Our First Hospital Visit

A couple of weeks ago 2 out of 3 of my girls were sick. Stomach problems, headache, and fever. I actually never took their temperature, but I could tell they had fever. A couple days later they were fine.

Several days after they were sick, another woman who works in Brad’s office got pretty sick one evening. She went to the hospital (which is common here) and got some meds and a day or so later was better. It seemed to be the same type of sickness my girls had.

A week or so later, another woman who works in Brad’s office got sick as well. Same type thing. She was sick longer and even had to make a hospital visit because she was dehydrated, but thankfully is better now.

Some days after this last woman got sick, Brad also began not feeling well. It was a Saturday. I had been out at a baby shower and when I came home he told me he just didn’t feel well. He had some work deadlines that weekend and was working hard to meet them. By the time dinner came around, he had such a terrible headache he pretty much just left the table and went to bed.

January was a super busy month for Brad with school starting back and many other responsibilities on his plate. He kept saying all month “if I can just make it through January”. Well, he did. Kind of.

By the time Sunday rolled around, January 31, we knew he was really was sick. I figured he had the same things the girls and the others from his office had and that in a few days he would be good as new. I knew his body was run down from a busy month and thought at some point your body just makes you stop.

After reaching his deadlines on Sunday, he crashed. In bed, sick.

On Monday morning, I also woke up not feeling well. Not the same as Brad, but just not my best. I decided it would not hurt any of us if we just took it easy that day. I didn’t feel much like doing school with the girls and I knew they would not mind a lighter work load. So, we kind of all took off with Brad (as Annie would say “taking up the whole couch”).

Not knowing how serious Brad’s sickness would become, the details of the week get a little blurry. Brad was not able to teach his classes on Tuesday, but at different times during the week we both thought he was getting better.

Luckily, Wednesday’s are not class days and so the pressure of wondering if you feel like making it through class was lifted. I think he had a few meetings, but then came home and crashed again.

During this time, he continued to have fevers off and on. His head hurt almost constantly and the stomach problems had continued for several days.

We would think he was better and then they typical pattern was the fevers would spike at night.

While we were in the States last, my Mom had given me a thermometer. I hardly ever use one and figured it would not get much use either, but packed it up and brought it home with us to Swaziland.

For some reason, when Brad got sick, I decided to get the thermometer and try it out. It’s a cool one that you just hold up to a persons forehead and it reads the temperature almost instantly. Fun stuff!

So, I had been keeping track of Brad’s temps and began to get a little concerned that after several days they continued to be kind of high. 102 degrees working its way up to 103 was not good. And after so many days, we were trying to figure out what could be going on.

Still pretty convinced Brad was just so run down and was taking longer to recover than the others, I was not really worried, just ready for hi to be well.

Then his temperatures started to rise. We’ve all heard that 104 degrees is the dangerous temp. Usually in the evenings is when his temps began to reach closer to the danger zone. As they climbed to 104, I began to get worried.

What was going on? Why was it taking him so long to recover? Do we need to go to a doctor?

On Thursday during the night, his temp rose to 106. He felt horrible. I felt so bad for him and didn’t know what I needed to do. After this rise in temperature, it would eventually drop and then began the sweating. Usually at some point later would begin the chills and uncontrollable shaking.

During the night on Thursday, I decided it was time to see a doctor. If you know me at all, this was a really big decision for me!! By God’s grace, we have lived in Swaziland and never had to go to the doctor before. In fact, it has been one of my biggest fears about living in Africa. We have called a doctor friend or two about some things before, but GO to a clinic to seek treatment? No.

Early Friday morning, I called a doctor friend who lives in Swaziland and asked her what we should do. She recommended a clinic and so I called to get an appointment.

When we got in to see the doctor, he looked Brad over and sent him straight to the ER. He needed an IV for dehydration and gave him some IV meds. We waited for the drip to finish, picked up an antibiotic from the pharmacy and headed home.

Great we thought, we got a jump start on this and he should be feeling better this afternoon and surely by tomorrow. Little did we know.

By Friday evening, just after dinner, Brad’s fever had spiked to 108. I could not exactly believe what it read, but after trying several times and getting between 108 and 109, it was clear he was not improving. I phoned my friend again to tell her about it. She told me to put him in a cool shower to try to bring down the fever and recommended I go back to the clinic.

After the shower and running around and getting the kids settled, Brad and I were off to the clinic again. His fever had come down and by the time we got there, he seemed to be doing much better.

