The Coveted 52

 When we started a blog, we knew that consistency was key. If we wanted people to faithfully follow us and for them to faithfully pray for the islands then we knew we needed to be faithful in keeping the blog updated. We knew from experience that we checked other people’s blogs less and less if they weren’t updated. So it became a discipline.

Making a new friend

Over the twelve full years that we’ve been blogging from the islands, we have averaged 51.5 posts per calendar year. Seven of those years, we posted the full 52 posts- one for every single week of the year!

Some weeks the idea for the blog is in our minds pre-formed and the post simply writes itself. Other weeks we don’t know what to write. We brainstorm ideas together, but then it can feel like pulling teeth to get something on paper. On those weeks the other person often has to rewrite large sections to make it passable. Which leads to another common question? Who writes the blog?

More often than not one of us has an idea and offers to write. Otherwise we hash around ideas until we agree on one and then decide who is best placed to write it. But still we usually write in a way that obscures the main author because it is really both of us writing. One person is the initial author, but often the second person comes and edits enough for it really to be both of our voices. People often try to guess the main author. Tom has been congratulated for a post mostly written by Megan and vice versa. We don’t mind. It’s a combined effort and after a decade it has become a part of our weekly rhythm as a couple.

There is some pride involved that keeps us writing every week. We’ll admit, there is something satisfying at seeing the 52 next to the year on the blog’s side panel that announces that we didn’t miss a week that year, but it begs the question…do we ever take a break? Tom is tempted to say that it isn’t a good thing that our yearly average is so high. Writing our blog is work, shouldn’t we take a break sometimes? We believe that rest from work is very important for health and sanity. God wants us to rest. But we also remember that one of the purposes of our blog is to get people praying for the islands…don’t the islands need prayer every week? Aren’t there always new requests of which we want people to be aware?  

Where’s the balance? How do we find weeks to rest while still getting prayer requests out there?

Our kids on the train heading out on holiday

Well some weeks, we actually think of more than one blog idea or we think of a blog idea that is timeless— it doesn’t really matter when it gets posted. We often go ahead and write up these blog ideas when we think of them. Then we save them, for a week when we want a break. A week where we can just add a few prayer requests at the end and call it done.

For a week like this one.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
All of our meetings and appointments went smoothly. Megan finally got the all-clear to stop getting follow-up blood tests and scans, as it seems most likely now that her abnormal bloodwork is from a rare, benign condition. Tom got to visit a school for African cross-cultural workers and share about our work and the islands (some were excited about possibly working on the islands in the future!). We’ve been able to check in with our teammates back on the islands— things remain calm there and our team is doing well.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
This week we had a scare when we got news that Tom’s dad had to be rushed to the hospital and ultimately ended up in the ICU after being ill for a couple weeks. Thankfully he has stabilized, is out of the ICU and should be heading home soon. Cancer has been ruled out, but the exact cause of his troubles has not been identified yet. Pray for a diagnosis and for Tom’s dad’s continued healing. We are starting a week of vacation— pray that it would be restful for us and our kids. Megan has been sick with a cold, so pray that she feels better. Some of our teammates are also heading towards some holiday time this week— pray that they would get the things done that they need to in order to have refreshing breaks. Also a big prayer request— we were disappointed to learn at our Embassy appointment this past week that our whole family will have to stay in Kenya until the new passports are ready (we had hoped/planned on Megan staying to collect them if the new passports were delayed and had been told we could do that). Now that we all have to stay, we are praying that they are not delayed at all! We need the passports by Thursday, June 24 (although for the sake of our nerves we’d love them sooner) if we want to get back in time for the meeting of all the island workers on the big island (not to mention avoiding the headache of more COVID tests and changing flights). Finally, our colleagues on the small island are having trouble renewing their visas. Pray that they would find favor with the necessary officials and that this wouldn’t be an indication of future troubles for the other two islands getting visas.