Ridiculous or To Be Expected?

“Well Wiffee, what do you think?” I asked as we roasted marshmallows over last night’s campfire, “With this morning’s presentation, we have officially completed our pre-Bobby speaking schedule. Looking back, was it ridiculous so that we need to rethink how we plan, or was it simply what is to be expected again the next time around?

 

“Remember how we came up with this schedule. We knew that there were 11 weekends between our return to the States and Bobby’s due date.  We had 7 supporting churches to which we wanted to give priority in scheduling our Sunday morning speaking engagements. The remaining four weekends we wanted to give to our families, except not in that order. We gave first dibs to our parents in choosing their weekends with us. Then we talked with the churches and gradually pieced together our Sunday schedule, trying our best to minimize back-and-forth travel between Wisconsin and Michigan.

 

“At first, it didn’t look intimidating. After all, I remember telling you that we had all of Monday through Saturday wide open. Ha, I didn’t intend it as a joke, but now it seems to be one. Remember, as we began to fill in our week days with visiting people, presentations to small groups, doctor appointments and even recreational activities, our expectation of having loads of “free time” seemed to be quite a bit off base. I need not remind you that both us reached multiple breaking points along the way, begging each other, “No more road trips!” “No more staying in other people’s houses!” “No more asking Micah to be patient with such a messed up schedule!” and “No more people!” (spoken like a true introvert!).

 

“I suppose that is to be expected when you consider the statistics of what we had planned. Related to our work, we gave our short presentation eight times and the longer one twelve times. We had ten occasions in which we mingled with people by our display table, five special meals in our honor, two sermons to prepare and preach. All in 11 weeks. We spent a weekend at Makinac Island, a week in Traverse City, a weekend family reunion in the Dells, three trips (two unplanned) to Peoria, a baptism in the Madison area, a visit to a zoo, two children’s museums, the State fair, Brewer game, Spartan football game, blueberry farm, apple orchard, over 15 different playgrounds, and on and on. All in 11 weeks. Oh and over those 11 weeks, we slept in a total of 16 different beds. But remember that one week when we both melted down (thankfully on different nights)? Do you realize that we slept in 7 different beds on 7 consecutive nights? It was Wednesday in Peoria, IL; Thursday in Elkhorn, WI; Friday in Random Lake, WI; Saturday in Sheboygan, WI; Sunday in Libertyville, IL; Monday in Wheaton, IL; and Tuesday in Jackson, MI. That was crazy, but remember the HUGE feeling of relief we felt knowing that we would then be in one place for a minimum three weeks? We hadn’t done that since we were way out at Gesas for 3.5 weeks in June.

 

“So, what do you say, was it ridiculous? Or is it just to be expected?”

 

Taking only a moment to think, Andrea responded with confidence, “It’s to be expected.” In unison, we both let out long sighs, yet at the same time, we couldn’t hide our smiles, knowing that the journey was also dotted with many, many points of encouragement, blessing and the never-ending feeling of privilege that we have to serve God alongside the Gmz church.