The doctor was not really sure what the problem was and after talking through some options, it appeared the best option was to add another antibiotic. So, we picked it up at the pharmacy and headed home.

I don’t remember a lot of details about that night, but around 5am Brad was shaking uncontrollably from chills. I kept trying to cover him and get him warm, but nothing was working. His stomach was not feeling well and it did not seem like we were going to be able to get the meds in him. After about an hour of doing what I could, I decided we needed to go back to the hospital and get on an IV again. I was very concerned he was dehydrated and that was the only thing I knew to do.

So, with thanks to a friend who drove us, we were off to the hospital again. By this point Brad was so weak he could hardly walk inside. They pretty much sent us straight to the ER again to begin the IV and get us ready for a room.

We were told the first time we came to the hospital that Brad had a bacterial infection and after some further testing the doctor was able to figure out that he had an infection in his gallbladder.

We were told he should expect to be in the hospital for 5-7 days because he would have to be treated with IV antibiotics.

We are on day 4 today. Some more tests were run today and there still seems to be some weak infection still present. Brad will continue to receive his antibiotics and will probably be moved to oral antibiotics when we go home.

Things have been pretty crazy the past week. We have been so blessed by our ACC campus community stepping in to help with our sweet girls, giving us rides to and from the hospital, sitting with Brad, visits and all the love shown to us. I don’t know what we would have done without all this! And for so many of you all around the world who have prayed with us for healing, peace, and comfort, we can not thank you enough! Your messages mean so much to us. We have been overwhelmed numerous times this week by the ways you have all been a blessing! Thank you!

I’m so very thankful Brad is improving and that we can clearly see God’s healing power at work!

Our prayer now is that the antibiotics will do their job to completely get rid of this infection. Please also pray for our girls. This has not been easy for them, but I’m so thankful I know they are in good care. We are all looking forward to being together again!

Sweet Caroline Turns 10

Today was my sweet Caroline’s 10th birthday! How fun turning 10! Double digits! A decade of a life worth celebrating!

Caroline was born in Abilene in January. Actually, she was due on Christmas Day, but decided to stay inside 13, as in THIRTEEN, more days! That is a loooong time when you are the pregnant momma!

I was thinking today, as we were melting away on this hot summer day in Swaziland, many kids are born in a particular season and often have a birthday party according to the season. Like Caroline, who was born in the winter, most winter birthday are winter type things, like the snowman party we once had. Same with summer birthday parties. Many are centered around summer type things.

But, when you move to the other side of the world, you get to experience the opposite season for your birthday. All of a sudden your birthday that falls in the dead of winter is now smack in the middle of summer. Just another part of this life we live.

I’m really thankful God gave Caroline to us! She is kind and helpful and a super great kid! I’m thankful she gets to experience birthdays on both sides of the world and that we get to be a part of it with her! We love you Caroline!

Communication Fun

My oldest daughter told me about this over lunch today. It made me laugh and I thought it would be a funny story to remember one day. Here is the conversation.

E: Caroline and I were speaking in Pig Latin a few days ago at the playground. I thought it would be funny to tell the other kids (meaning the campus children) it was called Oinker Latin. So now that is what they call it. I told them we learned it in America.

Me: Oinker Latin. That’s funny.

E: Yeah. But somehow they got a little confused and now they think Oinker Latin is the name of the language we spoke when we lived in America (instead of English).

Me: (laughing hysterically). That’s REALLY funny!

Always fun times trying to figure out each other’s cultures!!

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

THIS! This picture! This is one of my favorite pictures. This picture means so much to me. Two years ago, when my Dad was very sick and I was not sure our family would make it from Swaziland to Houston, I really wanted to tell my Dad that we loved him very much. I’m not sure how it came about exactly, but we use the sign language for I love you a lot. So, I decided our family was going to gather up and take this picture and send it to my Dad. Someone was there at the hospital with him and they could show it to him so he could see his girls and be reminded how much we loved him (and Brad too!). Nice idea! But really hard to pull off. I’m not sure how many tries it took me to dry my tears and be ready for a picture. I know I’m smiling, but my heart was breaking.

This picture. So much has changed since this picture. Many things change in two years. However, there are SO many things that have remained the same. Love, memories, faith, family, joy, life. I cherish the memories I had with my Dad. I’m so thankful for his life and example. I’m thankful my girls got to know him and that he loved Brad (maybe almost as much as I do). I’m thankful for the treasures I have tucked away in my heart that comfort me and bring a smile to my face and sometimes tears to my eyes.

