2011 already?

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say it’s almost inconceivable—Y2K was just the other day, wasn’t it? Anyway, the calendar tells me it is indeed 2011, though the New Year slipped by with little fanfare by us. The rest of the missionaries got together to party, but we (the youngest) bowed out and went to bed early. I tell myself it’s because no one else has kids who wake them up the next morning at 5:30am, but I was left with a distinct feeling of getting old!

We’ve started the new year by getting ourselves ready for success, just like I’m sure many of you have. You know what I mean…the typical resolutions. We’ve committed to exercising together 3 times a week, I’m working on being better at reading to the kids before they go to bed, rather than watching videos (the power being off several nights this week sure has helped!), we de-wormed the kids. You know, the typical new year stuff!

We had a great visit with Miriam’s family, though it’s left us battling some homesickness now that they’re gone. I used to fear it was a sign of weakness in my commitment to be where God wants us to be, to be homesick or to have days of wishing we had a ‘normal’ life close to family and friends. But I recently had lunch with the other missionary ladies here, and listening to them share their grief over missing family made me realize it’s just a part of life out here. Commitment to doing God’s will isn’t about feeling happy about everything all the time…it’s about finding peace in each situation and working through the hard parts.

So ‘real life’ begins on Monday. Chad’s already back to teaching, but the kids start school and Miriam starts back to her 3 days per week at the clinic then. Omara will stay with Isaac and Agnes, our wonderful nanny, for those few hours, at least until Agnes has her baby sometime in March—we’re praying that situation works ok for everyone: that Omara takes a bottle, that she stays healthy, and that Agnes remains healthy with her pregnancy! It’s nice to know that Miriam isn’t locked into the hours at the clinic, and if it really doesn’t work, she can back out until Omara is a little older. Mission work most definitely requires us to be flexible, but at the same time I have to admit it gives us some of that flexibility back!