~ Psalm 108:1-5 ~
Bonjour les Amis et la Famille!
So this is it...
No matter how much I love and have enjoyed the Petries, Belgium, and writing the Bits from Belgium, these Bits must be the last... because I am no longer in Belgium.
I am left rather speechless as to what to say or how to conclude these written updates from my Belgian adventures. Like a strange, amazing, wonderful dream, I have “awakened” back home with all the familiar friends, family, and sights, and though three months has changed many little things, much of life here remains the same as it was before I left.
But this was no dream, and I carry and treasure inside of me three months worth of incredible memories, adventures, knowledge, and people that have and will leave a lasting mark on my heart and mind for the rest of my life! I don’t think I’ve changed much on the outside, but on the inside I feel like I have grown up so much in these past 3 months! I think I have learned a little more about the person God has created and desires me to be, and have also realized that this will be a life-long process! I believe life is a constant progression of surrendering, listening, obeying, and following God, and through this process, He shows us more and more of His purpose for our lives and why He made us who, where, and the way we are. My adventures in planning, going, and returning from Belgium sure seem to have been that way, anyhow!
This journey through life is quite an adventure, (in case you haven’t noticed!), and I have found it to be so VERY much more amazing, enjoyable, satisfying, and fulfilling when in the company and fellowship of my Creator. The whole idea of the trip itself and many of the things I did while in Belgium were activities I never would have dreamed of doing “on my own” before. My eyes have been opened to the world in a new and greater way, and I don’t think I’ll ever think or look at it the same again. The words Belgium and Europe will also never be the same to me. They now represent three months of awe, beauty, growth, friendships, and God’s unending faithfulness revealed in a whole new way!
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable His judgments,
And his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been His counselor?
Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever!
~~~ Romans 11:33-36 ~~~
Final Bits…
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Jeudi - 4 Octobre, 2007 – The weather was cool and cloudy, but not rainy, and the sun peeked through a few times. Today is the 6th Anniversary of the day Rebecca fell and broke her neck. We talked about it some together and Rebecca shared how she believes one can look at this day two ways. One is to be upset and bitter about the whole thing and wish for her life before the accident. The other option is to look at all the people she’s met, encouraged, and influenced, experiences she’s had, knowledge she’s gained, and ways her “tragic” situation has been the CAUSE of so much amazing good in the world! Rebecca chooses this second option, and how incredible it is! She is an amazing example to us all, and how I love her!
Paul left for a weekend trip to Vienna today, so it’s back to a house full of women again!
Jessica and I visited the European Parliament with Susannah. It is quite a place! We took the train in together and then Jessica and I rode it back after a wonderful tour from Susannah and a coffee on the Place Luxemburg. This was Jessica’s first train ride in Belgium, so that added to the fun! We took lots of fun pictures, laughed a TON, and also started teaching Jessica a bit about some of Rebecca’s care. It is strange and almost difficult for me to begin “backing off” of the tasks I’ve been doing in order to allow Jessica to start doing them. They have become such a part of my life for the past 3 months…
Vendredi - 5 Octobre, 2007 – The weather as lovely! Apparently Jessica brought us some of the Summer-like USA weather with her when she arrived! J Today was Annie's day off, as usual for Fridays, which means a busier day around the house for me. Jessica and I took some more goofy pictures, once again laughed a LOT, worked hard, and continued to introduce Jessica to more of the routine and tasks she will be doing. We watched the movie Cinderella Man in the evening.
