And man those beans hurt when they come flying at you!

 

I was able to call a pause in the shooting long enough to document the battle.

 

Day Eighteen: The Home Stretch

West Yellowstone, MT to HOME!

9:30 am to 7:00 pm

Amazingly enough, this was really the only day when the kids repeatedly asked, "How much longer?"

 

We enjoyed the breathtaking scenery (or I did, anyway) and beautiful weather. 

 

 

We took a quick break to throw some rocks in the Clark Fork River.

 

 

And then just like that, after a few of the fussiest, craziest hours of the whole trip, we were home.  And the epic road trip was over.  And it was time to unload the van.  And once again there were dishes to wash and beds to make and floors to keep clean.  And yes, it was good to be home and see Daddy (we missed him so much!), but I can't say that I wasn't planning our next grandiose undertaking as we pulled into the driveway...

 





Day Seventeen: I begin to realize I might be crazy

Denver, CO to West Yellowstone, MT

9 am to 10 pm

(Yes, I realize that this drive should have taken us a mere 11 hours tops, but this was the craziest day of travel by far.)

Some of the day's highlights:

• Got pulled over coming into Wyoming.  Somehow managed to look pitiful enough to forego the speeding ticket I deserved.
• Was distracted for the remainder of the Cheyenne outskirts, and didn't realize I needed gas until I was too far to go back to Cheyenne.
• Ended up in a little town called Chugwater that doesn't have a gas station anymore (you can find out why here.)
• Was sent to the home of a lady named Belinda who sold me at least 3 gallons of gas for $5 (again, I must have looked pretty pitiful with my car full of kids--I was beginning to look quite bedraggled by this point in the day).
• Drove and drove and drove across Wyoming.
• Realized it was a stupid thing to have ever even mentioned the existence of a place called "Yellowstone" to the kids, and that maybe we were setting our sights just a tad high on this one.
• Reached the East park entrance as the sun was going down.
• Saw some bison, took a couple pictures, and mostly just drove across Yellowstone in the dark (oh yeah, and almost hit two huge bison that were standing in the middle of the road just around a curve).
• Collapsed into our beds in West Yellowstone.

Ps. Please don't judge my parenting based on the apparent mental instability of those pictured here.

 

Day Sixteen: Tucumcari, NM to Denver, CO

Travel time: 9:30 am to 9:30 pm

Word of the Day:  "uwp-ess" (Wonder Pets, which was Jude's number one most requested DVD of the trip)

Two highlights of the day were:

Number One--my friend Tamra.  Despite the visit being far too short and unfortunately accompanied by vomit, it was fabulously refreshing to get a little peek into her life now.  Here are (some of) our silly kids together:

Number Two: Skies.  Probably what I miss the most about living in the Southwest.

Day Fifteen: Athens, TX to Tucumcari, NM

Travel time: 10 am to 7pm, plus an extra hour in the parking lot of the Quality Inn on the phone with Hotels.com, trying to cancel my reservation which had been for a hotel with a functional pool. 

Word of the day: gas (ps. your car needs it to run, and it makes the children very nervous when "Distance to Empty" gauge reads ZERO)

Long story short, we swapped hotels for one with a pool, which had been the only motivating factor for buckling the kids up after each potty stop.  We swam, we slept, we left.

Day Fourteen: Fake it 'till you make it

If you are a parent with children under 5 years old, I think you might be able to identify with this post.  Have you spent hours lately relaxing in a hammock?  Drifting in and out of a nap and leisurely swaying in the breeze?  Yeah, I didn't think so.

When Hank climbed into this hammock, I don't think he intended to be followed by three wiggly critters.  But they found him, and what followed was slightly less relaxing than the ideas above.  Instead of abandoning ship, Hank said "Let's all pretend we're sleeping!" I think that bought him about 12 seconds of stillness. 

 

I have a lot of great parenting memories of just this sort of thing.  Kids whining and fussing in the car?  Here, let's turn on some loud music and pretend we're all having a great time.  Running through a sudden chilly blast of wind and rain, dragging arms and legs and sobs and sand toys and heavy wet beach towels to the shelter of the van?  Quick--get everybody buckled in, and then stand outside for a minute with Hank, command a huge cheesy smile on his face, and then take a self-portrait of the two of us "enjoying" the weather.  We look at the photo, and even though in the moment the smiles on our faces were pretty fake,  we have added smiles to a memory that otherwise would have been pure misery. 

 

Is this how we learn to be thankful in all circumstances?  I'm not at all talking about putting on a facade for the purpose of fooling others.  If we paste a fake smile on our faces, and hold it there for a minute, will it help a real smile wiggle its way to the surface?  If we say "thank you" out of duty, will it cause us to stop and recognize the undeserved gift of the situation? 

 

So when you see me in the grocery store checkout line with a busted yogurt container all over my shoes, Jude calling Bali with my phone, and Eva helping by throwing eggs up onto the conveyer belt, you'll understand why I might answer you by saying, "Just wonderful, and how is your day going?" 

