For example, since last Thursday this is how our schedule has looked (our children also attended 95% of these activities:
•Had a guest visit from the states (who is still here and requires much attention in this shocking culture)
•Attended 5 meetings with our company (one meeting hosted at our home)
•Met with a doctor about a new project at 10 pm one night in a pharmacy
•Met with a national couple about translating a book for us
•Squeezed in 3 Arabic lessons with our teacher
•Took a ride on the Nile River in a Faluka
•Supported our oldest daughter, Meredith in a 5K race in the desert, then our two younger ones, Madison and Matthew Ray in a 2K in the desert
•Ran late after the race to an orphanage appointment that we had set up to visit so I had to change in the back seat of a friend’s car while the crazy traffic of Egypt whizzed by!
•Arrived at the orphanage only to find out that it was really a nursing home (a little break down in communication!) We still ended up visiting there for several hours with 2 Spanish speaking ladies. A man had to translate from Spanish to Arabic for me to be able to understand! (go figure...in the middle of Egypt?!?)check out the pics on our family blog www.thedunavants.blogspot.com
•Took our guest to a famous tourist shopping area until 1 am.
•Began research on possible school options for expat children in our city.
•Located a costume for a play for Meredith’s school at the last minute.
(In the next two days we still have to make a visit to Garbage City, the Pyramids, the Citadel and have another meeting! :)
All of the above was added to the regular busy life of taking our children to and from school in taxi’s, working on homework with our oldest, working hard in seemingly endless hours of language lessons, shopping at the outside market for fresh fruits and veggies, taking time here and there to study our Arabic, stretching our brain to speak and understand the Arabic on the streets, giving our youngest baths and bedtime stories, cooking or organizing meals for my family, endless laundry, cleaning up the gazillion messes that come with having little ones, and finally taking time to sit at Jesus’ feet!
I say "finally" in that last paragraph to be very real and transparent with you. When life is crazy and requires so much of my time and energy, it is so easy to NOT sit at the feet of Jesus and be a Martha! This has always been the hardest thing about parenting to me since becoming a mom. I have found if I don’t sit at HIS feet regularly, then it just makes me useless as a wife, mom and the rest of who HE has called me to be! It is work to set aside that time with Jesus but when I do, I rest in HIM!!
Rest in HIM with me ladies! Mommying takes a balancing act at times but we must be determined to Sit at HIS feet!!! I am going to right now!
O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water. Ps. 63:1
3 comments:
I'm glad I'm not posting next after you!! LOL! Haha! Our "busy" does not EVEN compare to your busy! Mercy alive! You are hanging on for dear life. Thanks for the great post and the encouragement. We're glad you're on board to provide us with another outlook of Motherhood a few years down the road from us. We are praying for you.
Yay! Thank you for a great post. I have to say by the time I got to the end of your "schedule" I was laughing out loud, because I could imagine how crazy it's been for you since Thursday. And it gives me encouragement to know that not only is someone else juggling their responsibilities, but maybe they're even busier than I am! :)
Thank you for reminding us that sitting at His feet is not just another task on the list!
Shannon
Thank you for posting Ps. 63:1! That'll be a good verse to pray/sing/cry during those crazy moments of the day. I'm gonna tuck that one away in my heart!
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