Move #31

We bought a house this month, which will be our thirty-first move since we’ve been married, which puts us officially at Baskin-Robbins status (you know, because of the thirty-one flavors), which is crazy when you think about it, which is why I don’t really want to think about it right now. Instead I want to tell you about all the other things going on that have brought me to the point of stringing no less than four dependent clauses together into one exhausting sentence. (Sorry about that.) 

It’s not just the move that has me disjointed. Do you not realize I have had a headache since Easters? (actually it’s more like since spring break, and that’s a reference to the movie Nacho Libre. If you haven’t seen it, don’t. You’ll blame me for wasting an hour and a half of your life.) Anyway, I’ve been sick since the second week of March, at which point I got a UTI (that’s a urinary tract infection for those of you lucky enough to not know) that has led to multiple doctors’ visits, much medication, and finally a surgery date to remove a suspicious kidney stone. I still have a UTI—and a consistent headache because, ironically, pain medicine gives me migraines so I can’t actually take any. The headache is coupled with random pains that pop up all over my body as if someone has a creepy little voodoo doll of me. (If it’s you, well done. You’ve been very thorough.) And, we’re not entirely sure the kidney stone is what’s causing all the mayhem, so the surgery is going to be a bit like spinning a Roulette wheel. It’s been a rough month.

Besides renovating and moving into our new house and being sick, I am also preparing for a trip to Malawi. Our whole family (minus Jonah) is planning on going. Even our niece and her husband and three boys have tickets. She’s the reason you’ve been seeing all of those beautiful HUGS for Tomorrow social media posts lately, by the way. (What? You’re not seeing them? It’s probably because you haven’t followed and liked us on Instagram and Facebook. It will literally take you seconds to do that. Go ahead. Do it now. Thank you.) We have canceled this trip three times, if you include the time they shut the borders in 2020 (and you kind of have to include that because it totally changed the trajectory of this ministry and all of our lives). The other times were for rioting in Africa and major surgery on our end. We are REALLY hoping to get there next month. It’s looking questionable though since my kidney stone surgery is scheduled for the week before the trip. 

Apparently our medical system does not care about either a middle-aged woman in pain or about a bunch of African kids waiting for their program to expand so their friends can eat and go to school, too. I know because I have harassed the doctors’ offices enough to find out that what I say is true. They are not budging, and nobody even teared up while I was making my case. My procedure will be no sooner than the week before we travel and, depending on how it goes, I may not get to join my family on this trip. If you want to pray for something, pray that there is a cancellation and that I can have lithotripsy before May 17.

In the meantime, God is still hard at work. Because of John’s position at the university, He has blessed us with about twenty students in various Bible studies in our home this past semester. The seeds are growing; the steady stream of questions and comments throughout the week after each study prove that. We have witnessed two baptisms and are hoping for more very soon. We even have studies scheduled for this summer and next fall. Who can complain about that itinerary? 

Apparently I can. Instead of being completely content with what is and what seems to be coming, I feel like these items should be on my calendar in this order: (1) get a cancellation and have the surgery done and be super well for this trip; (2) renovate the house and move in; (3) witness all the students in the Bible studies begin to follow Jesus; (4) go to Malawi and get lots of new support and expand the program to serve all of the kids in the village. Um, now that I see that in print, it’s kind of ridiculous. Impossible really. Maybe instead I should just keep listening for what God wants. It doesn’t always make sense to me, but it’s always right and it’s never boring. I mean, we don’t do it perfectly but it’s still the best plan for our family and kind of what got us to where we are now, so we’ll just stick with it and keep you posted—hopefully with pictures from Africa.