Thursday, August 30th:
Walked to the school first thing for a meeting. No kids as the school day had been canceled. We got home by 10am and I was able to get a lot of lesson planning done. I took a nap in the afternoon and slept much longer than I had intended. In fact when I woke up, I realized that John and the maintenance man from our school were over, looking at Sarah's room to install the split (AC/heater unit that mounts on the wall). They went right to the market, bought one, and came back with a couple men for installation. In no time at all, Sarah had cool air in her room! That is a major accomplishment, especially as it was finished in one day. As they left, I went to my room to get something and saw that my family was calling me! We got to talk for a few minutes, but John, Mary, Sarah, and I had already made plans to go furniture shopping before dinner. We walked to the furniture store and Sarah was able to pick out a wardrobe, desk, nightstand, and we both got a desk chair! So many things accomplished in one day - AMAZING! We treated ourselves to dinner at the Turkish wrap restaurant (Tantuni), then walked home to meet Andy and Lisa for some ice cream. We were able to talk about some of the transitions with the school which have been difficult to decipher. For now, we are simply taking one step at a time and doing our jobs to the best of our ability.
Friday, August 31st:
Woke up at 6:20 this morning, threw a load of clothes in the wash before Skyping with my family. Eithen "woke up" when he heard me (he had just gone to bed), so we got to talk a little bit. Stephen showed me his new school clothes (always a fun time of year) and I got to talk to Dad and Mom for a little bit too. I still feel like I am floating through each day. Everything seems normal, but I'm not sure that I've fully adjusted. I am beginning to wonder if there will be some shock once I finally find my feet on the ground. Devotions have reminded me to lean upon Christ, that "all things are safe in Jehovah's hands; what we entrust to the Lord will be secure, both now and in that day of days towards which we are hastening." He knows how much I FEEL I have given up to be here and how much more I am afraid I will have to give up. My feelings are secure with Him. My spirit rests in the knowledge that God's will is always best, but the flesh continues to put up a fight.
Finished my lesson planning and worked on an art project for my room. I will post pictures when I am done. I am trying to make my room more personal this year, since I realized it was hard to come back here when it didn't feel like a home. Sarah has been a great encouragement and we've had fun putting the house together. We drew out our family trees and a timeline of our lives in the kitchen (picture coming). It was a fun bonding experience and a good visual aid showing how God has led us through the years.
In the afternoon we went over to John and Mary's for a break from school, then had Pizza Hot delivered (well, John went and picked it up!) :) It was better than I remembered, except for the olives which I took off and gave to John (an ongoing joke since he dislikes them as much as I do.) Thankfully Mary and Sarah like olives, so they get extra on their slices. :) We were hoping that since it was evening, things would be open again, so we ventured out to Mazi. Western Union wasn't open, which meant we couldn't get our wire, but we took a nice walk and then picked up some groceries at Mazi.
After all the lesson planning we've done, I've come to realize that this will be a busy year. I still don't feel mentally prepared, but I am trusting God to guide my footsteps and open my eyes to see all He is doing here. My desire, more than anything, is to have my heart turned in the right direction that it might align with His purposes.
