s. asia
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who we miss.
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more travels.
We spent the weekend at a missions conference in Greenville, SC, just an hour and a half up the road. I was surprised by the flood of emotions I experienced. Arriving at the church Thursday afternoon, setting up our South Asia display board full of glossy photos, I was filled with a gaping sense of loss. We last visited this church three years ago as hopeful, enthusiastic missionaries-to-be. We had a dream to share and we were overwhelmed and heartened by the support and encouragement we received from the folks there. But this year. This year we came back and I looked around at the roomful of missionaries and all…
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2012.
january. february. march. april. may. june. july. august. september. october. november. december. 2011.
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these friends.
While in Orlando we got to meet up with our friends, who have spent the last three months in the U.S. Our kids reunited as if they’d never been apart. They return to South Asia on Wednesday and I’m sure would be grateful for your prayers. We miss them.
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container day.
Thursday was “Container Day,” as my dad aptly named it. We found out about a week ago that it was making its way down from New York to Charleston, then learned on Wednesday that the truck would arrive Thursday. The moving company sent men to unload everything, then unpack and assemble all the furniture. It was wonderful! Thanks to my parents for bringing Chick-Fil-A for the kids’ dinner, and to Miriam for giving us a much-needed date night to escape the madness. It was 51 boxes in all … so our house was in chaos, as you can imagine. We were disappointed to find several things were broken in transit: my…
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he says.
Proof that our kids are a little confused . . . David (on our last day in Isle of Palms): “. . . and then we’ll get in the car and go back to our house.” Judah: “What house?” David: “Our house, where we live!” Judah: “Which house is it?” David: “Judah and Amie, tonight we’re having some new friends over, and guess what: they’re from India!” Judah: “What? But we’re in America!” David: “That’s right. Our friends are from India, but live in America.” Judah: “Oh. Just like us.”
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a year ago today.
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house cleaning and sacrifice (an ode to my girlfriends in south asia).
It is truly impossible to explain what day-to-day life was like in our particular corner of South Asia. I might as well be a million miles away rather than several thousand, for all the difference between that world and my life here. I look around my American surroundings and search for similes to give inquiring friends, but find none. So often, for lack of good descriptive words, my entire eighteen-month “South Asia life” is pushed to that same-titled compartment in my memory, and days go by in which whole swaths of my life there are un-talked about, un-thought of. The gap is too wide and my brain hurts from…
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a year ago today.
October 19, 2011 Tioman Island, Malaysia
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packing day.
I woke up this morning and had a fight with my husband. I was such a jerk, so mean-spirited and distrustful. And afterward I didn’t feel repentant, but so angry. The anger just kept welling up inside of me and spilling out all over the place while stomping around the house and while in tears at the breakfast table as my kids brought me handfuls of Kleenex. I feel like I’m failing as a mom, failing as a wife. My kids pick on each other and bother me and I snap at them to stop. I hole up with my cooking project or my books or my blog instead of…