11 years....and counting

We celebrate 11 years.... not perfect years of bliss, but years of learning and growing and loving more. Loving through the hard, the fun, the mundane,  days of joy and days of  sadness.  Our journey is so blessed, and I am thrilled to be here. No matter where God takes us, I hope it's many more miles TOGETHER.

The week long anniversary....

That's how this trip is feeling.... like we are on a week long anniversary trip. We've been having such a good time.... the first few days we explored the compound and ask a ton of questions. Phil and Karen became fast friends and they were very patient with us as we ask tons of questions, measured windows, shelves and figured out some minor remodeling to accommodate our larger family in the house we will be living in. Preston and Apphia blessed us by taking us into the village, out to supper, and answered more questions.

We are so thankful we were able to visit Labaliene before we actually move... it  def helps us to visualize our future abit more; know what we want to bring, ect.

On Sunday Prestons and Phils packed up and kindly made the 3+ hour trip up to Terre Rouge. We were thrilled to introduce them to Rhonda, and to see everyone here again!!!  We spend a lovely time singing on the roof, sharing lunch and then the surprise of Dons walking over in the afternoon.  Seeing karlee was so sweet... i am amazed at the grace and acceptance i felt as i saw her and held her for the first time since we closed the adoption process.

"All the way, my Saviour leads me..... Jesus doeth all things well"

She is doing well with her family, and although i found my heart tugging, i know that God never makes mistakes, and that He does give joy for mourning.

Today Rhonda and i spent hours on the roof... talking and catching up over coffee. It was wonderful!!! Jess and Less hauled stone up here along with the boys, as well as did odd jobs around the shop and house.

That's a quick catch up.. thank you for praying for us!

Littles

Summer is in full swing and my Littles are growing right along with the potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli l, onions, parsley, kale , and raspberries. Only the Littles are far more important to me than all that.
We are enjoying the summer; our last here, LW. I didn't realize that the "lasts" would feel so real... or that I would think of them so much. I didn't know it would be so hard to put myself into the things I normally love and enjoy; garden, yard and the flowers.
Maybe it's part of detaching. Maybe ( like a friend suggested) I am really maturing in that some things just don't have the priority they used to. Either way, it's been different.
Our first yard sale is over and did we ever get rid of a lot of stuff??!!! Thank you to each one who supported us in that... God is so good!

Perhaps some day I will blog our journey in several posts. In every way it has been amazing. It feels so natural to be doing what we are doing in this move to Haiti... for me it is a lifelong dream that I've had to lay down more than once. What a gift to have the same dream be born in Jess's  heart. I feel overwhelmed by it all.

We are taking another step... a trip to see where we will be living.. to see the mission and the work we are called to. To spend time with these people we love so much.. hopefully find a few little chocolate drops to shower some love on, and visit some of our dear friends in the mountains.

I will keep you posted  .. please let us  know if you stopped by .  We'd love to know who's with us here:)

I am partial,  of course, but she is becoming a very beautiful young lady!!!

Joshua finds a diversion to typical peanut butter and celery

Our  flower loving Abby

Kayte...as sweet as they come 

Our little man...wow. we are so blessed!!

Sugar and spice and everything. .. girl

I feel so incredibly blessed to have been given the honor to be mama to these lovely ladies.

Blessed....

May you feel the richness of His love  today. ..

But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us,

Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved ([a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).

And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us [b]joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus.

Do the next thing....

I remember back about 2 years ago. I was pregnant with our 5 child, and we were still working on our adoption from Haiti. At one point, the childrens ages looked something like this:

Zoey 7
Joshua 6
Abigail 4
Karlee 3(at that point we considered her as much part of our family as any of the others even tho she wasn't with us)
Kaitlyn 2
Jorden 1

Something like that. Although I love love love children, and I loved my life, I felt like I wouldn't be leaving the house alone for a very. long. time.
I was a busy mama.
I didn't know how I was ever gonna survive.

But guess what. Two years later  I feel like I am "on the other side". I look back now and wonder what the big deal was.
I am no super mom.
I don't have it all together.

But the last two years I did go away, and our family did a lot of fun things. Our house is still standing, and I am quite sane.

I have LOVED the last few years.
We've grown as a family.
God has been good.

I am here to testify, that God gives grace for those "big things". He gives strength for the hard days.
Some days, when it all looks big, do the next thing.
Sometimes its laying the work aside to read a story. Sometimes its just putting the next load of laundry in. Sometimes its making the most out of naptime by tidying as quickly as possible and sometimes its by taking a nap too. 

Sometimes, it's doing the next thing. Whatever that may be.

I think what helped (and even now, currently ) us was / is routine. 

Routine that is predictable but routine that can be changed with whatever God brings into your day. As our family grew so did the need for a schedule. Children thrive on it, and it allowed us to do things we couldn't have done otherwise. 

Grace will meet you  wherever you are.. and these busy days can be beautiful. Rejoice.. do heartily with love... this mothering thing is precious and important in God's eyes.  

Hats off to all my mommy friends! !!

Happy Birthday Abby!!

Birthdays are a time of celebration at our house. I think its an amazing thing, to celebrate LIFE. Its such a miracle, to have another year to celebrate this gift.

Abigail turns 6 today, and I am so blessed to be her Mama.

 

 

 

 

 

Summer of 2014

A quick snap before going on her birthday date with mama

 

God gave us a special miracle, in that when Abby was about 6 weeks old, we discovered she was vitamin K deficient. God granted us LIFE, when some people have less than 24 hours after discovery of this deficiency until their child died. We are forever grateful.