Bye Bye USA

We have returned to China. For Chyloe and the boys it ended up being a 4 month visit. I was back and forth, but was there for the last 2 months. Altogether we will have endured 32 airplane hours (60 for me as I had another round trip to China mixed in), 75 car travel hours, 9 states, over a dozen different beds, and I was asked, “so, how’s China?” 9,286 times. Being spread out over 2 months it did not seem like we were constantly running around (except for the last week and a half). We got to spend 10 days in Florida, and plenty of time in Ohio and Virginia. Living in someone else’s house for 2 months (4 months for Chyloe and the boys) can be an exhausting endeavor. We never get to decide when and what to eat, others people must constantly be taken into consideration when choosing what TV channel on which to stop, the temperature inside the house is never determined by us, and the obvious situation which is not so obviously a problem - there are always other people around. That might sound strange coming from someone who lives in the world’s most populous nation, but at least in China I can close the door, pick up the remote, crank up the heat, and tell my wife what I want for dinner.

It sounds worse than it really is. We were blessed in many ways on this furlough. Jeremy and Summer gave us complete reign over their Toyota Corolla. It gets great gas mileage, and they supplied us with a pair of car seats for the kids. Don set up our old bed in the upstairs bedroom; it is the greatest bed in the history of beds. The people and groups we visited took good care of us. The friends we were able to visit are an enormous encouragement in our lives. And the best blessing of all is that our kids are the most flexible kids, no, people, on the face of the earth.