Back Home Again in Indiana
My last 2 entries have been about our August vacation. I had intended to write out all parts of our vacation before returning to general journaling. But life has a way of changing plans. I'll get back to that as soon as I can. But this week, I'm back home again in Indiana. We found out last week mom has cancer. I prayed and seized the opportunity to come up for a visit this week. I had originally planned to come up for a week in September. I moved it up to this week after some prayer. I'm grateful to be here. I've already experienced and witnessed God in so many ways ❤️
I've spent a lot of time this month away from home. I started the month with a quick weekend trip to Indiana. Then I spent a week in California. I wasn't back home even a week yet when I hit the road again and came up to Indiana again...LOL When I get home next week, my apartment will be like, "who the heck are you?" HAHAHA Just like a dog when you get home after petting another dog, my apartment will be sniffing me up and down saying, "what other places have you been to that you love more than me?!" HAHAHA j/k In all seriousness, I'm looking forward to being back home next week. I'm grateful for travel. I'm just ready to be home. I bring things with me to remain grounded on most of my trips. Since I drove, I have my car Olaf. And I usually have my cross; which I did bring again. I also brought Bingford on his first road trip...LOL It has been so much fun taking pictures of him and sharing his adventure with Cherie ❤️
I'm doing okay. Mom seems to be doing well. Dad is fine too. I have a great support system myself. I'm finding comfort in God. I'm not going to deny this all is bittersweet. There is a splendid misery to these things. Life happens and it doesn't always go as expected. I would much rather love and experience some suffering than to not have love. I'll grow from this experience. I feel God had already prepared me for all of this. But I also won't deny it hurts. I'm not happy this is happening. Who would be!? LOL I'll still find happiness through it all. My hope is in God. He will glorify Himself through it all. He will work out the good in this. I'm grateful for His sovereignty through all things ❤️
When I've traveled this month, the weather for where I am has been pleasant. The weather before and after hasn't been great in those places...LOL But while I'm there, things turn for the better...hehehe That reminds me of all those times I used to vacation at Disney World and the weather would do that. I would joke that people should plan their trips to Disney World at the same time I would...LOL This doesn't happen every time I travel. But I've been blessed over the years. I'm always grateful when things, like the weather, work out to enhance the experience. Hopefully our November vacation is as blessed as our August one was...hehehe And I'll be up here to Indiana a few more times before then ❤️
For the last year or so, I had thought about how my family interactions remind me of those Hallmark movies or Norman Rockwell paintings. While that is quite true when compared to the average family, things are far from perfect...LOL I was reminded over the weekend that there remains certain dysfunctional characteristics in my family just like most...hehehe I won't go into detail. And I am very grateful for my family. There are just those things that break the Hallmark story a bit...hehehe For a while, I was one of those rogue elements...LOL I'm glad to have grown beyond that. It makes me sad to see some of the broken parts of my family. I don't always see it on my visits. But I have already on this one...LOL It's okay, though. It's a good family and I love being a part of it. I'm glad my parents aren't what I'm talking about...LOL Otherwise I might have to always stay in a hotel on my visits...LOL Speaking of which, I'll be staying in a hotel Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week. Rather than driving back and forth to see Malachi, I'll be staying in a hotel in his city. He has things going on during the day and can't stay at my parent's with me this week. I'll come back Thursday. But I'll have to go back to him Friday to get him and then he'll stay at my parent's with me next weekend before I head back home ❤️
My routine is quite broken right now. August has been an amazing month. But with everything I've been doing, I don't have that routine to ground me. I'm actually doing really well with it, all things considered. There are some things that make me sad, though. I did all of devotionals last week because I was home long enough to do them. But circumstances prevented us from getting together yesterday. And we've decided to take another break from working through the devotionals this week while I'm in Indiana. I'm really sad about these things. I was also almost caught up on my Bible in a Year plan from the break I took during our vacation. But I'll not be able to get back on track with that this week after all. That said, I was reminded in my prayer time, when I talked to God about these things, that I should find my comfort in Him. He may use things like my calls with Cherie and my devotional time to bring me comfort. But He is the source of that comfort. Those things are not the source ❤️
Something I am incredibly grateful for is my ability to work while I travel. Like this week. I can visit with family while they go about their routines and I don't need to sacrifice my paid time off. I enjoy the blessing of this flexibility. I don't take that for granted. I have hope that I'll have this for the remainder of my career. I also love how it means I can live anywhere without concerning myself for looking for other jobs. It won't always be like this, I'm sure. So I'll enjoy it while I have it. I loved having that one on one time with dad today. We don't have that often. We had lunch together just the two of us. It's probably the only chance we'll get on this visit. He was going about his usual while I worked. Then we both broke for lunch. We used to take some of our lunch breaks together and meet up at a restaurant in Indianapolis when we both worked in the city. So it was nice to have that again today ❤️
For dinner tonight, we went to a restaurant that was new for the three of us, Theo's Italian. We had an amazing time. The atmosphere was pleasant. The staff were super. And the food was fantastic. The Indianapolis foodie scene is doing their annual Devour Indy season. It's a time when restaurants will feature their best food at special pricing to get folks to tour the city's foodie scene. This was a participating restaurant and had a special menu featuring their best. All 3 of us ordered from that menu...hehehe It was my parent's first time doing this event. I used to do it when I lived here. I went with the bruschetta starter, sweet heat pizza pie, and tiramisu. They both went with chicken piccata. Dad got the bruschetta and strawberry gelato. Mom went with the house salad and tiramisu. We all loved everything we chose ❤️
The rest of the evening was mom making phone calls about her latest good news about how the surgery and treatments will go. And we watched TV...hehehe Mom and dad keep expressing their gratitude for me coming up this week. As I said before, I'm planning to come up a few times before our November vacation. I'll fly those times and will plan those more in advance...hehehe Again, I'm so grateful I am able to do these things. I'm grateful for my parents. I'm grateful for my son. I'm grateful for the support I've received from my friends. And most importantly, I'm grateful for God. Without Him I would not have any of these people in my life to be grateful for ❤️