THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!





 

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

 

While recently visiting our daughter Julie in Kansas, we paid a visit to the “Wizard of Oz” museum in Wamego, Kansas. While there, we were able to re-live the beloved story you all know- we experienced a simulated Kansas tornado and even took a walk down the yellow brick road. We were reminded that everything poor Dorothy and her little dog Todo experienced; her trials caused by a great tornado which landed her in the far away land of OZ (and as fate would have it, landing directly on the wicked witch of the east, which really ticked off the wicked witch of the west, her sister!) her trek along the yellow brick road off to see the wonderful wizard of Oz in the great emerald city , which led to her encounter of others in need of the great Oz’s help; the scarecrow, the tin man and the cowardly lion. and their many difficulties along the way; ALL resulted from her desire and efforts to go back home to her Auntie Emme and family because as Dorothy reminded us- “There’s No Place Like Home!”

After our being away from home for almost 4 years, (3 years 10 months to be precise) 10 months in Ukraine, 20 months on Temple Hill in Sacramento, with 16 months between and after of nomad wandering- we find ourselves pining as did Dorothy, “There’s no place like home!”

However, we also recognize the truth of another adage about home- “Home is where the heart is.” We felt right at home among the wonderful people of Ukraine! Again, we felt at home on our Temple Hill mission among all those amazing people who easily won our hearts. Our months of “wandering” were spent with those we most love, friends and family who have always owned our hearts. Truly, “home IS where the heart is.!”

As we move back to our humble home at 5266 Edenview Drive in Sacramento, we realize that this is not the 1st place we ever called home. In fact, we moved six times in our first three years of marriage calling each place we lived “home”. According to the census Bureau’s latest census, a person in the United States is expected to move an average of seven times in his/her lifetime! Is it any wonder then that many of us in this life, never really feel “at home”?

The insightful William Wadsworth helped us better understand why we might feel away from home when he penned; “Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: the soul that rises with us, our life’s star, hath elsewhere it’s setting and cometh from afar: not in entire forgetfulness and not in utter nakedness, but trailing clouds of glory, do we come- from God- who is our home!”(From Ode, Intimations of Mortality.) The scriptures confirm this truth: that before we were born on this earth, we lived in a pre-mortal sphere with God , that was our home, and that our eternal potential is to live with him again. ( Job38:4-7, Abraham 3:23-26, Moses 1:39.D&C 50:5.)

A few short months ago, I, like some of you, had the opportunity of observing the final preparations of our sweet mother as she prepared for her final “home coming.” When Dad came to finally take her home, she truly was ready. She had been away from home for 94 amazing years, and she longed to return. There was no fear or hesitation, why? Because she knew that this life’s work is to prepare to meet God- who is our Home!  She had prepared and she was ready! May we enjoy this life of service and homecomings, a life of preparation in temporary homes, until we too can look forward to our final homecoming when we will realize just how right Dorothy was when she, having endured her trials, exclaimed so appropriately- “There’s No Place Like Home!”

Much Love- The Grandparent Chronicles

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