Around the beginning of October, I start to long for January, February and March, months affectionately named the quiet months! Now don’t get me wrong, we LOVE the birthday month (October), Thanksgiving and the beginning of winter and then Christmas and all that comes with the celebration of Jesus’ birth. However, by the New Year we are usually a little tired and a little out of routine! With January comes a period of a few months where the kids and I (Jen) do not have to travel anywhere, school is fairly constant and we can get back into the rhythm of our daily lives. There will still be much work, guests and local travel, but Mommy starts to feel relaxed!
In many ways this Christmas was a tough one for me. It sounds silly considering I was surrounded by family (Doug’s parents visited for Thanksgiving and Jamesy’s 1st birthday, and my parents followed quick on their heels for Christmas). We had fun play times with a lot of snow, and I find myself in the land of plenty when it comes to finding things that I need/want to make the holidays feel special and traditional for us as a family. This year was tough because I missed “home”. I spent many hours reflecting on Peru and Kosovo. I missed our Peruvian friends and the Spanish language. I missed our friends and the fellowship in Kosovo (and you friends in Albania too)! My heart wasn’t quite here in Bulgaria. It was in the past. We love Bulgaria, our friends here and the way life goes here. We are comfortable, happy, and excited to live many years here. Yet that didn’t cover the feelings of loss that we experience as we have moved on and on and then on again! I guess the processing continues!
As with other New Years, this one did not start with any resolutions. I don’t want to get to the end of another year and have a hard time remembering the resolutions made at the beginning of the year. They may have worked during the quiet months, but not much further! So this year at the dawn of the New Year from my cozy bed with LOUD fireworks going off all around, I prayed a simple prayer (AKA Plea) to the Lord; that throughout the next 365 days 1) my relationship with Him would deepen, 2) as a result of No 1 we will get through all of the ups and downs of the year whilst being a good example to the kids and others and 3) that I would end the year speaking Bulgarian. If we get to the end of 2012 and I can reflect back feeling content that these three things have been obtained and continue to be in progress then I will be happy!
So, the year ahead… following our quiet months we have 10 days in the UK during April for a combined vacation/Home Assignment tour. June through July we will be in the USA doing 6 weeks of home assignment, touring Baltimore, Texas and Wisconsin. August we will likely host a W&W team or two and then September brings the start of Sarah’s pre-school year (how did that come around so quickly?). These are just the things in the calendar right now… goodness knows what the year will really look like! We will keep you posted as it progresses!
January 9th, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Thanks for your very newsy letter. I pray for your dear little family daily. I so identify with your situation, not much different from being an Army Officer’s wife and being moved all over the globe often. Sometimes we had only 18 months in one place and once I had 4 children under 6 when my husband was sent to Vietnam for a year. I am 85 years old now and how exciting it is to keep in touch with the many friends we have made in our 22 years in the Army. You are doing a great work wherever you are sent and just knowing that you are doing the Lord’s work must be rewarding. May God richly bless you and your family in 2012. In his Love, Jeanne Echols