"On the Road Again, Just Can't Wait to Get on the Road Again...." ~ Willie Nelson

Explanation: 

**This is being posted from Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, Kenya, on February 17, but was actually WRITTEN at a McDonald's in Illinois, USA, during a snowstorm, on February 4.***

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January 20, our "USA Leave Date", came, just like we knew it would, but only 2 of us boarded the plane back to Rwanda.  I ended up staying behind in America for a bit longer. 

In case you are as disoriented as I sometimes feel about "Where the Bergs are", for those readers who know us well enough to even care where we are,  I'll summarize:

Hannah is in Wheaton, Illinois, at Wheaton College
Stephen is in College Station, TX, at Texas A&M
Ruthie and Sam are in Kijabe, Kenya, at Rift Valley Academy boarding school
Deste and Tim are in Kibogora, Rwanda.  Deste just started Primary 1 on Tuesday!

So, where am I?  Well, I am typing this blog in a McDonalds off I-55 North, just 2 hours south of Wheaton. 

 

This Texan had to pull over due to all the crazy white stuff that kept falling from the sky.  It was coming down so fast, I couldn't see, and my car continuously slipped and slided all over the road!  Not to worry - it looks like a beautiful post card out there, and I am warm and toasty underneath the Golden Arches, enjoying warm coffee and free wifi.  Someday I hope to make it to Wheaton to see Hannah Berg and say a last good-bye to her before I board my plane to Africa from Chicago airport.

 



Since January 20, I drove Tim and Deste to the airport, kissed them goodbye, cried a good bit, finished packing up our rent house, cleaned the rent house, moved in with my parents for a few days,  been to the doctor (more on this later), and hit the road for Chicago.  When we cancelled my Jan 20 flight, I re-booked it through Chicago, so I could see many family members "one more time" as I drove to that airport, and so I could leave Hannah's car with her just before I left the country.  So far, I've been to:

•  AGGIELAND to hang out with Stephen for a weekend and say good-bye to him again 
  
• Dallas, to say goodbye to my brother Mike. 
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• Little Rock, Arkansas, where I saw my brother, Jim, his wife/my friend Susan, and my nieces, Amanda and Merry Doodle, er, Meredith (Merry Doodle is an old name for her, which continues to fit well, as she seems to always be Merry and she is a great Doodler!  She is quite the gifted artist.) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• St. Louis, Missouri,  seeing no one - but giving thanks for a great rest in a Holiday Inn Express
• And now, I am trying to get to Wheaton, IL, if the snow will just let up for a bit!

When we answered God's call to leave Tim's surgical practice and our familiar life in Kerrville, I knew we were in for a challenge, even a spiritual and physical battle to keep our family together in heart if not in geography, and to keep our marriage strong and our hearts in tune with Him as we worked in an unfamiliar culture and locale. 

But I didn't understand what it would sometimes feel like to be in that battle. 

• Sometimes, it would feel like we were really missing the days when we didn't wonder how or if we could pay our bills, especially missing the days when we weren't always praying for God to show us a way to pay college and/or high school (missionary boarding school) tuition.  As the joke goes, "I've been rich and I've been poor.  Rich is better."  No, I don't really believe that, but having money does make bill payment days less stressful and um, less adventurous.   
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• Sometimes it would feel like we were tired. Bone tired.
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• Sometimes it would feel like a kick in the gut, when we discovered, to our dismay, that people we thought were FOR us, were actually AGAINST us, and had been working against us the entire time we'd been gone, and even longer.  (No family members referred to in this sentence.)
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• Sometimes it would feel like we were so thrilled and thankful for the opportunity to serve Jesus in this way.  
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• Sometimes it would feel like we were in over our heads, paddling hard and fast to just keep our heads above water. 
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• Sometimes we experienced intense doubt, and would ask each other if we made this call up in our heads.  Do you really think God called us to this?  Are we crazy?  Or is this where we really are supposed to be? 
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• Sometimes, we've had no words, but have just held each other close, and been so glad to have each other for support.
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• Sometimes, we'd grieve together that we weren't near our high school and college age kids, and would hope, and reach up to trust, that God was making up for the lack of our daily presence in their lives.  
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• Sometimes, we would fight to hang onto the knowledge that He called us, and is continuing to call us, especially when folks we love questioned our choices, saying, "Maybe (this or that challenge) means that God doesn't want you to go anymore". 

As I sit here, sipping my coffee at McDonalds, and thinking of my sweet husband in Rwanda, all I know is that I am grateful for these days in the USA of seeing family..... but I am even more glad that soon I will be HOME in my husband's arms in Rwanda, surrounded by so many of our Rwandan friends, coworkers and neighbors. 

I love being "On the Road Again", but I'm going to love reaching that road's destination even more. I can't wait to get home!