Home

When we were back in the U.S. last year Em lost it on some poor older lady at a church in a state I don't even remember now.  We were maybe halfway through four months of solid traveling and speaking in churches.  Needless to say, even Em's outgoing nature was starting to show the cracks after so many new places and faces.  The plan was for us to have a(nother) church potluck dinner, which was soon to be followed up by Todd and I speaking.  This nice woman, standing across from us in the line, with the best intentions, asked Em, "How do you like being home, sweetie?"  Out of nowhere (to the woman, though I'd seen it coming for weeks), Em plops her plate down, stomps her foot and folds her arms emphatically while shouting, "THIS IS NOT MY HOME!"   Being missionaries, Todd and I accept that "home" will be a transient sort of thing... it will be a few books, a couple of pictures and some other nick-knacks.  But to a now-four-year-old, the cliche "Home is where the heart is" is rather hard to explain.

In June, when we got back to South Africa, I made an effort to make our home our sanctuary.  I decided that while there are a few books and such that are really important to ME, the kids may want things that, no matter where we live our lives, represent them, where they're from and what's important to them.  I also wanted to surround them with encouraging words, quotes from their name-sakes, and Bible verses.  Last night, I finished one such project.  Three of my babies have been born in Johannesburg and we have lived here as a family longer than we've lived any other place in the world.  In honor of where we live, I found a great quote from Nelson Mandela, who has impacted the face of this country tremendously.  I also found a way to display the city and this country.  After all, as Em less-than-graciously told the grandmother in the buffet line in a church auditorium, South Africa is her home.

I finally chose curtains and thus, some color for our home back in August.  The walls on each side of them were rather bare but when Todd got his hands on some old pallets, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the wood to fill in these spaces.

 Yeah for Joburg!

This thing took forever, but in the end, it was worth the soar fingers and 3 trips to the shop to get a paint brush that was the right size. 

And because she's now 6 weeks old, there was no way to post without a picture of my newest favorite kiddo... this is her trying on her, "Yeeeeessss?  You want something???" face.  I know in a few years, I'll be over it, but right now, I think its too cute for words!