have you fallen off the face of the earth?

This is the question I've been getting. And the answer is no. Sort of. We got home last week from our major road trip and we began our homeschool year on Monday. So, while I'm here, I definitely have been very busy trying to get things straightened out and children schooled and straightened out.

Our trip was great. It was fast and felt like forever all at the same time. There were wonderful moments- like the whole family playing UNO, and Buddy beating us fair and square! And not so wonderful moments like being stuck without electricity and a broken slide-out in inner city Pittsburgh. At night.

We met some wonderful people and heard their wonderful stories. I was humbled by the sweet hearted family planting a church in the middle of the city and by the hard life of a woman I met in the bathroom at an Arkansas truck stop. These stories open you up, revealing the hurt and beauty of humanity. And how we are all the same in our hurts, but all so very different at the same time.

We gave away lots of boards and t-shirts and magazines. All that 'stuff' opened up some pretty great doors for conversation.

We saw the beauty of the earth over and over. Just when I thought I was in the most beautiful place ever, we would turn the corner and be delighted by even more beauty.

The kids were road warriors. I was impressed by their flexibility and patience.

And by Moonpie's eagerness to share who we are and what we were doing with everyone. I'll never forget the look on the waitress's face in Little Italy Baltimore when Moonpie told her that we were there to share God's love with her. And that "God loves you very much". She was very quiet for a second and then softly told Moonpie, "well, that's just beautiful".

And it was.