It's Normal

Normal Visitors in Chad

When we went and lived in Chad in 2007, we had no running water and only enough electricity to charge our phones and laptop. When the sun went down, we went to bed. When the sun rose, we got up. We didn’t have a refrigerator, so a good chunk of each day was focused on getting and preparing the food that we would eat that day. Most of the people around us only knew their town and knew little of the greater world.

When we shared with people back home about our life in America, we were sometimes met with disbelief. People couldn’t imagine living like that, but whether or not our Chadian neighbors longed for a different life, in reality, most of them didn’t know any different. Maybe they longed to be a rich person in their town, but they didn’t know enough to long for life in a different place.  To people back in America, our life in Africa sounded like one grand adventure.  And early on it did feel like that, but soon enough, it became normal.  Even though it was not a life we had ever lived before going to Africa, our normal had shifted, but our new life was now normal. Just normal, daily life.

If something is normal then it’s not an object of fuss. It’s not worth wowing over or commenting on. It’s just normal. You only get upset with normal if you think you could be having it better. If you only have one frame of reference, then you don’t know or can’t imagine a better situation, and so normal stays good enough.  Islanders aren’t as isolated as Chadians. Islanders travel and those who have been exposed to different countries are often not very content with the “island normal”. They complain and compare the islands to the places they have been. They have tasted something different.  Their idea of normal changed.

Normal Visitors on the islands

 On the islands, life is not as extreme as Chad, but still our American friends and family sometimes utter their disbelief when we talk about regular water and electricity cuts, the tropical diseases or the supply shortages that happen on the islands. But those things are all pretty normal for us.  And as strange and exotic as international travel and touring around might be for some, for us, this is also normal.  But then COVID came and life became strange everywhere.  On a global scale, we saw normal disappear.  Let’s face it, life in the States right now is not normal— social distancing, no school for kids, masks and stay-at-home orders.  Tom and I can’t help but long for normal US life (pre-COVID)—the life that we’re used to enjoying when we come to visit. We content ourselves with less on the islands because that’s normal there, but we expect the US to be a reprieve from many of those daily hardships: restaurants, malls, and millions of leisure opportunities like hiking, movies, sports, and amusement parks; also family reunions, big church gatherings, worship services and youth groups.  We see these things as normal for our times in the States, and it’s been hard for us to adjust.

On the other hand, some people have asked us if our kids are similarly disappointed with our time in America, being forced to stay at their grandparents’ house and not see people. But our kids are more like those isolated villagers in Chad than we are, they don’t really know or remember anything different. We stepped foot on US soil in March and went straight into quarantine and its been years since we’ve done more than briefly visit, so our kids don’t really no anything better than this pandemic normal for the US.  It’s probably for the best. We know that they will firmly embrace a new freer normal once it is available to us, but for now they are content with the present normal.

New Normal- Bday visitor seated far away with mask

Tom and I have some experience adjusting to new normals.  Our kids do too.  And we know that finding new normals can be painful.  So here we are, the whole world, people around the globe, all in the same boat, all experiencing the pain of adjustment, all finding new routines. All taking our circumstances and trying to make it livable.  All choosing to struggle with or embrace new normals.  But remember…

Hang in there!  You will adjust! And eventually, what feels so strange and uncomfortable will just be, well, normal. I’ve heard many remark that they are discovering new normals. Families have found new routines and new ways of getting by.  Churches and businesses are finding ways to move forward.  It hasn’t been easy but since it is a shared experience around the globe, we can’t really complain. Everyone’s in the same boat. It’s a new normal everywhere.

Our birthday girl- making pie

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful that our kids are doing well during these strange times. We are thankful for our daughter who turned 12 this past week and for the wonderful young lady she’s turning into. We had a good time celebrating with her and she had a fun time despite our restrictions. One island brother was feeling sick, requested prayer and got better. We are thankful for encouraging stories of healing.  


PRAYERS REQUESTED
Now three of our colleagues on the small island are sick with COVID-like symptoms, one of who is pregnant. Please pray for their quick recoveries. The stories of death and ill-equipped medical personnel continue to come from the islands. Continue to pray. On the French Island (the first in archipelago to be hit with the virus), our doctor friend reported this week that they are getting 100 new cases a day (where it was only 10 per day the week before). Pray for the overworked medical workers and their families. The French Island has much better testing and treatment capabilities so we imagine that what we see happening there will happen on the rest of the islands in the coming weeks. Please pray. We’re starting to think again about our plans for the coming months, pray that we would have good discernment of what to do when. Continue to pray for the islands during this month of fasting, when islanders tend to look to God more, may they truly seek and find.