This picture. This day. Lots of emotions! Today I remember a great man, my Dad, and a life well lived!

Real Questions Real Life

So, the other day as my children were all busy doing school work, I took a few minutes break to scroll through Facebook. A friend of mine, who also lives in Africa, had posted an article that caught my eye. You can read the article here http://michelephoenix.com/2015/06/35-questions-to-ask-your-missionaries/. From the moment I read the title and just glanced at a few of the questions in random order, I felt the need to write down my thoughts. Something hit me like a ton of bricks, again.

You see, I am a “missionary”. I’ve left my home, extended family and friends. There are many things that go on back home that I don’t know about. Things go in and out of style, fashions change (you all know how much I’m into fashion, right), so much life happens and manny times I don’t even have a clue what all I’m missing. If it weren’t for Facebook I’d probably be completely in the dark.

But the thing that hit me when I read the question about being concerned about my child’s faith or concerns about their health is these things are SO real to me. There are many question in the list of 35 questions that are hard to answer. They are hard to answer anywhere you live, but they have been really hard to think about and answer for me, the one who chose to move my family to Africa.

Let’s be honest. Things are much different here from where I come from. I love it and I am beyond grateful for the life we live here, but it is not easy. When we go back to the States to visit it often hits me hard. Most people don’t know what to ask us or what say to us. They know we live somewhere far away, but what exactly do you say to someone like me walking down the hall at church or passing by in a crowded place? I don’t blame anyone. I wouldn’t do any better. Sometimes we can spend time with family and friends and not really get past if we have lions where we live or other surface questions like that.

No, I don’t want to get into every detail of my life with everyone I talk to. I often don’t even know how to just strike up a conversation with someone to tell them what our life is like. Where do you even start? If you have been to Swaziland for a visit you have a better understand of what life is like, a starting point. If not, I find it hard to just describe it. It’s like a “you have to be there” kind of thing.

For me, these questions and the answers that follow are so real. I do struggle with trying to figure out what is best for my children. It is a challenge to raise children in a culture where they are not valued. It’s a struggle to find a church where I feel like they are accepted as part of the body of Christ. It is scary when one of my children get hurt or sick and I don’t feel like I have any good option for medical care. It’s awkward to stick out like a sore thumb everywhere you go, to have to answer and explain to the locals that we homeschool, to be noticed, and stared at all the time.

Then there are the questions about having our needs met, spiritual, relational, etc. That is a whole other set of hard questions and answers. I’ve thought many times about what our needs are. People want to help, really they do. But what can I tell them? There are things we want or need, but (for example) how exactly do we say that the thing we really want or need the most is for someone to babysit our kids…for an extended period of time? We want a break. We want to catch our breath so we can keep doing what we feel we are called to do. We love what we do, but we get tired. It is hard to visit the States and travel around with our family and find a babysitter in a country where we don’t live and maybe even in a city where we have never lived. It’s the things we aren’t asked and it’s the things we don’t say.

These questions seem like they would be asked my someone who really wants to know. Someone who cares, not just about the lions or the grocery stores we have, but about us. Honestly, it would be hard to answer them. They are loaded with so many answers that come from difficult choices we have made, and honestly sometimes we question what is the best thing for us, our family, our children. We certainly don’t have it all figured out. What are our “missionary kids” going to turn out like? We don’t know. We hope and pray that we are doing the right things, but who really knows? Hard answers. Uncertainty. Challenges. Doubt. Fears.

Maybe all these thoughts are trying to say that even though we live on a different continent and many people have not been here nor may they ever, we still have a need to be known and sometimes you just want a safe place to let it all out. Not to everyone. Not all the time. We are blessed to be doing the work we are doing. We want to share all about it. We want you to know. But we also want you to ask. I don’t want to be that person who goes around always talking about living in Africa and people just roll their eyes, shrug their shoulders and think to themselves “here she goes again with another story about Africa”.

This article about 35 questions really struck a cord with me. There is so much to tell. Things are so different living here than anything we have ever known. It is our life and we are figuring it out as we go. So, if you see us again, and you are interested in knowing more about us, then maybe these questions will be helpful. Maybe they are a starting point for some deeper conversations. Maybe they will help us realize that others, no mater where they live, have struggles and things they are dealing with that maybe no one ever asks about. And maybe they want to share those things, but maybe they want to be asked.

