Child-like eyes

When our boys were little, they loved to stop and look at everything, kneeling down to get a closer view of bugs and leaves and cracks in the sidewalk.  I would stop with them and put them on my lap to marvel at life through the eyes of a child.  Everything was new and fresh and exciting to them.  And as their mother, I had the privilege of experiencing things that had become commonplace to me, through the new and precious eyes of someone who had not experienced life before. 

In Nigeria, I feel like my eyes are opening again as I experience new sights, new sounds and new smells.  I want to see everything, to touch it all and to experience it....with the newness of a child.  There is so much activity right outside my door and I want to be right in the middle of it all.   I am learning and absorbing a new culture and new ways.....and I am inspired like a child to share it all with my friends.  However, like a child, I can't find the words or the descriptions of most of what I am experiencing.  It is just too big and too much and not tangible in ways that can be expressed.   It has to be experienced firsthand, right here, with one's own eyes.   One minute I am in awe, the next in tears and then so excited at the things right in front of me.  I seek to understand, but it takes thousands of questions that don't have answers.  I want to see this new land; I want to love the people and to see a purpose here.  I want to learn new things and have all the experiences that I can.  A new world has opened and I am a part of it AND I want it to be a part of me too.  I have already discovered that after life in Africa, one will never be the same, but will be so much better just for the experience of being here. 

**Picture above shows the traffic in Lagos.