Today has been a special family day for me. We made our way from Charlotte, NC (where we had been for three days for debriefing meetings with our mission organization) to Roanoke, VA, then on to Waynesboro and now the six of us are tucked in for the night at a decent hotel outside of Richmond. Tomorrow morning we will leave here to visit a dear friend in Williamsburg, VA.

We spent the afternoon in Roanoke visiting my cousin Mnason and his family. I have such wonderful memories of the few times that our families would get together growing up(we were in NJ; they were in Indiana) – and how much fun we would have playing all kinds of board games. It was great today to meet (most of) his children for the first time, and to see his wife Leanna again. His dad – my father’s brother – had passed away tragically when his kids were all young – so there is still a lot about our collective family that Mnason is interested in learning about.  And there was so much that we wanted to know about each others’ lives, and about our siblings and their families. His mom (my Aunt Isobel) made such a huge impression on me — I still cherish the notes I received over the years as they always reflected her love for Scripture and for the Lord. Mnason said he remembered my mom – and how she would make gatherings fun. We decided both of our moms were pretty amazing ladies.

I do not take for granted days like these. Sitting with them in their beautiful home — the older boys and Eric talking about all kinds of things downstairs — I felt so much richer by renewing the friendship of this family.

Then, on our way tonight to the greater Richmond area, we stopped in a small town called Waynesboro. I have always remembered as a young girl stopping there with our family and getting a tour of the old Plumb home, where my grandfather’s dad (I think) had grown up. When we visited forty years ago, my dad’s cousin lived there still — I remember his amazing collection of arrowheads and the bullet still lodged in the fireplace from the Civil War that had been fought in the neighborhood.

Now, the Plumb family home has become a museum. I knew it would be closed by the time we were able to arrive, but for some reason I really wanted to see it. I loved how much our kids were into it, as well. They wanted to know as many details as I could remember. I promised Mnason, too, that I would try and find out more from my Dad and let him know so that his family can visit in the near future.

We ready the information that the South lost its hold on the war in this very neighborhood…And I remember the scars in the house to prove it.

The last two weeks, not a day has gone by that our youngest has not said, “Mommy, I want to go back to our yellow house!” (our home in Japan). I think we have all started to feel ready to have our own beds and not be moving around. But living overseas while so much of my family and my heritage is so very far away can also make me feel a bit like a tumbleweed (we saw them this summer – tumbleweeds are awesome plants but without roots). Today’s visits with a wonderful Plumb family, and then just walking around a Plumb home that has so much history for my family, was a bit of tethering for my heart.