Looking for another Emily

Emily celebrated a birthday here in Brasil. That always makes for fun memories. Some Brasilians friends showed up for a lunch of sloppy joes topped with cabbage and mayo and a pasta side dish. Often birthdays, at least we have found, involve some sort of an egg fight. This time, the Brasilians took mercy on Emily and so the only eggs she saw where the ones on top of the pasta.

Emily has been with our family not quite 3 months. And in a lot of ways it seems longer as our family has lived in 3 different places since her arrival. But already we are making flight plans for her to go home as well as our own family’s plans for furlough.

Emily joining our family has been huge. Just the other day I was reminded of the difference having her with us has made. Early Tuesday morning, my neighbor came over and needed a ride to the hospital with her sick newborn. Which worked out great because as it turned out I was planning on volunteering that morning in the hospital anyway. So I just went in a little early, and then when I was done working I went back to the clinic to see if she needed a ride home and I discovered that over 3 hours later she still had not seen a doctor. So I waited with her. Now that is not the sort of thing I could do regularly if I were home schooling my children without help. Home schooling our children is a huge part of my responsibility as a missionary. And I am ok with that. However, looking to our family’s future, I have tested the value of having a home school helper and I am so eager to see who will be my next “Emily.”

Parts of me, maybe the ugly parts, have a compulsion to campaign aggressively to find another home school helper. I could promote the opportunity to live in another culture. I could suggest that 6 months in Brazil could springboard one into full-time foreign ministry. It would broaden horizons. I could say a lot of things in eagerness for my next home school helper. But I'll just say this, Emily met a huge need for our family, and without question God guided her to our family at just the right time with just the right skills and gifts. And so as I write this, my hope is that someone is reading this and either they themselves, or someone they know, will be prompted to be our next home school helper. And I can't wait to hear from you.

Here are a few things that Emily has done since arriving…

~accompanied us on trips
~home schooled Ella and also gave her guitar and piano lessons
~assisted the teachers at CDR, an NGO our mission runs that give English and computer classes
~led worship for the missionaries
~attended youth events

To get Emily’s take on her time with our family here, read her blog.