home

We’re on the busy road back north through DC and Baltimore, and dear Nora keeps asking over and over, “Where are we GOING?  Where are we going?”

When we left the little apartment that’s been our home the last 5 days, it finally hit each of the girls…it would be ok to be going home now.  

I was reading an article yesterday about how much harder it is to return to the foreign mission field after your initial GO, because you didn’t know what was going to be hard, what would be heartbreaking, what you’d miss, until you went…and now you KNOW, and when you go now, it is knowing.

And that is true in lots of ways.

We know exactly how it feels to be far from our sweet nieces and nephew, missing birthdays and holidays. We know, as we have the air blasting in the car, exactly how hot home is right now, how hot it will be day and night for many many months still. We know exactly how easy it is to feel a MILLION miles away from the support and prayers and encouragement we’re being affirmed of in all these beautiful churches, now, how easy it will be to feel alone or forgotten, soon.  We know how hard it will be again to go back to being foreigner, foreigner, blan, blan, daily approached and petitioned and pointed out.  We know acutely how pressing is the daily need, the need, not a thousand miles away but right in front of you, under your fingers, before your eyes, and what will you do, what will you do.

And we sure are relishing the a/c, the smooth roads, the Dairy Queens, loading up the dishwashers, throwing the clothes in the dryer, the fresh and hugely varied food options, quick, the store next door, the milk ready to drink, and so many conveniences that we will never, never take for granted as long as we live.  

But it’s also true that what was ministry 11 years ago has become LIFE and ministry, work and ministry, family and ministry, and despite knowing all the hards waiting for you, it’s home.

And as I’m trying to help Nora deal with her confusion, as our baby app tells me it’s time to get packed for the hospital, instead I’m getting 5 people packed for five more very-spread-out places, with a few flights to boot, before I can think about packing for the hospital, which this time, will mostly include clean drinking water and FANS.  

As I tuck the girlies in each night, we talk about just what tomorrow brings, we remember together that the world is not our home.  We’re not supposed to belong here, be all at home anywhere, be safe and sound anywhere other than in He who is with us, carrying us one day at a time, just like He does in suitcases today and in suffocating heat at home.

Pray for Matt tonight and tomorrow as he shares the Gospel with His family in Bear, DE.  Pray for the girls and I as we seek to share it beside him as we connect and reconnect with people there.  Pray for us as we one-day-at-a-time-with-Jesus, even as it becomes more difficult to be so far from one home.  Pray for this mama who is relishing every sweet niece snuggle and sister-talk, every swimming pool and pint of ice cream, and also feeling sore and tired and ready to be settled as Ben’s day draws near…pray for me as I work to disciple and love on this precious family.  

We are so incredibly thankful for you, the world also not your home, encouraging and supporting us all the same, what a gift!