"Welcome Home"

As we passed the sign welcoming us to the state of Tennessee Alex yelled enthusiastically, "Aden, we are home!" Although Alex only spent the first 2 1/5 years of his childhood, and Aden merely the first 9 days of his life in Tennessee, my boys very much enjoyed their homecoming this past week.

We were able to show the boys many of the places that housed the first moments of our little family, and to nostalgically walk down roads we have not seen in six long years. However, the best part of being back home in Tennessee was the familiar faces of friends. It did our hearts well to see these people from our pasts. When we moved to Elizabethton, Tenn. we had only been married two short weeks, and now we have been married for over a decade. So many things have transpired during these years that have changed us as human beings, but in many ways things are still untouched in Elizabethton. From the iconic covered bridge, to the local newspaper I wrote for, time has not seemed to wear away at these memories.

Neal Bachman, Rich's first boss in TN, blessed our boys with a ride in his airplane. We were able to go on hikes in the snow in the mountains, we saw a bear up close and personal, and we were able to worship with our old church family at EAC. We also were treated to a special lunch at the Bachman home with old friends. After lunch we enjoyed another reunion with fellow missionaries, the Schmidts, who started out in this process long before us in Kenya, Africa. Both reunions offered wisdom, and strength for a continued journey.

We will forever remember Tennessee as the place in which we grew up...quickly. We cut our teeth on some of life's most direct blows, and greatest blessings in the rugged mountains of Tennessee. It is interesting how it can still feel so familiar after all these years, it has been woven into the very fabrics that make up our beings. It is home.