The words "Busy Season" have a unique meaning in the Beaumont household. For much of our marriage Jeff worked as a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) as an auditor and had a Tax Season aka Busy Season. This stretched from January to mid-May and meant he was working 50-80 hours a week and was really only home to sleep, shower, change clothes and leave again. So when I say our family is in a busy season of life here on Mercy Ships, I don't mean THAT kind of busy season. Just a little more crazy than the normal.
A big part of why right now feels a little extra chaotic is that the kids have a break in school for 7 weeks. Yep. SEVEN. Back at home it would be 2 weeks only so this has been an adjustment. There are two very long semesters here with a 7 week break now and a 9 week break for summer. That's it. With no spring break, thanksgiving break, etc the semesters feel very long and now this break feels too long. Definitely not my preferred schedule, but we are learning how to deal with it. The kids are able to open the cabin door and find friends easily, but we all just feel a bit off routine.
Because of this long break, some families go home/are traveling right now. With this comes some "holes" in jobs, so Jeff is covering extra departments. While being Finance Director normally keeps him plenty busy, he is also Operations Director and Chief Steward while those people are on time off! He has extra meetings, a pager to carry around and learning different departments. Thankfully he is well supported by these departments, but it does make his schedule extra full.
For me, the rehab department is in a time of transition. We are discharging our plastic surgery patients (mostly burn wounds/contractures) and admitting our orthopedic patients (knock knees and bowed legs). Both discharging patients and admitting patients comes with increased time and paperwork, even in a world of no health insurance. Anyone who knows me back home knows I LOVE what I do and consider myself extremely blessed to have found a job that I daily cannot believe I get paid to do. I feel the same way here and truly believe I have the best job on the ship. Balancing the time I spend with my kids while they are on school break with the time I have with the patients in the hospital is truly a balancing act.
The ship is general just feels busy. Even though all of the Christmas activities are over, there are more people arriving on ship every weekend. Last weekend nearly 60 new Mercy Shippers arrived, so that means cleaning new cabins, new ID badges, new everything. See previous post on all of the "Hellos!" and "Goodbyes!".
All of that to say, keep praying for us in this busy January. Keep sending those texts/Marco Polos/Emails saying hi, giving us updates on your lives and encouraging us. We are thankful for each person who reads this blog, loves us well and encourages our hearts in this worthwhile work.
Questions? Thoughts? Suggestions for my next blog? Let us know!