This is a tribute to all the random things that don't get written about. To all the things that don’t usually
or often make it in a blog, all the things that are part of any missionary's life but kept "secret".
At least they aren't talked about in a
mission blog, or not a whole blog of those things.
Because mission blogs are supposed to be
spiritual, full of stories of
people’s lives being changed and of how God is
using the missionary in question to do His work.
This folks is what a good mission blog is
about.
I’ve never been one to follow the rules.
What you get with me is randomness and truth. Spoiler alert: Our lives aren’t always filled with ministry work,
especially over the holidays. *gasp* I
said it.
As we take time to focus on
Jesus and let Him fill us so we can keep on going, we don’t have as many
stories to report back on!!!
So bear
with us as we are people too ;)
We like wordly things too
Africans love bling + I love bling = I love Africans. Except I love Africans for so much more than just for their bling, and their style, and their swag. But for me those things make it even easier!!! Am I super duper shallow? Nah! I just love shallow stuff ;) And I love having conversations about these very shallow things.
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| My co-workers love love love the bling as much as I do :) |
I love making good food
One of the hardest thing for me moving to SA was that I had to learn again how to make good food with the ingredients here. I spent a good part of our first month crying over the food I was making. I don't know why, but it was a big deal for me and I really felt like I was failing my family. With a limited food budget (other missionaries are nodding their heads), it can be so frustrating. But once in a while I'll splurge a little and come up with something like this.
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| Stuffed brie chicken breasts |
And then all is right in the world again. Perhaps I should have gone to cooking school, huh?
We pack food in our suitcases
Coming back to SA this time I had at least one suitcase packed with food. Especially with Christmas right around the corner, I knew I wanted to be ready to make things from home, deserts that I've grown up with. This is all part of traditions I want to pass down to my kids, and it's hard to do when abroad. But I was ready people, and I ended making 7 recipes from my
maman this Christmas. GLORIOUS.
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| Peanut butter chocolate covered balls |
I've also had to become quite organized, which goes against my "
free-spirited-ness"!!! But with hosting lots of people over the holidays, and juggling a busy homeschooling schedule, I carved out a few baking extravaganza days where I traumatized my kitchen for a few hours. My friend Claudia from Malawi joined me on some of those days in order to learn to cook and bake from "the royal master". Her words, not mine. She claims I need a cooking show.
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| Cooking extravaganza chiiiiiiiiiiiiicken |
Homeschooling is not natural for all missionaries
Wait, aren't all missionaries supposed to love homeschooling and pretty much have been born this way? EEEEEEeeeeeeeer, NO.
Homeschooling isn't for the faint of heart. I thank the Lord every day for His strength as I learn more and more about my kids and teaching.
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| Fact: Boys do not sit still for their mom |
And I thank the Lord every day that I get to be my boy's teacher. I never pictured myself homeschooling. I'm really not the organized type and I don't have much patience. So no, I never thought I would be homeschooling. But situations change, and sometimes life surprises you in the strangest ways.
So I get to be my boy's teacher. And I get to teach them about Jesus. Like all the time. And I get to shape their hearts and pray with them as we work and discover challenges.
Is it easy? No. It's the most challenging thing I've ever done, besides being a mom! This is like being a mom AND a teacher. Yes, I welcome prayers in this area.
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| Homeschool work for the day. Ready, set, go. |
Sometimes we even have fun
Well folks, sometimes we like to have fun too. Did you know that missionaries have fun? Wait what. Yes we do!!! Life is short, ministry is stressful. Did you think all we did was ministry? Yikes, sorry to burst your bubble.
So yes, sometimes we have fun, BUT we feel
guilty. And then we feel like we can't talk about it, or post if on facebook (for us social media people) or Instagram (for the MAC lovers...). And we feel like our supporters will judge us if they knew (but like, they know right?!?). And we pretend like all we do is
Jesus-stuff. Which is indeed a huge part of what we do. But the real stuff that doesn't get written about is that we also have fun. And I'm big on fun (yo, have you met me?).
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| Firefighting fun |
We do kids outings, we go on dates and we hang out with people for
pure social purposes, without a ministry agenda. *gasp* We iz humans too.
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| We hang out as a family, and sometimes do nothing at all except watch cars drive by. |
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| We hang out with our significant others. |
We like to get stuff in the mail
We are perhaps shallow (again), when it comes to getting stuff from home in the mail. But the truth is, we love getting stuff. Anything and everything. Food, pretty things, nice things, ... we love it all. So don't stress about it. If you're thinking "would they like this?", the answer is YES. And if we don't, we have many missionary friends who will like it.
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| Jelly Beans from Pastor Chris |
We get homesick
Sometimes we get homesick, and it hurts, and we wish we could go home. It doesn't take away from the fact that we are so incredibly blessed to be doing what we are doing, but we feel like if we talked to supporters about it, they would think that we are ungrateful. And one thing we are not, is ungrateful.
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| Skyping with my family |
Our country is beautiful and we ain't sorry
Our assignment country, South Africa, is ridiculously gorgeous. Sometimes we hesitate to tell you, because we don't want you to think that it's the reason for our being here. It's so pretty, that sometimes we don't post the pictures so you don't get the wrong idea.
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| South Africa is beautiful |
So you get the picture now do you? Missionaries live a double life, and it's not easy, but it's a life we are told to live and expected to live. I'm just figuring it out as I go, and I try to be as real with you all as I know how!
Thanks for reading this crazy blog. CHEERS.
