It gives me great pleasure to announce that I will once again walk on American soil when my plane lands a week from Wednesday!!! No words can describe the emotions churning within as I prepare to see my country and loved ones after one of the most intense years of my life.
Although the purpose of this trip is to return Caylie to our oldest daughter Jessica, I plan to soak up time with my loving family, faithful friends, my most amazing and supportive home church (City Center Church in Redmond, Oregon), and the beauty of my homeland. Our wonderful friend Katie Hartley provided the way for Sia to join us for which I am enormously grateful as I knew that our youngest daughter would suffer the most from my absence.
I look forward to seeing everyone and everything through a renewed vision gained from living a year in Zambia. I have instructions from all of our children and even my husband to get pictures of Safeway (our favorite grocery store), Mrs. Keller's home baked cinnamon rolls, a Costco cake, and our old neighborhood. And then of course, they want pictures of our beautiful Cascade Mountains and the McKenzie river. The list goes on and on.
Sia said she plans to return to Zambia fat. For those of you who know her, you will totally appreciate that statement. She wants to enjoy all the varieties of food available. A real treat for me will be to celebrate Thanksgiving (a month early but who cares?) with my mother and brothers. Can you tell I'm just a tad bit excited???
Oh, and another really big event that we all have missed as a family: FOOTBALL!!!! So I will represent the entire Sibley bunch when I watch Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. Actually, it doesn't even matter what teams I see. I just want to view a football game on a Sunday afternoon! Woooo Hooooo!!!
But most of all, and this is very serious, I look forward to nurturing the relationships we are so privileged to share with the most loving people on the planet. Truly, living in another culture makes one appreciate the easiness of conversations with someone who knows your history, your culture, your language. That's not to take anything away from our Zambian friends. God knows they have all had their hands full trying to teach me Bemba as well as Zambian culture. And it isn't something I would have thought about before living half way around the world.
Anyway, I know I have rambled through this post. I look forward to seeing many of you VERY SOON! Your love and support during our time away has made me appreciate you even more than I did already, and that was TONS!
Blessings and joy,
Beckie
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