HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN

RELUCTANCE

Out through the fields and the woods

And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

And looked at the world, and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

The flowers of the witch hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

But the feet question "Whither?"

Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?

Robert Frost

I am home from a wonderful weekend trip the boys and I made up to the Texas hill country with our church youth group. The "Midwinter" retreat is a big tradition at our church, and it really is a retreat! We took twenty seven junior high students into the wilderness and took away their cell phones! OK, it wasn't really the wilderness but eighteen or so girls sharing two bathrooms CAN get pretty wild! It was a great weekend and once again I am humbled by how much I learn from these kids and the adults who devote so much time and energy to them! The hill country is so beautiful and so peaceful it is always a little hard to leave. I, like most everyone else that visits there, always come away wishing - just a little - that it was home!

On the other hand, once the trip is done, I am always so happy to get back to my own little retreat. Yes, it's the real world, but my home is a place that does make me happy. I am always very relieved to see all of my pets - see that they have fared well without me - and to get that joyously frenzied welcome back that only they can give!

So back to the real world! I have alot to do but I'm so happy to be back! As our slogan for the past weekend says..."It's all good!" Love, RED

There is nothing more poetic in the freshness of its passions than a 16-year-old heart. The morning of life is like the dawn of a day, full of purity, visions, and harmony.

Chateaubriand, Rene, 1802