"Welcome to normal life!" This is our current feeling, since we have now completed our orientation to the PNG program and our schedule of events has ended. However, we have no idea what normal life does or will feel like, since we haven't experienced it for such a long time. Time will tell what routines and structures we settle into here, but we are excited for normalcy to return.
Something that has been a bit more difficult for us to get used to have been quiet nights. For the months before our move, we were visiting family or friends approximately 4 to 5 nights per week. Now, we are home every night (and we can only talk to family during the day, since they are sleeping when it is evening here)! We have been trying to designate certain evenings to have certain events; boardgames on Friday, visiting on Saturday, a Bible study on Tuesday, etc. This has definitely helped to add some structure to our days and weeks.
Brandon has been itching to fly, a feeling that was escalated by the constant buzz of planes landing and taking off (we live right next to the airport). Now that our orientation is complete, he will begin his in-country flight training! Since Papua New Guinea has complex topography and weather, the training process is very thorough -- something I am grateful for. This means that he will spend the first months flying with a pilot who has plenty of experience flying in PNG before taking off on his own.
As for myself, I am still exploring the boundaries of what I can commit to with a little one in the house. Various opportunities have come up that I am taking time to think and pray about before agreeing to anything. That being said, I realize that boredom will be my first enemy if I remain in the house without any other commitments, so I am excited to see what comes my way in the coming months!
All in all, life is starting to settle into the ordinary. Chaos isn't the number one descriptor of how things feel anymore, which I believe is a good validation of how far we have come. As with all things, we only have God to thank for the incredible way everything has turned out to this point. "But if not" (Daniel 3:18): if things get tough or difficult, if it doesn't feel like we are making an impact, if we can't feel God's presence, if things don't seem to be going according to plan -- but if not, He is still our only hope and help.
