from Cyprus to Oregon...we are on the move

Nicole came home from her 6 weeks in Cyprus. Jessica and I picked her up from the airport in Frankfurt. She was pretty tired from the travel. I missed her allot as you can imagine. But actually I did not miss her as much as I thought I would. I knew she was happy and growing. I guess I was just so glad for this, it took over any personal missing of her. Does that make any sense? When she is happy, I'm happy. I know I can let go, as long as I am sure she is doing well. And she was doing great. Her time there was amazing. And she was very inspired and creative there. She wrote many songs and did some good painting. And I found myself growing closer to Sarah. Sarah was happy to have more of my time. So I guess that is pretty good too! And now my thoughts are on my trip to America. In only a few weeks Philip and I will travel to Oregon. I'm glad to be traveling with Philip. I wanted to spend more time with him. I feel like both the boys are going through a hard time. They want to break away from the family. They want more independence. This is normal and natural. But they should not be unteachable. They have loving and wise parents. We do not want to control them, but we do want to help them make wise choices. We will put up boundaries like the amount of time they spend on the computer. We will still encourage them to read, do their homework, and clean up their rooms. And if they are close to us, they will be more receptive to our input. So taking Philip out to eat shrimp, and shopping to buy a new baseball cap is an important investment. And I’m also very happy to be seeing my family. I could get sad when I think of how short the time will be, but I’m just not going to think about what I cannot change. Instead I’ll just try to enjoy every moment. And I already plan on returning next spring. So I’m happy I’ll not need to fit everything in at one time. I want to spend most of my time just holding my dad’s hand. That will be my highest priority. Everything else is good…but that one thing is necessary. We will bring our work cloths and spend a few hours with Mom in the garden. We will drink tea with Shelley and take Dianna out to breakfast and we will want to see a movie with Rick. And naturally see the rest of the family. I'm afraid the time will go by very fast. But I praise God for the opportunity to come. And my suitcase is being packed today. I'm also so glad to have Philip's luggage space!