Visitors and A Vacation?

The week before visitors come, life is crazy. We often put off small maintenance issues to do later and we quickly become aware of them when we have visitors on the way. There is always the big deep clean to do and needed organization so we get a plan and work hard to get it done. The last 2 days before a visitor gets here we suddenly seem to see every issue possible and we try and fix them all, which we all know ain't happenin' 😂. Coming from America to our "work in progress" can be a lot for someone. We have so many "small" projects not done and living with 100+ other people isn't for everyone. While this is definitely home for us and we love, love it, we are very aware that it is much different than America when we have visitors on the way.

Sunday we had a visitor arrive and Monday morning Caitie and I were sitting in the office and she said "It feels like we are on vacation, I know we aren't, but it feels like that." But it wasn't because all the work was done, because all the work is never done here. As she and I sat and discussed why it felt like vacation we came to the conclusion/realization that it is because often having visitors means sharing conversations with others who understand the way we think. When you up and leave your home and move to a different culture you sometimes struggle to feel understood. Sometimes as I'm trying to make a simple change, others look at me like I have 3 heads, yet it would make sense to someone else. Sometimes I just want genuine feedback, thoughts and ideas. But when everyone around you is paid to be there it can be hard to get genuine thoughts and feedback. Being able to just sit and talk, share the story God is writing and get tips and ideas is such a blessing to us.

Having visitors is often such a breath of fresh air and completely worth every stress, freak out, and late night cleaning. I love sharing what God is doing in our small village with others, but honestly it can be a little "vacation" to share thoughts and ideas with others and for them to get it and give honest feedback. When there is a genuine understanding and friendship there is a bit of "ahhhhhhh" and it is such a relaxing time.

We feel so completely blessed that others want to know more, see first-hand, walk our walk for a little bit AND they are willing to do all of the travel to get here. I can only hope that our visitors’ time here is as much as a blessing to them as they are to us.

To Mike, who just recently visited us, the kids are ready for you to come back, Reed says he just loves you, I'm trying to wrap my head around this vlog idea, Jeff keeps rolling the camera at random times and in the wrong position, and having you spend time with our family in our home, walking home in our village 😂, eating with us at our favorite restaurant; all of it was such a blessing! (Don't worry about that run-on sentence, our time was that great!) Thanks for coming and roughing it with us, it means a lot to us, more than you will ever know!