“Home Sweet Home”

“Aaaaah, home sweet home!”, said Hudson as we walked up to the door of our hotel room in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates where he would be sleeping on a sheet on the floor in the corner under a desk.

“Home” has been an often discussed subject throughout the course of our journey. Michigan has been home, Zambia became home, home was wherever our family traveled together, our Eternal and true home, home alone, homecomings, homesickness and sharing homes. After two years of seeking and planning and two years at home in Zambia, we are so happy to be back home in Michigan.

We nearly made Abu Dhabi our home. Just to continue to keep things interesting, we were told at the US immigration office there that there was no way Teya would be allowed to enter the US. After a very frustrating conversation, an excruciating wait, and a supervisor consult we were told again at first that we would be denied, but then that an exception would be made and we could proceed. At that point it was simply two more flights (both delayed of course), one of them lasting over 14 hours, a sprint through O’Hare carrying bags and sleeping children, and we were indeed home sweet home in Grand Rapids late Friday night!

We are staying with mom and dad DeKam this week, catching up with family and slowly unpacking and settling into our family home. We had a chance to visit there yesterday: remembering or, in one case, being introduced to the home we built together. The kids all rolled around on the carpet yelling that they loved their house! We hope to be settled in before the end of the week before leaving for our two week training, after which we hope to emerge from our isolation and start catching up with friends.

Once again we can’t express adequately our gratitude for all of the prayers that have been offered on our behalf as God has so graciously guided us through this next phase of our journey with Him.