Sometimes a vacation is just a vacation—and then sometimes it's much more.

Our family headed to the Dallas area to stay with some new friends in Tyler. The weekend prior I had flown there to be present at a play based on my children's books on purity. The performance included Irish dancing, excellent swordplay (with sparks!), a smoke-breathing dragon … not to mention wonderful efforts by 70 home schooled kids. Their efforts were amazing—a regular Cecil B. DeMille production which was attended by 1000 area folks.

Becky (the playwright) and I had become good enough friends (or maybe Becky was just taking a wild risk) that she allowed our family of four to share their home during our vacation a week later. After a long drive that gave our bunch time to reconnect from our busy lives, we arrived in a home of southern hospitality and love.

My husband cooked some meals, and Becky cooked some meals, and we all cleaned up. Our kids hung out with the kids from their homeschool community. We ran to Wal-Mart, shopped for Texas belt buckles, read books and had long talks around the kitchen table. We rode horses, fed chickens, and the girls learned to sword fight from a marvelous teacher who bases his methods on character-building, not just ability. We attended high tea at a friend's house and a cast party for the play where we hooted and hollered at clips from the event.

Some of the kids from the play came along to the Dallas Christian Book Expo to do sword demonstrations and pieces of the drama along with my readings. I never heard them complain about the long drives or … anything. All I heard was, "Mrs. Bishop, we love you. Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your play. I hope we can do more." Wow—are there still high schoolers like this in the world??

Of course, none of them saw this in themselves. They were confident, but not cocky, unaware of their rare qualities, or of how many families wished for that kind of community or that quality of relationship and character.

There was a pall in the car as we left for home, and tears were shed. It wasn't just a sadness over an ended vacation, but a true mourning for parting from such dear friends. And in Orlando, our transition was difficult. Back to our schedules, our cell phones, our work and school, longing to somehow keep hold of the community we learned from. Thank goodness for Facebook!

Maybe you are totally unaware of what you have to offer in your community. I know we must have offered something to our friends in Tyler, but I have a hard time seeing it in light of their gifts to us, and maybe that's just as well. But we are all influencing someone by virtue of just being here. My thought after this vacation is , "How can I do it better?"

Thank you to all our friends in Tyler—we are praying for you to keep pursuing your big dreams, and we're praying to come back. Thank you for opening your arms to us, and giving us the opportunity to reevaluate our lives. And if you're ever in the Mickey Mouse area—well, you know who to stay with!