1000

The Chinese have a dish called 1000 year old eggs. They take a duck or chicken egg, wrap it in clay with lime and ash and bury it in the ground. After awhile, the egg basically cooks from the chemical reaction to the coating. You wash it off, break it open and have a kind of pickled egg that has a totally unique flavor. It doesn't really take 1000 years. Maybe a few weeks. Or months. But it is a long time.

I feel a little like I have aged a 1000 years in the last couple of weeks. Something has shifted since I started my new job. The job is intense... in a way that nothing I have ever done has been. And not in a bad way. In the way that requires us to strip away all our defenses and get right to the core of ourselves. We all sort of feel like we have to do this because the nature of the job is so, well, real. The women who come to see us are real. The interactions between the employees. The reality of what we are doing is never lost on us. We feel a sense of humble gratitude to be actively bringing about the Kingdom every day, even as we are fully aware that it is, indeed, a cross to bear. And bear it we do. We work together beautifully, honestly, gratefully. We start every day with prayer. We stop to pray in the midst of the busy moments. We cling, literally cling, to God.

We feel a sense of the enormity of what is at stake. We respect it. But together we try very hard not to slip into fear. That is where our faith comes together. That is where we bolster each other up. We each, in the last few weeks, have had moments of fear and even despair. But we have been allowed those moments and are supported and lifted by each other's faith every day.

What an amazing experience it is to work in an environment like that. I have never been so grateful for a job in my life. I work with spiritual giants, I am telling you. It is an incredible privilege.

And even when it gets hard, which it has and will, I am fully aware that, like the egg, there is treasure inside.

Updates

Yeah, I am still here.

And I am doing great, actually. Tired most of the time from my hectic new schedule of, oh, say, 3 jobs plus having a pair of kids at home for the summer. Hmm. Make that 5 jobs if you count the kids and my unpaid but very busy job as my drum teacher's business manager.

But it is all good these days.

Here's the latest:

Job 1. Kids. Great. They are about old enough to fend for themselves of an afternoon. Nguyen is only a few blocks away. My mom watches them for one day. And on the days I am not working, I cherish just hanging with them.

Job 2. My client. This has been very rough indeed. I have been unable to keep up a regular schedule for her due to job 3, so I spend a lot of time thinking and praying for her, but feeling very sad about the lack of time. Please, please, keep her in your prayers.

Job 3. The big NEW job. I am having an amazing first couple of weeks at CareNet, RI as the new executive director. And no, it's not the big leather chair, or even the huge office. It is the fact that I get to work at a place where we start the day with.... prayer. How amazing is that? I love the women I work with. I love the clients. And I love the fact that God joins us every day and opens doors we never even knew existed. What IS CareNet, you ask? We are a pregnancy resource center for women facing unplanned pregnancies. We offer women complete information so they can make informed choices about what they are going to do. We offer free everything, from pregnancy tests to limited ultrasounds to parenting classes, childbirth classes, doula support at their birth, mom's groups, post abortion counciling, outreach. It's God's work. No question about it. And it is my great priviledge to have been called to such an important task.

Job 4. Pampered Chef. Not so much. A show here or there... but winding down. I just don't have time for pots and pans these days, even in my own kitchen.

Job 5. Another real joy. I am the business manager for Sidy Maiga, an extremely gifted djembefola and my dear teacher. We are working on a BIG West African party for the end of September and I couldn't be more excited. I have a fabulous dress to wear and will be keeping y'all posted on the particulars. But for now, pencil in the 26th of September and be prepared to DANCE.