Half a year!

Enoch turned 6 months on the 16th!

Our golden anniversary; 7 years on the 7th!

We celebrated by going out to dinner the night before at not one, but two restaurants! After ordering an appetizer at one place, we ordered one main dish at another place, and it worked as a full dinner. Since we almost never go out to eat we decided to make the most of it. We also went to Walmart. Very exciting.

The four girls had a sleepover at my parents’ house so we had the house to ourselves, with Enoch as a third wheel.

7 years, 5 children and 4 moves into our marriage, we are thankful for love, forgiveness, patience and friendship. God has been faithful and not abandoned us even in the hard times.

Orcxance is a wonderful husband and father.

Another June

June is a month of a lot of comings and goings in our large extended family. So many wedding anniversaries and birthdays take place in June.

In June we celebrate both my parents’ birthdays, my youngest brother Silas’s birthday, two nieces, Hannah Joy and Lydia, five wedding anniversaries, including ours!

We also remember my grandmother’s passing, and the births of two nephews who didn’t get to know any life on earth.

Late May marked the ten year anniversary of my grandfather’s death. He was a major part of my childhood and influenced hundreds for Christ.

So June is a happy and sad, remembering and celebrating kind of month. With flowers planted on graves at the family cemetery, juicy watermelon enjoyed by grandchildren, memories shared and old writings read aloud.

Every body buried in a wooden casket hand-carved by my uncle Frank, every grave marked by a cross. Amidst the birthdays and the tears, the remembering and the mourning, the persevering and the celebrating, every soul among us waiting for the Resurrection.

Mother’s Day

We don’t usually have anything special planned for this day. No lunch out, flowers, or cards. It’s much more of an American thing than a Congolese thing. In Congo, March 8 (international women’s day) is a big deal, and it is basically Mother’s Day, except an “appreciation day” for all women, not just moms. This is the day Orcxance might surprise me with something special. Being in America, I can sometimes feel left out or disappointed that we don’t do anything or even say anything about it, but since it’s on a Sunday we get some kind of celebration in church. I do try to remember to have a gift or card for my own mom, who has been an amazing and steadfast mother to 11 children, now all grown. Today we visited a small church in a small town nearby and were blessed by the joy and friendliness we met there. It was encouraging. We even got to see some old friends we hadn’t seen in years. This evening I will work my first shift back at home health since having Enoch. I am on the schedule only as PRN, which means I won’t be doing a regular shift, and I’m fine with that! I am extremely tired and have been struggling with fatigue the last several weeks and today especially seems hard to push through with a cheerful heart, but thankfulness always helps. I am so thankful for God’s provision for us and thankful for my children. I am thankful my dream of being a mother came true. Often I feel like I am not a very good Mother, but God keeps giving me a fresh day to try again. I'm thankful for that too. And to finish out this rambling post, I also love to notice moments like these, when there are flowers floating on water and one of the kids’ bikes left out reminds me that they won’t always be little.

Spring wildflower craft for little girls

Step 1: cut a rectangle of cardboard and draw a vase on it

Step 2: using a dull pencil punch holes above the vase; lay the cardboard on gravel or other surface where the pencil can be jabbed straight through

Step 3: have the children collect wildflowers around the yard and insert them through the holes, pulling the stems through

Back/side as shown here:

Step: 4: Enjoy your flowers

Step 5: (optional) Float the cardboard bouquet on water until the cardboard becomes soggy :)

Grandfather Mountain

it's that time of year when GF mtn is affordable... so of course we had to go! We also stopped on the way home to grocery shop and get a pic with the giant rooster!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

the Lord is RISEN! I am currently sick and grieving the death of my dear friend in Congo but God is still good somehow.