FAQ2: What do you do all day?

Another frequently asked question about our lives here:

What do you do every day? What's a typical day like for you guys? 

(Last year, I was running around doing a little of everything, and Abram was writing, writing, writing. Our lives are very different now!)

For one thing, we just finished 12  13  14 weeks of language school! For the past three months, we had Swahili classes every weekday morning. I'm not going to lie to you, friends: it was super hard. I woke up some mornings dreading it. My friends all assured me that they struggled with it, too- and they weren't even pregnant, exhausted, sweltering in the heat, etc. There were mornings I cried over passive tense. Our teacher was great! But it was just really, really hard. (Side note: yes, I did learn some Swahili in Kenya. But Tanzanians speak 100% Swahili, and their grammar is very different, so the Swahili I know could only get me so far. Abram, who is fairly fluent, is learning to translate.)

After class each day, I make lunch, then take a nap, wake up and do emails/work on the computer, and start dinner. After dinner, we have an exciting rotation of playing scrabble, reading to each other (we just finished Brothers Karamazov!) and watching TV on Abram's computer. The days fill up, somehow. Abram usually spends the afternoon working on his dissertation. He won't start teaching until next month.

My personal theme for this year has been food. Between Abram's paleo preferences, a limited variety of food in the village, and my pregnancy (nausea, and then insane appetite) and dietary restrictions, life this year has revolved around acquiring food. Oh- and last year I sure didn't have time to bake and enjoy gourmet, from-scratch meals, so I'm really, really enjoying it now! (I know, I know- it won't last. I know. I know how babies work. Thank you.) 

I've basically mastered the art of paleo baking (she said, while brushing peanut-butter-and-honey cookie crumbs off the keyboard). I'm getting the hang of cooking meat (I was a vegetarian for 10 years!). And I'm getting good at throwing together themed meals without a recipe. I do miss some things, but I love the food we eat now, too.  What I don't love: everything- even snacks- is from scratch, and it's a lot of work. (You can only eat so many apples in a day, you know? And even then, you need a knife and a plate.) What I also don't love: we don't have a dishwasher. Anyway. Enough about food!

Abram wants me to add that one of our hobbies is riding public transportation. We are currently waiting for paperwork to come through on the purchase of our car (yay! thanks for your support, everyone!) and then we will head to Nairobi for a few days, where we will have a board meeting, visit the kids (pics coming soon!), and meet the doctor who will deliver our baby. Then we will head back down to Bulima, (roughly the 25th of August) where Abram will teach a block course (on hermeneutics, for the record), before we head back to Nairobi to have the baby (arriving in Nairobi approximately Sept 15). Confused yet? So are we.

If baby comes on time, we will be back in Bulima by mid-October. Then our schedules will be slightly different. :)

So…wait. That's your whole day? Swahili and napping and cooking?

No, silly. We also go for walks every evening. 

He's so etsy right now. 

(Super moon, not super photo. I don't have my tripod here.) 

Frequently Asked Questions

I get the same exact four questions, over and over, so I'm going to spend the next few (…four, to be exact) posts answering them!

Number one, and most frequent:

What about Visible Grace/what's your job now/how does it work/what do you do?

I'm so grateful to my friends who have stood by my side over the last decade, supporting both me personally, and Visible Grace. I would never have been able to get VG on its feet, and I would never have survived (mentally, emotionally, physically- it's a tough job!) without good people on my side. I also want to say thank you for the unbelievably kind responses we got to our last post. To be honest it was a little scary and hard to write, but I felt nothing but support and understanding and love from you, my dear reader-friends. 

Last year when we were making some tough decisions, Abram and I both consulted family and older, wiser friends (including the Visible Grace board) before committing to anything. During that time, we- me, Abram, the board, some good friends, family- all reached the same conclusion, and this might totally blow you away:

I am sort of not great at admin. Or at being a director.

And I hated to admit it, because, well. Because I was doing it, and I wanted to be good at it, and, oh yeah- I want to be good at everything.

But I was secretly relieved to not be in charge of VG anymore. 

Right now, we have an incredible team up in Kenya, and each of them is doing better at their job than I ever did. (It helps that each of them is only doing one job, instead of four.) And this frees me up to…well…be me. To do the things I love.

To take pictures.

And laugh a lot.

