I have the most beautiful view from my office chair this afternoon. It's not a view out a window overlooking some grand scene from nature. Because while I do see plenty of green out the many windows in this room, what I have before me is far more beautiful.
I told him to get a book and spend some time quietly reading while I typed for a few minutes. He grabbed one and started to read but quickly appeared at my desk.
"Can I just read my Bible, Mama?"
And so he stretched out across one of the wooden benches we use for our furniture and opened to the book of Exodus because he finally made his way through Genesis. He's a happy boy and I'm a thankful mama.
Once I'm done in here, I'm going out back to start digging for a garden. Robbie is there right now making sure he thinks the sun and soil will be sufficient in the spot I selected and if so, my plan is to get right to work. We have lived on this property for 10 months now and a garden has been on our list from the beginning. We always wait for things to slow down to make it happen but we're finally realizing things are NOT going to slow down. So if we're going to do it, we need to just do it. I'm excited because learning gardening is something we want the children to do. Seems more and more important all the time to be less and less dependent on others for what we need.
Our Thai children started back to school last week. It was a rather abrupt end to a two month interruption of their first term this school year. The terms here run from about April to October and then from November to March/April, depending on where you live. But that was pre-pandemic so things are on a slightly altered schedule now and the vast majorities of schools in the surrounding provinces haven't even started back to yet. But since our village school did start back, we went from chaos to quiet very quickly. Now we just have our three American boys, and our two oldest Thai girls who are still not in regular session. Our goal is to get permission to actually use our school house as a recognized school, but so far we've been denied.
With the change in pace comes the need to restructure our days so we're maximizing the impact we can have, as God leads. The temptation is to tuck away, breathe for awhile, and maybe even be a little lazy. But we know that though God approves seasons of rest, He frowns on idleness. Also, time is speeding right along and the world seems headed toward a climax of unprecedented proportions. People need hope, peace, and assurance and we know where it comes from so we have a responsibility to share that with them. Our minds are whirring with ways and ideas to expand our ministry beyond our current scope.
The cherry on top will be when God leads us to ways in which we can do so, involving all the kids and staff. Because as we learn of Jesus we should be wanting to share Him. And as we share Him, we will want to know Him more. It's the best kind of endless cycle and we need to pray that it never gets broken!
Part of the struggle is that we have next to no confidence that the school will remain open. One covid case in the area will likely result in the place being shuttered again. So we continue to learn to go with the flow, doing what we can, where we can, and in God's timing.