Thankful for the splinter? Yes. Thankful for all.

"Where am I?" could have been a game we played on the Internet these recent months. I've been traveling more than I've been home. None was really selfish but I enjoyed most of it.

Leading a team to Swaziland was challenging. My outreach pastor asked me in November if I would take a team to my beloved El Shaddai in June. It was a much larger time commitment that I anticipated but I soon felt that God had an eye-opening blessing of refinement for those on the trip. To say we were a motley crew for a mission trip would be an understatement. We brought a lot of physical, mental and emotional baggage before we began packing.

I am grateful for the supplies that were donated and the work that was done. We treated 360 children's teeth with fluoride, provided light to the baby house, and got the tractor working in time for planting. I am also grateful for the hearts that opened up and loved the children at El Shaddai.

I am thankful for the work God began in my heart, learning to deal with wounds and offense. It was like having a splinter removed; you know it's there because it bothers you but removing it very painful and you have to consciously keep it from getting reinfected. I am still in the healing stage.

Leading the team was so different than my other trips when I focused on the children and was their "Auntie Jan". In August I returned to El Shaddai to stay in the mission house while the director was away and care for the children. I loved that time. Each day was an adventure, literally! We walked, we talked, we cooked, we played, and we prayed. I love those children.

A few days after I returned, Lindsay and I flew to Maui to see Jonathan, our youngest. My mother's heart was comforted and warmed to meet the people that have adopted and love him, the people from his church that have poured God's love into him and nurtured him spiritually. The sparkling ocean with its colorful array of fish, volcanic cliffs, towering bamboo trees and fragrant blossoms are so beautiful but the hearts of the people in his church lovelier still.

Without going home, I caught a flight to Oklahoma to join my mother and Charles, my step father on a road trip to our home in Yakima. We stayed long enough for me to do laundry and spend a few days with Kevin,Julia, our oldest, and 3 year old, Kennedy, my only grandchild.

We covered almost 5,000 miles and were awed by the splendor and magnitude of God's work in the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and coastline of California and Oregon. I am overwhelmed that the Creator of such vast, powerful, and resplendent beauty listens when I talk to Him, cares about my joy and my sorrow.

I leave again tomorrow for Atlanta to drive with Courtney to Little Rock where we'll spend the night with Kimberly and the three of us will join the rest of the family for Thanksgiving, and I am thankful for so much.