Joys and Troubles

Our friend Cici

A friend just encouraged me. She came over to help us sort out some of our junk and simply asked how I was spending my time. Cici works at RFIS in the technology department and I don't know her that well but she's super sweet and runs a Bible club in her neighborhood. Kevin thought she'd be a good person to help us separate the trash from the 'maybe someone can use this' stuff. That is just what we did for about a half an hour this afternoon and she walked away with a few treasures for her 'kids' and told me to share what's left in the box with some neighbors. But in the midst of our sorting, I mentioned that I'm quite busy here in the house sorting through the accumulated junk from a family of nine and settling into a new home that has more than its share of challenges. I told her that I also need to find time to write to people, family and supporters. She replied with "of course, they need to know your joys and your troubles".

And it struck me that we don't often do a good job of sharing these things, especially our joys, with all of you. I often have a hard time writing our newletters and blog entries because everything is just, well, my life. I don't think you want to hear about how my roof leaks or how Daniel feels with a boil on his knee. I don't think it's important to tell you how I love to hear the birds sing out over the valley as I hang my laundry and how I stand there remembering that my parents did exactly what I did when they were raising my brother and I....moved out to the country.

Then again, maybe you do want to hear about my joys and struggles. After all, I remember that you care about our lives but you can't know how to pray and support Kevin and me unless one of us tells you. So here is a bit of our joy and struggle from yesterday.

I had already planned to drive across the city to the U.S. embassy (a long and very difficult drive in this city!) to pick up Kaiah's new passport. And I had already planned to try to visit my previous house helper, Emma, who lives in that area. What I didn't plan was a detour to visit Charis at her school because she'd "had a little accident" as the nurse put it. The nurse, Tirza, is one of the joys in my story. She grew up here and Kevin taught both her and her husband, Jordan, when they attended RFIS some years back. Tirza is now a mom of two and one of the most kind, gentle people I know. She "happened" to be there when Charis injured her finger while trying to get at a ball which had gone in a rain gutter. She and a classmate tried to move a large, rather heavy concrete gutter cover and it slipped. Don't worry, here is another joy. It did NOT crush her tiny finger! However, it did slide along her finger, giving her a nasty gash. Two steri-strips and some ibuprofen later, and she is good to go. We are giving her a strong antibiotic to kill those tropical germs and we gave her the tetanus shot because we hadn't gotten the booster yet. (One of my jobs for today is checking the dates on everyone else's vaccines!) Today she is ready for soccer tryouts.

I did succeed in picking up the passport and I did succeed in visiting Emma, which was a great blessing to her. And on the way home I even succeeded in buying some crackers that the children enjoy for snacks without making myself late for the end of quarter teacher conference meeting I had scheduled after school. However traffic was really hard to get through to get those crackers. I'm really glad they were in stock!

So that is a small picture of one of our days (admittedly a rather busy one). Nothing earth shattering or monumental; just us, living life here where God has called us to be. But it is good for us to remember (and to share) that, even in the midst of struggles, God is still faithful, and He provides moments of joy. The trick is being willing to look for them.