Watching the butterflies dance

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It has been a very busy couple of months.  I was able to go home for Christmas to see the most important new addition to our family, sweet baby Holland James.  I could not get enough of her.  It was also very nice to catch up with family and friends in the two short weeks that I was home, but of course there is never quite enough time to see everyone and to do everything one wants on such a trip.  If Facetime and Whatsapp had caused me to forget that I am on the other side of the world, the 20+ hour flight brought that reality screeching to the forefront of my brain.  Being so far away is a major challenge, but I have only 14 more months until I can be close to everyone again.

One of the most amazing things I returned to was a land that has been completely transformed.  When I first arrived in my village it was dry and brown, the cows were dying and the people were worried and frustrated.  In November we began to see rain here and there and things began to turn a bit green, but people kept telling me that it was not yet raining.  I thought they were crazy, but what did I know?  I lived in a dessert for years, so any rain seemed like a lot to me.

Apparently the rains came while I was gone.  The village is now green and lush, the cows are getting fatter, and people here have told me that while I was gone it rained almost every day.  My walk to work now requires a different path, as the dirt path I used to walk is now covered with grass and purple flowers.  As I walked throughout the village this morning I was struck by how many butterflies there are, dancing from flower to flower.   

A friend told me that now that the rains have come both the land and the people seem happier.  I thought about how wrapped up I can get in the problems that are directly in front of me, and how stressed and angry I can get when there is no end in sight, but the rains seem come at just the right time.  Hope springs eternal, and there is nothing better than watching the butterflies dance.