Wife/Mother/Missionary - what AM I?

With our first summer team here I've been pondering this question. I'm trying to be a good mother and helping Madison finish her last week of school well, spending time with her, etc. Trying to be a good wife and assist where I can. Trying to be a missionary and prepare meals, clean the house, prep for ministry, be a nurse at our clinic. I feel pulled in so many directions at once. Many people look at me and wonder why I feel pulled because I have a thirteen year old after all, and for some reason people assume that she can be left to her own accord, and I don't need to guide her into woman hood. Not sure why people assume this. I feel this is such an important time in her life - honestly - more important than most other times of her life. This is when she will make the good v.s. bad decisions that will potentially effect the rest of her life. Anyway...I digress...I so know I am not unique in this particular situation. Any mother/missionary/wife feels the same. Where is the balance? When do you feel like you are participating or spending so much time doing "stuff" that you aren't involved in the team, but knowing that there is much to be done to be a helper and a good wife/mother/missionary. Sigh...if ANYONE has the perfect answer - please let me know. I think the answer is there IS no perfect answer! I think that trying to find the balance is what it is all about. Trying to be a wife/mother/missionary (WMM) and just being what God would have us be.

So - signing off - this WMM.

Marriage Conference In Honduras

May 27-29, 2010 we hosted a theological conference in La Ceiba, Honduras. It was on the topic of Marriage and was intended to provided theological training for the pastors and church leaders from the area.

Watch this 2 minute and 24 second video to see the great teaching:

Hmmm...

So I sit and wonder...I wonder where time has gone? I know...I know...it's so cliche to talk like that - especially when you sit next to your (almost) 14 year old daughter, sitting in Honduras, typing to friends that live countries away; hosting a pastoral conference for national pastors and church leaders, are a nurse, have been to over 17 different countries, and am somehow already 42 years old. I think about what has led me to be here in this place at this time surrounded by the people I am. Some people I love, some people I like, some people I work with, some people I minister with, always new people, always people leaving; standing in lines for everything; buying my food at a butcher shop. I step back sometimes and look at my life and wonder. How did I get here? I know that God led me - opened doors for me - and somehow I managed to follow that road to find myself here. It's a good life. It's a life filled with joys and sorrows. Filled with difficulties, obstacles, and people I both enjoy and I don't. I like it. :-) Thank you God for bringing me here :-)

Our cards arrived...

NOT our debit cards (that's a fun story for another time). Our residency cards! We have been "official" residents since March, but have had temporary cards. Yesterday at the immigration office we picked up our actual cards. So now we are officially official! Woohoo!!!

Spanish worship

I just had a revelation tonight at church. We were singing a song, and I was brought to tears. It took me by surprise. I realized that I was as moved by the song in Spanish as I was other songs in English. The surprise is because my heart language is English. It's why we learned Spanish before we came to Honduras, so we could speak to people in their heart language. The joy/surprise came when I was singing the song in church as was brought to tears while singing in Spanish and felt the joy of worshiping with others in their heart language and was as moved as they were. ¿Me explico?

Missent mail

Bet you've never seen this stamp on your mail before:



Missent to Bermuda...not sure how that happened - don't see Bermuda anywhere on the envelope...

What was in the elusive envelope? Our W-2. But...let's hear it for electronic information! We were able to get our W-2 via e-mail so we could file our taxes on time. I looked at the date stamp of when it was sent out - 21 January 2010. Date received: 19 May 2010. Four months! Wow! Well - at least we got it?! Prayerfully our credit card won't take that long to get to us!

A Day Off

What exactly is a day off for a missionary? Typically it still means running around town and paying bills (for us that means 1 bank for Madison's school, a different bank for the scholarship kids, and then a different bank for Rent), to the Mall to pay cable/internet, run to the post office for mail, grocery store for food, the other grocery store for items the first one didn't have, the fruit stand for - well - fruit, the butcher for meat, get Madison from school and by that time it's 3pm and your "day off" has swiftly gone by. We used to have to leave country every 90 days for a Visa hop, which was a "forced" vacation. However, now that we don't have to do that as we have our residency, our days off have become few and far between. As a matter of fact, we haven't been away for some time off (without anything on our agenda) since last October. A day where - you know - you sit around and do absolutely nothing! Yesterday we attempted that, but we both ended up doing mostly chores that we hadn't been able to do in the last few weeks. Then I picked up Madison from school, then I started preparing dinner...and there you have it...no day off. So - today Mike and I are determined to have that elusive day off! So far we have been successful, but it is only 8:30 in the morning afterall. We shall see if we are successful! I know that this seems a little odd - but taking time to recharge is so important! We want to be able to have the energy to serve the people in Honduras. If we run on empty all the time, it's not good for us, or for our ministry.