'Who's this strange man?'

As many of you know, I have just been on a self-organized and self-guided tour of the cities, towns and villages in Germany that figured prominently in the lives of both Martin Luther and Johann Sebastian Bach. I had a wonderful time, by the way, and saw everything I had wanted to see - although it was a lot of old, historic houses (including one castle - Wartburg), churches and statues. I now feel like I've gotten a Master's degree in Reformation history, so let me know if you want to chat about this sometime, and we can argue about how Luther influenced all of Western civilization.

Anyway, I was supposed to take this eight-day trip in late July, but Sarah was late in her pregnancy, and we had just been through the unexpected process of turning the baby, and Sarah was worried about the rest of the pregnancy. So I postponed the trip and found time last week to squeeze it in before we leave Europe. Sarah was still gracious enough to let me do it in late September, even though we now had a baby on our hands.

Even on the evening of the same day I left, I was missing Lexi, and every day on the trip was hard being away from her. Immediateily when I got home, I picked her up to hold her, and she took a look at me and started to cry - one of those "I'm afraid" type of cries. Indeed, I think she forgot who I was. But I do realize that being gone for a week in the life of someone who's really only seven short weeks old is a long time. It's like if you were 70 and your father had been absent for a whole decade somewhere in the middle of your life. You might forget him too or at least write him off!

But after a few kisses and cuddles, I think she warmed up to me again and remembered that I was not there to harm her.

To Lexi, my eight days in Germany were a long period in her short lifetime. Even though I consider it a short period, it seems that newborns can change noticably in just a handful of days. The shape of her face has changed a bit, as it has been doing since she was born. And I think she's developed her scream quite well - she can do a pretty long and smooth and loud wail now right in her throat with her vocal chords, rather than a series of short whimpers from her belly. She might be ready to join the choir at church now!

Well, now that I've discovered and connected with one of the "fathers" of my faith/denomination, it's good to return home and be a father myself to my girl again.