Fifty-nine. Tonight marks the fifty-ninth bed we have slept in since January of this year. And for the last six weeks we have slept in the same bed—which was a record for us! But tonight…we have a home.
We have been living with people since January with our longest stay being four weeks, up until our time in Peru. It has been tiring moving from place to place, living out of suitcases. And it has been frustrating at times, when all I wanted to do was to have my own kitchen to cook something, or even my own kitchen to clean! It made me sad when we sold all our stuff, stuff that we had had since we got married that brought with it memories of our first five years of marriage together.
But we found ways to make it work. I have a favorite pillow that has been everywhere with me that is my piece of home. And all Jeremy needed to feel at home was his traveling coffee kit. Each place we stayed I would unpack my bags first thing to trick my mind into thinking we actually lived at this place and that dresser with my clothes in it was mine…until it was time to move again and I packed up our bags.
Tiring and frustrating and sad at times, but we wouldn’t change a second of it.
This year has been one of the best yet. When I would start feeling tired or frustrated I would remember all of you that have hosted us. What a blessing y’all were to us during that time. Thank you to our families, Harding, HUF Spring 2014 students and directors, the Clarks, the Nichols, the Tibbals, the Thompsons, Ganderbrook, the D’Herdes, Michael, Mark, the Powells, the Wilsons, the Whites, the Adkisons, the Mayes, Poppa, the Hovaters, the McKinzies, and the our Peruvian family. And there are more of you that have hosted us for a meal or game night or Mario Kart, or just to sit and talk and share our lives with each other.
You have blessed us. You were the blessing that we needed during that time. And it is because of you that this past year was one of the best.
“I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields…)”
We have received a hundred fold. We have new friends and new homes and new brothers and sisters. There were times where is was hard to see past the frustrations of living out of a suitcase for 10 months, but it has not been hard to find the blessings that we have received through this.
Tonight I have unpacked. Tonight I sleep in my own bed. And tomorrow I will clean my kitchen. But right now I thank God for each of you that shared with us your home when we didn’t have one of our own.
