home sick

I'm certainly not prone to being home sick. In fact, I went to college, spent a summer in the Pocono Mountains, went to England for three months, and then moved eight hours away from my family - all without feeling a bit homesick. To be clear - I love my family, am very close with them, and missed them. I just never ached for home or cried over not being near my family.

Until recently. I wouldn't say I'm home sick as much as I am family sick. I miss being around people who know us and love us - not because of what we can do/have done in ministry - but because we belong to them. I miss being able to talk candidly with someone except Shawn about my fears, stresses, and frustrations. I miss having parents around who know we're completely stubborn sometimes, but desperately love us anyway. This "family sickness" of mine has been so strong at times that my heart tangibly aches.

This is something I've largely kept to myself though - I haven't wanted to make either of our families feel guilty, and I haven't wanted to make Shawn feel guilty that we can't travel for awhile. So I'm positive that you can imagine my delight when Shawn told me that his Mom, Dad, sister, nephew, and niece will be visiting on Memorial Day weekend! And then I heard from my Mom this week that they'd be coming down for a visit in May, too! I cannot wait to see our family and for Jude to see his grandparents, aunt, and cousins. It's funny to me that I've been so sad over missing family for the past two or three months, and we'll get to spend time with so much of our family all in one month! I'm so grateful to see God providing for us in everything we need - even my emotional homesick needs.

Besides, I mean really - who wouldn't want to see more of this face?