Hey, how did they know???
Ok, it’s been awhile since we got back from the States but…has it really been over 4 months??? Time flies!!! And it flew during our summer 5-week visit back to the States, too! This post is dedicated to the trip back home in the summer and everyone we had a chance to see. After being in Ecuador for a year, we had really come to miss some things in the States…and there were some things we realized we didn’t miss at all! A couple things we had sorely missed:
- seeing our parents and family. Sam’s nephews have grown so much and are serious clowns – it was fun to spend some time with them and the family. Plus, our parents were their usual overly helpful selves and helped us out in more ways than we can count! Family dinners were awesome…Tom still knows how to throw down on rib-eye’s and jumbo shrimp!!!
- seeing folks from our old congregation!
- Thanks for the awesome Bellevue dinner at our fav Italian place Mike & Sandy!
- Teresa Murray and the Nichol’s family somehow endured putting up with us in their homes in Redmond – thanks guys! Yes, I purposely left out Howard because he ran off to Europe while we there…supposedly for work but I have my doubts… :)
- eating favorite foods at our old favorite restaurants (I can still taste the sushi and Thai!)
- TENNIS!!!!!!!!!!! Although I found you just don’t play as well as you used to after a year off
- driving on SMOOTH roads…although it’s really such a shame that there are speed limits!! Yes, there is a story behind this which we will not be expounding upon in this venue… :-D
- seeing movies on the BIG-screen (haven’t seen anything on more than a 17” TV here)
- the beauty of the NorthWest…the weather was GORGEOUS most of the time we were there…we couldn’t have asked for better!
We enjoyed seeing and visiting ALL OF YOU and we really appreciated the hospitality shown to us (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE)! We took tons of pics, but alas, they wouldn’t all fit in here. The following is just a glimpse of our time in the US:
Leaving our beloved Ecuadorian mountains…
Home sweet I-5…
Another beloved mountain we had been missing
Teresa & gang helped us very quickly fall back into the daily Starbucks routine…
First up…family weekend in Birch Bay for the Schleicher’s 35th!!!
Uh-oh, all 3 sisters together, this could be some trouble…
Catching some warm Pac NW sunshine!
This is the ‘good looking couple’ of the fam…
Fam get togethers always mean LOTS OF FOOD! Fresh crab legs and salmon baby!! Oh salmon how I missed thee…
Step aside, step aside…this man knows what he’s doing!
In deeeeep concentration…yeah, those are checkers - its the simple pleasures
Got to see and visit w/ so many familiar faces!
Uh-oh, here’s trouble…wait for it…
…and the evidence…told ya.
Coincidence! Lorna Smith happened to be visiting from Prague, Czech Republic at the same time!! Was great to see her again.
Old pals from Seattle Central cong!! Wish there was space for all the pics, sorry! Thanks Simeon for inviting us to your grad paaarrrteee! Congrats again!
Girl time…
Hearing talks from Bro Lett of the GB at the DC…wow…
Great evening with some Olympia folks…
Blaine & Chandler doin’ a little jam session at Tom & Jane’s house…
…and the rest of us ‘singing’. The expression on Dad’s face tells you how ‘good’ we were…
At Kevin Conners’ place…a couple of our favorite ppl
The rowdy table
Nah, I don’t believe him either…
One of my favorite little people
(miss you guys already Sun’s!)
Ok, another one…
FS in Seattle Central with dear friends
It was perfect weather for classic cars
Alki beach in the evening
MC Ride w/ Kevin & Keith
Dinner on the water at Steilacoom with my ping pong nemesis’ family… :)
Now this is something I really miss…a beautiful summer night on the Kirkland waterfront! Great shot, Sam!
Well, during all those good times and enjoying what we had missed, we did find a few things we DIDN’T miss about the US:
- the ridiculous cost of living/being there. I just couldn’t help not choking every time I paid more than $10 for a meal (ridiculous!!). I loved the old fav restaurants but were they always that expensive?? Then I went seriously bug-eyed when I saw the Visa bill shortly after returning. For what we spent there in a month, we could easily live 3-4 months here, probly longer
- everyone is always running running running all the time. We definitely don’t miss the fast pace of life back home…that leads to the next one:
- not having time for field service! I worked quite a bit back there and didn’t get much chance to get out in service - felt really weird! I missed it!
Speaking of field service, I am happy to report that in August, when we got back here from the US, I finally took the plunge and applied to join my wife in the regular pioneer work. I started Sep 1 without having the official approval yet, but that eventually arrived in Oct (yeah, I was as shocked as you are right now). I must admit that I never realized just how good it would feel to spend this much time in the ministry. I had been auxiliary pioneering most of the first year we were here but its interesting what a difference it makes to go from 50 to 70 hours and be part of this special ‘team’ of full time volunteers that is spearheading the preaching work throughout the world. My love and enjoyment for the ministry has deepened over the last year+ in general but especially so in just these first 3+ months of pioneering. Often over the years, I admit that I was out in service more because I knew it was the right thing to do than for the ‘joy of the ministry’. Now I find that I actually prefer to be out in service particularly when I’m stressed or worried about something because I find so much joy in it. Then again, no doubt it helps that pretty much every day here (or at least week) you have some kind of amazing experience out in service. In fact, it has almost gotten to be routine. The scene from the other day was: Sam: hey how did service go this morning? Clint: Not bad, I placed a couple of books, oh, and started a study with a really sincere woman who asked some really deep questions. Sam: Mm nice, so anyway, did you pick up that stuff at the store like I asked? Clint: Yeah its right here, so what’s for lunch, anyway? !?!?!?! Seriously?! If that had happened to me a year and a half ago, I would have been bouncing off the walls excited and calling all of my friends to tell them about it. Now I just feel a nice peaceful glow inside like a good morning’s work has been done and looking forward to the next…yep, getting accustomed to it!
Well this post is probably long enough so we’ll end it here. Next post definitely won’t take so long to put up. Love and miss you all and we’ve appreciated your words of support and encouragement. Until next post…
