On the move!!

Our little crawler!  Just a short little clip of our gal showing off her new moves :)

Lucy Mae's big month

This little girl is growing so fast!!!  And this past month she decided to shoot up in the development and now she is EVERYWHERE and in EVERYTHING!!!  She grew a new tooth, started clapping when we say “Yeaaa, Lucy!”, learned to sit up from laying down, and then days after that she started crawling.  Not just army crawling, either.  Up on all fours, going everywhere.  Fast.  Oh, how I do want her to grow and I very much celebrate her sweet accomplishments but Im already missing the days where she would just sit content with a pile of toys surrounding her.  Now she bypasses all the toys and heads straight for the trash.  Or the broom.  Or is that a ball of hair in the drain?!  Let’s taste that!!  Now that she has gotten a bit more independent her exploring never stops.  And sadly the way little angel babies explore is with their mouths.  Lucy is really really gross in this,  She has shoved large amounts of sand in her mouth, grass, shoes, a hairball from the shower drain, a millipede, and today she opened up her diaper and started “exploring” her poo.  I know, sick.  But this little lady is FAST and with two others running around my every second vigil on her is slacking so we just have to pray for a strong, healthy immune system!!  But on the other hand, she is stunning and adorable and snuggly and giggly and has the sweetest sounding babble and has a huge cheezy smile that makes us laugh so hard and she blesses everyone’s socks off as she beams and reaches for anyone who comes over, strokes her cheek and says hi to her.  She is easy going for the most part and just a sweet munchkin.  I took these pictures today of her in our yard.  With the help of a dear friend here, we made this dress for Lucy from some fabric I had left over from one of my dresses (that the tailor made, definitely not me).  It was a super super simple pattern and it turned out pretty cute as long as you don't look too closely and see how lopsided and crooked the stitching is.  Ill keep trying.  I can only hope to be half as crafty and a sewing whiz as my sweet momma.  Good thing Lucy Mae is only 8 months and does not care one lick about even stitching.  She only wants to eat the ribbons :)

I balanced her first but she is getting stronger at standing.  Yikes.  Not ready for a walker/runner quite yet!

Her little two bottom teeth

cheeeeeeeeeese

I love the progression of these next few pictures.  She first shows me what she would like to eat while giggling with excitement

Then goes in for a little taste

double checking with me  that she's not going to get in trouble

mushing it around to see what it tastes like

Yuck!!!  Not so good!! 

Favorite conversation of the day

About once a week Elliot becomes a sneaky stinker and squeezes his way into our bed at night and we don't realize it until his little feet are digging into our ribs.  Or in our faces.  So, typically the night after he sneaks into our bed when I'm tucking him in we will go over the rules of night time.  The other night, we were reviewing and our conversation went like this:
"OK, Elliot, I have something important to tell you.  Are you listening?"
"Yeah"
"Do not get out of your bed tonight.  You can get up when the sun wakes up."
*Elliot gives a mischievous stare
"I don't speak any English!"

Make new friends, but keep the old...

Every time I think about making new friends I think of my sister standing on risers in elementary school  choir singing the song that goes "Make new friends, but keep the oooold. One is silver and the other gold.  A circle is round, it has no eeend, that's how long I want to be your frieend"  Then the song gets stuck in my head for a ridiculously long amount of time.  But I feel like that is constantly what I am doing in this crazy thing called life.  We make new friends and hopefully keep the old.  I consider myself incredibly incredibly blessed and broken all at the same time when it comes to friends.  Because of where the Lord has walked us through in life, I have friends all over the world.  It makes it easy when we want to visit somewhere :)  I love meeting new people and sharing life with others.  I love hearing people's stories and the testimonies of where the Lord has brought them and the journey of life that they are on.  I love seeing people's hearts.  I love being refined by other's strengths.  I love laughing with people and finding joy in the chaos.  I have been deeply impacted by the people in my life and I have been deeply loved.  I have experienced grace in ways that I never ever ever in a million years would experience on my own.  Yet, on the other hand friendship and relationships have caused heartache and hurt that seems unending at times and I HATE HATE HATE goodbyes.  While I do have friends in so many different countries all over the world, that is the problem.  They are in countries all over the world.  Not my next door neighbor.  Pieces of my heart are scattered in places I have never been, sent out with friends who I hold dear and long to be next to, but an ocean separates us.  Heaven will be so glorious to never shed a tear for another goodbye.  We recently made some new very very fun friends who have already made their way into the "gold" category as they have traveled on their way without knowledge of when we will meet again.  We met a group of people, some American, some South African, driving though Africa doing ministry along the way.  They got stuck here for about 6 weeks waiting for visas to come through to travel on and in that time we were blessed.  We shared many meals together, watched some baseball, played some games, and were encouraged in the Lord by each other's faith.  But, again, that dreaded day came and we had to say goodbye.  There is a constant temptation to harden myself and keep my heart far as I know that so many people will come and go in my life.  I want to love people well and deeply no matter the length or the cost.  I long to love as the Lord does, unabandoned.  That my life and love would be one that shines a light directly to the source of all Life.  I don't want to live "protected" and detached as I weave in and out of places and relationships, but I really want to be showing the sweetness that is offered in our relationship with the Lord.  I still have so far to go, and I still detest having to say goodbye, but I know that along with so many others, I am looking forward to that day of being reunited and never ever having to utter that word again with an embrace that you know has to break soon.  One day...

