Back to West Michigan Day 1

We left the heatwave of the Willamette Valley and made our way to West Michigan where it is at least ten degrees cooler with a mix of showers...wait a minute...should it not be the other way around?  Apparently they are having a milder summer whereas we have hit record high temperatures the last couple weeks.

Why another trip?  Were we not home a mere two weeks?  Well Rob seized this opportunity to teach in both India and Indonesia, we looked at the possibility at having family come to us or we come to family.  Our kids are old enough that I can hold down the fort pretty well and don't require as much help as I used to.  Spending some time in West Michigan with family while Rob travels the world seemed like the perfect arrangement.
We have not lived in West Michigan since 2006.  Actually it was almost eleven years ago when we strapped our eleven month Hailey in her car seat and filled our green Ford with belongings and became the wagon train heading west to Oregon to a new community...and a new life.  My former home of Grand Rapids has become more of a vacation destination.

This trip is less about seeing the sights and people of my college and high school years as we did this a little bit last summer.  I also was in West Michigan for a wedding in February.  I could easily spend a few weeks here catching up with the dear people from my pre-Oregon years.  However my kids have not seen their grandparents since October and they love spending time with their aunt, uncle, and cousins.  So this trip is more about family time.  Coming off the go, go, go trip of D.C. and New York--we are moving at a slower pace.

We left yesterday morning and traveled all day.  We dealt with delays in both Kansas City and Chicago Midway due to thunderstorms.  Thankfully we were only about 45 minutes later than the original time.  

I sat next to a gentlemen on the plane from Jenison, MI.  He asked if I was from Grand Rapids and I told him I used to live there, but I have been in Oregon the past eleven years.  He asked why we moved to Oregon.  I said, "Well my husband is a pastor and we wanted something different."  Then I realized we were heading into "Christian Reformed" country.  I said we were CRC.

Turns out he has been CRC his whole life and attends a church in Hudsonville.  We played Dutch Bingo and knew some of the same people.  We talked church politics most of the flight as well as ministry strategies and it was super interesting.  As we were getting off the plane, I told my kids, "He attends a Christian Reformed Church." Their eyes lit up and they said, "Really?" Sometimes I forget I am raising my kids in a very different community from the one I was born and raised in.

We went to bed as soon as we got to my sister's house.  We slept in until...yikes...10:30 AM.  We are looking forward to some quality family time the next few days.

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