The first
thing you should know about me is that I am first and foremost a
Christian; then, I am a wife and
mother. This is an important distinction
because in the first statement lies my identity – the core of who I am is what
God has made me in Christ. Period.
The second
thing you should know is that – as Jo March said in Little Women –
"I am hopelessly flawed…" I'm
much too serious for my own good, I'm quite sensitive to smells and noise, I'm
a picky eater, I don't like change (nor
does it like me), I'm a bit lazy (yes, I was the spoiled baby of the family :-) ), I'm not very good at staying organized, I
worry too much, and I'm rather opinionated – although I've learned to temper my
opinions with grace (my family laughs as they remember my recent and very vocal
assertion that "Romney's a Snake!" shouted from my dining room in the
direction of my father-in-law). Okay,
mostly tempered with grace.
All of the
above doesn't make a fantastic recipe for a missionary's wife, but it does make
an ideal recipe for God's grace. It also
doesn't make the best home school mom, but somehow (probably God's grace at
work again) Emily's turned out okay so far. :-)
My family
and I moved to Kenya, East Africa in 2008 where my husband does evangelism,
discipleship, and church planting work with his partner, Nathan Radford. Though Roger teaches math to our kids, I do
the rest of their schooling – Emily, however, goes to Rift Valley
Academy – a missionary
boarding school 6 hours away from us; she will graduate from there in July of
2013. I also do some volunteer work once
a month at In-Step Children's Home about 30 minutes from our home and teach
Kiswahili to a few missionaries here.
Roger and I
have been married 20 years. Actually, he
proposed for the first time when I was 7 and he was 9. I said yes.
He proposed again when I was 18 and he was 20. I said yes.
He proposed then – with a ring and on one knee – when I was 19 and he
was 21. I said yes. I’m still deeply in
love with him. :-)
We have 3 children here on earth, and one in Heaven (Emily 17, Amy 12,
Josiah 10, and Nathaniel would have been 13 this August).
I love
reading, writing, teaching, and the REAL American dream (not the selfish thing
it has become). I really get into
politics (should that have been written in my "hopelessly flawed"
section?), and I have a weakness for anything with 4 legs and fur (uh…3 dogs, 5
cats, 2 sheep...did I mention how much my husband loves me?). Well, almost anything. I'm not real crazy about the rats in our
ceiling (don't forget, we live in Africa…) I
also have a passion for Biblical counseling, and I am slowly-by-slowly (as we
say in Kiswahili) working my way to a counseling certificate. I love Truth, and I love the way that
embracing Truth (in the form of the God of all Truth) changes people and sets
them free – me included.
I have a
love/hate relationship with Kenya
and with being missionaries. Oooh, is
that too brutally honest? Uh, in
reality, don't most people have a love/hate relationship with what they do in
life? The "hate" part mostly
comprises of dealing with corruption (read about Roger's arrest in my blog for
a sample), malaria, typhoid, brucellosis (that's a new one for me just added
this week), and never really having a place that's called
"home." Actually, that's not
true. God continues to teach me that
this world is NOT my home – that "I'm just a-passin' through" as an
ambassador. But, that can be difficult
from time-to-time. Did I mention I really, really hate Nairobi eye flies? I also don't like saying "good-bye" all the time to people I come to love and care about, and I really don't like missing my friends and family and church back in the States when I'm here and then missing my friends here when I'm there. I don't like the way that nothing is the same, including relationship dynamics, when I go back to the States, nor is it the same here when I come back as as it was when I left.
But you
want to know something? I really
wouldn't change my life (okay, most of the time, I wouldn't change my life – I
do have my moments). I have been so
blessed. That's where the "love" part comes in. I love that my man and I love one
another. I love that my teen-age
daughter, already living away from home, misses her mom and dad and calls us to
tell us everything going on in her life at school. I love seeing God work in
the lives of my children, revealing Himself to them and changing them – making
them see things from a level deeper than I did at their age. I love that they are growing up seeing how
most of the world lives, having friends who are orphans or who are HIV
positive, knowing people who live in one or two room mud huts. and having close relationships with adults from
other cultures – even other religions (and I don't just mean
denominations). I love the daily
reminder that we have so much to be thankful for. I even love the gentle rebuking of the Holy
Spirit that pricks my conscience and points out my tendency to lack
contentment. I love His gentle embrace around
my spirit when I am acutely aware of His closeness. I love the red dirt roads (though I must
admit to "hating" them when they are mud), the cows, sheep, and goats
who graze all along the roads (even in Nairobi), the quiet and unhurried pace
of living in an agricultural town, knowing a lot of people including shop
owners and greeting them by name as I walk or drive through town, the weaver
birds making a ruckus as they weave their nests in the tops of the bamboo
thicket behind our house, the SHWOOSH of air being moved under the powerful wings
of the hornbill as it flies overhead – even the obnoxious cry of the ibis bird
that shouts of Africa. I love that my
good missionary friend down the street owns a pet donkey. I love the people of Kenya (though culturally, they
drive me absolutely crazy sometimes – as I must drive them :-) ). I love that I can speak a strange and exotic language like Kiswahili. I love meeting and getting to know people
from all over the world – Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Austria, England,
Pakistan, India, South Korea, Germany, France, Canada, Denmark, Holland,
Ireland – just to name the first ones that come off the top of my head. Oh, wait.
I forgot Alaska and Texas!
Ooops – Alaska is part of the USA isnt' it? Not so sure about Texas :-). I love
not having to worry about tornadoes during thunderstorms – okay, that was
totally random.
So, there
it is; all about me. I hope you enjoy my
blog. Look around, click on the links –
there, you will read about the lives of other missionaries here in Kenya. Well, Piper's not a missionary in Kenya,
but click there anyway :-).
