a hard day

So, yesterday was a hard day for me. What I am about to write has nothing to do with ministry and it has nothing to do with my family per se, it is just me having a hard nigerian day.

It started with going to a class party for Sami's grade and all the mom's cooked food and we just fellowshipped together and let the kids play. In the midst of it though I had some awkward mom moments and some awkward nigerian mom moments. I left the party enjoying it but feeling wiped out emotionally and just a bit "down". I felt every bit of a foreigner at this event and that was difficult for me.

Then, we haven't been having power during the day for a few days now and my laundry has been piling up. What is a challenge is knowing that even as I write this there are sooooo many people who live here that this is their normal life. They wash their clothes by hand and then hang them to dry. I know it, and I feel extremely blessed to have a washer that runs (sometimes) on a generator.... but I was getting backed up on drying them.... These pictures are my home being overrun by wet clothing....

All of this to say is we have been getting power but it has been coming in the middle of the night so last night at eleven I started doing laundry. Finally, at 3 am I finished four loads of laundry, either drying or washing and drying....

I don't mean to complain and I don't necessarily even feel that way about it, it was just overall a hard day for me. It is times like this when I long for heaven. I am under a deep realization that I have spent the last 6 or 7 years away from the USA and don't entirely "get" living there anymore, but I definitely don't feel that here is "home" either.... I think it is good to have a longing for eternity with Jesus and I think it is good that I realize that no earthly thing, like washers or dryers, will fill my feeling of home as much as I think it might.

Thanks for your prayers and your listening ear....