home agian, home again, jiggity-jig

As we leave for home our bags are packed with beads and wood carvings, the laptop is bursting with images to help us remember and tell our stories, and our minds hold both memories of what has been and resolve for what could be. Quotes like 'this is the best day of my life', 'can we have a Fanta', and 'there's another casserole' (an attempt at Anna finding the correct word for carcass while on safari) conjure memories as vivid and colorful as the best of our photos and we are so grateful for having shared this adventure as a family.
The richest of what we take home with us is not particular 'African' or brought about by any one encounter or experience. It was found in the bright morning air of the safari, on the rattling clatter of the ancient train and in the dappled afternoon light beneath the canopy of trees. What we most deeply valued and had the clarity to perceive while away together was the extraordinary gift of being together.
This way of being is what we most want to both remember and give ourselves to as we come back to all that is familiar to us. We are discovering that routines, familiarity and our tendency to be just way too into ourselves, often cause us to miss the wealth that we have in being together. So while I know we will mess up more than we will succeed, we want to take what we discovered, or at least were reminded of in Africa, and live it out here with our family, friends, work and church community. In this, we are anticipating coming home with the same fervor we had in leaving it two month ago. See you soon.