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 3-4th 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.
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