May we all be people who care deeply for one another, who seek relationships with others, to know and to be known.

Story Time

So, yes, I know the picture is crooked.

A few weeks ago I started doing a story time with all the children on campus. Big or small it does not matter to me. Anyone interested is welcome to come.

I have been wanting to do this for a long time. I’ve seen the need. I know how important it is to read to children. I know how to read. I have a lot of children’s books. I love these children. So, why not? Well, my answer was because…I have never made an announcement. Lame, huh? I finally decided to just do it! I made sure the parents were aware it was going to start and that is just what we did.

To make it as stress free as I can, I have the children come to my house and we sit in the grass under a beautiful, shady Jacaranda tree and we just read books together. I have actually thrown in a few songs like Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, just to break up the sitting and get a little energy out. You all know we have to speed it up as we sing and the children seem to like it! I always ask if they want just one more book, thinking they might be getting bored, but I’m always answered with a hardy “YES”!

Last week as I was introducing The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, I asked them if they knew about caterpillars. (Although I have tons of children’s books, it is sometimes hard to find ones that seem like these sweet children in Africa could relate to. So many common things in American books are not common in Africa. Like mail boxes or mail men, certain animals and a whole host of other things you may not have thought about before. I do think it’s good to introduce them to new things, but I think they should also be able to relate and learn to love to read or be read to in the process.)

Back to last week. As we began to read about caterpillars I asked the children if they knew about them. They all got excited and started talking at once. YES, they did know about caterpillars, because they eat them! Of course, I knew that. I guess I just forgot. In one big jumbled voice these excited children were trying to tell me all about finding the caterpillars, how they put them out in the sun to dry, and then when they are dried how they fry them and how tasty they are! I chose my words carefully to make sure I did not say something like “that sounds good” or, “oh, yummy”. I thought in that moment, if I say something that seems like I might enjoy this tasty snack too, I might have all these wonderfully tasty caterpillars being given to me.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I might eat them too. I’ve never had the opportunity, although Brad has tried them. The verdict: very salty! However, I am okay not eating them and if they are a special treat for so many I would much rather those who already enjoy the caterpillars to get to have the tasty snack!

This story is only one small reason I so love reading to these children. I don’t know how much they are read to at home. We do have a library on campus. But what I do know is their excitement and giggles at seeing the pictures and listening to what happens in the story is the best! Their faces of amazement when the tiny caterpillar eats through one apple on Monday, two pears on Tuesday, three plums on Wednesday, four strawberries on Thursday, five oranges on Friday, and ALL he eats on Saturday; it’s priceless!

We talk about the ways things work in the books, like how the sheep is sheared and all that can be made from the wool. We talk about the different animals we have seen and the noises they make. We learn new words. We count. One time I even got up and imitated how to tap dance to try to explain tap shoes. I’m sure anyone who happened to be watching me as they walked by got a good laugh!

Although the story time is open for anyone, I thought maybe the older kids like 10 and up would not be interested. Maybe they are not. Maybe they just come to hear my funny sounding voice, I don’t know. But, they come. And they seem just as happy and excited as the younger crowd. Some of the younger children don’t even speak English. But they will be soon (and not just because of story time)! So far, all of the children on campus have come and continued to come.

I really love this time I get to spend with them. I could do it all day! And after we read together several of the children want to stay around and look at the books again. Some are readers, some are not. But they enjoy getting to go through them at their own pace.

I’ve made some new friends with some of the children that had not exactly had much to do with me yet. Now they follow me around and show up at my door many times a day asking to come in and play. And I love it!

I’m really thankful I made the announcement! I’m thankful the children want to come. I’m thankful I have books that I can share and read and reread! I’m really thankful these children have parents who are taking classes and working so hard to further their education. I’m really thankful these children are seeing and learning things that many other children their ages are not seeing…the example set by their parents as they attend ACC. I’m really thankful I can have a very short amount of time each week to be with these children in simple ways. No crafts involved, thank the Lord! I’m very thankful!

Are you like me? Do you want to do something very simple, but you just haven’t made the announcement? Or is it just me?

To many more hours of story time with some really great children…

The Day the Bees Attacked

This post is dedicated to Caroline who now has a great story to tell…

Many of you have heard this news already, but because I am trying to keep an account of our adventures in Swaziland to one day pass on to my girls, here is the story.

