A "Regular" Week in the Life...
It's not uncommon for people to ask us about our work. Whether it's French people trying to understand why we're here or Americans wondering how missionaries spend their time, the question, "What do you do?" is easy to ask, but not always easy to answer.
In September 2015 I gave you a snapshot of one week. Since then, some things have changed (namely, adding a baby!), so I thought I'd respond to the question again.
After 7 months of non-stop visitors and trips, we've enjoyed being home a bit more, just the 3 of us, with a bit of a more regular routine. Jordan and I have worked [and are still working] hard to establish a healthy and sustainable rhythm as a family and in ministry. It's a work in progress, often changing based on weekly needs of our family and those around us, but for now, we've determined that I am working about 10 hours/week, 6 of which are when Jordan is the primary care giver for Judah if necessary. The other hours I finish during his nap times. Many of our weeks look different from one another, but I can share some of the regular things.
Mondays:
For me, this is a day to accomplish housework, prepare for the week, and attempt to tackle some administrative tasks. Since welcoming Judah, administrative tasks have fallen to the wayside - hence there have been very few blogs in the last few months. :)
I have learned that I enjoy being a mama so much more when I don't try to accomplish other things at the same time. As someone who often rates days based on productivity levels, this is a complete shift in thinking, but it is good and necessary.
Tuesdays:
Each week from 9:30-12pm we meet with our team to pray and plan. We talk about practical things - like church services and special events - and spiritual things - like some of the evangelism and discipleship relationships that we are involved in, needs of church members, etc.
From 8-10pm we welcome 7 others from our church into our home for small group. This, to us, is the heart of the church and what we look forward to most in the week. We've been reading through the book of Mark for the last few months, and we've enjoyed sharing our lives with new friends as we study this book over drinks and dessert.
Wednesdays:
For nearly 3 years I've been participating in a weekly Spiritual Formation/Friendship Group via Skype with other ladies from GEM. It's been a rich time of spiritual growth for me. This is one of the times during the week that Jordan takes primary care of Judah so that I can spent time reading, Skyping, and preparing. He also uses this time to go to the local outdoor market for all of our fresh fruits and veggies. Now that Judah is eating solids, we're needing more and more fresh fruits and veggies - especially bananas, mangos, and sweet potatoes!
Thursdays:
Last week I started a growth group/young mom's group/Bible study with 2 other moms from the church. We plan to read a couple of Psalms throughout the week and meditate on one during our 1h15 together. It's a bit chaotic with 4 kids 4 and under, but it's the stage of life we are in right now and we will take what we can get.
Thursdays are another day that I have a chunk of time to work. Often this is when I [will] try to meet with women one-on-one or do other administrative tasks (otherwise emails pile up, blogs go un-written, supporters go un-contacted, thank you notes go un-sent.... ). Many of the women I met with regularly before Judah was born are no longer available to meet regularly, so I'm praying for more opportunities to meet new contacts.
Fridays:
This is another day to catch up on housework, prepare for weekend events, invite people over for a meal. No two weeks are exactly the same and Fridays are the day to catch up before our Sabbath on Saturday.
Saturdays:
We love Saturdays, our day of rest. We often stay in our pajamas, turn off our email, ignore phone calls, and spend time together playing games, watching movies, reading, or, now that the weather is getting nicer, taking walks by the lake.
Sundays:
Our church celebration services are every other week at 4:30pm. Jordan arrives by 3:30 to set up and practice music (he leads worship probably 80-90% of the time). Lately I've been arriving right at 4:30 when Judah wakes up from his nap - we are thankful to live within walking distance! After the service we have a time of food and drinks and fellowship, which sometimes lasts until 7pm. We are seeing more and more people engage in our church and join our community.
Until Judah was born, we had a goal of inviting people over for a meal once a week. With all of the visitors we had, it wasn't possible to continue this, but we are trying to get back in the habit of sharing a meal with people regularly as a way of showing Christ's love and hospitality. I'm also available to help people with one-time, pressing needs (for example, one day a girl from our church needed a ride to a doctor's appointment; another day, another woman was frantically searching for a job so I drove her around to drop off resumés). Other weeks we have opportunities to invite people over for goûter (the afternoon snack) or for other activities - like making cut out cookies this week for Valentine's Day.
Jordan's got more things on his to-do list than he can possibly accomplish in a week. He's continually trying to work more efficiently and prioritize well. He spends a lot of time on the church budget - working with a broken system, organizing accounts, depositing money, reimbursing teammates, etc. He also plans the majority of the worship services. While it's a lot of work, he does a great job, and it's well appreciated by our team. He's hoping to train others to take over his roles - both with the budget and leading worship and planning the services; it's definitely a form of discipleship. Somehow Jordan has become the go-to person for any kind of admin. work for our team/church, so in any given week you can find him ordering books and study materials for various people/ministries, creating images for announcements or prayer cards for missionaries our church supports, working on the website, or anything else someone may think of.
Jordan is also participating in a Leadership Development Training which meets every 6 months for a week at a time with reading and Skype calls in between. And it probably goes without saying that Jordan is the administrative person for our family, too, so he often has administrative tasks to accomplish related to us living abroad (insurance, taxes, visa renewals, etc.).
