Part of the agreement MrPages and I made was to write from both perspectives – him away in a mission trip, me at home with five children 10 and under.
I have been strangely silent for two reasons.
1. I did not want to interrupt my husband’s beautiful blogging style. It’s almost like being right there with him.
2. I feel like I’m being petty. I’m the one who suggested this trip. I sent him off with my blessing. I was so excited for him. So why am I so angry at him for being there?
No related posts.
This blog world is amazing. I’ve been following along with you and your husband as you both have been preparing for this trip. I’ve been thinking so much about you this week, imagining myself in your boots, and knowing how it feels when I’m at home alone with my crew. I don’t even really know you, (in a face to face kind of way) and yet I ‘know’ a bit of your spirit right now. I’ll be praying for you and the Mr.
Barbara, you are so right about the good stuff in blogging. I read your post last night and it was so good for me.
You can pop over and read Barbara’s blog here.
She quoted a song by Nicole Nordeman. It has the old hymn It is Well with My Soul playing in the background!
Here a clip:
MrsPages, I feel for you…last year, my husband MikeD was on the team, I was at home with our four kids. I am somewhat used to him travelling for work; he’s done 1-2 week trips since we’ve been married. I say ‘somewhat’, because I think I’m really just ‘dealing with it’ when he’s away…whie I’m perfectly capable of maintaining our family’s particular brand of order/chaos, part of me is quite unhappy that I’m on my own, parenting-wise.
The summer before he went to Nicaragua, he spent two weeks in China for work; then in the fall, he spent a week in Munich, followed by a week in Paris (yeah, I know…tough work if you can get it…). It was exciting to follow his blog, see his amazing pictures from the other side of the world… But once while I was watching a webclip of him on the Great Wall, it hit me in the gut, how far away he was. Had to walk away from the computer for a while, and spend some time being angry and scared. Same thing happened when he was in Nicaragua…one night especially, after we’d been messaging, me able to watch him sitting at the computer in the same internet cafe MrPages is blogging in (I believe). When our conversation was over, I closed the window, and cried.
I am thankful that God is big enough to handle our anger and raging and fear and railing… And I am thankful, so thankful, that He gives us human supports, who give physical hands to His Spirit’s unwavering presence. Hang in there. I am praying for you and him and your kids.
I too stayed at home last February when my husband went with a Willowlake group workteam to Nicaragua.
Everything we were doing at home was so ORDINARY compared to everything the workteam was doing and experiencing.
It was very difficult.
A good friend spoke words from God, including:
“Don’t forget either that you (wives) are as vital to this mission project (maybe even more so) than those who went. How much harder to stay behind and handle the everyday struggles while those you love are adventuring for the Lord. God knows your sacrifice and how He loves it”