Lusekele, August 20, 2003

Today the house is quiet. The piano isn't ringing with the calypso of "It is the joy of my heart" or the intricacies of a classical finger exercise.We'll have to wait another couple of months for hilarious running commentary on recent videos Reba has enjoyed.The volleyball will go back into the closet and the quilling projects into the craft drawer.Reba flew back to Kinshasa with all the other International Ministries MKs to start school today.

Reba (in the dark t-shirt) starts her senior year at TASOK (the American School of Kinshasa) with all sorts of promise.She still has her perfect grade point average.Last year she earned the Presidential Fitness Award, helped put the yearbook together, received the highest possible score on the Advanced Placement Calculus test, and tutored struggling math students.

"But I not ready to be a senior," she says wistfully to Miriam.It's a year of looking into the future, thinking about what you might want to do with your life, choosing a college, moving a little further into complete independence.We all know that can cause a bit of anxiety.But Reba is always ready for challenges that come her way.She wants to resume Model UN club and is toying with the idea of starting a debate club if there is any interest.

Having "Uncle" Tom and "Aunt" Valli Howard for substitute mom and dad in Kinshasa is a pretty good alternative to home.They are everybody's favorite aunt and uncle, rooted deep in the Lord, full of warmth and welcome, able to balance freedom and discipline.They saw their youngest, Jennifer, return to the states for school two years ago.But this year they have 5 MKs-- Reba, Naomi Thompson, Timothy and Elaina Chapman, and Taylor Lowery.Not a slacker in the bunch -- from Timothy the entomologist to Naomi the perfectionist practical joker.Just the place where our kids can grow and expand in all wholesome directions.

The hostel is right on the American School campus, five minutes from the classrooms and 10 seconds from the soccer field (one of Reba's passions.)The student body is bouncing back after the lean years since the fall of Mobutu.They have the largest senior class in the last five years (10 or 12 students -- maybe more.)With more students come more teachers, more class options and more programs to choose from.

No denying it -- it's hard to have to share ourkids.I would love to have Mark and Reba at home all the time.But that assumes that the world should revolve around me instead of around the Lord who lays a claim on each of our lives.In that universe we have to accommodate the opportunities for growth and God's call to ministry to each of us separately and all of us together.

We could desperately cling to Mark and Reba to feed our own need as parents. Or we could abandon our call to ministry here in Congo for a more compliant, easier environment where Reba could be at home.Or we can rejoice that God provides us with an alternative where Reba can develop her special gifts and insights in the protective embrace of our extended Christian community, enjoy fully the limited times we have together, and remain faithful to God's call that brought us all to Congo.

Doris Templeton, letter friend from Puyallup, Washington, recently told us that she continues to pray for Mark and Reba, that they will love the Lord, have Christian friends, weather the periods of loneliness and homesickness, that they will flower into really capable young adults.We thank all of you who have prayed for our kids.God works all things together for good -- even the hard times, the difficult choices, the sacrifices.We trust in that promise.

Ed Noyes
Lusekele, Democratic Republic of Congo