Haven’t had too much to say lately. Not a lot of motivation to do…anything. Living in “limbo-life” really affects your whole attitude and just everything. We’ve even mentioned not blogging anymore…there is just nothing going on. But don’t worry, we will :-) They may just be a little further in-between right now. We still have a lot of posts written that need to be edited and put up. Maybe we’ll get to them now, but then again, I think I have said that before…
So what is going on? We are starting to meet with a small group on Friday nights. We are all looking for community. We are not planning to do a book just to do a book/bible study. We hope to be intentional about talking time to get to know each other and where we are at and what we are feeling and then be able to minister to each other wherever it is needed at the time. It will involve prayer nights, fellowship nights, and studying together, usually a topic taken out of our times of prayer.
Brian is still (somewhat) going to a Thursday morning study on character and I started our women’s bible study. I am studying Ephesians.
I am right now in the middle of the 7 day cabbage soup diet (google it if you don’t know it). One of my friends did it. I looked it up and read the soup; hmm, looks familiar. Looks like what we basically ate for the four months the summer teams were with us last year. There are a few differences though. In Zambia we don’t add the celery and carrots and they don’t make it as a soup, there isn’t as much water. Oh yeah, and I didn’t bathe it in oil like the Zambians do! So I took the plunge and made up a few batches. While I won’t say I crave it, I do somewhat look forward to it each day. One of the recipes is definitely better than the other. All I am missing is the nshima (and yes, we REALLY did like it!). The kids aren’t doing it with me, but some of them are still eating the soup because they like it!
Brian went turned in an app and resume to a staffing place this week and there is definitely a lead or two showing up. They were going to send his info on to one of the potentional companies today. The consulting gig in Tanzania still looks like that is going forward as well. That is a “one-off” event as far as we know so he could still do both. Please keep praying for wisdom and discernment and provision as we try to figure out where we are to be in the next stage of our lives. If you picture a 12 inch ruler, we have always been that wide, if not over. Now it feels like our lives are only an inch or two. We’re in the stage of almost feeling like, this is it? This is all there is right now? We want more. We know we need downtime to process and get through some things too, but really, this is just icky and boring to be honest. So also pray that we would find things even right now that help us feel more fulfilled.
The speaker shared a few things at bible study this week that I have been thinking about.
-do I know my kids well enough to know exactly what they like? Where they would want to eat, what kind of foods they like? Simple and bigger things like that.
-she also shared about someone who was going through a big loss and just felt guilty because she wasn’t more devastated by it (my word, not hers, I can’t remember exactly how she said it). The speaker had suggested to this gal that maybe it was because so many people were praying for her and she was being sustained by the Lord. That just struck me. During our year in Zambia GOD SUSTAINED us through YOUR prayers. During our transition back here and all the whole mess that that entails, GOD SUSTAINED us through YOUR prayers. You will never know just how big of a role you have played in our lives. A role we can never adequately thank you for.