Day Thirteen: Catching up with Cousins

Day Twelve: (Learn about first so later you can) Remember the Alamo

I. Love. This. Picture.

Here is my big, strong Henry, being a helper and fabulous big brother.  And here is Jude, my squishy-cheeked snuggle bug, along for the ride, taking it all in cheerfully, and trusting his big brother to take him wherever he needs to go.

 Hank always does such a good job explaining things. He read many of the inscriptions to the kids, interjecting or paraphrasing as necessary. 

This picture is proof of Hank's token participation in this epic road trip. Here we are on the stretch from San Antonio to the Dallas area, where we headed next to visit my sister and her family.  Can't you tell what a great time we're all having?

Day Eleven: Wild Creatures

I told you about my childhood friend yesterday, and today you'll get a glimpse into our time with Hank's friend from high school.  Rufus and his nephew met up with us to explore the San Antonio Zoo, and we all enjoyed our time with them both.  He and Evangeline quickly became best buddies.

Being surrounded by tamed and caged animals, Hank (not surprisingly) managed to find and catch a wild animal roaming free. We all had fun watching him change from green to brown and then back again.

 

We ended the day with some darn good Texas bar-b-que.

Day Ten: Long-lost Friends

While in San Antonio, Hank and I have both had the opportunity to reconnect with childhood friends. Even though it had been years since either of us had seen our respective friends, there was an instant kindred bond because of the faith we share.

While Hank was in his conference, the kids and I met up with Beth and her kids. I was explaining to my kids how I know Beth when I realized how much of a labyrinthine affiliation it is. I think it goes something like this: when my dad lived in Italy as a teenager, his parents met Beth's grandparents. I believe it was they who introduced my Grandma, my dad, and his siblings to faith in Christ. My dad and his siblings kept in touch with Beth's dad and his siblings, and over the years and periodic visits, my siblings and I became friends with Beth and her siblings. Simple, right?

Anyhow, it was a beautiful thing to be able to sit and talk with each other, to catch each other up on the previous 20 or so years of our lives, and to realize just how many things we have in common. There is a reason for a familiarity that goes beyond our dads' history of friendship or the fact that we are both stay-at-home-moms. We are different parts of the same body! There are many places throughout the Bible where this concept is illustrated, but the basic is this:
All of you together are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of that body. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
I love this thought! I am not on my own in this life! Here is this other woman, a couple thousand miles away from my life, raising her kids and wiping jelly smears from the walls, yet she is walking the same road I am. My family is so spread out--just to see one sister, my parents, and a friend who is like a sister, I will have driven over four thousand miles. I don't like the fact that my siblings and I are all living such separate lives! But moments like these remind me that even though I don't necessarily have physical proximity with any of my family, I am surrounded by and connected to a much larger aggregate of spiritual family that is almost wherever I go.

Day Nine: Lubbock to San Antonio

11 am to 6 pm

Word of the Day: Daddy!

We departed West Texas with rotated tires and clean oil (thanks, Dad!) and tidied up van (thanks, Mom!).  It wasn't easy to say goodbye after such a short visit, but our motivation was to see Daddy!  Hank was on his way to San Antonio via plane, and we needed to get there to meet him! 

 

 

 

 

Day Eight: Fun with Grammy and Grampa

We have been blessed with such a dynamite family.  My parents graciously welcomed the pack of noisy hooligans from Idaho and invited the extended family over for dinner and entertainment.  As I look over the pictures from our one full day in Lubbock, I realize just how many fun things we packed in to those few hours! 

 

We soaked up sunshine at the playground with Grammy

We played card games with Grampa

We improved our handshake techniques with Great Grandpa

We learned multiple variations of handshake techniques with Great Uncle Steve

We bid au revoir

We snuggled good night

 

Day Seven: Cloudcroft, NM to Lubbock, TX and Carlsbad Caverns

Travel time: 11:30am to 9:15pm, with a couple hours at Carlsbad Caverns

 

Word(s) of the day: Behind Schedule

 

 

 

Before we hit the road, we took a mini-hike in the gorgeous sunny morning

 (this is the view looking down on Shelley's parents' house)

Listening to the ranger and being told the cave rules

Stalagmites

Stalactites

Being scientists (but not touching!)

We were so glad Aunt Shelley and Kacie decided to join us on our underground adventure!

 

 

After our cave tour, Shelley and Kacie returned home to Cloudcroft and the Willis contingent pressed on to Grammy and Grampa's house.  We arrived late, ate dinner late, had tickles and bedtime stories late, and (you guessed it!) slept late the next morning.

 

 

 



 

Day Six: Roots

 

Sunday afternoon after church at Mayhill Baptist, we took a little drive.  We showed the kids the house where I grew up, and Shelley and I reminisced about pretending we were being chased by mountain lions and bears.  Only in my very earliest memories was Shelley not there--we met when I was just four years old.  After our drive, we took the kids to the elementary school playground.  Of course, all of the play equipment has been replaced since I played there as a kindergartner, but so much was still the same.  It brought out memories I forgot I had.  As we sat there and watched our kids play together, we remembered the stories we made up twenty years ago about where we would live when we grew up.  Of course, our plan was to live next door to each other so our kids could play together all the time.   That part of our wish didn't come true, but we'll enjoy every moment we can get!