Welcome Home

The familiar turn of the key in the lock and creaking up the stairs meant my mom was coming to find me, a sound I had not heard in 7 weeks. "She may not be a Kenyan baby, but I have a baby for you to hold," she said as she came around the corner. With a smile on her face Aubrey, the little girl my mom watches one day a week, let me take her in my arms and give kisses all over her face as she squealed with joy. It was fun to hold a baby and a great reminder that I am on this side of the world because God has called me here for this time.

Culture shock is something I always deal with on this side of the trip, returning to the States. Many people say be ready to see things you have never seen before when going to another country, it will put you in culture shock, but the opposite is always true for me. Returning to a place that you don't have to worry if the power is going to go out in the morning before you take a hot shower, or knowing that whatever food item you are thinking of at the moment will more than likely be in the pantry, (such as having a box of Bisquick pancakes, boy are they yummy). These are the things that don't seem like they should be real when only 24 hours before I was sitting with friends who each have their own story about why the job they have will not only buy them food, but help support their family as well.

Staring through the blinds, I see houses nicely lined down the street adorned with green grass in the front yard, and am again confronted with the fact that I am in a different place. I am reminded that to spend 7 weeks of your life in a different country you can't help but be changed. So although I have felt the change happening over the last several weeks, I have been unable to pinpoint what is different with my life. A slow processing of what I have seen and how I have been tested will eventually cause me to see with new eyes the life I reenter. Where and how will I put into practice the things I have learned?

As the cop cars sat in our cul-de-sac yesterday, it seemed only natural to question why they were there, however this new person I have become also saw the need to greet them and have a 20 minute long converstation. The part of the Kenyan culture I was at first so annoyed with, I was now surprised to find myself in America living out a skill I had come to value. A small example in the large scheme of things, but exciting to see how when we are listen, God can grow us in small ways and call us to follow in our everyday life.