Saturday 6 September 2008

...the fire...


It's true. We had a fire in our apartment. It was completely my fault. I don't know how to BBQ. 5 years of officership and several attempts that always end disastrously should have been on the fore front of my mind. ( I burnt my eyebrows & eyelashes once...) But nonetheless, this will go down in the Carr Chronicles as the worst disaster with a BBQ, and on the top 10 list of Mom's all time bloopers...


It has been a rough week in the Carr household. Last Saturday, we nearly burned the apartment down. (In truth, we lost very little and can count out the miraculous ways God saved our familiy from a much larger disaster! And now we know our neighbors. :) ) Sunday, it was such an emotional day (mostly because of the fire, mixed with a little transition stress coming to the surface) that we barely made it through the 2 services at church. (At the end of the English service, the congregation gathered around us to pray over us.) Tuesday, the insurance company came to inspect the damage only to inform us later that they don't believe personal property is covered under insurance here, only official properties. Thursday, we went to Camp Saron to enjoy their lovely pool and I fell and now my tail bone is excruciatingly painful......aaaaaahhhhh! When you hit bottom, you begin to realize that there is no where to go but up....please, Lord, let this be the bottom.

I picked up my "Mission Prep" binder and was flipping through the discussion notes from "culture shock". And realized we fit those perameters. We're normal, well, at least according to the manual... It's always a bit of a relief to be reminded that what you are experiencing is normal in the grand scheme of things. (Thanks, Karen, for parenting normalcy reminders)

It a time of stress, I have decided to reinstitute a Carr household event. At the very end of the evening, just before we're going to turn the lights off and call it a day, Jeff and I will list three good things that happened during the course of the day. Now, sometimes ice cream and chocolate are the first two, but it gives us a chance to make ourselves realize that the entire day was not a "bad" day, regardless of what may have happened.

My 3 for today:
1. We got to talk to family via Skype!
2. The instant paella (sacreligious, I know) was actually pretty good.
3. We took a walk along to shore as a family.

For those who may actually read this post, I ask for prayer for Jeff as he returns to the States next week to finish up the boys' visa paperwork. I have a lot of fear and anxiety about his trip and my being alone (mostly irrational ones, but still there nonetheless). Your prayers are greatly appreciated on our behalf.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Val,
Remember you are not Superwoman! God has placed you there to do AMAZING, crazy and burning ;) things for Him.
Know I am daily praying for you and the fam!!
Love ya,
Judy

Karen Hossink said...

Oh, dear sister, I am praying for you!
And, yes, I would be happy to ship a book to Spain for you!