Home is where you don’t have to care if you have morning hair.
Home is where you can slurp the last of your soda and suck every delicious drop of juice-running-down-your-elbows deliciousness out of a ripe nectarine. Home is where you can wear your PJs all day long if you feel like it and still someone will grab your face between chubby, grimy hands and whisper straight into your eyes, “You so boo-di-ful mama.”
Home is where the collection of clothes on the floor testify to a weekend thoroughly seized – the swimsuits, muddy shoes, hats, cowboy boots, fireman suits, and church shirts. Home is where grilled cheese sandwiches are relished over conversations about who has the stinkiest, well – anything- and who was the leader in the walk back from the pool.
Home is a bed with deep imprints on either side that tell the story of a decade and then some of two who became three and then four. Home is hide-and-seek with kids under bed sheets and boys who can’t understand why their parents aren’t game for riding bucking broncos at seven am on a Sunday.
Home is long-distance calls that after a decade of living overseas still come in now and again at 3am. Home is a collection of accents and Gumboot dancing sandwiched in between baseball and all sports Detroit. Home is the crook between chubby neck and chubby shoulder of a chubby two-and-a half year old who smells of Doritos and milk.
Home is a pile of potty-training-stained sheets.
Home is hunting stories told to wide-eyed five year olds of nights in the Baobab bush on the edge of the Limpopo river. Home is where lions, buffalo and kudu are par for the course but my kids think The Chipmunks are too scary by far. Home is odd snacks at odder hours still and the pillow that’s been with me since before I can remember buying it.
Home is two boys and the man that gave them to me.
I carry my home in my heart. I carry my home buried deep, deep in the wrinkles I’ve earned and the memories I’ve been storing up all weekend. Like the slow, deliberate tortoise, I carry my home with me. On my back, in my heart, cupped in these words.
And tomorrow I take flight with this team to go and be guests in someone else’s country, community and home. To learn what makes them laugh and where they live and what stories they treasure in their hearts. To share food and faith and look deep into each other’s eyes and discover through the grime and accents and distances that we are all beautiful.
Sibahle.
The Zulu word from my South African home recognizing a common beauty that we share. The beauty that I believe binds us together – morning hair, houses in disarray, finances that dribble through our fingers, or kids we wish we were somehow raising better.
We are all beautiful. We are all beautiful
for in the image of God
has God made man. Genesis 9:6.
Will you travel with me tomorrow as I leave one home for another? As I go with Compassion International to visit a place where God has long been at home and will reside long after I leave?
Tomorrow I go to Guatemala and I take my home with me. Won’t you come – and bring yours too?
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I can’t wait to hear about your trip…be safe during your travels!
looking forward to reading (& coming) along with you, and to seeing through your eyes and words all that you will experience, learn, and live…
Love that you’re there listening on the other side – especially since the Kenya trip was how we reconnected again!
wow – so true – how we feel about our homes and lives :)
beautifully written.
Betty Bake
Oh my friend…we will be lifting you all up in prayer. I can’t even imagine all that the Lord is going to do through you all, and I will be so excited to get a live update from our HH trip. :)
Thank you thank you Jen! Give all those girls a big tight real life hug from me, Okay?
Praying for you and the team! What an awesome opportunity to serve our awesome God!
Thanks Melissa – it’s an opportunity that makes me feel kinda small. But in all the right ways I think.
Lisa Jo, may God bless you all with safe travels. It will be a privilege to share this journey with you. Kelly
Thank you, Kelly. It’s going to be a privilege to share it.
I’m excited for you, Lisa-Jo, and I’ll keep you and your travels and your family in my prayers. I can’t wait to read your blog posts!
Thank you thank you Linda. Whenever I get nervous I just have to remind myself at least there won’t be charging hippos :)
Hey there! So beautifully written. Love the true-to-life images you created here, and I am so excited about your upcoming journey. I can’t wait to read about lessons learned and little hands held. Can’t wait to read about how God shows up in the big and in the small. Thank you for taking us along . . . .
So glad you are writing it!
Love, Laura
Thank you for the encouragement. I can’t wait to hold some of those little hands either. I love knowing that folks from all over the globe will be walking alongside me as we build a bridge of words and stories together!
Praying as the team travels.
Blessings.
Home is where I’d rather jump on the trampoline than mops dirty farm-grime covered floors. Our home is where I’m learning to have fun first, because they won’t remember how clean or dirty the floor was , but will remember the races we had and kickbAll games we played.
I have been and will continue to pray a shower of blessings and protection on this trip. So excited for you, for this opportunity, for your heart to be expNded even more and for the blessing if sharing it thru your blog!
*{hugs}*
That right there? That just felt like a comment hug! Thank YOU!
Travel safely.
Hey Lisa-Jo! Just wanted you to know God’s had you on my heart all week as you prepare. He’s gonna’ do some amazing things through you!! I’ll be praying . . . and following. Much love to you.
~Bria
Bria – I love more than I can express, knowing that friends from my way back travels are still along for the ride. Thank you!
(And I read this, this morning:
“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’”
We are home when we are in the center of His will… that makes me very, very happy and at peace this morning… Till tomorrow, sister… and us being at home together.)
All’s grace,
Ann
Lisa-Jo you are going at a perfect time. The people of Guatelmala will be touched by your sincerity and kindness, I just know it. What an honor to carry with us home where ever we are.
Oh friend, you bless me with your words!
I have been praying for you and the others Lisa-Jo, and the prayers will follow you as you go. I pray His protection and richest blessings as you go to love and touch hearts in His name.
Safe travels. Hope God uses you lots on your trip. God bless
Lisa Jo, you have my most fervent prayers for protected travels and God-glorified days. I am excited to see and hear all the ways He moves mountains through you and the team! May He also watch over your precious family and make their week smooth and uneventful! I love you love you love you!
Thank you so much sweet Kristen!
I carry home deep in my pocket when I leave, just like I’ve carried love letters tucked down at the bottom of my purse when I’m away fromy hubby. I’m always tucking away little pieces of my heart deep inside my mind so I’m never without.
I cannot wait to see the home you’re visiting through your eyes. Praying for a safe trip where two homes will blend in your heart.
Yes, what a great image! That is my idea of taking home with me and I sure hope to take you guys along too.
Praying and following every step of the way. They will be so blessed by each of you and each of you will be touched by the hand if God there. Can’t wait for you to share that home with us.
Thank you, Erin. Truly.
I am so excited to follow this adventure! Safe travels to you. …I think home is also the toy car, whistle or discarded sock I find in my purse on a trip. :)
Yes, I hope to discover a few of those when I arrive on the other side as well :)
Thank you for this. Again, you have captured my deepest feelings with your magical words. All the best for your trip to Guatemala!
Hi, Lisa-Jo. This is my first visit to your blog, and with one look at your header, I’m in love! My friend Amanda is going with you to Guatemala and I wanted to check out the rest of you too while you’re there. SO EXCITED to see how God works!!
home. your words mean so much. Praying for you …. following as you travel. Can’t wait to read, pray…. laugh & cry….
thank you for your love. I appreciate your encouragement….
blessings,
Teena
Oh, how precious this is. God is going to do great, mighty, wondrous things!!!
So excited for you and your family to journey to this home of others where God has been all along. What a beautiful way you capture the heart of a mom and her home (doritos and milk toddler… potty training sheets… :). Looking forward to hearing all about your journey and what God’s doing as you go.
Blessings,
Laurie