Ok OK OKay! We left Romania... we made it back to America safe and sound. How come I dont feel happy about that? Where is that "Home, sweet home" feeling? Nope. Dont have it. Not even a little bit.... If someone offered me a ticket back to Romania TODAY you wouldnt get a single BUT BUT BUT from me. I am certain if you asked my family the same thing... you will get a similiar answer. What is happening to us?
The day we said goodbye to Stela and GiGi and Michael, that Friday morning... the sun was shining and it felt warm on my face. Shawn had taken GiGi shopping that morning and I was left at "home" to process my thoughts and emotions.. (still doing that by the way)and all I could bring myself to do was worship. There on my knees in my room... just me and Kari Jobe on my ipod... on my knees with mascara running down my face as I sing... Sweep me Away Lord! WOW! My son, Ian, joined me for a bit with his tiny yet strong 12 year old hand on my back as I wimpered and came to terms with the END of a Maiden Journey. I think at some point my husband came in and left shortly thereafter, most likely thinking to himself... WHAT am I gonna do with my WIFE, she is a MESS! Poor fella...
Gathering myself... and knowing I needed to get it together... I stood, took my place in packing the vehicles and hugged our friends goodbye. One last photo with all of us together and a promise to Stela that we will see her again. Her promise in reply was "I will be here, unless He takes me home and I will miss you all in my home everyday". We had given Stela permission to enter our hearts and I have been so abundantly blessed and encouraged by the love she has given.... freely. She kissed me on each cheek and promised to plant the Magnolia Tree(we gave it to her as a gift) in the church courtyard soon so we may know we are being prayed over. What an honor to have the prayers of this family!
OK so yea.... we all left! I could linger over these memories all day...
We drove... chatting small talk in the car on the way to Draculas Castle. I was excited to see a real castle but not so excited to see Draculas! How dark.... how evil. To my surprise it was WONDERFUL! How do you tell people... I went on a Mission trip to Serve the God I love Oh and by the way, I toured Draculas Castle?! What an oxymoron! I still get a chuckle outta that one! Come on LAUGH with me! (I cried enough in the paragraph above... ) It was beautiful... the stories, the history and love of this culture will be in my heart forever. One thing I would like to say is... the Romanian people KNOW their History. The wars, famine, leaders, princess', DICTATOR's... seriously! You ask an American about their History and you get..."Yea I dont really LIKE History". I can say that because I say that... boy did I ever learn a lesson. We really take everything for granted... right down to the very reason we have the ABILITY to take something for granted, get that? Stepping OFF the soap box.
BAD news is... Karlann left her camera bag in the bathroom in the castle. She has her camera yes BUT her memory stick from the entire WEEK was in the camera bag and POOF! Its gone! They went back to get it but no good news to report there. Thankfully we had taken tons of pic between the 6 adults and are able to share. I am still praying for a miracle there.
FUNNY STORY! On the way out of the castle... (do you see why I cant process my thoughts? they jump around too much!)Shawn spots a cheese vendor! Remember when we first landed in Amsterdam he bought cheese? This man has cheese LOVE! Well he buys half a wheel of this lovely.... smoked.. tasty cheese! HALF A WHEEL! I still laugh at that man of mine buying CHEESE! He had less than 24 hours to eat half a wheel because we cant take that into America from Romania! At this moment I prayed he wouldnt get sick from all that cheese! What a cheese head! HAHAHA Come on that was funny!
Shawns driving... following Petry. Those of you who know Petry know the fear in my words here, you feel my pain! All was well until we got to Bucharest. See, Petry knows where the Hotel is and he drives knowing he knows where he is going and forgetting he has an AMERICAN following him in BUCHAREST! Petry dodges to the right and turns... leaving us in the left lane unable to get over and exit... so there we go! Passing by with looks of horror on our faces! In slow motion... O NOOOOO! Thankfully we have phones, figure out what to do and once we arrive I place my well manicured American hands around his strong Romanian throat and squeeze! Nah... well I did do that but with love and gentle reprimand! (snicker)Still recovering from the post traumatic stress! POor Shawn! WoW this blog entry is getting LONG... should I stop and continue later? Save some of these memories for another BLOG? NAH didnt think so... ok keep reading.
WE MADE IT! In Bucharest with a bomb threat at the airport today!!! Police flying every which way... which helps because we never got pulled over for our terrible American driving. See? Glory in everything! We were not even afraid... silly little threat. Ok lets eat!
Heading to the restaurant... Petrys driving but Shawn and I are riding shotgun this time! Ahhhhhhh
What was that place called? In English... The Beer Cart.. o my good gracious! Well worth watching Petry squirm completely out of control WAITING for a seat! That place was great! I had schnitzel and polenta... I dont remember anything else! The music was great dancers were lovely, a little less clothing than I would appreciate but lovely dancing. Definately a place to revisit! Once I remember the name that is....
stay tuned..... :)
No comments:
Post a Comment