You may remember that when last I wrote, I was looking forward to a few weeks visiting my people in Pennsylvania, and then returning to San Juan refreshed in July. I have truly enjoyed reconnecting and spending time with family and friends in PA. It is always good to be able to be with my loved ones in person,
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| With my sister-in-law, mom, and sister at my baby shower. |
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| Backyard fun with my niece and nephew |
and, well... I'm still here.
While Wellington and I very much respect the OB that I was seeing for the pregnancy in San Juan, we were also looking forward to me being able to check in with doctors here in the states during my visit. What we weren't expecting, however, was that they would come back with the recommendation for me to stay put until after the baby arrives due to health concerns. It took a few weeks for those pieces to become clear, and it took us a little longer to process what that would mean both for our family and for the ministry; ultimately coming to peace with the decision to follow those recommendations and so, here we are.
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| My niece and I skyping with Wellington |
Baby boy appears to be healthy and developing normally- HUGE praise!- and we pray that things will continue to go well for both of us. (Join us in those prayers?) Can't wait to meet him towards the end of September! :)
I am truly grateful for SRI's understanding and flexibility in adjusting to this news as well. I think we've come up with a great workable plan. Although my work will look a little different, I will continue to manage pieces of the Child Nutrition Program and Student Sponsorship remotely (Wellington and an amazing crew will manage the work on the ground), as well as help out with other administrative tasks while I am here in PA. As soon as the little one and I are medically cleared (probably 6-8 weeks after delivery), we will head to San Juan, and I will continue to ease back into work until I begin full-time again in January.
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| My view these days :) |
In the midst of the uncertainty of what was going to happen, someone (unaware of the turmoil) commented that I had so much to be happy about. At the moment, I was stuck on the negatives of how my husband would not be able to be with us to experience the rest of the pregnancy and miss being present for his son's birth, and how if I stayed in PA, we would end up being apart for more like 5 months rather than the 4 weeks we had planned. However, that small comment helped me to flip the switch and allow myself to open to the opportunities in this situation as well. Yes, it's still hard. It's still complicated. But there is so, so much to be thankful for as well, and it all certainly goes so much better when I let go of my notions of how this should have gone and focus instead on the positives that exist because of what is.
