Ships Passing In The Night

Not quite as idyllic as this photo, we have ventured into the month of February, and we are very thankful that it's the shortest month of the year, for the following reason: Rachel is on nights, and Eric on days. Rachel is off weekends, and Eric is on.

Here's the weekly run (with minor variations): Sunday night through Friday morning, Rachel works 14 hours every night. She gets off at 7am, when Eric goes into work, and goes back in at 5pm, and Eric arrives home shortly thereafter. Most of the weekend, she is free, but Eric works at least half of each weekend, including overnight. Thus the challenge.

After we spent 4 out of the 12 months before our wedding in different hemispheres, the first words out of Rachel's mouth were "Let's never do that again." And we still hold to that, and currently we wish our schedules seemed less reminiscent of that time. But there's a few things we cling to.

First, that time does pass. This is an amazing fact, but not quite as amazing as our hearts' unwillingness to recognize it. Heart knowledge of this kind seems to come with age, and we're still pretty young, as that goes. But we've learned it some, and we hold to this truth. Second, we have had difficult months before, and when entrusted to our heavenly Father, we are amazed that time together can materialize in the strangest places. Will this trend continue this month? We don't know, but God's behavior in the past gives us reason to think he might act similarly in the future.

So pray for us. Send Rachel nice emails and visit Eric in the evenings. =)