Home Is Where We Are But Our Current Location Is Kona, Hawaii
After being away for 2.5 months [79 days] we are back home on the big island. It's interesting how a place becomes your home. The people you meet become friends and morf into community... Into family.
It's nice to be "home." The place where Kevin and I have mutual friends, where we fell in love, where our life together began.
For so long the airplane has been my "home". I've traveled to 20+ countries in the last 3.5 years, flown on 108 airplanes and slept in 130 different beds.
We will be in Kona for the next four months before we pack up and leave for good. It will be bittersweet. We've grown to love Kona.
Growing to love Hawaii may sound weird to many, but living and vacationing on the island are very different. It's more expensive than the Midwest, getting around without a car means walking long distances to the grocery store, and we aren't at the beach every day [or every week for that matter] like most people assume.
BUT, we do live in Hawaii and we're so grateful for this season in "paradise". We've experienced the most beautiful waterfall after the most difficult hike, watched the sun rise and set on top of the tallest mountain in the world, swam in the prettiest blue water next to wild dolphins, and walked through the lushest forest...all the while discipling young people to know God and make Him known. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve the Lord and respond to the great commission in some of His most beautiful creation.
Soon Cape Town, South Africa will become our new home. It will be a place Kevin and I can plant our roots as a family. Where we can actually buy our own bed, hopefully a car and slowly start creating a space for us. Where I can "nest" and feel like I can cook for my husband like any new wife.
This country is where our children will be born and raised. They will form friendships with South Africans and they will call this country home because they will know nothing else. South African traditions will become our traditions.
Cape Town will be the place we fulfill our great commission as a family. Where we speak Life and Love long term. And maybe, just maybe the art center will see the light of day in this country.
We will meet new people, who will turn into friends, disciples, neighbors, community.
Kevin and I know the Lord has called our family there. We go knowing the "cons", but also knowing the pros win out in the end.
I've been blessed to serve the Lord around the world. No matter how far I've travelled, nine months was the longest I went before seeing my parents and friends. Moving to Cape Town means less frequent trips to the Cornhusker state. It means my parents, my children's grandparents, will be more than a car ride, or cheap flight away.
But we go with each other, and our crew of 12 [including three under the age of two]. We go with a desire to be Light and Life. To expand His kingdom. To believe Jesus when He said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
We can't wait to get to Cape Town.
To our new home.
We want to plant our roots deep.
To sit on the porch 20 years and see how God's Love can transform a neighborhood, a community, a city and a country.
We wait expectantly these next four months. For the Lord to continue to confirm the words He spoke to Kevin and I back in April. For the Lord to give us more vision for our move and His people.
And we will do our best to stay in the present. To live and enjoy the now. To continue discipling here. But every so often, I may close my eyes, think of Cape Town and say, "there's no place like home".
Four months and counting...
It's nice to be "home." The place where Kevin and I have mutual friends, where we fell in love, where our life together began.
For so long the airplane has been my "home". I've traveled to 20+ countries in the last 3.5 years, flown on 108 airplanes and slept in 130 different beds.
We will be in Kona for the next four months before we pack up and leave for good. It will be bittersweet. We've grown to love Kona.
Growing to love Hawaii may sound weird to many, but living and vacationing on the island are very different. It's more expensive than the Midwest, getting around without a car means walking long distances to the grocery store, and we aren't at the beach every day [or every week for that matter] like most people assume.
BUT, we do live in Hawaii and we're so grateful for this season in "paradise". We've experienced the most beautiful waterfall after the most difficult hike, watched the sun rise and set on top of the tallest mountain in the world, swam in the prettiest blue water next to wild dolphins, and walked through the lushest forest...all the while discipling young people to know God and make Him known. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve the Lord and respond to the great commission in some of His most beautiful creation.
Soon Cape Town, South Africa will become our new home. It will be a place Kevin and I can plant our roots as a family. Where we can actually buy our own bed, hopefully a car and slowly start creating a space for us. Where I can "nest" and feel like I can cook for my husband like any new wife.
This country is where our children will be born and raised. They will form friendships with South Africans and they will call this country home because they will know nothing else. South African traditions will become our traditions.
Cape Town will be the place we fulfill our great commission as a family. Where we speak Life and Love long term. And maybe, just maybe the art center will see the light of day in this country.
We will meet new people, who will turn into friends, disciples, neighbors, community.
Kevin and I know the Lord has called our family there. We go knowing the "cons", but also knowing the pros win out in the end.
I've been blessed to serve the Lord around the world. No matter how far I've travelled, nine months was the longest I went before seeing my parents and friends. Moving to Cape Town means less frequent trips to the Cornhusker state. It means my parents, my children's grandparents, will be more than a car ride, or cheap flight away.
But we go with each other, and our crew of 12 [including three under the age of two]. We go with a desire to be Light and Life. To expand His kingdom. To believe Jesus when He said, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
We can't wait to get to Cape Town.
To our new home.
We want to plant our roots deep.
To sit on the porch 20 years and see how God's Love can transform a neighborhood, a community, a city and a country.
We wait expectantly these next four months. For the Lord to continue to confirm the words He spoke to Kevin and I back in April. For the Lord to give us more vision for our move and His people.
And we will do our best to stay in the present. To live and enjoy the now. To continue discipling here. But every so often, I may close my eyes, think of Cape Town and say, "there's no place like home".
Four months and counting...
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