Visions of Peru

This morning we had to postpone our first Care Team meeting. Thankfully, next Tuesday is relatively open on the calendar, so we'll try again next week.
My head is busy today with thoughts of Peru. Last night Justin and I talked over what the adjustment to living in a new country will be like. Justin shared that he anticipates major stress for the first several months, and that we will need an extra dose of patience. I Amen'ed his thoughts. We talked about how we'll have to re-learn how to move around town with the boys in tow. Public transportation doesn't really accomodate strollers in Peru. Thankfully, we'll be in language school for the first three months, and our ONLY responsibility will be to learn the language and get settled into our new surroundings. Before bed last night we watched the video from my trip to Bolivia last summer, and today I feel alive for the field. A staff missionary in Peru emailed us about our apartment preferences today, and that made me feel down right giddy. Justin responded that we want a 5-bedroom apartment overlooking the ocean...okay, we'll take a three bedroom apartment with an open floor plan in the livingroom and kitchen for ministry and fellowship.
On a logistical side, we were talking out our plan for our stuff...BIG stuff like cars and house. We're probably going to sell our minivan either mid summer or early fall, and we'll have to put the house on the market this fall to have it sold by the time we leave. That means...a BUSY SUMMER. Our boyz and I are going to Minnesota for three weeks in June/July, and then the fours of us are going to Thailand for three weeks in August for training with Food for the Hungry. Justin plans to get some major house projects done while the boys and I are away in Minnesota so we can have the big stuff done before training.
We're also still praying over our furniture...to sell or store, that is the question. There is a lot to think about and time flies so fast. We are trusting in the utter peace that only comes from God, and the order from chaos that He provides. K, I must go do some missions stuff :).

Peace,
Gillian

Laundry Day.

Laundry Day. Why do I dread doing laundry so much? I watched women in Bolivia use amazing strength scrubbing their clothes between their wrists, dunking, whooshing, lifting, scrubbing, dunking, whooshing, lifting, scrubbing...again and again in an effort to clean their family's clothes. Then they hang the clothes out to line dry...no need to fold. They're wearing the only other load of clothes to be washed. This load that's hanging out to dry will go right on their backs. Yet I dread laundry with my two efficient machines and sufficient clothes for an outfit per day and then some. I dread laundry, except today. I haven't finished the laundry (thank God there isn't a load mildewing in the washing machine), but for the last half hour or so our wonderfully imaginative boys have been playing in the little hangers. And without a sufficient supply of clothes and modern conveniences, I would not have a basket of hangers for my boys. We hang our boys' clothes to avoid the chaos that drawers create with small clothes. In turn we have two little guys who LOVE the hanger basket for different reasons. Nathan gets lost in himself as he methodically empties the basket one fistful of hangers at a time. He explores the empty basket, examines the spewed out former contents around him, then equally methodically tries to return the hangers to the basket. They never all make it back in...nor do the ones that were returned ever stay there for long. Alex, on the other hand, in a sea of like hangers will come up with just the right one and exclaim, "Mommy, I found my hanger!" I wonder if it's really the same hanger as last time. Does it have a special groove or nick that only the discerning 3 year-old could find? That's right...he's three. How did that happen? He's gone from the emptying basket stage to the ownership of one special hanger stage as fast as everyone said time would travel - in the blink of an eye. Today laundry is not so bad. The clean up will be an inconvenience, but I am so grateful for the clothes that overflow our drawers, closets, and hampers, and for the lovely hands that make the mess. I can handle the inconvenience as we wait for Justin's grand entrance from a day at the office. Soon I will hear "Daddy's home!" and Alex will scramble out of my lap (yes, he's now in my lap playing with office supplies as I type). Yet I dread laundry. God is so good. It's when I have moments like these that I feel the urgency to get to the mission field - not so I can provide Peru with washing machines for all, but so I can be part of an organization that will help bring clean water, so that washing clothes will really WASH the clothes. And maybe one day, they too, will have a life that's not so hard, and they can watch their kids play with hangers - hangers that hold enough clothes for the week.

Praise be to God.
Gillian