This week we begin packing up the cottage as we prepare for our trip to the US and upon return, our move into the city. I know it will be a week filled with many varied emotions as we pack up memories and close a chapter in our lives and welcome a new one. As many of you know, we have spent the last year living in a cozy little cottage on the grounds of Hope Foster Home. Mikey has worked for New Hope (alongside of Show Hope) for the past 6 years and just recently ended his time of employment here as he pursues his Masters degree in counseling and further opportunities in that line of work. Once we return from our summer trip to the US, we will look for an apartment in Beijing city, closer to the school where I teach. Even as I type, I hear the sounds of little voices outside, laughing and yelling as they enjoy the beautiful weather outside. This, I believe, is one of the things I will miss the most about our home.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to return to MBH for a few days and to stay in my old room for the first time since I’d moved away. It felt somewhat what I imagine going back to your childhood room after being away for some time (my parents moved when I went to college, so although the bedroom pieces at their home are the same as they were when I was growing up, it’s still a different house and room). Many things in my old room at Maria's were just as I’d left them, despite others having lived and stayed in there. One of the things that stood out to me the most that had remained was the writing that I’d left on the bathroom wall. Shortly after moving there, I had written the words pictured below as a reminder of his daily faithfulness in bringing me to this place.
Shortly before leaving, I went through and erased all of the writing in preparation for the rooms’ new summer inhabitants. As silly as it may sound, it somewhat felt like a very small and feeble act of worship, an acknowledgement of the grace that had been shown to me in that place but also a letting go of something I have held so tightly, and an acknowledgement of the grace that continues day by day, morning by morning, regardless of where I am.
Now, as we pack up our little cottage, I am sure I will be nostalgic as we sort though the memories we’ve collected over this year. It has been a challenging year for sure, but as I sort and celebrate, probably cry a bit here and there, I hope to be able to look back and celebrate the ways in which his faithfulness as been shown to us, morning by morning.
