The Reality of Being Reps in 2016

Recently Michael and I sat down to look at our calendars and to get on the same page.

We looked at February. It's already filled with several meetings, a team retreat to Nebaj (7 hours away), and an Advocacy conference for MCC Latin America that we are hosting here in Guatemala. And with only going to the office three days a week right now, I have to cram a lot of things into those days.

March has several more meetings, visitors, hosting our partners for a conference, and Holy Week.

April and May look pretty good. Of course, April 1st is our new fiscal year, so that makes for some busy office time. We might schedule some dentist appointments, eye exams, and visits to some projects. That will be our "down time" this year. At least, until we fill it with more meetings and trips.

Then we head to meetings with other Reps in Honduras for a week in May/June. And the girls have a 2-week break from school.

In July we have a team retreat, say goodbye to our one-year staff, and maybe I'll run my half-marathon!

Why not flip to August, and see when new staff arrive, orientations and staff retreat in September?
Then the girls are already out of school, we have traveling and more staff trips, and in November we have another large Central America retreat with MCC staff from neighboring countries, also hosted here in Guatemala.

Whew! Then December and Home Leave to Oregon (and Idaho). There goes 2016.

All of this doesn't include the twice-a-year project visits we need to try to schedule, report deadlines, administrative duties, budgets, strategic planning, and there are still plenty of other things not yet planned.

I asked the girls' school if they have a master calendar for the year, so we can plan other trips and meetings around when the girls are in school. Apparently they only plan one month in advance, which means they don't have fixed dates for their mid-year breaks, or the end of the school year. That seems strange to me. I seem to remember in the US getting school year calendars planned out a year or two in advance. Am I wrong? Another cultural expectation that I have to adjust.

This is how our time here in Guatemala has been. Our months are planned out almost a year in advance. This makes the weeks and months fly by. We sat down to look at our calendars and suddenly we were looking at December. That is our reality. This is why I feel like time with my girls is going too fast. The good news is we are ending our third year here and starting our fourth, which means it's a different kind of stress than before. Instead, we have to figure out how to be present as a family, enjoy our time together, and not get bogged down with the big picture that is the calendar year.