Shaun Groves
Sorry I haven’t been blogging more regularly…or very well lately. Now, allow me to write an entire blog post about why that is because, you know, that would be a good use of your time.
Before I went to Uganda I put in a water filtration system. Our water did contain an enormous amount of chlorine.
Before I went to the Dominican Republic the first time we got new can lights in the kitchen and my office. It was really dim.
Before I went to the Dominican Republic the second time I replaced the garage door. It was bent in half and immovable.
And I bought some jeans. They do perform a flattering optical illusion on my butt.
Becky and I know that once I get back from the developing world it’ll take some time before I want to make any big purchases. Everything we “need” before I leave seems frivolous when I return with a head full of kids’ faces and tiny houses. “You know,” I might say in my post-third world delusion state, “we don’t really need a roof. We can live with that hole.”
It’s been months since I’ve left the country – unless you count Canada. But the only thing a visit to Canada consistently leaves me with is a pocket full of oddly named coinage.
With my last visit to the developing world so many months behind me I’m no longer cringing when shelling out a few bucks to fix something around the house or replace clothes with holes in them. I’m back to center. I’m balanced again. But I know – and Becky knows – that after India, no matter how much I try top stop it, no matter how nuts I know it is, another wave of tightwadness is likely to wash over me once again. It’s just something broken in my personality that Becky and friends and blogging through it help me moderate.
All that to say, I’ve been busy. That next wave is coming.
So far I’ve painted the den; replaced a worn out couch; hired Brad, Ben and Barton for the redesign of this here website; rebuilt the garden, and today I’m finishing up a rain barrel building project.
Only two more weeks before the next wave hits. I’ll try to blog more and better in the meantime.
The Secret Life of Kat says:
Can’t wait to see the new site and hear your thoughts from India!
Shaun Groves says:
I just sent you a little sneak peak, Kat.
Kent Kingery says:
I can’t remember if this is your first trip to India, but if so then prepare to be amazed, appalled, repulsed, entralled, and shocked by the incredible contrasts. I’ve been to India a few times and always come back with a profound sense of how beautiful the people are in spite of the circumstances that many find themselves in.
I would go back in a heartbeat because, of all the places I’ve ever been in the world, India calls to me like no other. Blessings to you and your traveling companions.
Shaun Groves says:
I’ve never been before, Kent. Thanks for the encouragement/warning. I’ve heard from several folks that I’ll be seeing things I’ve never seen anywhere else.
Brooke says:
This happens to us each time we travel for missions, even to Europe … a developed country that knows how to live with less.
I’ve been to India. Yes, it’s very different. Yes, you’ll see people sleeping on the streets, beggars, piles of garbage (depending on where you visit — some places are quite clean). But I think the key to truly knowing the people and loving them is to not try to fit the puzzle piece of the U.S. into the place for the piece that the country to where you are traveling already occupies. They don’t always want our pity and our ideas of how to change them into the U.S. (not that it’s your goal … just thinking out loud about what some people do). They want our love and care and respect for their culture. I’m sure you already know how to do this since you have traveled so much for this already.
a couple of tightwads with four kids who end up being the brunt of it when their birthday or Christmas falls after one of these trips
Texas in Africa says:
You don’t need to apologize for having a life.
I’m with you on the reentry problems. Every time I return from Congo, I’m incapable of shopping even for necessities. I usually burst into tears in the aisle at Target or the grocery store at least twice the first week back. Then about a month later I tend to swing the other way and buy things I really don’t need. It just takes awhile to get back to a normal, healthy place. Glad your family can help you with balancing it out and making it through.
Susan Charest says:
Need vs. Want is a constant internal battle. And then the external battle -when others judge us -thinking that we should have less, want less and give more. It would be interesting to see how many live in a conscious state, like both of you -Shaun & Becky. And if they do have gratitude for all in which they have.
I know Todd and I don’t like the sense of entitlement that our boys seem to have. I know that some times their lack of gratitude is due to their innocence in not knowing and seeing poverty.
I’m wondering at what age is a good age to include them in service?…..
Su says:
I have the same personality issue… but I rarely come back to centre. I live in I-don’t-really-need-this land, and it makes my husband crazy. Although the same thing happened to him after being in Central Mexico last spring.