Hitting the Reset Button

Do you ever feel like you are going at fast-forward speed and that everything around you just seems like one big blur? Well, that is how we have been feeling lately! Since we have been back from our roadtrip & training, we have been plodding along with the task of fund-raising, celebrating all of our birthdays, going on a Bundi Team Retreat with new team members, had family in town for July 4th, started the tenuous task of purging and packing, and now we are in the process of purchasing our plane tickets!

Sometimes I wish I could just hit the 

RESET button on life. 

While at training, we explored the ever-so-familiar feeling that  missionary life is a paradox. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. For instance, all throughout our Roadtrip, a part of me longed to get home... just to be back in the familiarity and security of "our space". Yet, when we finally got back home, I realized, "This isn't our home. None of this stuff is our stuff. Our stuff is all sold or packed away in an attic somewhere, or in a box waiting to be toted to Africa." Then I started longing to be in Bundibugyo, where I could "really" set up our home. Yet, I know, that when I begin settling myself in Bundibugyo, it will more than likely feel anything but like home!

So, where is home? 

What is home? 

How do I create a home away from home?

...when everything everyone that made my home a home 

is not going with me to make my new home?

On top of that, who has time to start thinking about setting up home, when the

 To-Do List in this home seems endless?! Just this week, the list has involved:

Support-Raising.Vaccines. Will & Testament. Insurance. Physicals. Passport Copies. Medicine. Unlocked phones. Donation Runs. New Bank Accounts. Dinner Meetings. Farewell Parties. Newsletters. Reports. Conference Calls to Uganda. Conference Calls to Philadelphia. Credit Cards. School Loans. Rain Boots. Reunions. Water Tower. Grid Power. Selling Vehicles. Purchasing Vehicle. Hygiene Products. Travel Agents. Printers. Solar Lights.  Cloth Diapers.

The List goes on...and on...and on!

Despite trying to seize every moment we have left here, I feel like the moments are slipping away, or getting washed away by the white water of the To Do List. I've been clicking with the camera, trying to catch each little glimpse and hold onto each and every memory, so that some day I will be able to look back and actually remember what occurred during this season. But even that can be a detriment, seeing every moment from behind the lense instead of actively engaging with what's in front of it.

Sometimes we need to just put it down and be.  

Be all there.

Catching frogs in the back yard, picking blueberries in the front. Taking family walks down the street, enjoying company by the pool. Calling the friend I haven't talked to in forever, and going to pay last visits to people whom I know I won't just "bump into" before leaving. Sitting down with a book, and making fresh-squeezed lemonade. Watching the fireflies at night, and wondering the delight God had in making them. Getting up early to share a cup of coffee with Jesus and His Word.

 Sometimes it takes intentional stopping, intentionally hitting the "Reset" button, and just allowing ourselves to re-charge. It's a hard thing to do, and we don't do it well. Please pray for us as we seek to establish a healthy rhythm of orderly living and wreckless abandon all under one roof. These days are important. The peace that transcends this season of Chaos can only be found in Christ, and we need to see Him daily.

This is Life.

will you join us?