Highlights from Bolivia

So here are some of the highlights from our trip to Bolivia... Word images first. Pictures below (can you tell Enoch stole the show?)

-introducing Enoch to his Bolivian family
-silpancho 3 times in a week (and pique macho besides!)
-watching the kids play together with their friends and cousins
-mineragua almost every day
-being able to be at another family camp
-Josh and Jenny playing the guitar and harmonica together
-seeing Jenny and Erik's new place
-hearing the familiar bird calls and walking the streets of Cochabamba again
-a trip up to the Cristo statue with the Aimers
-a date with Jenny and Erik to the Joy Ride cafe
-coffee with the Sandovals
-a night at Bouganvillas hotel
-prayer time with the ladies
-staying with the Forbess family
-being able to visit with so many families in the church

Back to Bolivia

We just recently returned from a whirlwind trip to Bolivia... 7 different flights on different days + 7 different places to sleep + 2 meals a day with people in the church + a ten day travel span + four kids = I don't know... insanity? As I type it all out, I'm wondering how we did it... but I'm so glad we did! When we started talking about Josh going to Bolivia for his yearly visit to the teams/churches, I told him I thought it was really important that the kids and I go too... to encourage/see people, introduce Enoch, have more closure.

It was harder than I thought it would be... being back. Cochabamba still feels more 'familiar' than Quito... I know the streets, the shopping, the public transportation better than Quito. It was so good seeing teammates and brothers and sisters in the church, but it reminded me how much I still miss everyone.

And yet at the same time, it was good. Good to renew friendships and to talk in person. Good to see brothers and sisters remaining faithful to the Lord. Good for the kids to be able to see their friends and teachers. Good to be with family and see their new home. Good for the kids to realize this was 'home'... and now our place is elsewhere.

It was good to come 'home' to Quito and to get that feeling of relief as you walk through the door of your home. Good to see the kids excited about going back to school and seeing all their friends and teachers that they have here. Good to come 'home' to Nana and Papa being back.

Michaela had a melt down one night after we left Cochabamba. She cried and cried about how she wished she could be close to Jubilee. We talked about how she has made new friends and would miss them if she did not see them... how people's lives change. She said she wished all her friends could be together. Welcome to the life of the global nomad, my child. Only in heaven.

My sister shared this quote on one of her recent blogs and it truly expresses my heart. Alfred, Lord Tennyson: "I am a part of all that I have met; yet all experience is an arch wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades for ever and for ever when I move.”