Oct. 17, 2013: we arrived in our new home, exhausted from international travel with 2 small children, yet thrilled to finally be arriving at the "end-goal" of our previous 8-year journey.
Now, one year later, I want to reflect on God's continued faithfulness to our family. He is the One who clearly brought us here (seriously, there were many miracles leading up to our arrival) and I know, without Him, we would not be celebrating our first year in our new home.
Here are some random thoughts (in no particular order) about our past year and things I/we have learned and lived:
- As much as I enjoy cooking and baking, making things from scratch ALL the time can be incredibly exhausting. I can't tell you how many times I've longed for a nearby fast-food joint to just take a break, or even just a grocery store with some almost "instant" meals or how about just a grocery store that carries ALL the ingredients I need, so I don't have to run around town to 4 stores! Just imagine...when I make enchiladas (which our family loves), the process includes: buying all ingredients (usually at 4 different stores, since no one carries all of them), washing and soaking in bleach: the tomatoes, green peppers, etc, chopping veggies, grating cheese (no store-bought grated cheese here!), making tortillas from scratch (at least I've gotten this down to a 45 minute process!), boiling whole chicken and then separating the meat from the bones and skin, making enchilada sauce from scratch (no canned sauce here!), assembling enchiladas and baking. And then, if I want tortilla chips (which I always do!), I make my own chips from the tortillas I made. This entire process is usually spread out across 2 or 3 days, because if I leave it all for the day of, I won't have time to do anything else!! And then...we can eat all of said dinner in less than 30 minutes (which is why I almost always double my recipes, so we can eat my hard-work for at least 2 days). Whew. Quick meals here? Right now my list includes eggs, pancakes, sandwiches, fried noodles....uh, yeah, that's about it. :)
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| Making tortillas....and the benefits of having a large stove! |
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| Assembling Green Enchiladas |
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| Homemade sweet pickles |
- We are privileged to live in an absolutely beautiful place. With tropical climates, we enjoy lush, green plants, flowers and trees year-round. A breath-taking mountain towers behind our house and still causes me to praise God and His Magnificence each time we drive up the hill. A beautiful lake is just beyond the airport K flies in and out of. And multiple beaches are an hour's drive away!
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| Mountain behind our house |
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| Lake is in left back corner...airport is in the center. |
- Roads, although some could be ranked "third-world" with dirt, potholes, loose rocks and extreme narrowness, others are very impressive and we are often seeing improvements. Currently, the road to our house, which is notoriously rough, is being re-paved (after 15 years!). Maybe due to my growing up in Nairobi, I am so impressed to see long-term improvements to the roads! I thought that rough, pot-holed roads would always be that way.
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Although I didn't take this picture to show the road (note the dog on the motorcycle!),
it shows part of our pot-holed road which is being re-paved! |
- Although we miss lots of amazing fruits from America (peaches, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, plums....ah, now I'm drooling), we get some pretty amazing tropical fruits here! SWEET, delicious pineapple (all year), papaya, passion fruit, manggis, rambutan, bananas (in hundreds of varieties), watermelon (including yellow watermelon, which I'd never had before, but is SO yummy), jeruk bali and the list goes on. Our family loves fruit, so this is a highlight of living here.
