Being a mom under the best of circumstances is a challenge. What Tiffany has done over the last three years... well that's tested the bounds of reasonable expectations. I asked her to move to Africa to do mission work. She agreed and the adventure began. With three children (2 under the age of 3), she packed up all of her worldly goods to sell, ship, or store. She hugged family and friends goodbye and left a normal life far behind.
She traded the mall for the market, and Wal-Mart for a duka. She bid farewell to youth sports, car lines, easy fast-food, and everything familiar. She said "hello" to power outages, a strange language, and doing everything the hard way. While she was adjusting to a dramatically new life herself, she had to be a familiar anchor for three children who's lives had also been turned upside-down.
After she mastered mothering in the mission field, disaster struck. We had a health issue with our middle child (our long-time readers know all about this). She had to take the kids back to the states for 6 months while that situation was cleared up, effectively being a single mother during that time.
Having returned to the mission field she is helping to break-in new missionaries, while entering yet another period of transition as we finish our commitment here. That means she's packing up AGAIN, and mentally straddling the ocean. Meanwhile continuing to be a mom here and now. Needless to say, these three years have had all of the stability of a rocking chair... on roller skates... on a boat.
Don't get me wrong, there have definitely been a lot of amazing experiences that have rewarded her efforts, and our family is closer than ever, but it wasn't at all easy. Through it all, she's been a trooper, rising to every challenge. I couldn't possibly have hoped for a better mother for my kids.
Happy Mothers Day Tiffany! Thanks for being amazing!
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