the miracle of life

Life is pretty amazing! Some days are great, other days are horrible, but most days I seem to just plod along, going through routines, taking care of everyday things. Nothing amazing or miraculous about those days and yet every day is a gift and is a miracle in itself.

These days the miracle of life takes on a new meaning once again as our third Baby is growing inside of me. What a miracle and privilege it is to be blessed to experience the beginning of a new life in such an intimate and invading way. It makes me glad to be a woman and a mother.

We have just spent 10 days in the capital city running a few errands like collecting a new passport for Elliot and applying for new visas. So now we are officially tourists again! Everything always takes longer than expected which it did this time round, too, but at least we got to see our friends' new Baby boy who is just about 2 weeks old now. After a lot of heartache God has blessed them with this child and placed him into their family and now they are in the last stages of the adoption process. Again the miracle of life!

There is a lot that mystifies me about this country. Driving down to the capital and back again I was once again struck by how much time people spend just doing seemingly nothing. It's not that they're lazy but that there just isn't anything for them to do. This is more true for those living in the numerous villages that we pass through. Their lives are determined by the seasons and by planting crops and harvesting them. And when all the work connected to growing crops is done what else is there to do but do nothing?
But even in the city I am astounded by the number of people just standing at their windows watching the street scene below or sitting in front of their houses. I guess a lot of it has to do with the high priority they place on community.

It makes me wonder about what my values and priorities are. I wouldn't say that busyness is a value or a priority but I can't imagine spending so much time just doing nothing because there is always something to do - a book to read, a letter to write,...

Interesting how life just influences us and makes us who we are. Again the miracle of life - beauty in diversity!