Doing life.

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17 ESV)

Every Sunday afternoon, I sit down in my flat and write out a blog post. Some weeks there are too many cute, funny, inspiring, life-changing stories to choose from. And some weeks it's hard to come up with anything to write about at all. My problem today is the latter.

As I debated what circumstance I could pull a story out of, or what God has taught me this week, I realized that one of my favorite things about living here has been completely overlooked...

Doing life. Just normal, everyday life.

Sometimes my life is boring. Sometimes a day passes uneventfully.

Well, uneventful in my eyes, anyways.

Yes, I still gamble with my life when crossing the street. I still barter with Nepalis over unreasonably small amounts of money. I memorize our daily power outage schedule. I get down on hands and knees to scrub my clothes in a tub of soapy water. I still tell my kids stories in Nepali. I recognize which street dogs belong in my alley, and I trust them to keep me safe.

Yes, I still pass by butchered chickens and goat heads on the street corners. I dodge rocks in the middle of the road that are deemed "holy" covered in tikka. I still hunt mosquitoes like a psychopath. I look out my kitchen window to try and catch a glimpse of the Himalayas. I shower several times a day to try and stave off heatstroke.

But to me, that's my normal.

Not everything thing I do is new and exciting anymore. I've adjusted, I've adapted, and I've made this place my home. And so some weeks are mundane. And I love that.

But I have been afraid to admit that. I don't want my life to seem average, or anything less then exceedingly exciting. I don't want anyone to think that living here can seem stagnant. Or that some days I would rather laze around in my pajamas, eating nothing but potato chips and cupcakes, watching movies instead of going out and experiencing everything that Kathmandu has to offer.

I like doing life here. I like how average it has become. And it no longer matters to me to make everything appear riveting and enthralling. Because it's not. And I'm thankful for that.