Home

We have all been on trips.  Man, there is no place like home though.  It seems like coming home is fantastic for everyone but for all different reasons.  What is it for you?  Your own bed?  Your favorite chair?  Not living out of a suitcase?  I really like that everything is in its place.  Home.  We just moved into our new house.  I love it, but it still does not feel like home.  Probably because not everything has a place yet.

There are certain things that are very important to me.  The way my house smells is close to the top of my list.  I am quirky in many ways.  One of my quirks that most people don't know about is when we get home from a long trip, I want to be the first one to open the door so I can see what it really smells like.  I figure if the house has been sitting all week with no air flow, there is no better time to get a whiff of what the place smells like at its core.  Strange, I know.

As with many mission trips, we were able to build houses.  There is no question these houses are needed.  The Batwa are literally living in huts.  The huts are basically straw gathered into a big half ball shape.  Then, nine people go lay down in it.  Home.  It is hard for me to wrap my brain around the idea of what home would feel like for them.  The smell of dirt.  You have nothing to put in its own place.  No favorite chair.  No bed to call your own.  When they duck into the entry, what do they feel?  When it starts to rain and they run for shelter, their home does not provide it.  Home.

When we were building the houses it was super exciting.  We knew we were part of a life changing thing.  We laughed and joked as we passed mud down the line to smash in-between the bamboo stalks.  Joy filled the whole area.  This building brought hope.  We celebrated when it was done.  We took pictures and stood back and admired.

A few short days later I was in my home.  I woke up in my bed without a mosquito net.  Ahhh.  Home.  When I opened my eyes that morning it hit me.  The house we rejoiced over and considered life changing, the one that the Batwa were literally dancing and singing about, was no bigger than the size of my bedroom.