Home

Home.  Just one itty-bitty 4 letter word, but it has so many different meanings.  Love. Peace.  Hope.  Rest.  Place of belonging.  Place where I can truly be myself.  You get the idea.  It is where we come home to after a long day ... that place we long to be.


For two months this winter we thought we might be moving to Canada.  And, whatever just went through your mind is exactly what went through mine during that two months.  I struggled with many things about that possibility, but one thing I did not struggle with was the fact that I would go.  And go semi-willingly.  Because Dean and Torrey are my home.  Where they are is home.  Even if it is in a foreign country where you buy your milk in a bag.  And have temperatures in the winter  that would make a polar bear smile.


I spent a lot of time praying.  Asking God to show us clearly that this was His plan for us. We could push open the door ourselves, but if God wasn't in it, it would be miserable.  Eventually He closed the door.  Home is still Houston.  And, when that door closed, we all breathed a sigh of relief.  Because we knew without a shadow of a doubt we were where God wanted us to be.


Today I was at the airport to see two littles finally make it home.  There were a lot of people there.  A lot.  And when the big sliding doors finally opened and they came through, we cheered.  A lot.  And then swarmed.  (Natural instinct, peeps.  Natural instinct.)  Over and over the dad told the little boy, "All these people prayed for you buddy.  All these people love you."  Oh yes we did and yes we do.


And, I got to hold little sister.  Big sister went to her grandmother and told her, "My teacher needs to hold her."  And then as I held her she said, "We prayed a long time." Sigh.  God is faithful.  And He is good.  


I wonder what those littles thought as they came through those doors.  Because a week ago they thought they were alone.  That they had nobody to love them.  Meanwhile, a world away, we were waiting.  And praying.  And longing.  For them to come home. They were not alone.  We were for them.  God was for them.  


My sister said it gives her a picture of what it is like when someone comes to know Christ.  We prayed for my Uncle Hillard to accept Christ our whole lives.  So many friends and family who knew us prayed with us ... not because they knew him, but because they loved us.  They cheered right along with us when he finally accepted Christ days before he went home.  They were for him.  God was for him.


Today will stay with me forever.  I am grateful that I got to be a part of this story.  That I got to watch from the side lines.  I know that people will say that this family changed those two little lives.  Duh.  But, really, that family will never be that same. I will never be the same.  Because of those two littles.  Because of the day they realized they had a home.