It was Tuesday. My girls had been out playing while I worked on some stuff inside. I had just sat down to read for a few minutes when Annie came running, a bit frantic, into the house. She told me there were bees outside and without knowing there was a problem I just told her to stay away from them. About this same time, Ellianna came running in the house. To be honest, I don’t really remember what she said or what I was thinking, but she also was saying they were covered in bees.

And she was right. Annie and Ellianna both had bees crawling all over them. I somehow looked out the window and saw Brad taking care of Caroline outside. He had her at the tap and I think her head was under it. I’m not sure if that is what gave me the idea or not, but I told the girls to go to my shower and just turn on the water.

During this time I had someone in my house cleaning my floors. They had just finished cleaning my bathroom and the floors were just mopped so they were very slippery (and clean) as we were all running around the house.

I quickly followed my girls to the shower where we proceeded to get the bees off of them. In the process, Annie was getting stung, but only by about three bees. The bottom of my shower was covered in dead and dying bees. I grabbed a bottle of essential oil and began putting it on the stings. Somehow in this whole ordeal, Ellianna managed not to get stung.

After I got the girls some towels I went to check on Caroline. At first I could not find her and Brad. They were in the other bathroom pulling out stingers from Caroline’s whole body. As in a hundred of them. Her arms, legs, torso, front and back, face, and the hardest place of all to get stingers out, her scalp. Caroline has long, beautiful hair and it is almost impossible to find a stinger in there.

She was calm, but she looked very pale and was becoming lethargic. She just kept saying she needed to sit and lay down. At this point, I still did not know what had happened. I told Brad that we needed to call Dr. Bob, a doctor that we know here, and Brad told me he was actually up in Brad’s office. So I sent Brad to ask if he could come take a look at Caroline. He came, but admitted he didn’t really know about bee stings. He is an OB/GYN. Dr. Bob checked her over and told us if some type of allergic reaction was going to happen it probably already would have. This kinda made me feel better.

As he was examining some of the stings he also checked in her ears. Good thought! He said something about a bee being in her ear, but Brad and I thought he was joking. We just kinda laughed. But, no, really, there WAS a bee in her ear. It was so far down in there that only its stinger end was showing. Dr. Bob got his doctor size tweezers and pulled it out. Thankfully that one did not sting her!

As we did all we could do to get the stingers out and after Caroline got a bath, she started saying that her stomach hurt. She got into bed and quickly fell asleep. Not long after being in her bed she began vomiting. She was feeling pretty rough, had taken benedryl and tylenol and I wasn’t exactly sure what was causing the vomiting. Or, it could have been all the bees stings…

Anyway, the vomiting later turned to diarrhea, which continued to concern me. Her symptoms kept changing. I guess her body was just trying to get rd of all the poison.

I was asking her so many questions, about her breathing, her throat, her head, if she was having any other problems. I’m sure she wished I would just leave her alone.

That night Caroline and I both slept in the living room. I wanted to be near her and be able to check on her easily. She seemed to sleep pretty well that night. There was one moment where she sort of woke up and was saying something about something being in her ear. I don’t know if she was dreaming or if it still felt like something was in there but she went right back to sleep. I on the other hand kept getting up to check on her all through the night. Just wanted to check to make sure she was breathing okay.

Well, I was thankful that Caroline had made it through the night with little troubles. By morning she was very itchy and the places where she had been stung were red and swollen. She looked terrible. Not her face, but her body. She looked like she was miserable, but she never much complained. We tried to ease the itching, but that is hard to do. She also woke up with a fever.

Through this whole process Caroline was a champ! She was sweet and didn’t even complain much. It took her some time to recover and for the itching to stop, but, thanks be to God, she is fine now.

I realize I haven’t told the story of how my girls got attacked by the bees. It wasn’t until this point that I really got a full story either. You see, as Brad was helping Caroline he too got stung. So, everyone in my family (except for me) got a dose of benedryl that night and they were all conked out by the time things settled down.

So, here is the story of the actual attack.

Caroline and some of her friends were riding bikes on a road leading through campus. There was a tree near the road that had a hive of bees. On this particular day the campus was being mowed and it appears that somehow the mower must of disturbed the hive.

The person on the mower told someone as they were going by down the road, “bees, bees” but the person didn’t think too much of it. Until they started coming for them. They ran inside along with another student to get away from the bees and with only a few stings.

