Clouds covered the moon tonight so I could not see it, but I thought of my little Lou (Isabel) and the other loves in my family, just as I was told to do at 9 pm every night.  Oh how I miss them when I get back to my lonely hotel room.   Tomorrow, my Gracie turns 14 so I am excited to be home to celebrate.

I did think of one good thing that comes out of being separated from Stephen when I travel by myself.  I can crank my hotel room heat up to 85 when I am cold and turn it down to 54 when I am warm.  Stephen likes an even 70 degrees.  He is not fond of my dramatic temperature adjustments.   In my defense, it snowed today and I am dressed for spring.  Luckily it didn’t stick.

One of the things that I’ve decided to do when I started my series of crazy travel was to live in the blessings.  Like you all know, I miss my family, but I did not want to spend my time sad and depressed over the fact that I wish they were with me.  It would be easy to do that.  And though I do get sad at times, I want to appreciate the blessings of travel.  So, I was sitting here thinking of all the blessings this week.

I spent time with a dear friend on Monday.  She is a woman who is slightly older, been married longer, has much more life experience than me and someone that I admire deeply because of the way she embraces life.   It was so good for my soul to be with her.

I spent time with my team at Compassion.  I was blessed by hearing their stories over dinner the other night.  I got to meet their spouses, and it wasn’t like the small chitchat that you might do at a company party.  We sat and told our love stories and the amazing journey that God has brought each of us through.  My team is quite diverse with various cultural backgrounds and languages.  My boss, Ian, speaks 8 languages fluently. I don’t even know how that is possible except to attribute it to the fact that he also eats parts of animals that I am not necessarily interested in.  I knew I was out of my league when Gabriel and Ian were discussing headcheese tacos and whether or not they use the ear in the dish. Friends, that is out of my league.

Tonight, I hung out with my Peru gang.  Last year I took a trip to Peru with a group from Colorado Springs and once you travel with people, you feel like you know them.  It’s so cool to be able to sit down and just talk.

Finally, I spent time with God this week.  I didn’t realize how much I needed this.  I spent time praying for my family, and soaking in the Word.

Home is calling for my return (literally), so I am excited that I get to go back.  I am going to soak in the next 8 days before I leave for the Philippines, where I will be loving on some kids, and of course viewing the moon at 9 pm.

Travel is a blessing but home calls for my heart and God fills my soul.  Life is good when we see the blessings that surround us.