Happy New Year! Welcome to 2020! I know it’s kind of a late greeting but I feel like I have only really entered 2020 this past week. I had the privilege of being in the US for Christmas and New Years and only got back to South Africa last week. I am finishing my first week back in the office and feel like I am almost adjusted back on this time zone.
I feel like I crawled into this new year on bloodied hands and knees (2019 kicked my butt on many levels) but after a few weeks of being home with family and friends recounting all the hard, good, gory and glorious parts of 2019 I feel refreshed and thankful for my time away. Thank you for everyone who made allowances for me and showered me with grace, love and kindness during my time in the US. Thank you for letting me invade your lives for a few weeks and giving me space to rest, share and recover amid the ebb and flow your regular lives, schedules and routines. I am still learning how to do this missionary thing in a way that makes me feel like I am being the friend, sister and daughter God has called me to be. Thank you for forgiving my missteps and being gracious with me in my weaknesses. For those of you who I missed this time around I look forward to catching you the next time I am in town!
It would take thousands of words to recount all the goodness that God gifted with me while I was Stateside. I loved being with my precious family and am praising God for the journey of learning to know and love my siblings as adults and getting to step in as “Auntie Colie” with my nieces and nephews. I adore my parents and every day I get to chill in the oasis of a home they have created in Modesto is a blessing and joy. I got to reconnect with sweet friends in face-to-face conversations over cups of coffee and with the gift of video chat technology. I got to fly to Wisconsin and spend time loving on and living life with sweet Jaren and his family. Talk about more than I could ever ask or imagine!!! I spent time with my sister Ashlee and our fun friends exploring Austin and all the family fun to found over good drinks and food. I got to know the small group that have “adopted” me as one of VBC’s global mission partners. I had the honor of sharing life and ministry at both of VBC’s campuses. I got to sing with my brother, Daniel. I drank lots of coffee. I ate at In-n-Out. I replenished supplies via Amazon. I wandered through Target. I visited the Pacific Ocean. I slept on all kinds of beds. I had a wonderful time and am thrilled to be back in South Africa.
Trips to my California home have this unique ability to be too long and too short all at once. I love being there but miss the babies but when I am in South Africa loving on my babies, I miss being in California. Having more than one “home base” can feel like there is a dichotomy in my life that is so utterly complex and painful to look at too closely or too often. To always be missing people I love dearly, no matter where I find myself in the world. But maybe that’s the key – eternity has been hidden in my heart. I was not created for the impermanent reality called life on earth. Through belief in Christ and His sacrifice on the cross I have been adopted into God’s eternal family. My life is hidden with Christ in God and He is my life. Heaven is my home. All this loving, living, serving and giving on earth is bonus – even if it is complicated because my “home bases” are on different continents. My prayer is that I will continue to do what Paul instructs us to do in Colossians 3 -- to set my mind of things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God remembering that my life is hidden with Christ in God and that one day when Christ, who is my life appears that I will also appear with Him in glory.
Thank you for your continued love and support of my hopeful adventure here in South Africa. Remember to like our El Roi Baby Home FB Page or follow me on Instagram for more peeks into what God is doing in this corner of the world.
Lord willing, I will be seeing you more in this space this year!
Lots of love and joy from Nicole and her babies at El Roi