Samedi - 6 Octobre, 2007 - GORGOUS weather! Clear,incredibly blue skies, cold in the morning and warm in the afternoon. The sun shined almost ALL day! Jessica is learning quickly and has begun working more with Rebecca, which is great, but again, rather strange for me! We went for a lovely walk this afternoon together and I showed her a couple routes to the my favorite lake and also how to get to the bank, post office, and Champion supermarket. I made a chicken marinate for the first time and Susannah grilled it along with some zuchinni. Mmmmmmm! We also had corn on the cob… the first I’ve had this year! I was suddenly reminded me how long I have been gone when I realized I left before the corn on the cob season in Ohio and would be returning too late for it. We at outside, which was LOVELY! J
Dimanche - 7 Octobre, 2007 - Another GORGOUS day! The Petrie household declared it "celebrate Mary Beth" day and went out of their way to make it a very special last day in Belgium for me. When I awoke Sunday morning, I found signs posted throughout the house with all kinds of sweet, encouraging messages, and balloons hung over the doorway in the kitchen. Before lunch, we had some hors d'oeuvres and champagne and Rebecca gave a very sweet and eloquent toast... almost bringing me to tears! For lunch we had delicious Chinois (Chinese) take out from our favorite Chinese restaurant by Lake Genval. And after lunch they gave me a whole basket of nice gifts including some Belgian chocolate, French caramels, a couple hair clips I had been introduced to during my stay, a little book of very special hand written notes from most of the people I had met and interacted with during my stay, a few other humorous and special "inside-story" gifts, a lovely red sweater, and a French Bible! I was SO excited about the French Bible, as I had been planning on asking for one for my birthday when I returned to the US. I guess I don't need to now. :-) I had read through the book of Mark while in Belgium, and am now looking forward to learning more French from some of the other books of the Bible! I had to laugh and confess though, because while I’m “reading” it looks like I'm really reading the chapters word for word, in reality, I understand only about every 6th word or so... just enough to figure out what's going on in the chapter. :-) It helped me pick up on some vocabulary, grammar, and spelling though, and I'm hoping to keep up the little bit of French I learned in Belgium, so hopefully this will help! :-) Norma also came by after our lunch and brought a delicious, still warm, home-made apple-cranberry pie! Afterwards, the ladies graciously worked it out for Norma to take Jessica and I to the Chateau de La Hulpe, where we walked for a little over an hour, admiring the scenery and talking. It was so neat to return to the Chateau with a friend! The first time I had gone I was so lonely and realized how much I desire and enjoy the company of a friend. I imagined how fun and special it would be to share the experience at the Chataeu with someone... never dreaming that I would get to! It was wonderful, and the weather could not have been any more lovely! The evening was pretty typical, but strange for me as I realized how many things were being done "for the last time". For the sake of my own emotions, I tried to ignore that fact and pretended it was “just another night”. We watched a light, funny movie together, and Paul returned from his visit to Vienna later in the evening. Jessica and I stayed up together to do the midnight turn, and used that time to play cards together in the family room. No visit together is complete without a couple good games of "nerds"! J It was a fun time together, although I think a little bittersweet too. I laughed so much and so hard during the last few days in Belgium with Jessica. There's nothing like a great friend to do that to and with you! After the midnight turn I finished up last minute packing and could not get to sleep until about 1:30 a.m. I had a lot on my mind and heart!
Lundi - 8 Octobre, 2007 -
The day that I thought would never come the week I arrived, is here, and now I wonder how it came so quickly! 3 months is definitely enough time to settle into life and a new routine and household... it is very strange to think about leaving all that behind and starting again back home...
The good-byes were very difficult, as I had anticipated. On the good side, the difficult good-bye was indicative and affirming to me of how special our time and relationship has been and become over these past 3 months. Rebecca and her family have become precious friends to me, and it was such an incredible privilege to get to know and live life with them for 3 months!
Norma came and picked Jessica and me up and to take us to the airport. It seemed appropriate somehow that Norma, my wonderful Belgian tour guide, should be the one to take me to the airport for my departure from Belgium. Everything at the airport in Brussels and on the flight to Philadelphia went very smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that it was almost boring. I joke that the most exciting thing that happened the whole flight over was that when we were given our meal options I asked for the chicken dish and was given the pasta. Pretty thrilling, huh?! :-) The Brussels airport was an incredibly fascinating place though, and I was glad I got there early and had some time to “sight-see”! To get to my gate, I chose to walk rather than take the moving sidewalk, knowing that I would be sitting for quite awhile that day! I was so glad I did walk, as it also gave me a chance to take in more of the airport and see some really neat people! :-) As I walked by various gates, I found it so fascinating to see the different groups of people congregated there, and it became a bit of a game to figure out where they were headed before checking my guesses with the signs. At one gate was a crowd of Africans, and sure enough, their flight was headed to a city in Africa. Another gate consisted of many men in turbans, and wouldn't you know it... they were heading to Delhi, India! Yet another gate had many Orthodox Jews standing around. You can guess where that flight might have been headed! Walking down to my gate (which I was pleased to see was at the far end of the airport --- gave me a chance to see more neat people groups!), was