I woke up this morning with such a longing to write again... That is blog again about where we find ourselves in our life's journey. My last post was 6 months ago, and was filled with much hope and exuberance at the prospect of taking a 1 year road trip through South Africa. So sure and excited was I by this dream of ours, that we even created a new blog entitled 'Tata-Ma-Mzansi-Adventure', and boldly shared our plans far and wide. I think at the same time we were glad to be seeing this blog (Our Walkerville Adventure) come to a close, and to move on to newer and better things. Not that the last 5 years haven't been awesome, but it just felt like we were running out of railway or steam (I'm not sure which one), and needed a change. A fresh perspective, a change in direction (career for me), as well as the pursuit of other stirrings deep in our hearts (you can read more about this here - relating to our dreamed of SA roadtrip - https://mzansiadventure.blogspot.com/)
Anyway, in the end - that is having spent 6 weeks trying to borrow the R200k we needed to buy the caravan, and kickstart the adventure - we came up R120k short. Eish. That certainly was not in the script, which was quickly replaced by awkward conversations about how we must have heard wrong from God, and how best to pay back all the money we had just borrowed. Eish indeed! Needless to say, I'm quite an upbeat guy, and so I remained convinced that it was rather an error in destination (than in adventure) on our part, and God would surely be sending the updated memo shortly. In fact, I made it clear that the memo should arrive before the conclusion of 2019. The bible says ask (in faith) and you shall receive, and I for one was going to make sure I wasn't short in either department!
And sure enough, in the middle of November last year, God answered (through a good friend of mine) in the form or an incredible job opportunity! For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to get more involved in education (in some shape or form), and it just so happened that this job description ticked all the boxes I could have ever dreamed of... Well, almost all of them (but I'm getting ahead of myself). There was however 1 significant kicker (X-factor), and that was that the job was beyond SA borders... Far beyond! In Nepal (where people go to climb mount Everest) beyond, to be precise!
And so began the challenging mental and emotional ascent, of deciding whether or not it was indeed our time and call to leave SA, and go on to a much bigger adventure than even a caravan trip around SA. For me, there was little doubt that this was our destiny, but we decided to take a more pragmatic approach, and simply let the interview process run its course, and essentially wait for them to chose me (and not the other way around). And surprisingly enough, a little more than 1 month later, they did... And told me the job was mine if I wanted it.
As you can imagine, this precipitated a massive amount of celebration and expectation on our part, believing that our ship had at last come in, and we were indeed bound for the adventure of our lives, all the while doing it in submission and service to God and His Kingdom (we hoped). It really felt like we had the winning spiritual lottery ticket! And so once again, friends and families were informed, that instead of a caravan trip around SA, we'd be heading off to Nepal to work for an American NGO, doing awesome work on the front lines of education. And so, needless to say, 2020 dawned full of awe, adventure, faith and excitement! Well almost... because the last piece of the job puzzle, that of salary expectations, still remain untested. This was not by accident however, as in my earlier review of salary bands and company remuneration policy, this appeared to be the last thing to worry about. Eish, wrong again!
Because what I had not anticipated, was that those salary bands actually applied to self-funded US expats, and my salary band was instead bench-marked on non-self-funded, non US expat factors. Not to say that it was a cheeky salary offer, but simply too little security for us to relocate our entire lives, to a foreign country, with a foreign language, in a foreign culture, for a foreign employer, in a foreign job - only to break about even! And so for the 2nd time, in just as many months, the door closed, and to be honest, our hearts just wanted to break. It felt like something had died. And sure, it wasn't a person or beloved pet... but rather a dream. And yet dreams are somehow perhaps a more dangerous death, for therein lies our hopes and aspirations for the future...
Anyway, fast forward 1 month, and here we are... back in Walkerville, only this time a little less adventurous. We've put the kids into school up the road (no more homeschooling), gone back to our little church down the road (no more home / men's church), and plugged back into our beautiful Field community (which is still a piece of heaven on earth). For work, I simply picked up (where I almost left off) paying the bills by contracting to my buddy's business in Sandton, and Dannean will likely get some part time work when the kids have settled into normal school. And so, for the 1st time in 6 months, I feel like I have sufficient tranquility, perspective and capacity to write again... To be me again.
I think one of the reasons I love writing so much, is that it really helps me to process life. It helps me to organize my thoughts, and constructively verbalize my emotions... which up until recently, sounded a lot like this; Lord, what in heaven's name was that all about!? What of all our hopes and dreams, energy and effort, to travel our beloved country, or work for a great foreign based NGO? Not forgetting we did our very best to do it all in faith, and with pure motives Lord... Seriously, what gives!? Fortunately for me, all of this (ranting) is actually not hopeless rhetoric, for if there's one thing that the past 18 years of walking with God has taught me, it's that He's got answers... very good answers. And even though his answers are more often questions, they never fail to lead me beside still waters, or restore my soul... for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23).
In conclusion, there's a 2nd thing that the past 18 years of following the Lord has taught me, and it's never to judge God too soon. So I will be reserving my judgement (of the past 6 months) for a little while, and be back with a followup in due course. Until then, Our Walkerville Adventure must go on! Come pay us a visit on the south side whenever you like.
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