What do you think is normal?
I would like to imagine what most people consider a normal weekday routine:
alarm rings, get up, have a shower, have coffee and breakfast and head off to work.
Work consists of a start time, a lunch break, coffee break and quitting time.
When "normal" people get home, they have supper and unwind, or maybe race off to their children's sports and activities.  Maybe they have meetings for their church or community organizations they participate in or provide leadership for...
For us, a week usually begins with Monday as our day off.
Tuesday, we go to a breakfast meeting with the other Healing Hearts leadership to discuss issues and set calendar items.
But on any given day, we might get a call and be off to visit someone in the hospital.
Or give a ride to a medical clinic.
Or have a coffee arranged from Sunday at church just to get together.
Or have a counseling session on the phone or even on Facebook chat sometimes.
Two weeks ago, we found out on a Saturday, our missionary in La Ronge, Saskatchewan (Bigstone First Nation), had passed away.  So our co-worker left Sunday morning to travel there and help support the family and make funeral arrangements.  We left for La Ronge on Tuesday morning and arrived to help participate in the wake and funeral.  Those events took a full 36 hours, not including the travel time...we slept in a hotel, ate at local restaurants and at the wake and funeral where meals were graciously provided.  We didn't practice music for the wake service-our coworkers did the "winging it" strategy.  Walter had come to support and encourage and ended up M.C. at the wake and funeral because the pastor got laryngitis!
Because we had not taken the Monday off, we decided to take the long way home and spend an extra day in Saskatoon, just to relax and unwind after the intensity of ministry and personal grieving.
Angus was our friend, not just our co-labourer in Christ.
His family is on our hearts and we long for their comfort.
Then, this past weekend, we celebrated the wedding of our missionary, Scott to Laura, here in Regina.  What great joy to witness their vows and attend the event with little responsibility.  We were guests! We also hosted another missionary family with two toddlers for the weekend, who traveled in for the wedding, plus our single missionary, Joni, from Loon Lake, SK.  So while making meals for 5 extras, plus getting ourselves ready for the wedding festivities, we also had Sunday service preparations to make.  Kinda crazy!
From deep mourning, to joyful celebration, to mundane chores to spiritual ministry, that has been our normal!
There are times when I long for what I look at as predictable schedule and expected routines.  But then we wouldn't have the rich diversity of relationships, the freedom to take a day off on a Thursday or the delight of ministry moments in life, and even death, that are part of our "job".
No, I consider myself and our family very blessed by the Lord in what He gives us as "normal"!