Just a little ill...

Sick

No details please.  Too gross. 

I’m still in bed.  Still resting. Trying to recovering strength.  Thankful for the one magnificent side affect of the rotavirus: weight loss.  Not a strategy I recommend though!

I’d love a message, a haircut, some good conditioner, and unlimited internet to watch something mindless while I recover.

Lying on the floor of my bathroom brought back memories of my childhood illnesses. There were not many, but I remember being on the tile floor in my parent’s bathroom at about 5 years old with an ear infection they didn’t know I had. I was burning up with fever and hearing ‘men marching in my head’ – really my heartbeat, but I didn’t know that.  My mom was there to take care of me, and daddy to check in when he got home from work. Now Chris takes care of me, makes the cake for the birthday party I missed, does dishes and cooks.  But a little of me still wants to curl up in my mom’s lap and have her rub my back and stroke my hair.  Another part of my just wants to go home. But there is no home I can go to but here right now.  Heaven just has to wait.  The homes in Virginia and Texas, Florida and Arkansas, and even France are not mine now. 

I’ve made it out to the balcony and to sit some this week.  I watched kids play soccer in their yard, people walk up and down the road, tropical birds flit in the bushes, the sky darken and begin to rain.  I am forced to take time to see these things because I don’t have the energy to move far and I am tired of the bed.

This morning I was well enough to start a load of laundry and eat a piece of bread before heading back to bed.  It took all I had to open the gate for Hortence and then again, almost immediately, for Chris to leave and climb the stairs to my bed.  Rest is good.  I think I have a lot more of it to do so I can fight of any more bugs that come my way!

Thanks for praying for our family.  Chris works everyday to the ends of Scripture Engagement:  getting people to USE the newly translated Scriptures so that lives will be transformed by God’s Word.

The Kids have all made volleyball teams – Noah and Kristin Varsity, and Ben JV.  I’m waiting on interim reports but expect mostly good grades.

And me- well, I want to be healthy again.  But I want to remember to rest as well, and not feel guilty for doing it, often.

School Picture time from RFIS

My lovely daughter

The shipment arrived that we sent back in June.  You can definitely tell it shipped in summer.
'Chips' are a solid block in a strange shape.

We didn't bring the hard case and now regret it.  Anyone want to donate a trumpet in a hard case? 
I have a volunteer to bring it at Christmas or in a week.
Meanwhile we are borrowing one from a friend.

 Teacher dinner:

My almost 16 yr old son

 Party picts - thanks to Chris and Kristin as I was in bed

Starting to get in the groove...

We’ve been in country for just over two months now.  The house is mostly set up, and we are starting to be in a rhythm for work and school.  It is starting to feel like home again.

Transitions suck.  Everyone hates moving, but this one was especially bad because my mom was moving too.  Our home base is now gone. And while we still own our house in Lynchburg, the renters there are, well, renters, and it is not our home any longer.

So many friends came and helped.  Some from very far away TX, PA and NC and many local friends came to help me move!  I could NOT have done it without them!  The house is empty now, mom gone to Florida and I am in a new-to-me house.

When we (the kids and I) arrived in Cameroon late on a Saturday, Chris had already been here a few days.  He was supposed to get the house ready for us to move in, BUT unfortunately, the manager was out of town and he couldn’t get a key until just before I arrived.  So we started moving things in the day after, jet lagged and grumpy.  We moved our things from the old apartment so the new folks could move their things in.  We started moving things out of our friends’ house the stored under their stairs.  We unpacked, found places for things, and got used to the new surroundings.  I remember thinking the first day that there were so many things that needed to be washed that I would never finish!  Overwhelmed, I was so thankful when our house help arrived and helped wash everything that had been in the old kitchen.  Some of it had not been used in a year and were dusty and sticky. Every towel, sheet, and piece of fabric or clothing needed to be washed.

It took 3 days to diagnose and fix the washing machine that had been plugged up with bits of rubber (a mouse/rat did it?  Someone washed a rug or something with rubber backing that disintegrated?) and couldn’t drain.  Thankfully it’s working fine now.

