He Be a Hobbit

The Shire

My adventurous Hobbit is not here this week.  Rod is in Lubumbashi.  Just before he left he finished reading the book, The Hobbit to us.  One of his favorite sayings is, “It's a dangerous business, stepping outside your front door. You never know where you might get swept off to.”  J.R.R. Tolkien quoting Bilbo Baggins.  Well, Rod stepped outside again and has been swept off to Lubumbashi where he is playing the role of chief pilot.  Rod grew up on a dairy farm in Ohio that is tucked in a valley inlet surrounded by Amish settlements.  I call the farm the shire because two of his three brothers still live there with their families where they built and bought houses around his parents, who are also still there.  The third brother actually lives nearby and comes home several times a week.  One of the brothers must have gotten a little more of the Took blood since he lived out of state for about 15 years before settling down. 

Rod, stepped out his door for the first time to go to college in the big city of Chicago where he sought to study Missionary Aviation.  I met him there.  By the end of the first year after we met he escorted me home to California on a long 48 hour drive.  We were just friends but his adventurous blood was growing. 

When Rod takes trips like the one he is on now I get stir crazy and do things like take a mini vacation with my kids or buy a new pet.  One of the first pets I got after we came to Kinshasa was a grey kitten that I named Bilbo.   Another time I bought rabbits and the big gray daddy rabbit was named Thumper.  Rod became curious about me liking small, gray, fury creatures and I let him know that he will eventually get there too.  After all, he is a hobbit in disguise.

The back yard of the new shire.

Now that we have lived in Africa for 22 years (we have 3 more days until our entrance anniversary) Rod continues to be cautious and the Baggin’s blood keeps him steady and faithful.  God seems to have given him extra responsibilities where he now lives, no he is not a treasure thief, but he does give good counsel quite often.  In our own way we have made our own little Shire right here in the middle of Kinshasa.