we made it

Well, we made it through our first of 3 quarters of our first SBS in South Africa. It was a busy week... Hans taught on Wednesday (he really did a great job with 2 Timothy). Susan had two books due, a test on Wednesday and a student teaching on Friday. We're both tired and Hans caught a bug that's going around. It feels a tiny bit like exams right before Christmas break in college. Except we don't get to run out of our last exam, hop in a crammed Ford escort and drive 6 hours to see our family! Instead, we get to look forward to a two week break with no deadlines, meetings or homework. A main priority for this time will be rest. Another will be taking some time to sit down together and process/evaluate our first 3 1/2 months living in Africa. Once SBS started, our lives just rushed from one thing to the next... so I think it's important for us to take advantage of this opportunity to process our transition so far. It's no small thing to move to another continent (we've realized!), and I think we could miss out on part of what God has for us in this transition if we don't take time to process what he's taught us (and is teaching us) through this experience. I'm actually looking forward to that.

We'll be blogging more frequently during this time as well (because we have time to do it!) I know that's perfect now that you are all busy with the holidays! We do think about our family and friends often... knowing how special this time of year is. We've resigned ourselves to the fact that Christmas won't feel very much like Christmas here, at least this first year, so we're going to make the most of it. We're going to enjoy it for what it is... our summer break! But we know that all of you are right in the middle of holiday activities and excitement and traditions... and we want you to know that our thoughts and prayers are with you. We pray that you are able to rest as well, during this holiday season. And that Christmas wouldn't be a time of frantic activity, but a time of peaceful enjoyment of family, friends, and the celebration of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us.