Sleuthwork and Homesickness

As much sleuthing as I've been doing lately, perhaps I should go back to school for forensics…  figuring out what exactly a UCA church is, figuring out where the kids' menus are at the restaurant, and now, figuring out who exactly we're house sitting for.  I wonder what people would think of my family if they were house sitting for us.  They'd see stacks of school books, concluding that we're either in the curriculum business or mom's a teacher.  They'd see various accoutrements belonging to various activities - horsey things, volleybally things, musical things.  They'd see home made granola, a full fruit drawer and a freezer full of veggies. 

This episode of House Sitter in the Adventures of SG and LMS has been quite fascinating, particularly in the kitchen area.  Let me tell you, these people have a crazy kitchen.  We still haven't found any measuring cups!  And let me tell you, we've scoured cupboards and shelves for them!  Their pantry deserves its own paragraph.  Suffice it to say, they have enough sauces to run both an Italian and a Thai restaurant for a month.  They have such a strange assortment of things… pine nuts, sprinkles, bearnaise sauce, oodles of noodles, canned coconut cream, bottles of excellent olive oil, cans of crushed tomatoes.  The tupperware is minimal, and it took us days to find the cutting boards. 

We're trying to piece together a case for what these people eat, but we haven't made it very far.  We've conjectured that they don't bake much, since we can't seem to find measuring cups, and they must do a lot of meat and pasta if they have all of these sauces.  They like fancy food and international flavors because their sauces range from organic ranch dressing to fish sauce to jars of Indian somethingorother.  They have loads of place settings, so a fair bit of entertaining goes on. 

As for the homesick part of this title, well, it happened.  Skype is a wonderful thing, but I spent most of my Saturday on it talking to many of the nearest and dearest.  It was horrid.  I treasure being able to see their faces and I so value the conversations I get to have with my family and friends, but it definitely put me out of sorts.  I've been quite alright up until this weekend.  It's just inconvenient because it's explainable, just not too curable.  I'll be home for Christmas, and there's no way I'm quitting Australia.  I'm happy here and I think God has me here for a lot of great reasons.  Somehow those things should be able to make me not sad about not being at school or home or having my own classroom like my ed friends.  Right?  I think the Holy Spirit acts like a kind of soul sling in times like these.  You feel kind of sinky inside, but He just holds you up.  He doesn't lift you in a kind of happy all the time way, it's more of a sustaining encouragement.  He just keeps saying - I will never leave you.  Ever.

 So, don't worry Mom and Pops, everything here is fine.  It's just hard.  People work is slow work, like watching your hair grow slow.  Like planting a garden instead of buying frozen peas slow.  It's thinking work, too.  You have to think about who your audience is, what's important to them, how they operate.  You have to think about what's important and why it matters.  You have to boil down lots of Christian theology and thought and philosophy and see what's left at the bottom of the pot when the water's gone. 

Tomorrow is a day off.  It will be spent reading.  Always reading.  It will also be spent with J and baby S, possibly the most beautiful child I have ever met.  Seriously.  It might also be spent running or with hilarious old men who recycle to raise money for missions.  They are very… charming in a chuckling, sarcastic old man way.

Much love,

LMS