Coming Home

Thanks to the computer saavy of others, I have been able to post blogs to our missions team site during this most recent stay in Thailand. I would invite you to check that out at Highview To Thailand so you can get a feel for how Megan Ogilvie and I fared during our time at Hot Springs, about 30 minutes north of Chaing Mai, where 15 of the world's most beautiful children live.

We are packing now. Today at 1:50 p.m. local time (1 in the morning for those back home) we will get in a plane and and begin the long journey home. And while, physically that should only take us about an hour to do the final gathering of all our belongings, emotionally, spiritually, I have deliberately set my heart to that task starting three days ago.

I needed to do that because I had to be sure. There was something about this visit that was even more compelling, more separating than others. Perhaps it was the way this time I felt more like a family member than a guest. Perhaps it was the heat that laid me low and forced a complete shut down of any big thinking or mental processing. Perhaps it was the particularly demanding and draining season I have experienced in my ministry these past months. Whatever the factor, there was for me this time a sense of being lulled into just staying and being quiet and gentle among these quiet and gentle people for a long, long time. A lot longer than these mere days set aside.

I hope my honesty doesn't hurt those I love and love to live with and serve with back in my real world. It's not you, it's me.

God is astonishingly personal. He has moved in and breathed cool fresh wind into my limp and desperate soul. He pursued me all the way to Asia again, and did not let me out of His sight for a minute, stayed hovering always around me and in me and whispered encouragement after encouragement, love after love, joy after joy.

And He has helped me point my heart towards home again.

Last night I got to talk on the phone with Abby for the first time since being away. She was very excited to tell me about the new caterpillar she discovered on our front porch and how she was able to pick it up so that it wouldn't get away. I told her that I was sending a hug over the phone and asked her if she could feel it. She said, yes she could. Then I told her I was sending a kiss over the phone and asked her if she could feel it. She said, yes she could. And I asked her to give Zachary as big, mwwwwaaa kiss on the face for me and she said, yes she would.

So today, in just a few hours, I will be on my way back to all God has called me to be and do for Him in Southwestern Ontario. I will have more memories and gifts and filled up places in my heart to bring to you all. I am not the woman who left. She was exhausted and sucked dry. I am now somehow transformed into something useful again.