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| Yellow Watermelon (sweet and juicy!) |
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| This may not be a fruit....but J wanted to show you our pumpkin. :) |
- Life for me as a wife and mom looks fairly similar to what it would look like other places in the world. My time is spent playing with my boys, dressing them, feeding them, teaching them, disciplining them, watching them grow (sometimes) too fast....cooking, cleaning, laundry (thankfully I get some outside help with those last 2, as we have NO dryer or dishwasher), spending time with my husband (after his long days at work), shopping (that looks pretty different here!), play dates, playing sports with friends, attending church, ladies prayer group and occasionally teaching Sunday School or volunteering in the nursery. K's life looks quite different (& that's the reason we live here and not somewhere else). Keep your eyes open for a new blogpost from him, entitled "A Day in the Life of a Pilot" :)
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| Is there anything cuter than little boys and puppies?? |
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This kid is a M-onkey
(despite appearances, he is not in distress...haha) |
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| Backpacks, helmets, flip-flops and shirtless....the attire of choice. |
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| This guy loves bikes. |
- Satan is alive and well. Spiritual warfare is a very real thing. Our enemy is prowling around, seeking whom he can devour (1 Peter 5:8), especially those who are threatening his work and promoting God's agenda instead. Those in our line of work go through a lot of battles and many of them can be tied directly to spiritual warfare. I have personally experienced some of my toughest spiritual battles (at least thus far!) in the last year and a half. But, through it all, I can say: GOD is faithful. He has never left me. He has shown His never-ending love to me. He has spoken to my heart, many times through His Word or through songs about His Word. I have found I need to go back to the basics: the amazingly Good News that Jesus showed His love for me when He died for me, while I was still a sinner and that it has nothing to do with me. I could never be good enough on my own. I still mess up, all the time. But that is why His grace is so amazing. I don't deserve it. I can't earn it. Nothing I can do will change it. And nothing that happens to me will change it.
- Our co-workers, with both our organization and others that work here, are amazing. We have been blessed with many friends. Our kids have been blessed with many friends. We couldn't be here without them and wouldn't want to be. When they leave on furlough or move away for good, parts of our heart goes with them. But we wouldn't trade having these precious friends for anything. When we have our kids call them "aunt" and "uncle", it really is because we become like family. And then we have the amazing blessing of also having (blood) family here as well! K's parents live in the same town, a mere 10-minute drive away. We are beyond thankful for this amazing gift! Having both grown-up without grandparents nearby, we are so thankful for this gift our boys (& we) have!
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| Playing duck-duck-goose with our friends, who will be moving away in a month :( |
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| With K's mom |
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| J's 2nd birthday party! |
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| The boys with their Opa and Oma! |
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| A night out with friends |
- It's very hot and humid here. ALL YEAR LONG. Sure, we have "rainy" season, "dry" season, "hot" season and "hotter" season. Ha! Most of the time I don't mind any of this, as I hate winter and being cold. However, some of the aspects of this climate, which I didn't anticipate, include: candy/cough drops/gum from America all turn gooey and mushy (yuck), unless you keep them in the fridge. Actually, almost everything should be stored in the fridge or freezer: spices (they clump, mold and lose their spicy-ness), bread (it goes moldy FAST), uncooked rice & pasta (it's the best way to keep bugs out!), and pretty much anything that you aren't planning to use within 2 days. Also, being so hot and muggy (note: we have air-conditioning in 2 of our bedrooms, but not the rest of the house), you lose energy quickly and need to drink lots. I know when I'm getting dehydrated, as I'll get a headache and start to feel exhausted. Drinking water and rehydrating drinks is so important here! Houses here do not have carpet, but are all tile floors. This is great for keeping cooler (sometimes I just lie on the tile to cool off :), but not so great for little foreheads/knees that trip and fall. Our ice-packs are well used. :)
- Those in our line of work, including us, are not super-spiritual or any more "holy" than anyone else (can I get an "Amen"?!). Spending time in the Word is so important. Staying connected to the Vine is essential. We need time to worship God (in our own heart language) each week. This might seem like a "duh" point, but in my naivety, I didn't realize how important it was going to be for me. When we first arrived in this country, we attended a local worship service every week. While this certainly was good for us in some aspects (language, culture and relationally), one thing God taught me through the experience was that it was OK for me to attend a church in my own language. In fact, for me personally (at least, at this point in my journey), it is essential that I do. I need that time to worship with fellow believers, in a language that speaks to my heart. God had to guide us through this decision, showing me that guilt over not attending a local church was not from Him. And judging other co-workers in this area is also not pleasing to Him. Each family, in each situation, has to make this decision for themselves, asking for God's direction.
