Getting back to normal

Yesterday my birthday finished on a high with a childless dinner date with David. It was quiet (something we really value these days) and enjoyable. No high expectations, just enjoying one another's company. The boys didn't really care what we were doing, they were having a great time with another family of five. A wonderful couple who took care of six kids for three hours!

When we went to pick up the boys, we sipped peppermint tea and chatted to our friends while the kids played Lego upstairs. A very pleasant evening altogether.

Then this morning there was no slouching. Alarm clock, lunches made (not by me), breakfast (with everyone dressed before breakfast - almost a record), washing hung up and out and everyone out the door by a fraction after 8am. The boys were excited about going back to school, though they feigned partial disappointment because it meant the end of endless play at home. 

I dropped the youngest at school and proceeded directly to the car park to catch a lift to a mission meeting on the other side of "town" with three other missionaries. We had plenty of time to catch-up and tell stories as we drove for nearly an hour and a half.

The meeting was billed as a prayer meeting, at least the first couple of hours were. But it was unlike any prayer meeting I've ever gone to. Lots of guided personal reflection before God, probably the best title would be "Stop, Look Back and Reflect". I've spent quite a bit of time reflecting on our recent experience through the medium of this blog, but many people haven't had the time or taken the time to do that. Even, so this was a very private reflection, so things I wouldn't feel comfortable writing here, I could write. It was a valuable time.

Then we heard from several people who've been on relief trips to the affected areas. Their first-hand accounts were moving. Especially the man who expressed the concern which must face every Christian who goes into the affected areas - What do you say to them? What do you ask? What is a culturally appropriate way to approach this? It isn't something we learned in Cultural Orientation - it is not as if relief work is something that missionaries in Japan are routinely involved in.

Then, as if I've been doing it all my life, I hopped on a train and came home. Amazing that only a couple of months ago it was such a big deal!

I arrived home in time to pick up the younger boys from school and follow them home (they beat me up the road), give them a snack and send them across the road for their newly scheduled swimming lesson. They used to have them on Saturday afternoons, but that limited our Saturdays a bit, so in this new Japanese school year (school year runs from April to March), we've switched to Monday afternoons. I'm happy. It meant that though I'd been busy all day, I still had a childless hour (yes the lesson is an hour long) in which to go to the gym!

The boys seemed to have a great day. They're really happy to be back into a 'normal' routine again. I'm happy. I've got my days back again. I even bought four litres of milk at once today, I don't think I've done that for three weeks!

Now tomorrow I'm going to have to get my editor's hat and my writer's hat out again and get down to some serious business!

Oh, but before I go, I must tell you about two of the many birthday greetings I received. One said, "May the Lord continue to grow and challenge you in the new year!" I have to say I think I've had enough challenges so far in 2011 to last for a few months, maybe even to the end of the year. I think the second greeting was more my style, "Hope it is happy and happily uneventful." Yes, I think I can say my birthday this year was happily uneventful!