finding home again

We've been in Mozambique just over two weeks now and although I've had a thousand subjects to write on, I kept on waiting until I thought I could put together a coherant thought. Have decided against waiting until I'm sure my thoughts are "put together." Might end up being a while.

We have been falling into bed, exhausted, just about every night by 8:30. And getting up between 4:30 and 5:30 every morning. Unfortunately we can no longer blame that on jetlag. It is just the new reality. The sun comes up here at 4:30. Houses are built on top of eachother and since all our neighbors (including wailing babies, chickens, and the drifters that sleep in "parque" accross the street) are up with the sun...so are OUR little ones...and hence, so are we.

We had a very smooth trip and spent the first two nights in Mozambique at a guest house where our children had the run of a large property where they climbed trees, ate mangoes and explored new wildlife to their hearts content. Meanwhile we gathered our household items from storage and moved the furniture into the apartment that we had set up to live in.

And then we moved. And it felt like we were plunged into the deep end of the pool. We were without running water for some time due to electrical issues. We discovered that the apartment had some significant plumbing, electrical, and carpentry problems. As we began to unpack boxes, we discovered that some had been broken and all of the contents had been covered in mold. Several of us got sick for a few days. And we were having a terrible time figuring out where to buy even basic food staples since there had been some big changes in markets and stores while we were gone. We found rats nests in the house. (rats, not mice). Although I hesitate to mention that as one of the challenges we faced when we first came because the boys thought it was great fun chasing them down the driveway.

Laundry piled up. Dead cockaroaches piled up. Banana peels piled up. (I truly thank God for banans. They are the one food that our kids can eat happily as they adjust to new flavors and foods of whatever country they are in.)

And then one day...it just felt like home again. It's not that all that much has changed. (Although we do thankfully have running water again!) There are still unpacked boxes around. The sink still drips. The security guard next door still blares his radio at 2:00 in the morning. The kids still wake up sweaty. And I still crave a huge bowl of lettuce and a nice thick slice of cheese.

But this is home for now. It is home because it is where my baby and toddler and two boys and husband and me all sit down and eat these new foods together at the dinner table. It is home because it is where we curl up on the couch in the midst of messes to read Little House in the Big Woods together. And on the days I long for home to be somewhere else... somewhere more comfortable...somewhere more lovely...somewhere more ideal...I remember that mostly it is home because it is where God has placed me.