A week later, when things were mostly put away (but not organized), Chris was working, kids started school, and I started helping with CAMBO – our branch orientation program. A month in, I was working at RFIS in the library on Tuesdays, Teaching 3-4^th grade on Fridays, and shopping/keeping house the rest of the days. 

We have more bedrooms than we need.  More bathrooms than we need (only once so far were they all full at the same time!).  We have a new stove that I can control the temperature on and an oven that holds 2 cookie sheets at a time! We have our own washing machine and lines for clothes (and a dryer that I think works, but we need a new voltage regulator for it.) We are no longer living on top of each other, nor over another family.  I LOVE the new place, in the neighborhood, with privacy, and a great kitchen.  I love to cook in it and have friends over. 

Some days I am overwhelmed with belonging, and friends, and feelings of purpose.  Some days I am lonely, tired, grumpy and searching for meaning.

Does that describe you too?   I think we are glimpsing home in heaven and then truly longing for it.

ps I'm posting this a few weeks after I wrote with no picts - I've been sick and haven't finished, but posting anyway.

Thanks for praying.

Full Speed Ahead!

Yesterday marked one month of being back in Cameroon and I haven't stopped long enough to write.

So, we are 'home' again, in a new house. We arrived on a Saturday night and began moving in Sunday afternoon, continuing Monday, and finishing Tuesday.  Finishing meaning bringing all the boxes and tubs in, and collecting our kitchen things from our old house.  The next task was washing everything that was stored: every dish and glass, towel and sheet, clothes and shoes, piece of furniture and bucket.  That job is almost done. I am still arranging things and finding places for them.

The kids started school on August 7, after one week of being here. More soon!

Thankful

We leave for Cameroon in 11 days.

Today I am thankful amidst the packing and rearranging of our 50 lb. bags.  Thankful for the last week I had to rest and regroup and recharge before the final push.

Power washing everything

Storage

I remember sitting in the quiet living room of my friends' home in Alabama while they were off at VBS.  It was still and quiet and peaceful.  I had no responsibilities nagging that day, just time to myself to pray, sing, read, and write. This moment was bliss.

I am thankful for friends who have come alongside me this year.  Friends who have made life and living far from home (our true home in heaven that is) full of love.  Friends who shared the load and the laughter.

The week of retreat that meant:
Pammy - who went with me to take kids to camp and show me around and then played hard with me.

Ben has pre-camp jitters

After camp Smiles

Pammy and JP

Camp Doe River Gorge

The Mayo family - letting me stay and catch up and just be still for a while

Gabrielle and Herman and little Eloise

Friends I couldn't see but were able to talk to a bit on the phone before we are on different continents.


But all year there were friends who listen and share their lives with us even though we will not be here long.


Churches who have come alongside us, prayed for us, making sure we are taken care of.


Our families-
Mom who housed and loved us all year.  How can you really say thank you for that?

Hard goodbyes

Yummy breakfasts made by Mom

Siblings who provided phones, computers, instruments, support, moving help, talks, and filled in the holes we had.

We have all we need and so much more.  We are loved.  We are forgiven.  Family and friends.  Food and housing. Enough.  So thankful for the God of this universe who cares about every little thing. And for His creation that we are made to enjoy - the world and all that is in it.  We are still broken and fragile vessels, in need of forgiveness and hope and peace and love.  But He is good.  Even in the tough and tired times, He is there with us and He is love.

Our last night in Lynchburg together before Chris left 

Cousins

Cousins

Help with packing

 Friends visiting~

Acting Uncut camp - Noah is center left

Cameroon buddies

All the MKs together

Sorry Anna, you two don't quite fit!

Goodbyes at church picnic

Cousins in chaos

cousins

Cousins

Cousins

The last 4th celebration for a while

We are truly blessed.  Never forget!
Thanks for praying.
Crunch time =10 days out!