Taken by Surprise

I’m not gonna lie; it’s been rough. Not as rough as I compare it to some college deadlines and such, but I knew I’d be pushing myself for a few weeks. Since this is the last week, its total crunch time, but I always push myself through whatever while I look ahead to crashing afterwards (as long as there usually is an afterwards).

If you don’t know, I’m finishing up Elementary Prep kits for 4 different language groups and my deadline (that all must be done) is January 8th. Because of this, lots of this holiday season has been cut short. I didn’t work at the office on Christmas Day, but the other days, I’ve worked. I’ve even come in on weekends. For this week, I may not get a “weekend” until the 8th.

So what’s all involved in this? I’ve been working on things leading up to this moment ever since I started working in the office. Elementary Prep Kits include (but are not limited to): Term Plans, Curriculum, two Books per week (for 40 ish weeks), Songs, Games, Finger Exercises, a notebook of Teacher Help stuff, Shapes, Keyword Cards, Number Cards, Alphabet Books, and so on. All of these have been adapted to each language group, checked over (I don’t even know how many times now), and they all could still have some tweaking to be done.

All of this to say that from the first week in December 2013 until D-day (8th of January 2014), I’ve been striving to have all four languages done. Thankfully, I’ve had some help. Eunice, before she left, adapted one of the languages’ curriculum and was great at suggesting how I could delegate laminating, cutting, and such tasks to others. (*Side note: I totally suck at delegating... it’s bad.) Sheila, Josephine, Kathy, Lois, and some others have chipped in when they could to help cutting, binding books, and so on. Lori printed off some books for a language group. Lindy, Delaina, and Lindsey have helped to get some books into A5 form (a smaller book for the kids to use. The teachers have A4 size.) And there are the encouragers like Emily, Robin, and those that I’ve already mentioned. They keep checking on me to make sure I’ve eaten, to make sure I know that they’re there for me, and to make sure I haven’t turned into a complete zombie.

And then there’s Diane. What can I say about her?! She rocks... and if I wore socks in PNG, they would totally be rocked off. She’s been there from the beginning, helping me learn what I’m suppose to do and how to do it right. She’s been willing to step in and help ANY time that I’ve needed it. Talk about a servant that shows she cares by what she does!

So with a bit more stress on my shoulders lately, my mind can get grumpy. (*Another side note: I’m also a bit hypoglycemic so when my blood sugar gets lower, I get weak, shakey, and then can get really mean. Some don’t understand what goes through my head at these times so they have the illusion that I’m still sweet... right.) Anyway, its been a more shaky day today (Friday). I had both of my peanut butter and jam sandwiches so I was getting weak and coming close to cussing out appliances. (Keep in mind that I arrived at work a bit before 9am and it was nearing 8pm... after a week already working around 42 hours.) Diane (the only other one working in the office area that I’m in currently) had gone to her apartment (above the office) to make dinner and go to bed. For some reason, the printer stopped working. I was checking everywhere that I could think of to find some kind of paper jam, but wasn’t finding much. I’d started messing up more on how to print the tons of books that must be printed and thought that crying might be a good release, with no one being around. For some reason, my mind couldn't stop long enough to start crying so I moved on, got things working again, found the stupid “paper jam”, and started printing another round of books.

That’s when Diane knocked on the door. When I opened it, I found her standing with a tray of food! We’re talking corn, potatoes, chicken, and kind of apple sauce but made with mangos and rhubarb instead. (*Yet another side note: though being with wonderful and encouraging people really does make her day, if you give Michelle food--especially the good kind of food--when she’s hypoglycemic, stressed, and quite a bit hungry, you automatically become a super hero.)

Yep. She brought it just for me! Though many acts of kindness have gotten me from hour to hour, this gesture blew me out of the water! It had me praising God, repenting of every despicable thought towards people and machinery, and got me pumped to finish at (in my mind) an appropriate stopping place. So, I hugged Diane, ate one of the best tasting meals I’ve had in I don’t know how long (no offense to any other wonderful meal), and worked until 11pm. That’d be 14 hours of working today, and I’m still probably going to work a bit tomorrow (Saturday).

Thus, here’s my point in this blog: to those who uplift me from saying a word of encouragement, giving me a smile, sharing advice or food, to those who make sure I get to my car at night (thanks William and Robin), you all represent God’s love, and I consider you close to my heart. May you be blessed because you have blessed me, and may I go on to bless others as I have been blessed by God and you.