Here is everyone.  Ro, Adi, their little princess Aalayah, Sonja, Maari, Anna, Bownen, and Jay

These three were a giant ball of energy and yelling when they were together.  Elliot and Aalayah together made me so thankful that I never had twins.  They created ways of getting into things.  But the giggles were a sweet sound!!

Just hanging out :)

Here's Keenan "keeping the old"  The place where our new friends stayed was the apartment complex we used to live in.  The moment we would drive up, kids would come running yelling for Keenan.  This is Keenan and his buddy Chriso reunited!

Our guys and the kids from the neighborhood

Picking up right where they left off!!

Back to School

Yeah, I know that the boys went back to school over a month ago.  I know that I am more that a little behind at putting up pictures on here.  Sorry!  But he boys are back in school!!!  We didnt know how Elliot would do going to school for the first time but he has adjusted and now loves it!  The first couple of days were a little rough and he sobbed uncontrollably at nap time.  So much so that the school called us to try to talk to him to calm him down.  He made it through the days though and when he finally realized that we do in fact come back to get him after he wakes up, he decided that school was awesome and he loved playing with friends.  Now I only get a glance over the shoulder "Bye!" as he literally sprints or jumps into his classroom beaming and searching for someone to play with.  His teacher is so sweet with him and he runs over to her each morning and tells her excitedly about his morning, what socks he is wearing, his new shirt, the snack he has, whatever comes to his mind.  The only thing is his teacher only speaks French.  Elliot has no filter for that.  Either that or he just doesn't care.  He has something to say!  He just keeps right on going with that sweet huge smile on his face and she just giggles, hugs him, and kisses the top of his head welcoming him.  I love watching the interactions!!  Keenan Boy is too big now and is in serious school.  Wow.  He has homework every single night.  It takes him at least 45 minutes to get it done, sometimes longer, but he is so dedicated as he writes and rewrites his letters, numbers, and does his adding math.  It takes him longer if he is sitting at the table by himself, but he will buckle down and get it all done with or without help.  I still cant believe that he is big enough to have actual homework.  But he still loves school and the friends he gets to play with.  He is so proud of the fact that he is no longer in preschool and will tell anyone who asks about school what level he is in.  We always have concerns that he is missing things since Frech is not his first language but Craig asked a couple weeks into school how he was really doing and his teacher said that he is doing great.  To clarify Craig said, "Even though he doesnt speak French, he still seems to be understanding well and keeping up a little bit?"  His teacher looked at Craig with a confused look and said, "What are you talking about?!  He speaks French all day!"  He has fooled us.  He will not speak French at home or with people he knows speak English.  Stinker.  But it was really good to hear that he is actually learning and grasping the things being taught and not just playing and making friends.  So, there's the boys.  Learning and thriving in school.  And at home I am soaking up time with our little princess knowing that she will grow up too fast as well and before I know it we will be sending her off to school in her little uniform dress as well!  

 Eating first day of school breakfast.  Keenan had asked for the "triangle things" for his special treat to kick off the year.  Scones with chocolate chips!

 Our car was in the shop so we had to walk down to the busy road to catch a taxi to get to school.

At the front gate

Keenan's class

Elliot's classroom

Elliot's class

Every day after school this is Elliot's face when he sees Craig.  Pure joy!!

He ran over, gave us hugs, then went back into line to walk to the gate with his class :)

Our big guy packing up for the day and getting his homework organized

So big!!

Ready to go home!