A Little Sentimental

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It is late, my house is quiet and I should be asleep. However, I leave this beautiful home nestled in the Ngong Hills in 4 weeks 1 day. That means 29 days of non-stop list after list after list of things to do. I am leaving my home of the last six years and stepping into a new adventure.

As I have a moment of silence I start to think of the things I will miss. I realize it is not the things I will miss at all but the people. Alice, who has worked for my husband as a maid for the last 5 years. She was included in the package when I got married and let me tell you, what a deal! She is amazing…a mother of three of her own and two more that needed a mom, a widow, a hard worker, a gentle spirit, a caretaker when I went through the hardest part of my life thus far and most of all, a friend.

Sandra, my South African friend; who has the same warped sense of South African humor as my husband…and a heart of gold. She will pray you out of a hole; whether it be a hole of sadness, depression or just having a hard day. She is a net-worker, making sure everyone knows everyone; and making the lonely feel they have found a place of warmth and welcome. And she will donate blood…which came in very handy in my case.

Lindy, my Southern North Carolina missionary friend who makes everyone laugh. She is gentle and sweet and a living testimony of God answering prayers (she is about to deliver a baby boy after 5 years of barrenness).

I won’t miss going to the closest grocery (you have a choice of 3 if you are willing to drive an hour) to purchase that jar of expensive American salsa that I had been thinking about so long ...only to find they stopped carrying it. I could live with the disappointment but when I went to purchase the L’Oreal hair color that they have carried for nearly a year and found it disappeared off the shelves, my roots went into mourning.
I won’t miss idiot drivers. There, I said it. I don’t like to use the word but when drivers run other drivers off the roads there is no sugar coating.

I will miss Christine of HOREC and her determination to take in sick and weakly children and make them well. I will miss Stanley and Alice who get up every morning at 4 a.m. so they can be to Spring Valley School on time to feed the kids and run the school.

I won’t miss potholes the size of elephants.

I will miss occasionally seeing Baboons and Zebra as I drive down the road.

I will also miss my church family who has truly been family to us. Their names are too many to write but they know who they are. There is something about walking into a church with Americans, Kenyans, South Africans, Brits, Ugandans, Tanzanians, Baptists, Pentecostals, Conservatives, Methodists, Mennonites and more and worshiping Jesus as one body united.

I thank God I get to take a piece of Africa home with me in the form of my South African husband and my “African American” son. I will pack up my bags and try to forget nothing. But the inevitable will happen and a chunk of my heart will stay behind.

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Comments

[Sandy Swoager]

God bless you Jennifer, Johnny and Jonathon,
I am very happy for each of you coming to the USA. I pray God will always keep you and yours in the hollow of his hand. God bless your obedience. Love to each of you, Sandy Swoager

[Mom]

Love to you all.
Jen, I am sorry you have to leave Kenya and the wonderful people you have met and worked with, but so extremely happy you are coming home with your wonderful husband and baby. Thank you for all of the work you have done over there for the last six years. Time surely does fly. It is hard to imagine you have been there that long. It has been wonderful we have communicated almost daily during that time and I have had the opportunity to visit you four times. That seems unbelievable! Love Mom

[Ingrid]

It's your turn now
My heart and prayers are with you all. Good luck, good things forward, but difficult to leave so much and so many behind! God Bless