{"id":3544,"date":"2015-03-18T12:24:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T12:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=3544"},"modified":"2015-04-27T13:44:04","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T13:44:04","slug":"life-gets-busy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2015\/03\/18\/life-gets-busy\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Gets Busy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I try to make goal of writing something short weekly, but I have been having a hard time with that recently. \u00a0Not because I don’t have anything to write, because, believe me, I always have a story to tell.<\/p>\n

It is the time that escapes me and before I know it I look back and the week has escaped me. \u00a0We are now in the full swing of things and are realizing that we have a lot on our plates. \u00a0We are really doing 2 full time jobs…our normal life and ministry and learning Wolof.<\/p>\n

Joel was sharing with me one evening that he realized that he was moving at an pace that is not maintainable. \u00a0He feels like all his free time he is working and has no down time or really even time with our kids. \u00a0Our kids feel it as they are wondering when Dad can play with them.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we look at things and think well, last week you had taxes to do and next week we have a family to move, but after that it will calm down. \u00a0However when\u00a0the calm never comes you begin to realize you are just fooling yourself. \u00a0When we look at our ministry we feel like what we have is maintainable, but when you add in 3 mornings of Wolof, plus review time, it gets to be a lot.<\/p>\n

We believe in the importance of Wolof and we believe that if we kept at it for the rest of the year we would be in a good position language wise, but the question that remains running through out minds is…can we make it that long? \u00a0We could lessen our time in language, but progressing slower at language tends to only be discouraging. \u00a0Plus then it means we are balancing these two things even longer.<\/p>\n

So what does all this boil down to… we need wisdom! \u00a0Sometimes it is worth it to run at a high pace for a certain time to accomplish a specific task. \u00a0If it is temporary, it is maintainable knowing that there would be an end. \u00a0However sometimes it is just not possible and trying only exhausts us all.<\/p>\n

So that tells you honestly where we are at. \u00a0We are at a point of reflection. \u00a0We are excited about our ministry, but it is demanding. \u00a0We are pressing on in Wolof and are starting to see the progress, but still have a ways to go.<\/p>\n

So how do we balance it all? \u00a0Well God is directing us each step of the way. \u00a0We are talking it over frequently and adapting our schedule as we can. \u00a0We are cherishing the moments we do have free with our kids and making the most of them. \u00a0We are establishing limits and seizing the opportunities for a break when we see it. \u00a0We are praying daily for wisdom to know how to proceed and how to divide each precious moment we have.<\/p>\n

I am not foolish enough to think that this struggle will end when we stop Wolof sessions. \u00a0The balance of time is always a struggle in ministry as it is not a 9 to 5 job. \u00a0However we feel it even more strongly at the moment as learning language is a full time job, but we don’t have full time hours to devote to it.<\/p>\n

So this is one area where we would love your prayers. \u00a0Since we probably can’t get more hours in our day, wisdom is what we really need and endurance as we carry on the rest of this year.<\/p>\n

A Wedding<\/strong><\/p>\n

These pictures are over a month old, but Better late than never!<\/p>\n

\"We<\/a>
We were there for the official ceremony that now resembles a lot of outside world influences<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"It<\/a>
It is one of 3 wedding ceremonies they have: governmental, traditional and religious<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"All<\/a>
All are considered important<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yet<\/a>
Yet after is when the real party began<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Even<\/a>
Even in the religious ceremony, traditional pieces find their way in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"This<\/a>
This is Veronique, she is practically a member of our family, and she was the “jester” of the wedding<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Her<\/a>
Her bowl carried rice and millet, symbols of the past and future mixed together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"As<\/a>
As usual it was so good to be a part of this day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Our<\/a>
Our boys were amazing sports the whole day. Their entertainment involved…sand, rocks, bottle caps and a can they played soccer with<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"We<\/a>
We were there all day as it took a while to get permission to leave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"I<\/a>
I end with pictures of the procession of gifts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"One<\/a>
One piece of life here that you can’t help but love!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I try to make goal of writing something short weekly, but I have been having a hard time with that recently. \u00a0Not because I don’t have anything to write, because, believe me, I always have a story to tell. It is the time that escapes me and before I know it I look back and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3544","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-updates-and-news","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}