mopping

We spend a good deal of time mopping floors here at the villa. We have white kitchen floors which is the primary problem. We also have all marble floors throughout the common areas in the house. That includes the entryway, stairway, upstairs landing, living room, dining room, and a couple of small hallways. Then there are the 3 downstairs bathrooms as well that are tiled. So lets just say 60% of this house is tiled.

We have to mop this silly white kitchen floor on average 3.7 times per week. We want it to stay clean so badly, but with two small kids and the rest of the general traffic we get it is impossible for that floor to stay clean for more than an hour and a half. We have all just learned to bear the look of the dirt/sand ridden floor. It is apart of our kitchen's character at this point.

We also mop the rest of the floors once a week. This is approximately a two hour process. We sweep, dust, and mop, and it is no small weekly task. We have bought 4 mops for the villa since we have been here. Two just got straight worn out, one was just not functional, and the fourth and current mop-- industrial strength/ professional grade.

I have always had a thing for sweeping floors. I love getting it perfectly swept so that there is no hair, crumbs, any remnant of dust or particles left on the floor. So even though that is quite tedious being that we live in the sandpit, I don't really mind that part of the process. I think what gets to me is that in other places where I have lived I could get away with just sweeping the floors and that making a big enough difference, that potentially the floor didn't have to be mopped 3.7 times per week. I might have even been able to get away with .67 times per week. But our task does not end at sweeping crumbs off the floor. No. It continues to getting the bucket, making a hot soapy water solution, mopping, mopping, mopping more, dumping water, cleaning bucket, bleaching mop (weekly) etc... Really it is quite remarkable that this week I think I might have slid by without having to mop so far. Alas I know my time will come--just kidding I mopped the bathrooms yesterday. How quickly I forget and it all runs together.

Here is the thing. This post is not about complaining. Honestly it is about perspective. A few weeks ago I started to get a little sick and tired of sweeping and mopping the floors. I would say that it is the thing above all other redundant routines we have that really gets to me. I know that I have never mopped or swept so much in my life and I know this is all too much detail on the nitty gritty of my mundane life, however there is a lesson to be learned. As I was getting sick of mopping a few weeks ago I was reading Ecclesiastes, and being reminded that we are to enjoy our work and life in general. The fact that I was bored of mopping is nothing new, but mopping the floor is not the end of it. It is all about perspective. I am here not on my own or for my own satisfaction. My life is not even my own to be whining about. I am to be joyful in each day of life that is given to me b/c it is a gift. I don't deserve to have someone mop those floors for me. I came here to serve to give my life for a cause that is far greater than myself.

Daves sermon this past week was a sweet reminder of that. Katie and Brian and I were apart of many who got a shout out from the pulpit about coming here to serve their family. He also was talking about how in our lives we are supposed to do everything with purpose and intentionality. Because it was so personal it was a perfect reminder for me to stay strong in my time here in the position I have been placed to be faithful to serve with an attitude of thanksgiving.

We went to the mosque in Abu Dhabi

i guess i didn't know exactly what to do with my hands

since i was in an abaya. confusing.

there are two sally's in this picture. FYI.

The First Step

is admitting you have a problem. Right?

Well, I haven't written in so long, because I have been living in denial. People here in Dubai probably can see it plainly that I have a problem, but people have been gracious enough to let me work through things and wait til I am ready to let go and admit the issue at hand. So I come today to confess that indeed I have a problem. I do. Before I just jump right in and say it out loud give me a moment to explain myself.

Have you ever wished that you could be like Charlie Brown. Always know what you were going to where the next day. Don't even have to think about it. People say, "Hey Charlie, what you gonna wear to the party?" Charlie Brown says, "Eh, I'm Charlie Brown, you know I'll be there in my yellow shirt with the black zig zags on it."

Well a while ago I decided that if I were going to be a cartoon character my uniform would be a white v-neck tshirt and jeans. At the time I wore a few white tee shirts every now and then. I had other shirts I wore as well. Black, red, pink polka dots, etc... Well now this is where the problem is, for some reason all those other shirts have disappeared, and I now only own one colored shirt. And I don't even know what color it is. Part of me thinks its orange, another part says its red. It isn't salmon. Maybe it is melon. I am not really sure. It isn't pink. I guess it is something between red and orange, but lighter than both of those deep colors. Anyway.

I own thirteen white shirts. I wear them everyday. Except that one special day every once and a while when I wear my shirt that has color on it. This is isn't a joke. This is a serious problem. I am literally in a fashion rut over here. I don't know what to do with myself. Everyday I wake up and I don't even think about what I am going to wear. I wear the same thing over and over again. They get dirty, they get washed, they get stained, they get cleaned. It is cyclical and it is disconcerting. I am admitting I have a problem. But I don't know that I am ready to change.