This was one of the last sights we saw as we headed to the Denver airport on Monday. Sunday, the day before we left the States, we drove from Lori's house to Lianne's house in Denver. We had a few minutes to catch up with her family before heading to their worship gathering at Trailhead that evening. As I sat in the last pew of the sanctuary, I listened to the music and closed my eyes. Tears started falling freely. Almost every moment up to that point had been filled with people. Family, friends, doctors, clerks, waiters, stewardesses, pastors, coworkers, etc. I had been "on" for three weeks straight, and although I had been craving that relational time, I realized that I was suddenly very, very emotionally drained. I was physically drained. I was happy, but also very overwhelmed. I knew I'd be getting on a plane the next day that would take me to the southern hemisphere. I sat and listened to the music. I sang. I cried. I worshiped God for his goodness. I thanked him for loving me. I thought about the incredible blessings I have been given. We sang, "How Great Thou Art".
Oh Lord, my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
God has been good to us. He's been good regardless of how I feel or whether or not I feel blessed. But I do feel blessed. That night I felt so loved. My heart felt so full. We took communion during the worship and I felt like I had time to consider all the events of the previous three weeks. I sat there thinking about how perfect it was to be there, in that moment. Instead of having to pack the entire three weeks full of people and things and then get a plane, I felt like I was able to consider it, enjoy it, and be thankful for it while I was still there. I'm not finding the right words to write about how I felt that night, but it will suffice to say I was happy.
As an anniversary gift to Kevin, I gave in to his request for our "final meal" in the States: Chipotle!! Now, I like the place, but it's almost impossible to walk away from there not filling stuffed! In fact, until that night, Kevin had never walked out of a Chipotle and said, "Man, I feel good!" (He made it a point to say it that night!) Lianne and Jeff and their three kids, Garrett, Alison and Ashley were with us and we had a great time with them. When I was living in Manhattan during college, Jeff and Lianne were living in Wichita, less than two hours from me. They were the closest family to me so I was in their home at least once a month. I had my own room, always a few incredible meals, and got to practice my parenting skills while they went out on dates. I changed diapers for all three kids. Garrett's now 15 and taller than my own husband! I've learned so much from my sister over the years, mostly by watching her live her life, love her husband and parent her children wisely. Kevin and I both have a great amount of respect for them. We've been encouraged by them and are very grateful. Sunday night and Monday morning, we talked and talked. I didn't want our time with them to end. I think something I love about them is that they aren't perfect. They don't pretend to be. They've been very open about some of their own struggles in life and I guess the honesty they've shown is just really attractive to me. Well, Jeff drove us to the Denver airport and I stared out the window at the snow-capped mountains. Colorado is beautiful. The States are beautiful. It's home. And home is just beautiful!
We checked in and said goodbye to our five suitcases. We ate lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery in the airport and made it through security without any hangups. I still think it's dumb when Emma has to take her little shoes off, but I also understand there are some idiots in this world. While we were waiting to board our plane, I went for a little walk. I entered a bookstore and felt a sudden urge to buy a few more things. When we left the States in April, I didn't really know what I'd be missing. I didn't know how hard it would be to find a magazine in English, let alone a book! I didn't know that I wouldn't be able to read the local newspaper. I didn't know how good it would feel to be able to read the headlines and understand what the story was about without having to look at the picture for help. I left the bookstore without purchasing anything. We bought a USA Today and a few magazines at another store, but I didn't feel the need to buy more books. I'll be reading the ones I have. I'll be fine. I know that. I just recognized that I was a little bit nervous to leave the familiarity of the States.
We boarded our plane and headed to Dallas for our international flight. When we walked out of our gate in Dallas, Kevin started laughing and said, "Your sister is here!" What?? I was so surprised! Elise and the kids came to meet us again and we hadn't even talked about it. She had kept an email from me that had the time of our flight on it, so they waited with us during our short layover! It really meant a lot to me that she would go out of her way to surprise us!
The flight attendants were a little feisty during the entire flight. One new rule was that nobody could have anything on their laps during takeoff. That rule included Emma and her blanket! She did fine, though. After passing us for the umpteenth time, one of the flight attendants, who was being loud anyway, told a passenger he needed to remove his jacket from his lap. Then she said, "Ever since that jerk lit his pants on fire, all the rules have changed." I guess that kind of lightened the mood for everyone. I laughed a little.
Emma fell asleep about an hour after we took off and was still sleeping after the plane landed. Everyone was exiting the plane so I had to carry a sleeping little girl into the airport. We walked to the customs line and were happy to be called into another line. . .the line that lets families go first! Oh, how happy we were to be back! Our total travel time from Denver to Horizontina was about 28 hours and we were poooooooped! Emma went to bed that night at 9 and didn't wake up until noon the next day!! 15 hours that little girl slept! It took about a week for our bodies to readjust to Brazilian time.
So, there it is: our three week vacation to the States:) Ahh, it feels so good to be caught up! Hope you enjoyed traveling with us!!
