But the Lord’s faithful love is from forever ago to forever from now
        for those who honor him.
    And God’s righteousness reaches to the grandchildren
         of those who keep his covenant
        and remember to keep his commands.

Psalm 103:17-18

Writing a travel blog is not so easy when you are not the one traveling! I have, however, promised to keep readers updated with Rebekah’s Great Adventure, so here are a few tidbits.

First, Andrew and Alicia (“The A-Team”) are very pleased to be teaching at the American School in Bahrain.

For Andrew, this is his first full-time professional post as a teacher. He has a 5th grade class of truly international students, and he is making a positive impact with the children, the parents, and the administration. Alicia is continuing her career as a music teacher. They are already impacting the future of this increasingly international world in positive ways.

Rebekah is glad to be there with the family. It had been more than two years since either one of us had seen “The A-team” in person – both a consequence of their commitment to being Intentionally International and a side-effect of the unintentionally international pandemic.

So when Andrew met his mama at the airport you can imagine how excited she was, having travelled 7,859 miles to see the child who was looking wistfully at maps of the world well before he ever went to school.

The A-Team live in a beautiful apartment in a not-so-picturesque tower that comes up out of the sand much like a saguaro cactus in the Sonoran Desert.

The view at the top of this post, looking back to the city, offers an interesting skyline; but the overwhelming impression Bahrain gives is to look – pretty much – like a perpetually unfinished construction site.

Rebekah, however, is not there for the top-ten tourist hit-list, she is there to see our family. And the family, of course, still has restrictions when it comes to Mr. T.’s name and face on the Internet. So, while I am enjoying a flood of great grandchild photography from Rebekah, I still can’t share any of the good stuff in this space!

Rebekah will be exploring some of Bahrain’s cultural heritage this weekend (it’s a Friday-Saturday weekend), so I should have more to share at the beginning of next week.

But for today, I can report that Rebekah is getting to know two-year-old Mr. T., playing lots of trains and trucks on the floor, and being a grandmother with all the joy and enthusiasm she brings to everything.

Here is one photograph I am allowed to publish; our son, Andrew, with his boy. I cannot begin to express how happy this makes me feel, the image is beautiful to me in so many ways.

I really can’t improve on these words from the psalmist as I reflect on what it means to have this family:

But the Lord’s faithful love is from forever ago to forever from now
        for those who honor him.
    And God’s righteousness reaches to the grandchildren
         of those who keep his covenant
        and remember to keep his commands.

Watch this space. This is, as they say on the news, an “active/breaking” story! – DEREK