“Home is wherever God is and God is ever with me.”

When I walked into the house I would call home for four years in Southfield, MI, this was written in beautiful hand-lettering on a white 2’x4′ canvas, beautifully framed and hung on the main wall in our living room. I pondered this saying often while watching TV, or grading papers from the couch.

Then I moved across the world. The saying was as lost as I was, floundering in a new country with new people in a new culture. It’s been months of new. Months of unfamiliar, months of change even as I finally get used to a policy, routine, or schedule only to be met with an email: “THINGS RETURNING TO NORMAL!!!!!” The only problem? Things other people here at RVA consider “normal” I’ve never experienced. Their “limbo” or “COVID routines” are what I’ve finally begun to acclimate to in this new place.

BUT: God is gracious and good. He IS ever with me. As the second term of the school year wrapped up just a couple of weeks ago, I finally found some space in my schedule to breathe.

I moved houses, choosing to switch simply to the other side of my same duplex. I traded a mirror image home and a few days of re-settling in for a yard, a sunset view of the valley, and a little bit more privacy as my front porch at the old home was often used as a public through-way for people crossing the center part of campus.

I entered maintenance request after maintenance request as the home had sat vacant for almost a year. Broken windows, drawers needing new rails, chipped patio tiles from roof repair work, hot water not turning on, roof leakage and water damage… but with each request, the house felt more and more like mine. I picked it, I chose it, I initiated fixing it. It felt more like home.

Then the best week of vacation finally arrived- my dear friend Cassie touched down after many hours of travel with Turkish airlines into the Nairobi airport. The hug of a beloved friend filled my soul, her smile and stories of life in Michigan melted the homesickness as it felt like a piece of home was ‘here’ instead of it all being ‘there.’ It felt like Christmas as she pulled out of her suitcase a few simple comforts, American Band-Aid’s, a new book to read, some taco seasoning, and, my all-time favorite comfort food: Spicy Nacho Doritos.

As we sat on this new front porch of mine overlooking the valley, we chatted about everything under the sun, my family, hers, my new home, her new roommates, teaching, her job at the bank- things that felt familiar. I got to show her my classroom, and the monkey fiends that jump on my roof at early hours of the day, or climb the tree in my front yard late in the afternoons.

I took her to my favorite nearby national park where we rented bikes and hiked through gorgeous gorges. We stopped for Ethiopian food in Nairobi, and ate Kenyan food down in our small town of Kijabe. I took her to my favorite (only…) local coffee shop where we sipped pinapple-mint juice with some dear friends of mine. She was able to experience what life is like for me here, and it made life here feel more normal. It made the world feel smaller.

Shortly before Cassie came I made a trip into Nairobi to buy some things I’ve been long wanting to have for myself. I went with a friend to TACC (think Joann Fabric) and picked out fabric for curtains in my home. Then we went to Builders (think Home Depot) and I got paint for my accent wall, a toolbox with simple things like screwdrivers and a hammer, hedge shears, a shovel, and rake for some basic yard work. Things you buy when you’re not just passing through. Lastly we went to CarreFour (think a big Kroger or small Walmart or Meijer) and I bought some groceries, but also a butter dish, and 9×9 pyrex casserole dish.

I came home not overwhelmed. I came home not exhausted. I came home from places I’d been before, from roads I’d travelled many times.

After hugging Cassie goodbye at 1:15am- a lay back into my bed with little tears welling in my eyes, thinking about the piece of home that was now leaving. I was wishing she could stay forever, or that the dream I’d had in my restless sleep the hour before saying goodbye were true. I dreamed the taxi that took Cassie to the airport returned with my family instead. As I lay there imagining a world where this were true, into my minds eye came that same wall hanging I’d stared at in my roommates home for four years: “Home is wherever God is, and God is ever with me.”

I’m thankful that I know I can call this place nyumbani… but more than just knowing, it truly is starting to feel like home.

Prayer Points

• Please be in continued prayer for an ever growing sense of belonging and community here at RVA.
• Please be in prayer for the new term that starts in one short week:
  • Students and travel, especially with the added layers of difficulty COVID creates in travel.
  • Teachers prepping classroom and lessons
  • Dorm parents preparing to expand their homes once again to another dozen+ students (depending on the grade level).
  • Administrative staff juggling the ever shifting sands of staffing and students
  • For rest and renewal for all as the time of vacation winds down