Hey folks, sorry for the long delay...this time it really wasn’t my fault.  about four or five months ago I was no longer able to access my .mac account where all of this happens. As it turns out, the great Firewall of China had blocked access.  In recent days I finally figured out a way to post to my site but still cannot go to it by standard browser.  Anyway. I’m going to try this method and get a few of these out there in case anyone is still reading.

I’m on an airplane now...somewhere over the place I used to call home. I’m flying from Washington D.C. to Denver because that seemed like the most direct route from China...not to mention the cheapest flight.  We were standing in Ronald Reagan Airport about to board our flight when a guy came up and started talking to us. He started out by asking if we were headed home.  It’s kinda funny when I get that question now...I pause and have to think. Kelsey looked at me and I looked back at her and I laughingly said, “Sort of”.  Truth is folks, I don’t really know where home is anymore. I know where my family is...I know where my house is...I know where I unpack my bags...and I know what feels like home but there are days that I begin to ponder...will there ever be a home in the mind set that this guy asked us.  Truthfully...no.  That kinda sucks but I think it’s true.  It’s a bit unsettling and yet also a bit exciting at the same time.  Kelsey and I both grew up in rather mobile families...so we are accustomed to packing up our stuff and relocating...sometimes it’s too easy.  Kelsey just spent the last month moving from house to house (three in one month to be exact) and when we get back to Beijing, it will be yet another move for her.  I know its difficult for her...and we don’t really know what things will look like even a year from now...two years from now...but this is the life we have been drawn into. 

Frankly, it doesn’t give much comfort most days...the uncertainty.  But I (personally) can’t shake this sense of excitement and anticipation.  I mean, some of the most direct instructions given to The 12 was to “be mobile”...”travel light”...”look for the place that welcomes to you and stay for a while”...”allow the people of that town to support you”...yaddah, yaddah, yaddah.  So in one sense it’s exciting to kinda know the feeling that those guys felt...and in another sense...like so many of the things they were taught...it goes against everything we have been taught in our culture...almost directly against the inner wiring. 

I have a friend in Beijing who comes from far out west.  His family doesn’t have a home town.  They have a winter area and a summer area.  That’s not as luxurious as it sounds...they are a nomadic people and their yaks and sheep need new grassland so when he goes home it begins with a thirty hour train ride followed by a several hours on a big bus followed by hours on a little bus. Then he goes to the last place he knew his family was and begins the search.  He always find them...they are always anxious to welcome him “home”.  There is always room in the yurt for him. Even though he has moved away and is living in a far off place, he still knows where his home is...even when he doesn’t really know where his home is. I guess I feel that way too.  I always know where my home is...even when I don’t know how to answer the questions that random strangers ask me.

I have to power down now...we’re almost home.