And tell stories.
And dream about who these kids will become someday. 

And spend time with my husband (what? working 20 hours a day, seven days a week isn't conducive to a healthy marriage?!).

And - most importantly- to focus on our growth, our goals, and the relationships that really matter within VG.

So, at the moment, the house parents and Kenyan manager get to make the tough decisions. The hiring and firing, the discipline and budget problems. And the details I'm not great at- budgeting, spreadsheets, accounts. Abram and I sit on the Kenyan board, which means we go up for meetings 3-4 times a year, and we spend a lot of time emailing and calling the staff and board. We also serve as the sort of ambassadors to the American board- joining via conference call for many of their meetings, emailing with advice about vision and development, as well as serving as a sort of cultural translator, between the African staff and the American board members. 

My personal job, at the moment, is "sponsorship coordinator". This means I am responsible for finding and maintaining sponsors for all of our kids. Sending kids' artwork to the sponsors, updating them via Facebook, updating the VG blog (don't look at it right now. I'm going to update it after we go to Nairobi next week), emailing them about the kids…ahem. 

To be honest, I haven't done a great job this year- not because I've been in Tanzania, but because being in Tanzania, being pregnant, and being newly married has (almost) kicked my butt, and then on the days I had more time and energy- bam, the power and internet would go out. But, I'm getting better at it, and upping my game. Really. I am! Really!

I'm kinda-sorta the social media person as well, which means writing newsletters, updating our Facebook page, promoting the upcoming auction (November 8!), and running our Instagram feed. When I'm not in Kenya, the house father, Steve, sends me pictures of the kids.

When we go to Kenya next week to visit the kids and board (and my doctor)? Well. You can expect roughly seventy-five thousand new pictures. 

From Abram- our latest prayer letter.

Dear Friends,

            Praise the Lord.

In this letter, we would like to share some news from a couple of Abram’s former students at NTC (Nassa Theological College- the school where Abram has been teaching).  We believe that Abram’s ministry of educating and equipping Tanzanian pastors is very important, and we are encouraged to see how God is expanding His kingdom through some of these students.

            Samuel is one of a few pioneer Tanzanian missionaries working among Muslims.  He and his family planted several churches along the coastal region before moving and resettling in Dar es Salaam.  He has started another church here in Dar and remains a keen evangelist reaching Muslims.  One of the creative ministry methods he uses is a farming program that teaches the gospel as well as sustainable farming practices.

            Another enthusiastic former student is Yohana.  He has been training Christians to teach the religious period in public high schools and to minister to students.  The opportunities to reach young people are amazing, as teaching the Bible as a school subject is welcomed.  Yohana has also recently decided to dedicate more time to working with unreached peoples.  He recently started working in an unreached area and already has a church of 29 believers.  Both he and Samuel are actively advocating among churches for more indigenous mission work.

            Stories like these are very encouraging to us.  We believe the best way for Tanzanians to hear the gospel is from fellow Tanzanians.  We are excited to see God working in these NTC students and affirming this valuable ministry.

            In other news, thank you so much for your prayers and financial support towards purchasing a vehicle.  We now have enough money to buy a good car for our family and ministry.  Please pray that we get paperwork and payment sorted out so that we may leave Dar es Salaam (with our car) in the next couple weeks.

            Personally, we are doing pretty well.  We are making progress with Swahili learning and have been blessed by new friendships among some of the AIM families working in this part of the country.  We have visited a few AIC churches here in Dar, and Abram was invited to preach from Mark chapter four.

We have had several doctor appointments and are relieved that our son seems to be healthy and growing well. Ashby’s pregnancy has been going fairly well, though as she progresses into the third trimester she is growing more tired and uncomfortable.

In the past two months we welcomed a new nephew on each side of our family.  We love receiving pictures and updates from them and can’t wait to someday meet them.  Our Tanzanian brother Steve and his wife Judy (house parents at the Visible Grace children’s home) also gave birth to a baby boy in early July. Unfortunately, baby John was born with pneumonia and weak lungs and spent the first few weeks of his life in NICU.  He is now at home and doing better.  Please keep this sweet family in your prayers.

Thank you all for your faithful support of our ministry here.  Please continue to lift us up in prayer as the next few months hold many transitions.

           

From your brother and sister in Christ,

Abram and Ashby