Coming Home...by Lucy

We are back at the Ranch after almost a month of time in the United States. It was a bittersweet trip for me as the first part of our time in Indiana was spent at the hospital with my grandma, and then attending her funeral. Many mentioned that it was definitely God's timing for me to be there for her at that time. She had two goals for the last few months. One was to reach her 96th birthday (which was October 26), and the other was to see our family. Then she was apparently ready to "go home." Praise God that "home" for her is with Jesus, and we can rest peacefully, knowing that is where she is spending all her days now.

We also spent quite a bit of time making presentations about Fishers of Men and our home here at Refuge Ranch. If I added it up correctly, and include Aaron and Joanna's presentations to the high school Spanish classes, I believe we made 22 presentations! Aaron kept saying that we weren't getting to do much "vacationing" on this vacation! We replied that it really wasn't a vacation! We felt that it was important to speak with as many people as possible about what God is doing in Mexico. I'm hoping, of course, that many of you will feel the call for short term mission projects, and come visit us here while you work! If you need any information about how to go about planning a trip, just ask! We are all willing to help prepare people to serve God here at the Ranch or on an Evangelical Medical Mission Crusade.

One thing we really enjoyed while we were home was all the good food. We love Rosa and her good cooking, but it is also nice to have some of the comfort foods we grew up with. Don't even ask how much weight we all gained while we were home! Mom made peanut brittle, chocolate covered pretzels, and other goodies to munch on, besides all the wonderful meals she prepared. Mark's mom also made some requested favorites of ours. I also got to do some cooking myself, which I don't do much here because we don't have our own refrigerator.

Spending Thanksgiving with both our families was an extra blessing we received while we were home. We got the traditional foods from both our families since Mark's parents came to share it with us too. We met our new neice (Luiza from Brazil is an exchange student staying with my brother's family), and reconnected with all the other neices and nephews who may have not remembered us after a year away!

We also spent plenty of time with our friends. This was interesting because Aaron's friends are now driving so they came to pick him up and take him out. Before, the parents were doing all the driving! Joanna's friends planned a whole weekend at Emma's so she could also see KitKat (Our cat that the Groff's graciously adopted when we moved). Mark and I also got to take some time to just hang out, go shopping, and eat out at favorite restaurants.

Lots of other things happened while we were home. We have a critter story to share in a future blog, a brand new baby was born (I have friends I graduated with who are now grandparents...How is that possilbe?!), and a new Walmart came to Logansport (It's a small town so that is big news!). I got to drive again, Mark got new workboots, Aaron got to help his grandpa on the farm, and Joanna got to amaze all her friends and family with her expertise of the Spanish language and learn some Portugese from Luiza. We thank all of you who greeted us so warmly and treated us so well while we were there.

It was wonderful to be home, and yet, it was good to get back home here to Refuge Ranch too. I sent Julie a message one day in which I commented about being "home," and that I would share more with her when we got "home." Home is now more than one place, and not really any place. We feel at home here, with the comfort of our own beds and pillows (Remember what it is like to sleep in someone else's bed and use someone else's pillows?), with our own stuff. But there are days when we miss home in the states too... when we can't seem to have a real conversation with people we care about because of the language barrier, or we miss a birthday or holiday back home, or we need some spiritual nourishment and can't understand the sermon at church! When we were in the states, there were days when I wished I could be two places at once. Reading about Thanksgiving here at the Ranch in Julie's blog made me realize that I hated missing that Thanksgiving too. Our first morning back, Ana and Danny greeted us with arms open wide, waiting to be picked up and hugged.

That is kind of how I picture it will be when we get to our real home in Heaven. Jesus will be excited to see us and pick us up in His arms and hug us tight! And we will truly feel "at home" because we will truly be HOME. He'll have our pictures on His refrigerator, and He'll have rooms prepared just for us with our favorite pillows on the beds. He'll prepare our favorite meals and it will feel like the best family reunion ever. I can not wait!

"But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:20