Settling back to a something like normal

Today has to be the most normal things have felt since last Friday morning. 

I didn't sleep well, shouldn't have checked email just before going to bed - Note to self - don't do that again! It wasn't that I got bad email, it just started my head spinning again about getting this next edition of Japan Harvest out. I had a good reminder tonight when I did our 5 y.o.'s nightly devotions with him. He was up to a story that focused on "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13 I really needed to hear that. My husband was also a great reality check this morning. I came down to breakfast feeling as though I needed to achieve a whole world of things before lunch, but of course it wasn't true. He corrected my point of view and I got some balance back! Oh, and he cooked a scrumptious breakfast too. It is amazing how much better a day looks after breakfast.

Play area on the left, alas not a great photo.

The boys played beautifully for a while in their room, then, pretty predictably, they got ratty and we decided at about 11.15 to go out for a ramble. We went down to the flat place near the river - under five minutes walk from here. We kicked a soccer ball around and they explored the retaining walls (not the ones you see in the foreground of the photo, on the other side of the flat place between the spare ground and the houses). It was truly a beautiful day, we didn't need coats, gloves or scarves. In fact we needed sun hats and sunglasses! It got up to something like 20 degrees, we turned the heater off very early in the day.

After lunch I went to work on email and the internet, looking for stories, writers and so on. And made some good progress. Through the day I've managed to get two writers working on two different articles and getting the handle on another article that I'll be able to write myself. That makes a total of four articles up and running already.

Then I engaged in a different kind of productivity altogether. Baking. It is becoming a Saturday afternoon ritual - where I bake goods for lunchboxes and snacks for the week to come. Today I made brownies and chocolate Lego figures.

I washed up and made damper (an Australian non-yeast bread, something like soda bread) with, bacon and egg mini pies and veggies. One of the boys' favourite meals.

One of the joys of today was talking to David's mum on Skype and reassuring her we were okay. Also receiving an email from my parents saying they weren't worried about us. Missionaries and other expats here have been under a lot of pressure from home, brought about largely by the media. It has added an unnecessary level of stress to an already stressful week. I'm thankful we don't have that to deal with.

So you see, it was a thoroughly ordinary day. Such a balm to the soul. 

The only not-ordinary thing about it was that I am trawling through stories of horror and destruction. I guess in some ways an ordinary life at home helps me to distance myself somewhat from that, but that is somewhat necessary for a writer/editor to do. 

Tomorrow is Sunday again. We've been promised no power outages (unless there is an unexpected jump in power usage, which is unlikely on a Sunday). But better than that we get to worship our Lord who is truly the only unchanging, only reliable thing in this world (if I may call Him a "thing"). Truly He is worthy of our praise.