By 7:00 A.M. my day is well underway. I am generally up and at 'em, a load of laundry started, with breakfast,
personal and family devotions behind me, and one or two kids rushed out the
door to catch the carpool to the MK
school in the city. (Hey,
speaking of which, do any of you know of teachers or a principal who might want
to come to Oaxaca in the near future?)
Just like that last paragraph, my day is full of rabbit trails
and scatterbrained sidetracking. Multitasking is not my strong suit. My goal is to devote the full morning to instructing my youngest daughter who
is way too much like me (except for talking too much) to ever accomplish this. She has Apraxia in addition to, ahem, ADD tendencies, and school requires a heap of personal attention and direction. Every history and science text must be
read aloud to her, along with other books we read aloud together just for fun.
For a couple of hours, a home-schooled friend of Miss
Will-You-Please-Hurry-Up comes for English, science, and P.E. That helps us get back on track. P.E. is worth mentioning because we
close all the drapes and doors and turn the volume down low while we sweat to
Wii Dance. (The neighbors would not
understand.) That is the highlight
of our morning, enabling us to stay awake to finish our morning studies. No promises after lunch at 1:00 or 1:30.
Any typical day I might be interrupted with home deliveries
of drinking water or gas tanks, neighbors needing to borrow something (until
the lawn mower finally broke – what on earth are we going to do now?), one of
the three phones ringing (Lingo phone from the U.S., local phone, or Skype –
since now pastors in the villages have internet and think every time they see
that Jim-Jamie are online they should ring us up to bless our day, and then
once I’m on the computer, well, I really should check email, Facebook, and Pinterest.
When dh is not traveling (this week he is in Mozambique for
the dedication of a friend’s recording studio like ours), he is working mostly
from home, in and out between here and the office next door. That can provide a distraction, too, as
we stop to discuss the day’s/week’s events, emails (will you answer that one or should I?), and challenges. Did I mention we are both talkers?
Several times a week I am blessed to have a local gal (not a
maid, but more of a housekeeper we have sort of adopted) come to fix lunch, do some light cleaning, and
(thank you, Lord!) run interference with the phone and door while I teach. She is my right hand and my sanity
saver. Whatever I start but don’t
finish, she discovers and completes (hanging laundry, ironing, breakfast dishes,
etc.) When the babies were little,
and I was home educating four children, she was indispensable. Now she is just a blessing. I can even send her a text message to
pick up eggs, milk, or tortillas when needed. Yes, I am spoiled.
Afternoon activities vary, but are boring to recount (housework, lesson plans, etc). My favorite things are prayer with the other
missionary moms on Monday, writing in my journal, blogging, talking to my adult dc*,
playing the piano, or reading for pleasure. Then there are those city days when I take teens to the
orthodontist, do grocery shopping, get a haircut, or attend meetings at the
school. Those are tiring days for
sure.
No matter what a day brings, I'm always ready to crash by 9:00 or so. Getting distracted and not completing tasks is exhausting!
IRL* Now I’m wondering how your day compares to mine…. Do tell!
My daughter and I entertained ourselves by playing old pianos along Denver’s 16th Street Mall. All were painted in fun designs, but they were badly out of tune. Not knowing any ragtime pieces by memory, I banged out “Malaguena” (my signature piece back in high school Spanish Club days). A random tourist even videotaped my “performance.” So you never know, someday maybe I’ll become a YouTube sensation.