I miss Italy...

I come home, turn on the news and see there's a "Festa de Italia" at Santana Row. Food, wine, music... Joyce and I drop everything and fly over to Santana Row. Sigh... I miss Italy...

"I just felt like runnin'...."

"I just felt like runnin..."
Famous words by Forrest Gump in his self-titled movie. One day, he just felt like running and he ran across the nation from coast to coast.

The other morning, I just felt like walking. Woke up Friday morning and wanted to get some Peet's coffee. Instead of driving there, which will take 5 minutes round-trip, I felt compelled to walk. So I grabbed my cheap-oh MP3 player and stepped out into the brisk, misty San Jose morning air. That's what 2 weeks of non-stop walking in Europe will do to ya... completely alter your state of mind and being. The 5 minute round trip turned out to be 45 minutes. But it was ohhhhhhh sooooooooo nice.

After a two week hiatus, I returned home on Sunday. It felt great to be back at SJCAC. The familiar faces of strangers. The murmurs of children through the windows. The traffic directors directing traffic. Andrew's voice during worship. Good ol' Sandy bouncing up and down. Little Samuel saying, "Haaaalo Henry gor gor..." Alan giving me a big hug and then punching me at my midsection. (Can pastors do that?) And of course, His strong presence. I never realized how much SJCAC means to us.

Home sweet home...

After 14 days, pass 9 time zones, through 10 cities, across 4 nations, via 6 airports and 5 major train stations, over 16000 miles (25000 km).....we lie in bed, wide awake and hungry, at 3AM in the morning cuz in Europe, it's lunch time.

Regardless....there's just no place like home.

Till we meet again...

Thank you for all your prayers and blessings.

Thank you for your hospitiable grace.

Thank you for the laughter

and thank you for the tears.

Thank you for being the life of my wedding.

Thank you for offering to help me move and help me paint.

Thank you for listening to me complain about school at 2AM in the morning.

Thank you for sharing the love of wine and coffee.

Thank you for being a great friend.

Thank you for being a great brother.

Thank you....for being you.

Papa, thank you for bringing Guy Li into my life.

Papa, thank you for leading Guy into the next chapter of his life.

Till we meet again...