(from K) Well, we are off in just a few weeks to spend 4 1/2 months in the States. We've are already experiencing the mixed emotions that come with parting from friends and then greeting friends and family we haven't seen in a long time. It doesn't get easier. It really is joy and sorrow mixed all together. Sometimes I'll be on a high of happiness because I am so excited to see loved ones and then minutes later, I will feel this ache in my gut thinking about how long it will be until I see the friends I'm leaving.
Since Todd and I have been married we've lived in 9 different homes, 2 States, and 4 islands in SE Asia. In her 21 months of life, Emma has lived in 2 homes, 3 other places for longer than 1 month, been to 5 countries, and taken around 20 flights. I truly never thought that I signed up for this type of life when God called us to this ministry. Wow. What is "normal" in our life is simply, change. For someone who does not like change and grew up in the same place as her father, mother, grandparents, and great-grandparents, it has been quite a whirlwind.
Although the pains of being away from friends and family is real and will probably never go away, in the end, the truth is that God is our home, and wherever He wants us is the place we will be most content and satisfied. As Christians, we truly are nomads, waiting for our true home in heaven. It's easy to long for heaven when you no longer feel that any place is "home" anymore and you don't fit in in any one culture. We are so thankful for this challenge as it has really helped us to be more dependent on God and less on things that don't last or matter in the end. Our identity doesn't rest in where we are from, what material things we have, or what we do for a living, but rather in the One who has made us a new creation and extended His unconditional love to us. Thankfully HE will never change.
