I can’t believe another sabbath is over. My time is flying by. The more it speeds up, the more I want it to slow down.
I never really know what a Sabbath here will hold. Sickness, sensitive situations between children here and their largely absent parents, sneaky kids making things extra difficult for everyone, tension between roommates being exposed, and the list goes on. They are very different from the fairly lazy Sabbaths I spend at home.
For some reason, the mosquitos seem to be the worst on Friday night, and Sabbath afternoon’s always feel the hottest and most humid. Of all the days in the week, it seems like today is the longest. I’m not exactly sure why it always seems to go this way. Maybe it's because all of us staff are extra tired from the week. Maybe it's because the kids are all home from school. Maybe because of all the energy it takes to get everyone to church plus putting on the service and sabbath school programs. Maybe the enemy just targets Sabbaths in an effort to distract us from the blessing they bring. Or maybe it’s a combination of everything.
Yet, after several particularly draining Sabbaths in a row, today actually turned out to be very rejuvenating for me. It started out as a typical Sabbath, consisting of kids piled in the pick-up bed to go to church, Naam falling asleep in my lap during the service, some uncooperative kids in Sabbath school, and food I didn’t recognize for lunch haha.
However, this afternoon was peaceful! I took the ‘quiet time’ shift for the first time. It was so relaxing to be able to sit outside and read while the kids all hung out quietly (for the most part) in their rooms. There was even a bit of a breeze keeping things cooler than normal. And I got a nap in before I helped with overseeing showers this evening. Sabbath naps are the best!
The kids are learning, growing, and asking questions. This is such a beautiful thing to witness. I am not sure if I can adequately describe it, but I'll try. It is an encouraging,
heartwarming, faith-building, impacting experience to witness. Just last sabbath, they started doing afternoon Bible studies with all the kids mature enough to sit quietly and participate in the discussion. This week, several of the kids stayed nearly an hour longer, asking questions and digging deeper to make sure they were understanding. I pray that God brings clarity to them and that through increased knowledge of who He is, they can heal from the hurts of their past.
Since it was not a kids’ week to take a trip to town, all of us young adults got to go in this evening. It was a nice break to be able to socialize without any littles to worry about keeping track of.
This was really refreshing for me and I think the others would agree too. We laughed a lot and made some quality memories! We didn’t do anything particularly exciting, but it felt like such a treat! Especially since we splurged on french fries at KFC. And of course, no trip to town is complete without a stop at 7-11.
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