Embracing the Grip of Jetlag

(I wrote this back in September, 2015 but didn't post.)

Relentless. Consuming. Debilitating. Exhausting. Jet lag began to grip my soul as my memory awakened to past experiences travelling through numerous time zones in the easterly direction. 

I decided before leaving our continent to put a little more effort into researching how to manage jetlag but all the sites seemed to say the same thing.

1. Rest before the journey.
2. Start adjusting your time ahead of time.
3. Drink only water on the flight. No caffeine.
4. Stay awake upon arrival if arriving during the day time.
5. Don't take naps during the day.

Seriously?  These are obviously written for a single business person in mind. Someone who is making a trip on their own and will be back in a few days or weeks.  These are utterly useless for a family leaving their home country for months or years at a time. What they never say is that when travelling as a group or family, you will ALL end up managing jetlag differently. 

For our family of 7 this is how we chose to respond:

1. There is no rest before one moves from one continent to another. Packing 2 suitcases each according to the 50lb regulation requires extensive packing and repacking. No one wants to say their farewells to friends and family weeks in advance so we embraced all the last meals and late evenings. We had paperwork to complete and a house to pack up but relationships were always first.  We did not rest but we left with no regrets.

2. See number one.  I can't even imagine attempting this.
   
   
3. The drink cart passed by every several hours with a huge selection of drinks while one was desperately trying to fill up endless hours of monotonous sitting. We encouraged our children to drink juice and water but if they wanted a fizzy drink, they could have one. Coffee? Yes please.  We still have hours before a bed is in sight.  We embraced the journey (avoiding excessive caffeine and sugar so that we didn't have any sugar related meltdowns).  
4. 
   LOL. After more than 20 hours in transit with random napping at random hours while travelling through numerous time zones, we arrived at our guesthouse at 11am. Keep 5 children awake when we could not longer stand up? We fell exhausted into our beds and slept until 4pm. Sometimes it is about survival.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. We stayed up late since we HAD napped during the day and spent quality time reading and drawing together.  When we woke up at 4am, we decided not to fight jetlag but make creative memories together. And guess what?  Despite doing everything "wrong", we were all sleeping through the night within 4 days (a personal record).  Embracing jet lag, actually shortened it!  We ate meals at random times and slept when our bodies needed rest.  In the end, I believe this was exactly what we needed.

As parents, we took turns hanging out with our kids who couldn't sleep at night and any distress our children felt at being awake in the middle of the night was erased. 

The grip of jet lag is real. One can fight it and become utterly discouraged or embrace it and make beautiful memories in the process. 

PS What's your jet lag success story?  Together, we could make a much more realistic internet list of overcoming jet lag with children.

ged or embrace it and make it into an exhaustingly beautiful memory.

The discipline of reflection

It's time to renew the discipline of reflection.  For 5 months, I have posted quick updates on fb with the hope that writing something was better than nothing.  It's for the grandparents and friends that desperately want glimpses into our life, I told myself.  I have attempted to weekly send out prayer requests which became like a lifeline during a stream of crises in the lives of those we serve and in our family.  Yet I needed more.  More time.

I mourned the loss of reflection.  Life upon returning to ministry and homeschooling our 5 children in rural Ethiopia became so full (not in the busy North American way) that I could no longer find that quiet place of solitude.

Yet I believe reflection is vital. Without times of reflection, how can we process the joys and sorrows of life.  Without times of reflection, how can we let go of burdens before receiving new ones.  Without times of reflection, how can we intentionally pursue the best in life instead of just taking what comes.

And so I found myself mourning the loss of this time and stumbling under the burdens of ministry and homeschooling.  Just surviving but no longer thriving.  Accountability is absolutely necessary for me to renew the discipline of reflection and so I invite you once again into my life as a missionary in the remote villages of Northwestern Ethiopia.  

I invite you to catch a glimpse of what it is like to live remotely for the sake of the gospel.   I invite you to pray for the gospel to take root and grow among the  Gumuz people for the glory of God.