I am waiting in the airport (8 hours) for my flight back to Lima, after a week long visit with my sister, brother in-law, parents, and best of all my new beautiful niece, Ella. It was a good week.
In these last few months I have had to deal with some difficult challenges, and frustrating situations in my work with the earthquake reconstruction/ rehabilitation efforts. It seems like the only thing I have had time to think about are how to best support the reinforced adobe reconstruction/ training program, budgets, meetings with other NGOs and the government trying to help develop (not so successfully though) plans for long-term housing reconstruction (that benefits those most vulnerable and in need). I am thankful that the Lord has opened the door for me to serve in this capacity, and that He has given me the grace to make my efforts useful (at least a little I hope). But the difficulties of the work, and the frustration, of seeing so many still in need and knowing that help for many is moving slower than everyone would like, have left me both physically and emotionally exhausted. For weeks I have been looking forward to the break of coming back to the US to see my family, and meet little Ella.
So the week came, and the Lord granted me rest, and a joyful time with family, a couple of friends, and of course, Ella. She is precious - and as my mother said "just looking at her makes me smile." Still, I fell like the visit was too short, and now on my way back to my home in Lima, I am missing my family (even the newest addition) more than I have in the last two years).
Then, as I was looking through the hundreds of pictures from the week, I remembered last night. Ella, who had been a pretty quiet baby in the last 4 weeks, was very upset, and fussy, and my sister (who is an awesome mom) just could not figure out what to do. In the end we ended up sitting in the nursery (all four of us: Ella my sister, brother in-law, and I) and we sang to Ella different praise song to our Lord, taking turns rocking and holding her. If we stopped for just a moment she would start to get upset again so we just kept on until my sister was finally able to nurse her to sleep.
It was beautiful to sit there and sing to Ella, truths about the Lord, his power, and glory and most importantly how much He loves us. When I think about the last few months, I feel like I too have felt inconsolable like Ella (usually without all the fussiness), but in those times I have not always clung to the truths I know about my Lord. I have not always sung his praises, and in doing so remembered that He is in control of all thing, and that He loves me. I think this is something I will try to be practicing as I go back to my work and find myself again in difficult, frustrating situations. What a blessing it is to be reminded of the basics by someone so small :)
