last saturday we hit up our local farmers’ market; after seven point five years of living in this town i thought maybe we should give it a look-see. those farmish folk had fresh eggs and sweet corn and tiny cupcakes topped with slices of sugared lime: i was straight-up in love.
recently it dawned on me that this is likely our last american summer with the whole crew in house. if all swims along nicely, we’ll ship out in a year and not head back for home assignment till our oldest is in college. so suddenly there’s Serious Pressure to make these next couple months all kinds of memorable.
but i got to thinking about what i’d like our kids to associate with the US, and it’s not so much the fanfare of theme parks or national monuments or the big apple, as much as i love all those guys. mostly i want ‘the states’ to mean just the sort of every day midwesterny adventures we’ve been having: hayrides and sugar snap peas and backyard sprinklers.
(speaking of adventuring, i hopped online to check out baseball tickets for our minor league team, and pretty much it doesn’t matter what the price is, anything x 7 = expensive. but that very afternoon my nine year old won four tickets in our library’s weekly drawing. God still somehow stuns me with his sweetness.)
we came home from the market with honey, napa cabbage, naan and a pound of sweet peas. L was my fellow pea de-stringer, and as we worked i told her about snapping beans in the mudroom of my grandparents’ indiana farmhouse, and us kids climbing and skidding in the corn hoppers. about july thunderstorms and picking raspberries and how grandpa once bought a box of chicks from the hatchery. one of those feathered guys fell asleep in my lap on the truckride home, its downy frame pulsing quick with breath.
these are the slips of childhood summers that stick with me.
but even more than storing memories, i’m hoping God will sharpen our hunger for a home unseen. and that meanwhile, right here and kenya and all the wild and quiet spaces between will feel Just Like Home because He’s already there.
🙂
what says ‘home’ to you?
O w e n s t o A f r i c a 
Nicole,
I love your post, just started following recently. You write so beautifully and your photos are magnificent, such great color. We are sad to see you guys go next year but are truely happy for you as well. I know Dwayne has enjoyed coaching soccer with you and Todd as well as we have all enjoyed being around your great children on the field and at church!! 🙂 Love, Rebecca Davis
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oh, thank you, rebecca! your family is precious to us, and we are SO thankful for your Christ-like influence as you teach our kids in sunday school. we’ll miss you somethin’ crazy.
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Home, to me, is people. Because you 7 will go together, you will never leave home entirely behind, I think.
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yes, yes. home = together. arm me with family + God and i think we could build us a whole bunch of home just about anywhere.
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Tiny slices of sugared lime? No way.
Also? I think we are summer twins. Our souls seem to want many of the same things. And is it weird that I am already getting sweaty over the thought of you being so far come next year? You know, since I see you so often and all.
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i know. there’s something calming about just knowing that Should Panic Ensue, i only need to head north a couple hours and find me some shannan. this is not so effective from kenya, but you are going to visit me, yes? (can i get a yes?)
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love the way you turn our attention toward Home: “but even more than storing memories, i’m hoping God will sharpen our hunger for a home unseen.” but like you said, looking for Him, finding Him all around us in the everyday. yet, He longs to reside in us, no matter our surroundings, circumstances. i am a midwest girl. cornfields, old farms and barns, and small rural towns with maybe A street light reminds me of my roots. my graduating class of ’94 equaled 34, i believe.=)
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ooh, such a great thought, how He resides IN us AND with us. so true.
and class of ’94, holla! (i KNEW i loved you for myriad reasons.)
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yes, in and with us, daily, moment by moment. you are gracious, nic. as i wrote those words, i was in a dreamy state, knowing i am so far from that walk. but i long for it and believe He stirs such desires in us and will make them realities more and more as we trust Him more and more. yay, ’94! happy weekend, owens!
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Home = hugs and kisses + furry and feathered friends + fields of green + the weight of the day being lifted off our shoulders when we walk through the door + unconditional love + and marveling in the fact that all of this has been gifted to us.
(I had help from the man of the house with that definition.) 🙂
I have been telling everyone about God’s sweetness in providing baseball tickets for your family. My eyes doth well up at his provision of those things we not only need, but also some of those things that “might be really nice”. I hope you continue to enjoy this blessed summer!
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Hey Nic- I love reading what you write and hearing about how your family is doing. You write with such transparency and you draw the reader in quite well. I hope your support raising is going well. I am just nearly at 25% myself- so grateful for all who have joined hands with me in ministry thus far, and expectant with who else God will put in my pathway.
Love to you from Delaware 🙂
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Not a days slips by that I do not think of how brave you are. Of how I can think I may be brave one day, and then you mention leaving until college comes around and I bail all over again.
It’s amazing to me that we are all called, few go, and even less hear.
Praise God for your listening ears.
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As Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros say, “Home is wherever I’m with You.” 🙂
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oh my sweet nic, yes. yes. may our children call home wherever he is.
i love your heart.
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