What time is it? It's Home Assignment time!!!

In the mission world, what we used to call "furlough" has now been replaced with "Home Assignment"...I'm not sure why the change occurred or if it makes missionaries feel more cozy knowing they have been assigned some time at home, but regardless of the name change, it's something our family both looks forward to and dreads at the same time.

Home Assignment (HA) for us means packing, unpacking, suitcase maladies, tired kids, tired parents, shoes off, shoes on, laptops out, head counting, hungry kids, hungry parents, seeing family, saying goodbye to family, seeing friends, saying goodbye to friends, road trips, swimming in clean pools, Family Camps, eating in our favorite restaurants, grocery shopping for new items, spending exorbitant amounts of money on said new grocery items and favorite restaurants, great teaching time at church, thunderstorms, gaining weight--also from said new grocery items and favorite restaurants, doctor appointments, catch up on vaccinations, dentist appointments, new shoes (we can finally get rid of the ones with holes!), new clothes, new toys, morning cups of coffee with family, dates with the husband, dates with the kids, cousin time, riding bikes, running on running trails, fishing with Grandpa, sadness over saying goodbye to Grandparents, overweight luggage, overweight parents, talking through the goodbyes and the memories, anticipation of arriving back in Peru to our own house, rooms, beds, and friends.

And we do this every couple of years...we wonder why we don't do it more often, and then we wonder why we do it so often.  This cycle of ups and downs--physically, emotionally and spiritually. It's not particularly restful, it's not at all good for our physique, it's not cheap, and it certainly isn't easy. Six weeks is too short, nine months is too long.  Visiting all of our supporters isn't realistic, and only visiting for a couple days isn't fair.

It's a juxtaposition of emotions that, regardless of how it makes us feel each time, is trumped by the way it makes others feel.  This is not for us, as much as it is for our Grandparents, parents, siblings, cousins and friends--people who support us, love us, and want to share Peru with us.  And so we'll do it all over again in a couple of years, this mutually enriching time of sharing, loving, being loved, supporting, and being supported by the people on this earth who mean the most to us.