October 2013 David & Joanna Morrison Update

People often marvel that we gave up our western life to move to Bangula, Malawi. Though that was challenging, it was not that hard. Our life in Malawi has a lot to offer. We spend a lot of time together as a family. We have lunch together every day. Malawians get up early and go to bed early, so our evenings are usually our own. We home school, which allows us to read a lot of the same books, and interact with each other about what we are learning. We have endless summer! For those of you who have not visited, I should probably add that 'summer' often reaches beyond 45 degrees Celsius. We also have lots of opportunities to love and be loved, with our 75 children never too far away.

However, there is a new kind of giving up which is much more costly. This September we left our son, Patrick, in Canada to attend Gr.12, and that is proving to be much harder. We will miss his creativity and activity.  We will miss the way he pushes us all to do more, or go farther. We are so thankful for friends who have received him as a son, and a school that cares and encourages.  We are more thankful that his Heavenly Father is ever-present, and all-knowing. As our kids grow, we are aware of each day as a gift, to be received with open hands.

Kalina and Daniel will continue to home school this year. Daniel will miss his frequent conversations with Patrick throughout the morning, about such things as 'the particular behavior of certain historical figures' and 'how to simplify polynomials'. He continues to teach himself Latin and read as many Michael O'Brien books as possible. Kalina is studying post-reformation history this year, on top of her many extra-curricular activities including netball, soccer, wound care, chatting, knitting, and treasure hunts.

As for David and I, we continue to press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of us. For David, photography has captured his passion again, and his delight is the beautiful faces of our children. For myself, I would love to spend more time teaching the Word, and discipling both on and off the base.

[Joanna doing wound care at the gate]

We are grateful for your support and encouragement.  May The Lord bless and keep you, and make his face shine upon you!