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And just like that, it’s over.

The planning and anticipation of the past year is over all too soon. The weeks fly by. Faces and smiles and tears blur together in a Impressionist reverie. Was it all real?

When we arrived in the States we were amazed at how natural it felt. Granted, we’ve only been gone a couple of years. But the familiarity even of a place we haven’t lived in 20 years was so powerful, it made the past two years overseas almost seem like a dream. Could we have lived in Indonesia for the last two years? Are we sure we didn’t imagine it?

Yet as strong as the American impressions were and are, there was never any doubt where we are supposed to be now. We’ve had to leave the kids on the other side of the world, in their home culture where they have to continue making their way with work and school. Becoming empty-nesters is rarely easy, but somehow it seems much more intimidating when the distance between your family is a globe rather than a few states. Twenty-five hours of travel instead of three or four. Yet, this is where God has called us and so we give thanks for our family and, as we always have, acknowledge we all are in God’s hands, and his are far more capable than our own.

Just like that, we’re back on the other side of the world in Medan. The travel itself is a blur. We are grateful it requires only a day or two rather than months to traverse the globe, yet it’s still painful and we recognize how soft we are in our modern conveniences. Now we’re back in our home. A much quieter, emptier home, but still our home. Ready for what comes next. As servants. As spouses. As parents. As ex-pats. Firm in the trust that our Lord knows what comes next even if we don’t. Grateful for the opportunity to serve. And humbled by all the wonderful partners who support us in so many ways. Thank you to all of you.

We wish we could have seen more of you. All of you. For those we couldn’t, know that the people we did see represented you well as brothers and sisters in Christ, partners in ministry. And hopefully next time around we’ll be able to see some of you we couldn’t this time. But those thoughts are a ways off yet. For now, we’re resettling, wondering if the past few months in the US was a dream or not. Are we sure we didn’t imagine it?