Flying into Minnesota...the land of 10,000 lakes. I have missed the water!!!


Taylor's Falls...I actually get to go hiking and see green again!


Me and my brother William

Well, I am back in Minnesota. I have been overwhelmed at how good everything tastes, how green everything looks and how fresh the air smells. I'm telling you, everyone needs to leave their comfort zone for awhile to realize how good they have it.

I am in the middle of a very busy month of speaking and traveling and getting everything in order to be at school in a month (yikes!). It's been a strange adjustment though. I know all people experience a hard time transitioning back to their home country if they've been gone awhile but it's another thing to actually walk through the process. So, for all of you who have friends who are missionaries or military or travel a lot, please do me a favor and take time to just listen to them, to let them ramble on and on and look at their pictures and feel free to ask some good questions. Because, chances are, like me, they may be feeling a little bit awkward, a little lonely and a little out of place.

It's so good to see my family again. My mom, her husband Mike and my brother William are all staying at my grandma's house for the summer (as they are in the process of moving...so say a little prayer for them as they are in the transitioning process as well!) so we all get to hang out and just BE together. It's so wonderful to sit on the deck and feel the cool breeze, listen to the chatter of familiar voices, smell the hamburgers cooking on the grill, hear my brother tearing around on the road behind the house on the scooter and see the dogs running through the yard. I've missed these moments.

4th of July reflections

I was thinking back over the last few years of my 4th of July experiences and have realized that they have been anything but typical. There have been no fireworks or parades and sometimes not even Americans! These are my 4th of July experiences over the last 4 years:

2004: Uzbekistan. I watched a baseball game between the Uzbek national team and some of the American military. Needless to say, the Americans schooled the Uzbeks (9-1).

2005: In a car between Michigan and Indiana. I was driving back from visiting some friends in Grand Rapids and made it to my mom's house in Indiana just in time to see a few fireworks on the horizon. Not very festive at all.

2006: The U.S. military base in Northern Afghanistan. The Afghans almost didn't let me past the checkpoint because they thought I was the translator for the other 4 Americans with me. We did have hamburgers and potato salad and watched CNN. This was probably the most patriotic 4th of July I've ever had as I spent it with people who were making a living working for our country.

2007: In Thailand having surgery. Yep, I was having a colonoscopy this 4th of July. (by the way, I'm parasite free and they found only a mild hiatal hernia and a small kidney stone. Yippee!). The rest of the afternoon I slept off the anesthetics and then boarded a plane to start my 2 day journey back to America. I didn't even see one American that day!

So, where in the world will I be next year? Only time will tell!