Shelley writes

It’s certainly not what I expected - filling my days with work, work, work.  And some days I do feel sorry for myself.  This job really is a life-sucker sometimes.  I work 8 or 9 hours a day.  I work on Saturdays, I work in the evenings, I get up early every day.  Every day there is something new to be depressed about – I have to do conferences this week, I have to advise a tournament on Saturday, I have to stay late . .  . again.  But thankfully Pete’s job keeps everything in perspective for me.  It’s easy to feel sorry for myself until I hear about people who are 90% burned, their skin too charred to even give them morphine.  Or about another baby who died of a respiratory problem.   

And I do have so much to be thankful for.  I’m living in the continent where my heart is. I feel at home in Africa.  Of course, I love the sun.  I love that our neighborhood is filled with roosters, goats, packs of dogs, loud hip-hop music, and the beautiful sound of children playing.  I love that Caleb and Malena can go outside our gate and play with the neighborhood kids, buy ice lollies from the tuck shop right around the corner, walk the dogs all by themselves.   

And I’m extremely thankful to be at the same school as my kids.  They are getting a fantastic experience and I get to share that with them.  What a blessing! Caleb and Malena are learning to speak Setswana.  They get to take a real art class and a real music class.  Caleb regularly gets to play the drums at assembly.  Malena gets to take swimming at school, they only have 15 kids in their class and the students are from all around the world.  We recently had an assembly at our school to celebrate Independence day for Botswana and the local chief came and gave a speech.  Caleb’s class did traditional dancing and there was so much Botswana culture emanating from the auditorium - it was truly moving.  I felt truly blessed to be in Botswana and I want to give a big shout out to God for giving us this amazing experience, and even though I will be working late today, I am truly thankful . . . . . . .