The Life We Lead

When your child says that they want to go home that is a pretty easy request to grant, but what if you are not sure what they mean by home? About a month ago we were staying in a hotel in Bangkok for three days. A hotel so nice and a room so big that we parents wanted to call it home for the rest of our lives. We had just spent the last 2 1/2 months living on an island in the south of Thailand which Naomi called home. We were leaving for our "home" in South Asia the next day which, of course, Naomi calls home. So when we were playing in the hotel room and Naomi asks "to go home" we are not sure what to tell her. Unfortunately for our parents, home for Naomi is definitely not the U.S. She has spent less than 20% of her life in the U.S. So where is home?

For the most part, home is where Mom and Dad are, but there is one more element - her toys. When we walked in the door of our house in South Asia and Naomi headed into her room and saw all of her toys she had left behind for the past 2 1/2 months... she was home. Mom was there, Dad was there, baby Ezra was there, and all of her stuffed animals, blocks, coloring books, story books, baby dolls, and cars were there. So where is home? Geographically I am not sure, but Naomi needs very little for a place to be home, and for the life we lead, that is a real blessing.