This is a direct quote from Cori’s art teacher. If it were one I heartily subscribed to, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. I suppose I have put it off long enough. It’s hard to believe I haven’t contributed to our family website since Thanksgiving, but there it is. The reasons are numerous and have been a combination of any of the following: holidays, illness, busy-ness, school, and I confess an unwillingness on my part that I won’t go into.
It’s time, however, to bring you up to date on our everyday life. Had I written this 6 weeks or so ago, I would have titled it, “Sunshine gone away today, don’t feel much like dancing…� If you don’t recognize these words, talk to someone older than you and they can hum it for you. In website timeline, this blog should fit between our
Thanksgiving blog and our
Christmas blog. It was the Monday after Thanksgiving that Narah came, but she wasn’t wearing her typical smile and she didn’t take off her coat. She was coming to tell us she was moving back to Darhan that afternoon.
The good news is that she is going to Bible School. I wish it were one that we strongly endorsed, but those don’t really exist here yet. However, we trust that God will honor her heart and teach her of Himself. You may be thinking that such an important decision was made rather quickly. So did we. But such is life in Mongolia.
There isn’t really bad news except that she left a gaping hole in our family. She really did bring sunshine into our home (if I didn’t mention it in a previous blog, that is what her name means). I’ll never be able to hear “Frosty the Snowman� without thinking of her. If interested, you can email and ask me why. She came back for a visit a couple of weeks ago and spent the evening with us. It was just like old times and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
The other good news is that we were able to find a replacement helper relatively quickly. Her name is Undraa, and she is a sweetheart. She is as different from Narah as she could possibly be, but we have grown to love her as well. She was a tremendous help to me at our Christmas Open House. She has a real eye for presentation when it comes to serving food, so most of you know how much I appreciate that. She is an excellent language helper, which I really need.
Undraa is also in Bible School in Ulaanbaatar. She will be gone to the countryside starting next week for a month’s ministry practicum. No, I can’t explain that. She has a replacement lined up, so I get to start over again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it is truly only for a month.
Our lives this past year seem to have been a succession of good-byes. I thought that would change once we finally arrived, but that was not to be. When Bernie and I were making our list of things to bring, there is a framed quote that he insisted on packing. Now I am so glad it hangs over my kitchen sink. It helps when I need Eternity’s perspective.
Measure thy life by loss and not by gain
Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth
For love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice
And he who suffers most has most to give.
I don’t begin to claim to understand suffering. But I am beginning to understand loss and sacrifice. The challenge is perspective and to recognize it as “momentary, light affliction� that is borne by the hope of an “eternal weight of glory� (2 Corinthians 4:17).