I recently got back from a great trip to Washington State to see my family. My brother was returning from his LDS mission in Budapest, Hungary. Due to corporate meetings in Cleveland and just work in general, Luke was not about to come out, but he was so good to let me go and spend time with my family for two whole weeks! For one of the weeks he was on a business trip anyways, so at least he had a change of pace too while I was gone.
Seeing my brother was great! Funny how after being around him for only 2 hours, it was as if he had never left. There was still some adjusting for him, like any returned missionary. But the adjustment I never thought he'd have was the economical adjustment. Hungary is a part of Europe. My family and I use to live in Switzerland, which is a part of Europe. When we lived in Switzerland, our standard of living was higher than here in the US (when we lived there, it was the highest standard in the world), and must of the rest of Europe is like that. What I did not know however, was that's only Western Europe. Eastern Europe is another story. Alex told stories of families with very humble lives, families packed into tiny apartments and having no luxury items. They are a people that had hardened when they were under communist rule, and are still shaking it off. Alex loved them and taught them of Christ, but really struggled to leave them. As such, my family and I were very understanding when he would drop everything to Skype with someone in Hungary.
We did a lot those two weeks! We had my grandparents and my grandma come into town for Alex's homecoming. Time spent with them included relaxing, Downtown Portland, walks and spending time with my cousins that already live in the area.
After the extended family left, it was so special to have time just the four of us. Although I missed Luke greatly, it was great to just be us four like how it use to always be. Who knows when that will happen again. We had a great week of hiking, the Oregon Coast, The Portland Temple and Columbia River Picnics.
I had a great trip to see my family, but needless to say, Luke and I were very happy to be together again.
No comments:
Post a Comment