kind of like one last "hurrah" of my international experience and exposure from this trip. I shall miss it! There just isn’t the same incredible international mix of languages, countries, cultures, and ethnic groups here in the states as there seems to be in Europe. As I mentioned previously, the flight to Philadelphia was about 8 hours of incredibly uninteresting-ness. We got into Philadelphia 45 minutes ahead of schedule, which was nice as I was able to get through Customs and Border Patrol without rushing. I eventually got to my terminal for my flight to Columbus, only to find that my flight departure had been delayed from 5:45 to 7:00 p.m. So what was originally supposed to be just over a 2 hour layover turned into a four and a half hour layover. I spent the extra time resting and people-watching… there’s always plenty to see at an airport! J The time went by relatively quickly, despite the challenge of knowing my family was so close and yet so far away. Once we finally boarded the flight to Columbus a little before 7:00, we sat in a plane traffic jam for about 45 minutes and then finally took off a little past 7:30 p.m. EST. Everything went smoothly on that flight as well. Amazingly, it was the first in ALL of my flights to and from Brussels in which I had somebody next to me! I asked the man if Columbus was his final destination, and he mumbled an "uh-huh" and started reading his newspaper. I got the message, so it was a pretty quiet ride back. :-)
Once in Columbus, I practically ran through the nearly empty and eerily quiet airport to the exit from the “secure” part of the airport. There I found, to my absolute joy, delight, and surprise, a WONDERFUL welcoming committee of many of my favorite people!!!! My whole family was there (except for my oldest brother who lives in Cincinnati), plus a bunch of great friends! What joy! What excitement! My exhaustion was pushed aside for a few minutes while I enjoyed just seeing and hugging everybody again! Oh, how very special, special friends are to see when you have been physically separated for an extended length of time! Thank you dear ones for coming and being there! It was WONDERFUL to have you there to welcome me back! We arrived home a short while later and I happily toured the house noticing all the new additions or changes that have occurred in the last 3 months! In a crazy mix between utter exhaustion and highline adrenalin, I couldn't get to sleep right away. We ate and talked for awhile and I finally headed to bed around 11:15 p.m.... about 5:15 a.m. Belgian time. I slept hard through the night until about 5:30 when I woke up quite wide awake. Guess that's my body introducing me to the concept of jet lag?! :-) It's WONDERFUL to be home again and I'm looking forward to the following weeks of seeing friends again, settling into the routine here, and getting to share some more of the stories and pictures from my Bit of Belgium!
Mardi - 9 Octobre, 2007 – First full day back. Wow. So many things are the same here, and yet so many things are different… or even if they are the same, I see them differently. I spent the day unpacking, resting, and just enjoying the time with my family and the critters here at home. We went to my brother’s soccer game this evening, and I was entertained by my ability to read all the store signs and understand the conversations around me in public. J I also was reminded of the time zone different when I began to feel exhausted at about 6 p.m. our time, which my body was telling me was really midnight! Tomorrow will be the first time I’ll drive since I left. It’s a strange and almost scary thought! Some of the “differences” in Belgium that I didn’t even realize or had gotten used to are now coming back as I notice them here. Flushing toilets and turning on and off lights is different. Driving signs, roads, and styles are different, and the food sure is different. (My Mom’s doing a great job keeping it tasty and good though!) Knowing that I was going to be facing some reverse culture shock in returning has made these first few days back a fun adventure… never knowing what I’ll be surprised or humored by next!
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And now here’s the part where I don’t know what to say.
The End would not be truthful, since this is not the end… Good-bye would be too sad, and I don’t want this to be the end of our communicating and friendship… A la prochaine (To the next) could be a lie, because only God knows if or when there will be another Bits from Belgium (I hope and pray so!).
I guess I’m going to conclude with a short quote from Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life” which I read while in Belgium. This quote was very real and true to me these past 3 months as I was apart from all the people, places, and experiences I ever knew before, and through that leaving, I gained oh, so much more than I ever could have imagined! I hope and pray that all of you have or will get to experience at some point in your life the reality of the following quote and that you may “…have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…”
"You'll never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got."
With Overflowing Love and Gratitude to you all for the incalculable ways you have been a gift to me!
~ MB
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“God wants us to make ourselves available to Him, and to say before we start to plan, ‘Lord, tell me what You want me to do, where You want me to go, how You want me to do it.’ Then our omnipotent God, with all the abundance of heaven at His disposal, will pour out His power upon us. Instead of following tiny, tiny plans, God wants to open heaven and flood us…” – Evelyn Christenson “What Happens When Women Pray”
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www.mbbelgium.blogspot.com ---
Sitting in front of what has become my Belgian Home for the last 3 months...
Jessica and I pose in front of my favorite Belgian Lake... Lake Genval. (So, maybe it is the only lake I've really had a chance to be around in Belgium... it's still my favorite! :-)
Jessica and I toast on my last day in Belgium... this trip anyhow!
posing in front of the Chateau de La Hulpe... Thank you Jessica for photographing this picture! :-)
One last glimpse of Belgium before being enveloped by the notorious Belgian mist and clouds!
