A few days ago, another worker told us that she feels like every few months she finds herself in a new daily rhythm of life and ministry. I am finding this to be true for us as well. As we meet more people and get more settled into our new life, our routine is changing. Because of this, I think maybe it is a good time to share what our daily life looks like this month. It is very likely to change next month, though! Our day starts when the sun comes up. We are no longer waking up with the 4am call to prayer, but the boys still wake up early, around 5:30. We start cooking breakfast (oatmeal, eggs, occasionally biscuits or Sudanese bread from the market), and we really need to be eating breakfast no later than 7. Josh has kindly started cooking breakfast several days each week just to give me a break from the kitchen…I am very thankful! Because we have a big breakfast early in the morning, I have started setting everything out the night before: counting the eggs so they can be bleached as soon as we walk into the kitchen in the morning; measuring water and oatmeal for cooking, setting out plates, bowls, forks, spoons, etc. Often at breakfast, we try to read 2-3 verses from Psalms or the NT to help the boys get acquainted with the language of Scripture. Also, Abd, the believer who is helping us work on the house, comes over and has breakfast or coffee with us before heading to work on our house with Josh. This has provided opportunities to discuss Scripture with him and it is so interesting to hear things from an African/Muslim background viewpoint. My house helper arrives between 8 – 8:30 to wash dishes and I usually sit down with the boys before she gets here to read books with them. Judah always runs and squeals excitedly when she arrives. They love having people come to our house – everyone here loves children and gives them lots of attention. She goes to the market most days for me around 9, when it opens. Some days I get to go with her – with or without the boys – and other days she goes by herself. When she gets home at 10, we all sit down and have a morning snack of peanuts, bread with peanut butter, yogurt, Chadian tea, coke, or whatever else we have available that day. This is a good opportunity to sit down with A and communicate to her that we value her for more than just the work she is doing for us. We also get to practice our Arabic with her. After that, she either cooks a “lunch” meal for us or washes clothes (by hand) or mops the floors. I am usually doing things like playing with the boys, doing the other household chores that are necessary, going with Josh to see the progress on the house, or making yogurt, etc. The boys usually get bucket baths in the warmest part of the day (before naptime) since it is too cold at night to bathe. They take a rest from around 12-2. We try to rest too, whether reading, dozing off, etc, but that is a little more challenging now because we have (finally!) started language lessons! N, our tutor, comes to our house around 1pm to start lessons with Josh. A little after 3, after our tutor does his ritual prayers and has a small break visiting with us, I begin lessons with him and Josh takes the kids outside to play. (Our lessons are in the front room, which is a screened in porch, so it is appropriate.) At some point between 1-5 we are eating the food that A cooked or some sort of substantial snack. We are still trying to figure out a meal schedule now that we have language in the afternoons. I am thankful for our big sit-down breakfast each morning, since our other meals are less formal. Usually for dinner, we eat grilled cheese, pb and j, fruit, yogurt, etc. We are doing our best to guard our evenings for family time before the kids go to bed. This could change once we get moved into our house, but we will see. So, for now, this is our daily “rythym.”
