Des Moines

I'm back. I loved being "single" for a few days and loved coming home to my fam. Top row: Helen, my refugee friend and her boys; me holding the 4-week-old Snodgrass twins (6 lbs now); Second row: the whole Drost family, the Snodgrasses, in one day they have as many people in their family as we do; Bottom: Kindle Hope Drost, 4 months old, the newest Drost and the first girl baby!

I highly recommend hanging out for several days with another family. I was inspired in the never ending discipline journey for myself and my kids, I was comforted (this sounds a little pathetic) seeing other kids misbehave too, I was thankful for my family, though I do love you my friends. Visiting another family teaches you; it made me wish for the idea of that book It Takes A Village (to raise a child). I miss the intimacy of my friends in Des Moines and how they could make up for our weaknesses as parents. I miss the Sunday morning gatherings and the way the families serve each other. God hasn't given us that kind of intimacy since we left, but we keep praying.

I cried out to God for my new city of Ignored. Since I've left Des Moines, it appears to be prospering. The streets from the airport to downtown and all along the interstate that runs through the center of the city are lush with landscaping, flowers, and trees (even as the flood waters receded). Several of the formerly run down areas of town have been transformed into trendy restaurants and boutiques and there were people shopping in them! No empty strip malls, a low unemployment rate, good schools, a normal number of houses for sale and they haven't lost much value in the last year. I know Des Moines is a white collar town with the insurance industry at its helm--an industry that will always be "needed." But it has an inner city, a large foreign refugee population and gangs. Yet it is thriving. I long for Ignored to get turned around, to be able to say to all those people who abandoned it...see what some love from a few Christians did to turn this place around. Mostly I want the kids here to be hopeful. This part of Michigan is so low on hope.

Lastly, airports boggle my brain. So many people going so many different places. I like to people watch at O'Hare. It's like a city in glass tunnels. I wish I had had my laptop with me to write about all I saw. Part of my boggled brain though comes from the technology. People with ipods, laptop stations, cell phones, electronic books, text messaging, and most people trying not to speak to the person next to them. I try to greet everyone I sit by especially when I don't have kids to keep track of, but they don't always appreciate my intrusion! How sad.