What the “Furlough 15” Taught Me About Delight
This past weekend, I returned to Rwanda after a ten-week whirlwind of a home assignment. This is our tenth year in Kigali and probably our seventh or eighth trip back to the US as a family. And if there’s one thing I’ve come to expect upon return, it’s comments about my appearance. “Oh my goodness! […]
How To Welcome Her Back for the First Time
I wasn’t there—yet—but I love to hear the stories of my family waiting for me to deplane after my first year in China. They were able to wait at the gate and had arrived in plenty of time. I didn’t know it, but my sister Laura had flown in from Minnesota so the entire family […]
The Only Sure Thing
They started asking, and we started wondering: are we ready to go back? We had booked our tickets in early January, inked a departure date on the calendar, I mentally packed our house, and we finalized too many lists. I’d even had that recurring nightmare about packing. All sure signs that a transition was ahead. […]
What to Expect on Furlough + {Biscuits} and Sausage Gravy
In the 8 years of serving overseas, we have taken one official furlough, with a few crazy, fast summer visits in between. We’ll take our second (and longest—1 year) furlough starting in 2 weeks. Two weeks! *insert panicked face* Furloughs are tricky. For people like us, we look forward to some rest, seeing loved ones, […]
10 Things To Remember on Furlough
When we came home for furlough last spring, we came with a lot of advice, thoughts, ideas, hopes and plans. The moment of landing stateside was well thought out, happily anticipated and we were ready. Yet, even in our happiness, we were praying for strength, courage and hope. We knew that returning for furlough would be no […]