Skip to main content

Home??? Where is that?

When we lived in America on the way town, my boys would count basket ball hoops... now they count roadside shrines. When we lived in America, my children never rode on trains... now they are quite familiar with all kinds of public transportation, trains, trams, buses, and metro... When we lived in America, my children wouldn't have thought twice about the cashiers at Walmart... now they whisper in amazement, Mom, that lady speaks English!!!...

My children talk about rondos, markets, street vendors, tutors, bigos, pierogis, gates and fences, drunks, Warsaw, and fiats like they are normal life. Which indeed they are!!! Their world has expanded to a new culture. In fact, this is the culture they know. This is their home!

I always get ecstatic when I think about furlough. My heart hammers as I think of this summer and the ten weeks we will spend in America. For me, I will be returning home, to the comfortable, the familiar, the life I knew. But for my children, they will be leaving their home. For them it will be like entering a new culture. They can't understand why mom gets so excited about Wal-Mart, cantalope, roast beef, cran-raspberry juice, chai, turtle brownie mixes, carmels, and malted milk balls.

Mom, what's an RV? my son asked me one day when he was reading. Why would he know? Where had he ever encountered that word before?

One of my friends asked me if I would like to move back to America someday. Would I really? I think of the shopping, being with family and friends, and the joy of being surrounded by a Christian community. Yes, I do miss America. It isn't easy replanting to a new culture. But then I think of the blessings we have encountered here, the stretching God has brought us through, the relationships that have developed, I wonder, Am I really the same person that came here almost five years ago? Could I be happy anywhere else? For now, God has placed us here and I'm content with that. The most important isn't where you live, but if you are living in the place where God wants you.

As my good friend Crystal always tells me, "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God." a quote by Jim Elliot.

Allison (after Conrad tells her to hurry up because all the rest of the family is done eating and want to get down from the table), "I'm teaching all of you patience."
Labels:

Comments

Dorcas said…
Very well put.
7:35 PM
Anonymous said…
My sister and her hubby and children lived in the Philippines for 15 years,so their children had a culture shock everytime they came back "home". I love to read about different cultures so keep writing!!LOL!!

Lisa, we like you just the way you are.=)
8:33 PM
Judy said…
I love reading your newsletters and blogs. It brings me closer to my sister who is serving in Ghana, West Africa. She has to deal with the same issues and feelings you have however not the snow! they have hot! And we as a family always anticipate the furloughs. It's coming up in 2007, hopefully for 6 months. God Bless!
8:15 PM
mybubblingteapot said…
Thanks, Shine, I hope the link is working now. Fiat??? I should think it would make sense, although there is lots of jokes about Fiats here like, "I don't drive a car, I drive a Fiat." And, "This is a deluxe model. It has rearview mirrors on both sides." Have you ever seen one? They are the cutest, smallest cars you have seen.
1:31 AM
mybubblingteapot said…
And, Lisa, I am a VERY normal person. And yes, like Arlene said, we like you just the way you are. :)
1:32 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My God, My Elohim

 Thoughts on Genesis 1-3 My God, Elohim, Creator of heaven and earth, and Creator of me. This is a personal reminder of his great plan for me.  We are living symbols on earth of His own self. He put within us the "breath of life." Something only He can give. The first covenant was broken by man, but praise be to my Creator, he provided a second covenant to bring us back to Him! Jesus paid the blood atonement for my sins and conquered death forever. Though our bodies die and decay, the Lord, my God will again plant the tree of life (Rev. 22:2) and we can once again experience an Eden (delight, a land of happiness) when we die and go to be with our Creator, our Redeemer, our Lord. The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. -Prov. 4:18
Post a Comment
Read more

Kidnapping, Wedding, and More Ponderings

One year ago, we had the wonderful news that two had been released from the gangster camp. And we also learned they were safe and all together and in good spirits. What balm to our ears. It's not much to ease any anxiety, but it was enough for the next few weeks we faced. It was also one year ago today that we celebrated a bittersweet day, the wedding day of our daughter. Here is what I wrote over this time.  December 7, 2021 Thirty days…forty days…fifty days…as we waited we began to look at the symbolism of these numbers. Biblically thirty symbolizes a man’s dedication to work or to a certain task…Forty symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation…Fifty deliverance or freedom from a burden. As each of these days of significance in captivity came and went we thought surely on one of these days we would see a miraculous deliverance. But it hasn’t been. We continue to wait, to fast, to cry, and to pray. As Allison’s wedding day approached, so much uncertainty rested on us. H...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kidnapped Ponderings One Year Later

Austin and Cherilyn on their wedding day Who would have imagined just one year ago that our dear son would be married to the beautiful girl he was in gangster camp with for 62 days? And not only that, but expecting their first child to be born in June? Who would have thought one year ago that we would be here today struggling with the whole story of our lives? I want to share some of my thoughts that I wrote during that time just to try to process the whole thing. It's been big and bittersweet, this kidnapping journey, a year later. (sorry to all who read this one year ago)   October 31, 2021 When has two weeks ever been so long? “You son is among a group of seventeen who were kidnapped,” came the words over the phone on Saturday morning, October 16. Kidnapped? We had just received word that he had landed in Haiti the evening before. Planning to spend 4-6 months down there helping the victims of the recent earthquake, our son planned to spend the weekend at the Christian Aid Mini...
Post a Comment
Read more