Two Worlds...

As I sat down on Jackson's bed in Ethiopia I started to get emotional. I remembered so many sweet memories in that room over the last five years. Jackson was 14 months old when he moved into that room. He learned to sleep in a big boy bed there, and he said goodbye to his passé there. He went to sleep anxiously awaiting the first day of school in this room and we were anxious the first time he slept without dippers there. Countless nights of awaking to the power being off and him yelling for us, and the eventual progression as he got older of finding his flashlight and turing it on. Hours of laughter filled the room as he played with tractors, Legos and Star Wars. Often times we would find him going out on his small balcony and talking to his friends Desta and Teddy who lived next door. We put him to sleep in this room in a cheaply made crib and laid down with him in his big boy boy on nights he couldn't fall sleep. So many sweet memories flooded my mind as I though back over the last five years, looking around his room as his toys sat untouched.

It is like two worlds colliding when I think about it. Our life in America and our life in Ethiopia. I miss us being there right now, but I don't miss being there the dreadful night Amanda was sick. I am joyful that she is in good hands in Raleigh, but at the same time I long for her to be healthy and all of us sitting around at dinner sharing our highs and lows of the day.

Ultimately though Jackson's room will sit untouched for a while, but he will not. We will hug him and squeeze him and laugh with him and discipline him. We will teach him and cherish every second of it.

Right now as I glance over at Jackson sitting on the couch in the house we are staying at in America, I am overcome with thanksgiving. Our entire lives are up in the air right now, but Jackson is resilient and so our we. We serve a God who fights for us and we praise Him that He will see us through.