A Heart of Thanks!

I am working full time again which is something I haven’t done since Robbie was born, so 10 years ago…….ouch, it hurts to even write that!  I am no longer in my 20’s with boundless energy and endless ambition.  The last time I was working full-time I was still happy staying up until midnight or one or two.  These days 9pm is my happy hour.  This definitely wasn’t in my plan for me at this point in my life.  I always figured eventually it would be a necessity, but really was planning for a few more years before it became a reality. However, I am thankful for the 10 years that I was able to work part-time or not at all while my babies were all born and had their early years.  God’s plans are so often very different from mine, and it has been clear that He has laid this out for me (and for us) for this season.  He has equipped us with all that we need to make it work for us as a family and set it in front of me as the obvious path forward.  So, ready set and here we go!  One month in, I am very tired, but thankful for being able to see His hand sustaining me and beyond that to see my family thriving in unexpected ways. 

Oliver is attending the K2/3 class just down the hall from my medical office.  He is just over 2.5 years old and again his attending school at this age was not in my plan but seems clearly to be in God’s plan.  I was anticipating a really rough adjustment for him with many tears and weeks/months of settling in.  But he’s already settled!  Of course, the first week or two had uncertain moments and tears for him as he figured out his new surroundings, and learned to trust His teachers.  The most huge blessing in all of that was the fact that my sister’s youngest is in his class.   The two of them are best of buds and that provided my cautious Ollie with the support he needed to decide that this was going to be fun.  Of course, he is thrilled to be attending school with all of us every morning.  He feels like such a big boy to put on his little uniform and bookbag just like his older brother and sister.  He also delights in the opportunities to see each of us during the day as we can stop and visit him between our own classes and responsibilities.  Our sweet ayi picks Ollie up at lunchtime and takes him home for a nap and quiet play until we all get home after school.  She is also available for the days when he is sick or just too tired to make it.  It’s turned out to be a good balance. 

Maddie, whose 3 best friends all moved away in June, was nervous returning to school.  But her naturally cheerful attitude kicked in, she made friends with a new girl in her class, and rekindled a friendship with another girl and seems good to go.  Kids are amazing!  She is my most self-driven child on most fronts and has decided to tackle piano lessons on top of violin lessons for this year until she decides which instrument to stick with long term.  She is a crazy reader and just finished the last of the primary school’s leveled readers, graduating into being able to choose whatever she wants for reading homework.  Our challenge is just finding enough books on her level in English to keep up with her appetite for reading them.   English book supplies are limited here, and her reading level is above her maturity level so it can be a struggle.  But that’s not a bad struggle to have.  Her biggest challenge is coming in the form of homework that is assigned to her weekly by her teacher.  Each weekend she needs to independently decide on and complete a different “random act of kindness” for another person that has not be suggested or assigned to her by an adult.  Then she needs to write a short reflection on this.  She is finding this extremely challenging.  Empathizing with other people is not a strong character quality of hers.  We are blessed by this teacher who is taking English skills (writing in the past tense & punctuation) and is using it to develop character skills (kindness and empathy).  Another unexpected blessing.

Robbie is thriving in his last year of primary school (did I just say that?).  Yikes!  He is a member of the student council, learning to play baseball, and still working on his basketball skills.  He is not a very self-motivated student, but is working hard on self-discipline and responsibility.  He continues to make good progress in school even though it is not his strength.  He has made several true friends this year which is a first for him since preschool.  He is always content and well liked, but has not connected strongly with any other children on the school front since his Chinese preschool class at 5 years old.    We are happy for him to have made some personal friends this year and are looking forward to watching him develop in that area. 

Rob has been able to maintain his part-time status which leaves him a few free hours during the week in which to prepare for his evening and weekend teaching of the word, and also to connect with and encourage the men in our group.  He is, as usual, holding up well under the pressures of being pulled in many directions, finding ways to make time for the kids, and leaving me little notes of encouragement in his sweet way. 

Despite working full-time (or maybe because of it) my Chinese language skills are continuing to grow.  I am communicating with our national staff on a much deeper level and have found my vocabulary expanding in many directions.  This is another added blessing and something I don’t take for granted.  God has also blessed in the fact that 7 of the ladies from our fellowship work for the school in different capacities which means that I am able to connect with them for fellowship and encouragement and even prayer regularly throughout the week.  That is another huge blessing for me as I miss the free time to be able to connect with our ladies outside of working hours that I had been accustomed to.    I am also blessed to have my sister living just across our apartment complex.  She is not working and has been able to take on leading the ladies study, organizing/teaching the kids SS class, and connecting with our other ladies who aren’t working at the school.  I am so thankful to have her here and am so blessed by her heart of service. 

This is a very family news kind of blog, much more so than I would normally write.  But I guess my heart behind it is just one of pure thankfulness.  God is once again meeting and surpassing my needs in more ways than I could count.  Working full-time wasn’t my plan, but it was His.  And in His generous way He is blowing me away by allowing us to not only survive this full-time thing, but actually thrive in it as a family.   

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This wasn’t actually the blog that I sat down to write tonight, I have something else on my heart as well, something more along the lines of my normal writing style, but this is what flowed when my fingers hit the keys.  So I will save those other thoughts for next time.  For now I just want to say thank you to God who writes my story better than I could and is meticulous in His attention to the details of our lives, both in what we need and also in what we desire.  He is good.