Babies Are Fun!

A one year old crawls over to the coffee table and hefts himself up.  He looks out over an arrangement of papers, cups, pens and phones.  Clumsily and perhaps deliberately, each item is tossed to the floor.  Meanwhile Megan is playing peek-a-boo with a toddler who giggles with glee every time she reveals herself from behind her hands.  Meanwhile, our sons are patiently losing at Top Trumps to the six year old who has all the cards memorized and has strategically stacked the deck in his favor.  And yet, as the children run around and make messes and giggle and squeal in delight, our son says to us, “It’s fun having babies in the house!” and it is. 

Learning to wear traditional wrap

A new family has joined our team and for their week of orientation, they are staying with us.  They have 3 little ones and we are having fun having little ones in the house again.

Babies are fun but they require adjustments.  Our routines are effected by nap times.  Food has to be kid friendly.  Anything breakable or dangerous must be moved out of reach.  But we don’t begrudge these adjustments.  In fact, they are good reminders.  This new family is going through a lot of adjustments—new routines, new language, new culture, new climate.  It can be overwhelming and annoying, difficult and stressful.  It can take it’s toll on a family.  Our little “baby” adjustments are nothing compared to what they are going through.  But they are good reminders.

Making adjustments is part of life.  It means change and change is not easy.  Most of the time, change means sacrificing something for something else.  So as we change our routines and make sacrifices for babies, we don’t mind, because, as our son said, “Babies are fun!”  But really it’s more than that.  If it were just because babies are “fun,” then as soon as it stopped being “fun” we’d stop adjusting our routines.  But we know that babies are precious and vulnerable.  Babies aren’t just fun, we love babies.  They are worthy of our time and sacrifice.  Their lives and well-being are important.

Baby fun!

Our new teammates know about sacrificing for their children, but now they are learning about sacrificing for something else.  They are sacrificing their comfort and their routines, their lifestyle and their customs, their skills and their strengths.  Why?  Because islanders are fun???  Sometimes, islanders can be a lot of fun.  But it would not sustain them.  No.  Our teammates have made the choice to love.  They have decided that islanders are precious and even vulnerable.  They are worthy of our time and sacrifice.  Their lives and well-being are important and worth the sacrifices they are making.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it back to Clove Island with our teammates and new family! There were problems for them checking in to the flight to the islands, so we were a little concerned that their bags would make it, but we were so thankful when they all arrived! We have also been thankful for all our colleagues and teammates that have been able to help along the way. We know two couples on the islands that we care for deeply have recently gotten engaged (one couple are both workers and one couple is our island brother/sister)— pray for these couples as they prepare for their lives together. We're thankful that an island friend's wife safely gave birth (he seemed touched that our team had prayed for a safe delivery).

Island friends at a wedding

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our new teammates are diving into language learning this week— pray that they would connect with language helpers and develop good habits that will allow them to learn well. At the end of the week, they will go to stay with a local family for a long weekend. Pray that the babies would be able to sleep and eat well during that stay so that they can build relationships and gain some valuable insights into culture. Pray that the final preparations for their house would go smoothly. It has been really hot and humid with no rain (which makes adjusting to the new climate harder), pray for some cooling rains to come. Economic times on the islands continue to be hard. Pray for provision for the poor and for all of us to learn how to be generous with the added requests we get for help.