Home Sweet Home

We have not had a home to ourselves in quite some time. Over the past 26 months, we have had our own place for only eight months. Here is a snapshot:

• Four months at my in-laws in Picayune, Mississippi.
• Six months at the house of Thomas, Rachael, and Titus Lambert (among our very best friends) in Spokane, Washington.
• Eight months in a house that we rented in Spokane, Washington (just our family of three).
• Two months at the Lambert’s.
• Three weeks at my in-laws once again (my wife and son; I was still in Spokane at the Lambert’s).
• Three months at my parent’s home in Winnsboro, Texas.

That sums it up. Yesterday we were given the keys to our own 2-bedroom flat. It sits next two an 11-hector park with cherry trees, a beautiful and clear brook, little bridges, walking paths, foxes, and brown trout (so I hear). In addition, it is only a five-minute walk to the nearest bus stop so that commuting, especially for me, will be easy. Bus 11 and 16 go straight through the Morningside district which has great shops, local restaurants, and our favorite cheese shop! It would be easy for Allison and Ezra to hop on a bus and take little adventures.

So today it happens. With a 3-year old and one on the way, my wife finally gets to create “home” again. She has given up so much. The first half of her pregnancy has been without a home of her own. As a man, I can’t really imagine what she must be feeling. At this point, a woman really wants to “nest,” to start preparing the space for the new family member. All of this has been on hold for Allison. Suitcase after suitcase, air bnb after air bnb, move after move, she kept going. She is the reason we are here.

I tell her all of the time, “I would not be getting my doctorate and we would not have the opportunity to live in Scotland if I were married to any other woman.” She, unlike most, is willing to sacrifice comfort and security for the great unknown.

I suppose this post has concluded with more of a tribute to Allison than anything else. It is well deserved. Thank you Allison for being a woman who was willing to trade material items for adventure. The American dream is overrated (stuff, stuff, stuff).

We will now create a home again with our little lamps, chairs, books, wooden toys, and a simplicity that now constitutes the fabric of our family. May the Lord use us now in our new, little mission field.