They Still Like My Burgers
My older two kids returned from Thailand last week. They had been there for two and a half weeks. Now that doesn't seem like a super long time, but for a close knit family, it is. We've all been split up from time to time but the fact that our kids haven't been away from both Jenelle and I for two and a half weeks ever before, and the fact that if something did happen to them, they were about thirty plus traveling hours away, made two and a half weeks seem like a long time.
The kids had gone with our church youth group on a mission type trip where they would be helping out and supporting the folks at Outpour, a safe home in the northern part of Thailand. After a long flight halfway around the world to Bangkok, they took an eight hour bus ride north to a little town close to the Myanmar border.
If you listen to the world news very much at all, you've probably heard mention of some of the atrocities and such that are going on in Myanmar along with a lot of civil unrest. It's really nothing new and pretty much a normal happening in too many places in the world everyday. We just don't hear about it much unless there's something political at stake (at least that's my opinion). My intention isn't to make light of the situation there.
Our kids were there, helping with some projects and loving on the people that were in the area. The area is a crossroads of sorts, with the local Thai people along with lots of different people groups escaping across the border from all that's happening in Myanmar. Our kids were able to hear some of those stories first hand and hang out with people from across the river and see the peace that only Christ can give to a war torn people. The trip was impactful in a positive way and I'm sure that our kids received way more than they were ever able to give. But that's their story and they can share it in their own time and place.
As a young adult, I read a book, I think it was called The Explorer, about a guy that went into Burma and tried to locate the last tribe of headhunters. Burma and Myanmar are the same place, just different names depending on who you are talking to. There was lots of adventure in the book and so when the kids were planning their trip I was envisioning them sneaking around in the jungle and hunting monkeys with blowguns and sitting around the fire with some tribal leader that had a pile of skulls in the corner of his lodge. Well, not really. But as a parent it is easy to worry about lots of things like the eight hour bus ride, bacteria, getting sick, getting lost, and I did find myself worrying about some of those things. Being a country boy and scared of big cities, I actually worried more about their three days in Bangkok than I did about the rest of the trip!
Of course there are those other concerns like the realization that your kids are getting older and they'll be heading out on their own far too soon. And after hearing all the hype about the great Thai food and all of the fresh fruit there that is just amazing, would the kids still like our food?
As the kids were texting on their trip home, Caleb said that he was dying for a hamburger. So I thawed out some burger and that evening I diced up some onions, squirted in some hickory flavor and some Worcestershire Sauce and patted out some big and thick burgers and threw them on the grill.
The evening felt so good, having everyone back home and safe again. It was good to reconnect, to hear about their exciting trip and just to have a house full of noise again.
Oh, and to top it off, they still loved my burgers!
