What do YOU do when someone on Twitter introduces you to someone else?
A quick “hey”, maybe a few messages back and forth, then a follow? Because likely that other person isn’t local to you, lives too far away to consider meeting in person, that’s the Internet for you, right?
Being mobile changes that. And we’ve changed, being way more open to detouring at last minute to go do something or meet someone who sounds interesting. Pair that up with a family who is quick to invite & make room for visitors in a suburban schedule and you end up with a fun weekend in middle America.
So why backtrack a couple of hours to meet someone new?
Because they have a great story. After several years spent serving as global missionaries in places like China, South Africa and Nicaragua, the Jeskes have come back to the States and settled into a farmhouse just on the edge of suburban Madison, Wisconsin. That transition has not been an easy one, and they’ve written about their experiences in a new book entitled This Ordinary Adventure.
We could relate - at least on a small scale. While we didn’t get out of the USA on our year-long road trip we experienced similar struggles after returning home to our West Michigan house this past winter. After a period of time spent living what people call “an amazing life” how do you stop doing that and still manage to find those amazing moments in more mundane surroundings? We solved it by suffering through the winter, then selling our house and returning to our life on the road. How did they - are they - doing it?
We bought a copy of their book - but I’ve yet to get my turn with it so am still in “processing mode” over our visit. I do know that there are parts of the Jeske story - and mindset - that will affect our story. Maybe our search for a family dream isn’t quite on target. As Adam said “Maybe there isn’t one big thing, but just a whole bunch of smaller things.” Maybe the big thing is to be positioned for and on the lookout for those smaller things.
Back to our visit- the cool thing thing is that even though they describe themselves as a “settled suburban family” they still managed to provide us with a number of new (or at least ‘fresh’) experiences at their place:
- Climbed into a treehouse
- Did a zipline
- Swung on a tireswing
- Picked fresh Kale
- Cooked burgers over the fire
- Chopped down a tree with an axe
- Helped at book release party
We’ve met and talked to many people who express envy over our mobile life, and in those comments we sometimes hear little pangs of frustration or boredom with a life that doesn’t feel “exciting”. One thing the Jeskes are great at is learning to see (and note) those “amazing things” that happen everywhere, every day. If you need more amazing in your life then I’d encourage you to pick up their book.
Our thanks again to the Jeskes for the visit!