Every Christmas morning, all my siblings and nieces and nephews come over. We spend the whole morning eating breakfast and opening gifts and helping the younger ones try out some of their new favorite toys. Eventually, after everyone has gone home, I make my way to my bedroom and fall asleep on the floor until its time to go to my grandparents house for dinner. Those little Christmas naps have become one of the things I look forward to the most throughout the whole holiday season. This year, we spent Christmas in Southeast Asia. It was a ministry day and our host had planned a whole service for the morning. After all the fun festivities were over and we had eaten lunch, the kids turned on frozen and we got to take naps on the floor of their living room. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way on the race.
In Swaziland, the Lord poured His joy onto me in a totally different, and equally wonderful way. Sometimes, the days were long and hot and honestly kind of boring. Days would drag on and I really had to work on my bad habit of checking my watch every 10 minutes. Then, the Lord gave me an entire day of rain. It was a ministry day, and usually the kids would leave the care point even when it looked like it was going to rain because they didn’t want to get caught in it on the walk home – but for some reason this day was different. A decent amount of the kids showed up and stayed even when it started to pour. We played outside in the rain and mud for hours. We were dancing, sliding, and singing the whole time. Once the kids got too dirty, they went home, changed, and came back to play in the mud and hang out with us some more. I think that was my favorite day on the race so far.
It’s so easy sometimes for me to look at all the hard or inconvenient things I’ve had to do and forget all the things, as small or random as they are, that the Lord has blessed me with throughout the past six months. Looking back on it, I am so so thankful for that rainy Swazi day and all my Christmas naps on the floor, no matter where they are.
Fundraising update: First, I want to say thank you to everyone who has prayed and donated over the past few months. I am extremely appreciative! Second, I still need $3,111 to be fully funded! If you feel lead to donate, you can do so on the homepage of my blog or through venmo at kaitlyn-mc. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!
