So, I'm seizing the day, the moment, the falling leaves and fluttering moths... I'm at lunch in Kampala waiting to meet with Daniel and his teacher for a "teacher conference" (a story which harkens back to Mark's youth when he apparently told his mom he had a teacher conference in third grade... she came to the school, ready to meet and Mark said to her, "No, you wait out here, I'm meeting with my teacher"). That said, Daniel is helping lead the meeting because the school set that up, not because of his initiative in this case.
But as to busy-ness... I thought I'd start with a bit of a list of what is on my mind to let you into my mental space of busy-ness (read: spacey-ness as well--- after two many things, especially relationship-based commitments, I officially lose the plot)
1. An Article about In-Movement (see last post)
2. Grading student papers (I'm finished with classroom teaching but still have "cohort meetings" and grading.
3. Farewell to Dennisons (that was Tuesday but I'm counting it on this list!): a family that is just going on a 3 month visit to the States (just 3 months).
4. Sorting out schooling/best schedule for all our children next year--involves some decisions now related to Daniel's school, our neighbors who we are sharing a tutor with, my schedule (the point to come), etc.
5. Summer travel plans; communicating those to relevant people
6. Flying back to be in a wedding in 3 weeks (need to rent a car, priceline a hotel, figure out wardrobe for those events, etc)
7. Begin my online pre-requisite class (intro to pscych); I have to order text books for that, and perhaps finish that by August so i can begin my online Masters in Counselling with Messiah College
8. Blog some more. :)
9. Prepare for the informal art class which i've been doing with neighbor children
10. Oversee the making of brownies for students who ordered them
11. Have fun at dinner with some friends on Friday
12. Have fun on Sunday at an art/culture/activity-based venue on Sunday with our USP students, and hopefully our family also
13. Look at Dorothy's land and help her and her husband decide on the best way to proceed in developing that plot.
14. Have my dad up for a visit/dinner tonight; yeah, he's back.
15. Help Daniel practice "we are family" for his Keystage 1 production next Wednesday.
16. Oversee the making of a super cool duvet for my parents' "africa" room in Sewickley
17. Send real emails to certain friends and family (like my in-laws who loaded Mark down with goodies to bring back.)
18. Read some of the magazines that were among the "goodies"
19. Gear up for Daniel being on a school break for 2.5 weeks starting next Friday.
20. Call Mary Mills and tell her that we can't take her adorable puppy. (This point reminds me of two stories... one is of a lovely older English missionary woman who once told my mom early in her time in Uganda, "I just decided one day 'you can't save all the jaguars'" and that story reminds me of my good friend Dawn who spent two years of her time as a Wheaton student living with a family in downtown Chicago because the dad had been killed and the mom needed extra help. One day DAwn said to me, there is this poor dog they keep in the basement. And I want to help it, but decided "you can't save everything". )
This last point brings me to a point that I felt more poignantly in Mark's absence than I've felt in some time. I don't know if its an Africa thing, a living away from home culture, a raising young children thing, a real-life in all contexts thing.... Everyone and every puppy, is pretty much on the brink here... There's a little less every-day grace/assistance/security because all people are dealing with the unpredictables, illness, lack of infrastructure (Uganda piece), lack of resources, lack of options and outlets, lack of life-long community (being mobile/foriegner thing), etc...
I was trying to build in the concept of "boundaries" to our students as we read Compassion but I don't know that it will compute at this stage of their lives the way it will when they are really juggling layers of responsibilities and layers of human relationships-- discerning how to prioritize the most important things, learning to "fail" at some of the less important things, ultimately accepting the things that are out in our control while "owning" the things that are in are control.
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