Don't Forget the Hot Wheels!

By Jessica Cropsey

It was 1987.  John's parents were busy preparing to go back to the United States after their first term of service in Togo, West Africa as medical missionaries.  With all the packing and boxes it was obvious to 8-year-old John that things were about to change with his family.  This was very concerning to him, so he did what most children would do.  He protected his most precious possession -- his cars.  Looking around at the chaos, he found what he thought to be the safest place for these hot rods.  John's mom was surprised when she opened the refrigerator later that day.  Puzzled, she asked John why his cars were in the refrigerator.  Logically, he had concluded that everyone needs a refrigerator, so he thought it was a good bet that his cars wouldn't get left behind if they were in there!

For the last few weeks, our family has been sorting through all our things that have been in storage for the last two years we were in Kenya.  Unlike the Faders and McLaughlins, we did not do a slash and burn yard sale before our departure in 2009.  Now there is a massive pile of boxes and things in my parents' garage (God bless them for their patience with all our junk!) that is being sorted into piles:

• yard sale pile
• go to Burundi pile
• maybe go to Burundi pile (if there's enough space)
• store here in the U.S.

At first, the kids were quite intrigued with these piles.  Toys they haven't seen in a while.  Future Christmas and birthday presents for Burundi that they weren't supposed to see.  One day in the midst of our packing and sorting, Micah came running into the garage with his tub of Hot Wheels.  "Mommy, I want these to go to Ba-rundi!"  He was very concerned.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!  Later that day when I went to leave for an errand, he cried, "I want to go to Ba-rundi too!"  The poor little guy.  I realized that I hadn't done a good job of explaining things to the kids, so we sat down with a map and talked about all the places we've been and are going.  I showed them a picture of a ship with containers and explained how our things will go to Burundi by boat and then truck.  Hopefully this will ease his mind, at least for the moment.