It is Sunday morning. I am downstairs in Jaclyn's living room, the home I have stayed at for almost the past three weeks, soaking up a few quiets moments before everyone wakes and the bustle of the morning begins.
Today is our last day in the U.S. before returning home to Burkina tomorrow.
It is a busy day. We are gathering this cold crisp Fall morning at a pumpkin patch with members from my family, and also members from Isaak's family as his grandma and grandpa drove in to see us on Friday, as well as his Aunt Marcia and Uncle Ray who are in town for but a few hours today.
It is going to be good.
This entire trip has been good. Better than good. Our trip back here has been more than we could have asked for. We have had the most peaceful, unstressful, hilarious, memory filled time.
It is going to be hard to leave. It is going to be hard to say goodbye to all of our loved ones again. You'd think after 13 years in the military, saying goodbye would be easier, but it never is. Not with people whom you love.
I am admittedly nervous. Nervous to return to Burkina. This past year has been more challenging than I ever could have expected. I am nervous to return....because now I know the cost. I have lived the sacrifice. Fourteen months ago we stepped off the plane in Burkina naive and blissfully unaware of what was truly in store for us.
And while we are still naive and ignorant to many things, we are at least more aware for what's in store. We are more prepared for what life will look like there. I know there will be challenges. Challenges with our bodies and our health. This past year we seemed to endure a constant strain of varying degrees of sickness and ailments. There will be challenges in communication. I have never felt so handicapped in my life this past year. I thought learning French would be easy...but turns out learning another language isn't. I don't look forward to returning and not being able to adequately communicate. To forgetting words and stumbling through conversations. It has been such a sweet joy to come to the States and take a vacation from French. What a joy, and something I will never take for granted again, being able to effortlessly speak to an employee at a store, or having the right words to order food on the phone, or not being nervous about forgetting words, or catching those language specific idyoms. There will be challenges with the emotional stress of feeling useless in a land with so much visible need. Feeling mediocre at everything. Not knowing how to help. Realizing that change is hard, and takes more time than we have to give in the three short years we'll be there.
There will be many challenges, no doubt. But despite the challenges I know we will endure, I am hopeful. I am hopeful for what's in store.
It has been a joy to reconnect with our culture and with loved ones these past 21 days. And as hard as it will be to say goodbye and leave....we must return home. We must return to the land where the Lord has called us. We have work to accomplish for the Lord. We have a lot more learning to do. And most importantly....we have a future son who awaits our return.
We are thankful. We are humbled. We are nervous. We are ready. We are hopeful.
