We took a lot of great pictures on David’s first birthday. While going through them, I was about to delete this one, but even though it’s not a great picture, it actually tells our life quite well. This is our real life. The 3rd child birthday boy off to the side patiently waiting for his birthday cake. Usually we give the birthday person the first piece, but I was distracted by Liza’s crying, because she didn’t finish her supper and wouldn’t get any cake, so I gave Samuel the first piece because he was so excited and asked so nicely.
But wait, there’s more to this story! Look closely. You don’t see a nice birthday cake with frosting and a candle, nor ice cream to eat with the cake. No, instead you see a sloppy carrot cake stuffed into a square ziplock container because it didn’t come out of the pan nicely. There isn't nice frosting because I didn’t have a convenient can of frosting or even powdered sugar to make some. Instead, I poured our first attempt of making homemade yogurt into the birthday cake mold and placed it in the freezer. Surprisingly, the yogurt mold turned out nicely, but the only thing I had to put it on was a random container lid (very fancy!). The frozen, unsweetened yogurt served as our frosting and ice cream. Thankfully what looks like a flop, was really quite tasty.
But wait, you can see much more in this picture. You can see the containers in the background being used as a shelf, because we haven’t yet had a bookshelf made. You can see the 2 different colors of paint on the wall, because when we moved in, there was a hole in the wall which was boarded up and welcoming to lots of insects, which we had someone fill with concrete and of course they couldn’t get the paint to match. Maybe some day we’ll have the whole room repainted. You can see a box in the corner that contains a keyboard that Micah takes back and forth from CLET 2 times a week to help with a class on the liturgy. You see our new curtains that didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped b/c of a miscommunication of the dimensions of the larger window (on the right). It’s a wider window, not a longer window. You also see the table cloth I bought while down in Lome that is really fun, but does not really go well with all the other colors in the room. And you see random things on the dining room table, because there’s no where else to put them out of David’s reach.
This is our life. It’s definitely different then our life in the States, but not different in a bad way. In the end, it doesn’t really matter that nothing matches or looks nice, we use what we have and make it work. We are living this life. It’s hot and humid, things don’t work well, there are bugs and geckos in every room (now instead of swatting the geckos and taking them outside, we call them our friends and welcome them to eat the bugs). These are the every day negatives, if one can call them that. But no matter where we live there will always be negatives. There is no perfect place here on earth. Thank goodness we’ll be in Paradise someday! For now, I will enjoy spending time with my family, trying lots of new things, eating FanMilk ice cream (Thank the Lord!), and sharing Christ’s love.
But wait, there’s more to this story! Look closely. You don’t see a nice birthday cake with frosting and a candle, nor ice cream to eat with the cake. No, instead you see a sloppy carrot cake stuffed into a square ziplock container because it didn’t come out of the pan nicely. There isn't nice frosting because I didn’t have a convenient can of frosting or even powdered sugar to make some. Instead, I poured our first attempt of making homemade yogurt into the birthday cake mold and placed it in the freezer. Surprisingly, the yogurt mold turned out nicely, but the only thing I had to put it on was a random container lid (very fancy!). The frozen, unsweetened yogurt served as our frosting and ice cream. Thankfully what looks like a flop, was really quite tasty.
But wait, you can see much more in this picture. You can see the containers in the background being used as a shelf, because we haven’t yet had a bookshelf made. You can see the 2 different colors of paint on the wall, because when we moved in, there was a hole in the wall which was boarded up and welcoming to lots of insects, which we had someone fill with concrete and of course they couldn’t get the paint to match. Maybe some day we’ll have the whole room repainted. You can see a box in the corner that contains a keyboard that Micah takes back and forth from CLET 2 times a week to help with a class on the liturgy. You see our new curtains that didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped b/c of a miscommunication of the dimensions of the larger window (on the right). It’s a wider window, not a longer window. You also see the table cloth I bought while down in Lome that is really fun, but does not really go well with all the other colors in the room. And you see random things on the dining room table, because there’s no where else to put them out of David’s reach.
This is our life. It’s definitely different then our life in the States, but not different in a bad way. In the end, it doesn’t really matter that nothing matches or looks nice, we use what we have and make it work. We are living this life. It’s hot and humid, things don’t work well, there are bugs and geckos in every room (now instead of swatting the geckos and taking them outside, we call them our friends and welcome them to eat the bugs). These are the every day negatives, if one can call them that. But no matter where we live there will always be negatives. There is no perfect place here on earth. Thank goodness we’ll be in Paradise someday! For now, I will enjoy spending time with my family, trying lots of new things, eating FanMilk ice cream (Thank the Lord!), and sharing Christ’s love.
David eventually got his cake and ate it all before we could take a picture.
God's blessings as you continue to adjust to your new home. Sounds like you're getting a good start.
ReplyDeleteLove this, Robin! Thanks for being real and having such an awesome attitude about it all. =) ~Mel
ReplyDeleteYou and your family will so enjoy reading this in the years ahead. It is the little memories that spark the remembrances of the long view and visibility of Gods hand that we often can't see in the present. Thank you for letting us peek into your life in the present. It helps me find ways to give mine more meaning.
ReplyDeleteI just now saw this, Robin, and enjoyed it very much. Having spent a few weeks in at least 10 apartments in the past year, you do a great job of describing what it takes to make a space work for you. I think this ability and focusing on the strengths of the place you are, are the secrets to successful travel.
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