An Emotional Home

Our living space.  

On Sunday, our little family moved into our "new" and "temporary" home in the United States where we will spend the next 6 months. While we are here our little family of 4 will grow to 5...maybe that puts us to "medium" in size. Baby boy arrives in 29 days.  

We all LOVE the new place! We obviously had to take the place sight unseen, and It's bigger than we thought and nicer than we expected. Thankful for my Mom and Dad for their help in "selling" us to the owners. Our entire family has been totally incredible in receiving us. Not only them, but our home church, Capital Christian Fellowship blew us away by FILLING our pantry. 

The start of anything new is a good time to reflect. When we moved into this place on Sunday, we knew this was the Genesis of a season, a space and place that the Lord set up for our family. We prayed and commited this time and space to God. The prayer in my heart this week has been: "Lord, in these months, speak as loud as you want to, go as deep as you need to, utilize us however you prefer to, and keep us here as long as you want to." 

Tricia and I counted and realized that this is our 9th home since we were married. Seems we are more gifted in flexibility and adventure than we are in stability. But here's what's amazing to us. Each place we go (even amidst travel), the kids settle in and call it "home" instantly. They call a hotel room "home". They called our friends house "home". On day one, they called this place "home". When we get to Tanzania, that'll be home.  so I've come to believe that home is not a physical place as much as it is an emotional place. A place of safety and belonging and connectedness. And it's up to us to give our kids that. You can live in the same home 20 years and your kids not feel at home. 

I'll reiterate what we taught Davis at 3 years old as we prepared to leave for South Africa for the first time: "Home is where Mommy and Daddy are!" 

So I'll close this out with Lily's sweet prayer from the other night: 

"Dear God. Thank you for today. And thank you that there is a baby in my mommy's belly. And thank you that we could go to Grammy's. And thank you that we could stay at Aunt Ruth's house. And thank you that we will move to Annapolis. And I wish we were in Tanzania, but it's ok. Amen." 

Our kitchen and dining space.  

Two happy kids this morning!