As I stated at the beginning of this [long] post, no two weeks are exactly the same. There are some stable meetings and tasks, but otherwise, each week looks a bit different - and, for the most part, we enjoy that!
In September 2015 I gave you a snapshot of one week. Since then, some things have changed (namely, adding a baby!), so I thought I'd respond to the question again.
After 7 months of non-stop visitors and trips, we've enjoyed being home a bit more, just the 3 of us, with a bit of a more regular routine. Jordan and I have worked [and are still working] hard to establish a healthy and sustainable rhythm as a family and in ministry. It's a work in progress, often changing based on weekly needs of our family and those around us, but for now, we've determined that I am working about 10 hours/week, 6 of which are when Jordan is the primary care giver for Judah if necessary. The other hours I finish during his nap times. Many of our weeks look different from one another, but I can share some of the regular things.
For me, this is a day to accomplish housework, prepare for the week, and attempt to tackle some administrative tasks. Since welcoming Judah, administrative tasks have fallen to the wayside - hence there have been very few blogs in the last few months. :)
I have learned that I enjoy being a mama so much more when I don't try to accomplish other things at the same time. As someone who often rates days based on productivity levels, this is a complete shift in thinking, but it is good and necessary.
Tuesdays:
Each week from 9:30-12pm we meet with our team to pray and plan. We talk about practical things - like church services and special events - and spiritual things - like some of the evangelism and discipleship relationships that we are involved in, needs of church members, etc.
From 8-10pm we welcome 7 others from our church into our home for small group. This, to us, is the heart of the church and what we look forward to most in the week. We've been reading through the book of Mark for the last few months, and we've enjoyed sharing our lives with new friends as we study this book over drinks and dessert.
Wednesdays:
For nearly 3 years I've been participating in a weekly Spiritual Formation/Friendship Group via Skype with other ladies from GEM. It's been a rich time of spiritual growth for me. This is one of the times during the week that Jordan takes primary care of Judah so that I can spent time reading, Skyping, and preparing. He also uses this time to go to the local outdoor market for all of our fresh fruits and veggies. Now that Judah is eating solids, we're needing more and more fresh fruits and veggies - especially bananas, mangos, and sweet potatoes!
Last week I started a growth group/young mom's group/Bible study with 2 other moms from the church. We plan to read a couple of Psalms throughout the week and meditate on one during our 1h15 together. It's a bit chaotic with 4 kids 4 and under, but it's the stage of life we are in right now and we will take what we can get.
Thursdays are another day that I have a chunk of time to work. Often this is when I [will] try to meet with women one-on-one or do other administrative tasks (otherwise emails pile up, blogs go un-written, supporters go un-contacted, thank you notes go un-sent.... ). Many of the women I met with regularly before Judah was born are no longer available to meet regularly, so I'm praying for more opportunities to meet new contacts.
Fridays:
This is another day to catch up on housework, prepare for weekend events, invite people over for a meal. No two weeks are exactly the same and Fridays are the day to catch up before our Sabbath on Saturday.
Saturdays:
We love Saturdays, our day of rest. We often stay in our pajamas, turn off our email, ignore phone calls, and spend time together playing games, watching movies, reading, or, now that the weather is getting nicer, taking walks by the lake.
Sundays:
Our church celebration services are every other week at 4:30pm. Jordan arrives by 3:30 to set up and practice music (he leads worship probably 80-90% of the time). Lately I've been arriving right at 4:30 when Judah wakes up from his nap - we are thankful to live within walking distance! After the service we have a time of food and drinks and fellowship, which sometimes lasts until 7pm. We are seeing more and more people engage in our church and join our community.
Until Judah was born, we had a goal of inviting people over for a meal once a week. With all of the visitors we had, it wasn't possible to continue this, but we are trying to get back in the habit of sharing a meal with people regularly as a way of showing Christ's love and hospitality. I'm also available to help people with one-time, pressing needs (for example, one day a girl from our church needed a ride to a doctor's appointment; another day, another woman was frantically searching for a job so I drove her around to drop off resumés). Other weeks we have opportunities to invite people over for goûter (the afternoon snack) or for other activities - like making cut out cookies this week for Valentine's Day.
Jordan's got more things on his to-do list than he can possibly accomplish in a week. He's continually trying to work more efficiently and prioritize well. He spends a lot of time on the church budget - working with a broken system, organizing accounts, depositing money, reimbursing teammates, etc. He also plans the majority of the worship services. While it's a lot of work, he does a great job, and it's well appreciated by our team. He's hoping to train others to take over his roles - both with the budget and leading worship and planning the services; it's definitely a form of discipleship. Somehow Jordan has become the go-to person for any kind of admin. work for our team/church, so in any given week you can find him ordering books and study materials for various people/ministries, creating images for announcements or prayer cards for missionaries our church supports, working on the website, or anything else someone may think of.
Jordan is also participating in a Leadership Development Training which meets every 6 months for a week at a time with reading and Skype calls in between. And it probably goes without saying that Jordan is the administrative person for our family, too, so he often has administrative tasks to accomplish related to us living abroad (insurance, taxes, visa renewals, etc.).
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| Photo Credit: Kelsey Kirkegaard |
As I stated at the beginning of this [long] post, no two weeks are exactly the same. There are some stable meetings and tasks, but otherwise, each week looks a bit different - and, for the most part, we enjoy that!
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