The Fine Balance

Our summer is definitely moving along fast and we are keeping up with it!  I am finally into a semi-regular routine, at least as much as can be expected at this point, and I thought I’d share what a typical week looks like for me.

Sunday: In the mornings we go to church in the village , then we go home for lunch and relaxation until late afternoon.  At 4:00 we meet with our teammates to take communion together and have Bible classes for the kids.  It is kind of cool to think that we are meeting here at about the same time you all are meeting in the U.S.  After church we go home for our Sunday night tradition of Mark’s pancakes.

Monday is our day off, but I usually get up and create a menu and shopping list.  We do things around the house and have a family day, many times going to the pool when it is hot.  Monday nights are movie night, and I make pizza and we watch a movie during dinner.

Tuesday mornings through Friday mornings the girls have French lessons with our language teacher, Essowe.  I go do home visits for the clinic from 8 or 9 until 12.  When I get home we have lunch and then Mark goes out to the village and I stay home with the girls.  Tuesday is market day so Abla (a friend of ours) goes to the market for us, and I spend my afternoon getting things done around the house, spending time with the girls, personal prayer and Bible study, and getting home aspects of our work done.  I usually start dinner around four and we eat at six.  After dinner we have family time until the girls go to bed.

Wednesday mornings I do Kabiye lessons and the girls do French lessons.  Afterwards I may spend time at home, or I might have some other things to do like attend a meeting, or get work done for the support of orphans by Christian Relief Fund.  We eat lunch together and then Mark leaves to go to the village.  In the afternoon I practice Kabiye, spend time with the girls, and at 4 the girls and I head up to the local orphanage where we teach a Bible lesson and play games with the kids.  We usually get home at about 5:30 and have time to shower before dinner (I have Beatrice, our houseworker, make dinner on Wednesday.)  After dinner we clean up and spend time with the girls, but at 7:30 our babysitter, Sitsope, comes and we head over to teammates’ homes for Adult Bible Study.  We don’t usually get home from that until around 10:30, so we are pretty worn out.

Thursday mornings Mark goes to guys’ prayer time and the girls have French, and I work around the house.  Mark usually gets back a little after 12 and we have lunch together, and soon thereafter I go to girls’ prayer time for the afternoon.  Girls prayer time usually lasts until about 5, and I come home to Mark cooking dinner!  We eat, do dishes, have family time, and then off to bed.

Fridays the girls and I both do our particular language studies, and then I have the day to work around the house, study Kabiye, have personal prayer and Bible study time, and do other things that need to be done.  Fridays are usually very nice days.

Saturday mornings the girls and I do not do language, though Mark does.  Two Saturdays a month I spend the morning at the clinic to help with their group meetings, once a month for the OVC (Orphans and other Vulnerable Children) Caregiver meeting and once a month for the PMTCT (Preventing Mother to Child Transmission) group.  Saturday afternoons are usually family time and we sometimes watch a movie with dinner.

That is a fairly typical week for me.  It’s a busy enough schedule, but very manageable.