Trying to Do It All in our Last Week

 Last Saturday's family reunion dinner with my brothers' families. Dad is at the end of the table. 



I should start right off with an update on Dad.  He looks pretty good sitting across the room right now.  He did go to church this morning, one week after the heart attack, and taught Sunday School!  (This was a bit of a surprise to those who had brought "get well soon" cards to pass around and sign.)  Actually, as I write we are sitting together in my parents' family room watching some TV before turning in.  Two dear friends, Charlene Reinke and Louise Carlson stopped by for dinner.  They are people Rebecca and I have known since our childhood and who have kept up with our lives ever since.  Earlier today (this is Sunday), we had lunch with other family, Rebecca's aunt, uncle and cousins (Brad, Jo, Colette, Daniel, Jonathan) with their kids.  They are also people we have known since childhood here and we had a great afternoon catching up.

It is amazing how short a month is to try and see everyone you need to see but haven't for a year and a half.   I would say our attempt to do so has failed despite some heroic efforts and all we can hope is that next year's home leave (3 months) will be sufficient.  This is our last Sunday in America and in fact we only have this Monday and Tuesday to finish up shopping and getting ready for the long journey home on Wednesday.  I will be writing next week's blog from Bujumbura, (I hope our Internet still works.)

The week was full again although as we waited for dad to come out of the hospital Monday and Tuesday, those days seem like a blur of watching the kids, saying good bye to my brothers and family, and going to the hospital for visits in rotating shifts.  I do know that we went shopping one day and took Oren and David to the shopping center by light rail train.  (A thrill for Oren.) And we had a time to visit with Mark and Christine one morning by ourselves.

By Wednesday, everyone had left my parents house except for Rebecca and I.  But we did take an opportunity to spend some time with her family as well.  Rebecca's parents offered to baby sit all of the cousins on their side so that Rebecca's brother and wife could go out to dinner with us.  We had a very nice evening together over Italian food.  It was good to have some time alone with them, and I felt very satisfied that we had been able to have such a gathering with each of our brothers and their wives.  

We also eagerly anticipated Dad's arrival back from the hospital on Wednesday but were disappointed that the doctor did not want to release him until Thursday.  He remained in good spirits and enjoyed visits from friend and family.

Thursday stands out as particularly unusual because we left the kids with their grandparents and Rebecca and I went to Akron, PA, to MCC headquarters.  It is just over an hour away and we wanted to check in and get some business done quickly that would have taken weeks to do over the Internet.  MCC headquarters is a friendly, supportive place and it was good to stop in and talk to Bruce, the Africa region director and other international programs staff.

We had half a dozen meetings before leaving about 4 in the afternoon to head home.  (I did notice that there was extensive preparation going on for memorial services related to the death of Glenn Lapp, the MCCer who was killed in the massacre of aid workers in Northern Afghanistan last week.)

We drove back to Baltimore, hitting an outlet mall along the way to do some shopping for supplies and gifts.  We got back close to Dave and Jean's house and stopped for dinner on what was our second 'date night' this month.  We had a fantastic dinner at a restaurant in Fallston, MD called Josef's.  We got back to the house in time to tuck the kids into bed.  It was a tiring but rewarding day.  We stayed the night at Dave and Jean's house then headed back to my parents' for lunch.  The report from the grandparents was that Oren and David went with them and their cousins to the train museum.  (Oren, as mentioned in many past posting, is obsessed with trains, and this was his second trip there in 3 weeks.)

Friday afternoon was quite a change of pace.  We took the kids bowling with Rebecca's brother's family.  We decided to do this as part of a birthday celebration for Oren's cousin Miriam, but also because it has begun to rain daily this entire past week and this was an interesting indoor activity.  Bowling was definitely a game with too many rules for Oren and he did not get through it without a tantrum.  David, however, thoroughly enjoyed rolling the duckpin balls down the ramp anytime anyone would let him. After that we went back to Rebecca's parents for dinner and cake.  The kids really enjoyed playing and eating together.  

The big surprise ending to the day was a trip to see the Aberdeen Ironbirds (minor league baseball team) play a game, followed by fireworks.  Our kids had never seen a baseball game.  Neither was particularly enthralled by the play on the field but both enjoyed walking around the seats in the small stadium, eating cotton candy, and waving at the mascot.  Oren insisted on staying to the end despite the fact that they went 2 extra innings before winning, because he wanted to see the fireworks that followed.  They both loved the whole experience and stayed up until we got home about 11pm.

One thing that began to change this week is the weather.  It rained a lot this week, something we did not experience prior to this.  It has put a damper on our spirits a bit and combined with the heart attack and the impending day of departure next week, has lent to the mood a feeling of melancholia.  We did enjoy a brief reprieve from the rain Saturday and took advantage of the sun to go with Paul and Gwendolyn, Miriam and Gabriel (Rebeca's bro's family) to their swimming pool.

It was really like paradise, as good as any vacation resort.  Several pools, including 3 kids pools, 2 water slides, diving boards, a log roll game, etc.  Oren and David were in heaven as they are such water lovers.  Oren was like a fish going off the boards and down the slides dozens of times.  David even went down a little slide several times himself (I was at the bottom to catch him).

Saturday evening was Miriam's official Birthday party and we joined several other families at their house to celebrate.  Oren had brought a large stuffed snake all the way from Burundi, like the one he got for Christmas, for Miriam.

We stayed the night once again with my folks after the party.  It was great to see dad in good health and spirits and he told us he would be going to church the next day.

Rebecca and I decided to spend our last Sunday at North Baltimore Mennonite Church where she is a member to say goodbye to friends.  The sermon was particularly interesting: the pastor discussed a biblical worldview on spiritual realities and spiritual warfare, and how that challenges the western intellectual Christian worldview. It generated a lot of discussion afterwards.

It is a very late night and I should be going to sleep.  I am not particularly tired, probably because I am thinking about the fact we are leaving soon.  I admit that it will be nice to be back in a room without suitcases all over the floor and children back to a normal bedtime routine, but I will miss the family and many comforts here.

I wish there was a way to impress on others here how great it is to visit a place like this, to help others see what the blessings are here and not confuse them with entitlements.  I think these are the normal feelings of culture shock.  But I would also want to say how grateful I am that we have many friends and family member here who feel called to be serving others at home, rather than going out on mission.  For many, there may be an appeal or a sense of awe at seeing someone who would go away from home to serve in another culture.  But I deeply appreciate those who are settled, have made a home, and provide hospitality, love, and support to those of us who are transient. It is an even harder thing to remain immersed in this culture while trying to live with integrity and a spirit of service.  I miss being here with those we love, even as I anticipate our return.

Probably the hardest thing about a trip home, as I reflect on preparing to leave, is to realize I am too small 'mentally' to simultaneously embrace both realities.  Right now, Burundi seems like a distant memory, perhaps from childhood, and Baltimore seems so vivid, as if I never left.  But I know from experience that the moment I step off that plane into the warm, dry Burundi air, I will do a mental flip and this place will fade into the distant past again and the reality of Bujumbura will be what I know and remember.  I suppose this is not particularly profound, but I am not looking forward to the jarringly short experience of transitioning between the two.  Perhaps because coming here had the cozy feeling of reentering a nurturing womb, while being there feels like a harsh more naked reality.

I'll let you know how that goes next week...


Postscript:
Several of you have asked how you might support the work of MCC in Burundi and Rwanda, so I am providing the link to a website that talks about our Global Family programs.  These support the Hope School for the Batwa and Mwana Nshuti, the vocational school for street kids in Rwanda.  https://donate.mcc.org/global-family