{"id":801,"date":"2012-03-24T22:02:49","date_gmt":"2012-03-24T22:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=801"},"modified":"2012-03-24T22:02:49","modified_gmt":"2012-03-24T22:02:49","slug":"perspective-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2012\/03\/24\/perspective-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Perspective Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_807\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-807\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010518.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-807\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010518.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010518.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010518-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-807\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Welcome to Our home<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Change is Hard<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wednesday we arrived in our new home. \u00a0What an exhausting day! \u00a0We arrive early in the morning to unload boxes and furniture. \u00a0It didn&#8217;t take long for the challenges of our transition began to hit hard.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We had no water! \u00a0 We have discovered, since then, that we have one faucet that trickles all day into a bucket if we leave it on, but other than that we only get water from 12 am &#8211; 5 am. \u00a0We aren&#8217;t sure if this is\u00a0permanent\u00a0or temporary (one would think that is an easy question to get an answer to, but not here). \u00a0If it is permanent we will be looking into getting a water tank to fill each night. \u00a0 I am learning to value even cold running water.<\/li>\n<li>Our house was not screened in and the result is that we now look like a family with the measles. \u00a0Our first\u00a0priority quickly became Joel building screens for our house.<\/li>\n<li>Moving and unpacking is messy and dirty, especially in the desert. \u00a0It is times like this that having water would be really nice, but I am learning how to be content even in a dirty house.<\/li>\n<li>In many ways we are back to square one. \u00a0We had made great strides in figuring out the maze of Dakar, but now we have to figure out what we have\u00a0available\u00a0here and where it is. \u00a0This is not an easy task to say the least.<\/li>\n<li>The feeling of isolation threatened to overwhelmed us. \u00a0I couldn&#8217;t help but think about the meals, childcare and help that we would be provided for us if we were closer to home, family and friends. \u00a0It was hard to not feel alone, even though we know we aren&#8217;t.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Perspective Change<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong>\u00a0By the end of the first day the exhaustion hit followed by a flood of tears. \u00a0As I woke up the next morning, I was reminded of the end goal that we were working towards. \u00a0I began to see the rays of sunlight through the clouds. \u00a0I know that once we get through this transition and get adjusted to our life, many great things awaiting us here. \u00a0I am already starting to enjoy so many things about our house and neighborhood. \u00a0It is a slow process, but when I focus on the end goal the struggle lightens. \u00a0I would love to tell you that from that point on I hung on to that perspective, but it was a constant battle for all of us. \u00a0We all had our moments where the struggle of change overwhelmed us and we lost perspective again. \u00a0There are moments when we want to give up, but we are learning each day to rely on God&#8217;s strength to keep our perspective straight.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pictures (as promised) &#8211; I will post more once we have set up our house<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_805\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-805\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010516.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-805\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010516.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010516.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010516-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-805\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The road in front of our house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_808\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-808\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010519.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-808\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010519.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010519.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010519-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-808\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is the entry way to our house. The stairs head up to an unfinished top unit...probably won&#039; t ever be finished<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_809\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-809\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010520.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-809\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010520.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010520.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010520-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-809\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From the Entry way you enter a court yard. All of the rooms in the house open to this court yard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_804\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-804\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010507.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-804\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010507.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010507.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010507-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-804\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Here is a picture of the court yard from above<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_810\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-810\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010521.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-810\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010521.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010521.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010521-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-810\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our living room \/ Dining room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_812\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-812\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010523.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-812\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010523.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010523.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010523-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-812\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our kitchen (yes there is only one counter and no cabinets)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_813\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-813\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010524.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-813\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010524.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010524.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010524-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-813\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our patio, we have two of these one for laundry and one for fun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_814\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-814\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010529.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-814\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010529.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010529.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010529-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-814\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our first meal in our home with our host family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_815\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-815\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010534.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-815\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010534.jpg 500w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/03\/P1010534-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-815\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">And those that came to help with our move<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Change is Hard Wednesday we arrived in our new home. \u00a0What an exhausting day! \u00a0We arrive early in the morning to unload boxes and furniture. \u00a0It didn&#8217;t take long for the challenges of our transition began to hit hard. We had no water! \u00a0 We have discovered, since then, that we have one faucet that [&hellip;]<\/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-801","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\/801","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=801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}