FAMILY & FRIENDS OR 'MOVING HOMEWARD'

Note: As with the last blog entry, while I'm at "home" now in the Black Hills I still feel the need to catch up a bit and say a word about my time with friends and family.

On the evening of Saturday, August 4 our airplane landed in Regina, Saskatchewan and after being away for three weeks we re-united with our son Elijah. We had a few days to relax, do a bit of laundry, reconnect with Elijah, attend church at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Regina (and coincidentally bump into a friend and past bishop of the South Dakota synod of the ELCA!) and pack up the van once again. For some reason after three weeks in Europe the van seemed much bigger than I remembered it.

On Monday morning we made the four and a half hour drive from Elisabeth's parents in Regina to my parents in Minot, North Dakota. It was a brief and somewhat bittersweet twenty-four hours in Minot since it might be one of the last times staying at my childhood home (it's now up for sale… if you're interested in buying a house you can find the details here). We also visited my Great-Grandmother Thelma.

On Tuesday morning we packed up yet again and caravanned with my parents to the Twin Cities where we arrived at a home we had rented for ten days in Roseville, Minnesota (just north of St. Paul). Early on as I was planning my sabbatical these ten days were going to be a quiet time for the family at some small cabin where we could decompress after the summer's travels.

There was certainly decompression which happened, but it turned into a wonderful reunion of family and friends. Besides my parents, we were also joined by Elisabeth's brother Ben (who lives in south Minneapolis), my sister Katie and her husband Kazu (who live in Japan and teach through the Lutheran Church), my brother Kyle and his wife Kristi and their two kids Hailey & Carter (who live not far from Roseville in Jordan, Minnesota), my grandmother Edythe and step-grandfather John (who live in Tampa, Florida). Fortunately our plans of getting a small cabin were revised to find a four-bedroom house with a family-friendly swimming pool.

During our ten days in the Twin Cities we also met up with many other friends who live in the area (see photo album for just a few of the highlights caught on film). We went to a Twins game (and sang at a Twins game), saw the Como Park Zoo, worshipped at Christ Church Lutheran where Elisabeth's godmother Kristine is a pastor and I still found a bit of time to catch up on some reading.

After these ten action-packed but also relaxation-filled days, we packed up the van for the last time, drove Kazu to the airport so he could catch a flight back to Japan and headed west for the Black Hills.

As we saw the Black Hills in the distance, Psalm 121 spoke the words of our hearts as well as anything:

I lift up my eyes to the hills - from where will my help come? My help comes from the Living God who made heaven and earth. This Living God will not let your foot be moved; this Living God who keeps you will not slumber. This Living God who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Living God is your keeper; the Living God is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Living God will keep you from all evil; the Living God will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.