The Hardest Part is Coming

Friday, October 9, 2015

It’s official, we have been back in the USA far too long.  Don’t get me wrong, when we left Congo in March, I DREADED returning to Africa.  There wasn’t anything bad that happened, we liked Kinshasa, we liked our work, we had good friends and a great church.  But, we were exhausted.  Our lives changed completely.  We had moved cities, we had a baby (and neither one of us knew what to expect during the whole process).  And because we were so far from grandparents (and the opportunity to pass the baby off to them for a few hours), we just never really caught up on sleep.

Living in Africa is hard, it’s difficult to explain, but you just don’t sleep well.  There are loud churches playing until well into the night, you have loud talkers walk by your house any time throughout the night, you hear barking dogs off in the distance and just as you finally drift off to sleep, the neighbors’ rooster is crowing at the first sign of morning light.  Your night is cut short as you lay in bed wondering if the neighbor would notice if their rooster went missing!

I have loved the time we’ve had with grandparents, and I have desperately needed every single day we’ve been here.  I’ve needed ME time.  Blake and I have needed US time.  Maddy and I have been able to do so many things we wouldn’t have had other opportunities to do during this huge developmental time for her.  But I’ve also learned so many things about being a mom.  I’ve learned about “routine” or lack there of, and flexibility and sleep transitions and furlough traveling with a baby, I’ve been challenged and…the list goes on.

Most importantly though I’ve been refreshed.  I’ve been encouraged by other moms, in different phases of motherhood, I think I’ve been encouraging to other moms as well.  I’ve seen friends I miss desperately.  And Maddy has met her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins; and they have been with her as she has transitioned through so many phases.

But it’s time.  It’s time for our place and our own space again.  It’s hard fitting a family of 3 into the house and lives of other people for this length of time.  I’m ready to spread out, get my “things” unpacked, have my clothes all in one spot, and not forget something as we move from house to house.  This week it was Maddy’s socks, last time it was my make-up the time before that something else.  It’s time to feel settled again.

I’m really glad we will be here for Christmas and we will have that final length of time with our family here.  But we will also be really ready to return to Africa.  To our passions, the life we love, the work we hate leaving behind.  There are days that I wish I could combine my 2 worlds into one.  The family and friends from the US to the life we live in Africa.  We’ve learned how to make the most of the time we do have with each of them.  Thank goodness for internet, and skype and factime…it makes everyone feel just a little bit closer.  However, the hardest part still remains, making the goodbyes sustain us until the next hello!