No place special... except that it is!






Where did YOU grow up? Was it someplace special? I grew up in a very normal place. I spent a week back in there. In the 70's and early 80's we lived in houses within a few miles of where I was born. The last house was on Popp Road at the edge of Grandpa's 40 acres. Mom, my kids and I enjoyed our stay at my aunt's house right next door to our last "Daddy-built" home. Driving down the road with the afternoon sun glowing through golden, green and orange woods I had to think, "There is really no prettier place in the world."













I'm so thankful for having a chance to grow up on the edge of a cornfield...
on a gravel road lined with trees...
just a jog or bike ride from my grandma's house...
with a blue sky overhead and fresh air blowing through the leaves.










I'm thankful for the closeness of family that provided much perspective on life and shaped my choices for the future.











I'm thankful for the joy of hardworking people caring for each other and for the land they were blessed to own.










I'm thankful for how things fit together in a life I never chose, but have been blessed by each unexpected turn.







God bless you guys!

Comments

  1. Steve FinnellOctober 24, 2012

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One more year

Image
We have been in Mozambique for a very long time. This is our oldest daughter visiting a village a half hour out of town in 2003. This was most of what she knew about the world at the time. This village was new to her, but not scary or strange. Our home was surrounded by a green, lush garden. Tea time under a guava tree was a daily ritual with Rosa and Maria. I admit, this looks a little "colonial" in some ways. But that is just life in Africa: our kids are white and everyone else is not. When you have a picnic this is what it looks like.  By 2012 my kids were happy in their school. The translation project was well under way. I was out and about visiting friends and finding places to share Nyungwe stories. There weren't many. Not many people were interested yet. We were on the verge of a new big thing, but we didn't know it.  After our "furlough" for a year in 2012-13, we returned to Mozambique. Little Zebra Books started publishi
Read more

Getting ticked off

Image
My English speaking friends here all talk about ticking things off their lists. I usually check them off in America, but I find myself ticking off things from the long list today! Paperwork from immigration - check Paperwork #1 from City council - check Taxes completed and signed and photocopied - check Taxes mailed off in a registered envelope to USA - check Lodging for Lilongwe confirmed - check Lodging for Nairobi confirmed - check Lodging for Stockholm confirmed - check What remains... is... a lot! BUT, I have tomorrow... and the weekend.... and the next week! I hope I REALLY get TOTALLY ticked off NEXT week!
Read more

In the evening...

Today I was reminded that at noon in the USA, it is almost nightfall in Mozambique. I spent a few minutes thinking through what nightfall in Tete is like for some of my friends. I'm feeling a little more homesick these days. Africa calls and I can't be there right now. I can remember and breath a prayer, though. Read along and maybe you will, too. The sun sets quickly in the tropics... instead of long, lingering sunsets, the orange ball nearly drops out of sight behind Kalawera mountain at the edge of Tete town. In the shadow of the mountain, the breeze picks up from down river and there is a bit of coolness... or at least a marked relief from the strength of the sun. The light dims and birds fly home. Cattle wander back to the corral moved along by young boys with long thin sticks, dusty clothes and tattered flip-flops.  Women are home and fires are lit for cooking or heating bathwater. There is smoke in the air and that smoke and dust are what make an African sunset s
Read more