I guess about this time Caroline came riding along the road with a friend and the bees surrounded her and the friend. They jumped off their bikes and started running and screaming. Brad heard them from his office, but thought they were just playing. Then he realized that was an emergency kind of scream and thought maybe they were running because they had seen a snake. As he looked out the window he saw the bees covering these tow precious children and swarming around them.

Brad ran out of his office screaming “They’re covered in bees!”, but I don’t guess anyone knew what he was talking about. There were many people in the office and gathered around outside talking. As Brad ran out screaming, Caroline and her friend ran to the office screaming. They met together and Brad took Caroline into the bathroom because it was the closest place to water.

At this point the bees are all in the office and people are shutting the doors and windows trying to keep more from coming in. No one really knows what to do. Brad is trying to get them off of Caroline (they are covering her). He took off her shirt and was basically just beating her with it to get the bees off. It was not really working so he told her to run home as fast as she could. They both took off running and went home to try to get a better water source. That is where I found them under the tap outside our house. The bees were stuck in her hair and Brad was also getting stung in the meantime.

Needless to say over the next few days anytime any of us heard a buzzing sound we were a little on edge. Caroline still gets nervous when we see a bee. The girls stayed inside over the next few days and I wondered if they would be scared to go out. Eventually, at different times, they did finally venture out again.

I’m so very thankful that Caroline is okay. I was quite worried about her! Things could have been much worse!

For those of you that knew of this situation, thank you for your prayers and encouragement! Just this week Caroline got a card in the mail from a ladies class at Memorial letting us know they were praying for her. We appreciate those things so much!!!

And now to stock up on benedryl…

Still Thankful in December

It is hard to believe that December is already upon us! Things are busy and it seems time is passing so quickly. It is a little (or maybe a lot) hard to wrap my mind around Christmas in summer, like it will be in Swaziland, but maybe that is for another time.

Now I want to jump back to Thanksgiving and since I am keeping this blog as a “journal” for our family, to post a few pics to remember.

We had a fun Thanksgiving meal with our family and friends. We had about 24 join us for a “potluck” style meal. I asked everyone to bring a specific dish so we could have the thanksgiving necessities covered! It turned out great! We had fried turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (all homemade from our friends garden, even down to the fried onions on top!), fruit salad, mac and cheese, and rolls. Maybe next year we need to include some more veggies? I don’t know, but it was all delicious! And of course we had several kinds of dessert.

As we were planning for this time of fellowship, I struggled because I wanted to do some intentional activities, but I did not know exactly what others would want. We had a mixed group of people and I did not want to weird anyone out. But, I wanted to specifically focus on some meaningful things during a time of feasting with a thankful heart.

A year or so ago we went to a craft market in Durban. We had been looking for a good solution for a christmas tree since our tree was made of books (yeah, we tried that thing you see going around Facebook…hideous!!!) and happened upon a small tree made of metal, wire-ish something. We thought it could be our Christmas tree, but also could be used year round if we wanted to. We got it and a few ornaments and brought it home.

I decided to make this a “thankful tree” for thanksgiving (of course, I got this idea from someone else) and Brad printed off some thankful tags for us to use. We invited our guests to participate with us in giving thanks. It was cute and fun.

Another intentional activity we set-up was a (cutting board) of candles on our thanksgiving table. I wanted a way to remember those special people that were not able to be with us, family far away and those who have passed on. All of us gathering on this Thanksgiving day are in a unique situation living in a foreign land. I’m sure we were all missing many loved ones on this day. Days like this bring those we miss and love and hold dear to the front of our minds! I just wanted to remember and honor those people. As we sat down to eat those that wanted to could light a candle to remember. I liked this. There are those I never want to forget!

All in all we had a fun day. I’m thankful that even though we are far from home we still have people on this side of the world that we can call our friends! And people that know what Thanksgiving is! Although we never found any cranberry sauce (might have to have a do over?) we enjoyed the blessings of the day!

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And for fun…our book Christmas tree from last year 🙂

Anyone There?

It’s been a while. A long while. No promises that I will do better at blogging or any of that stuff. I’ve thought that since it has been so long since I’ve posted something here I need to catch up in some sort of way. I don’t really know how to do that. I’m just gonna jump in…today, and we will see what the future holds.

We continue to be blessed living in Swaziland. A lot of life has happened since my last “regular” posts. We’ve had a visit to the States and are almost at the end of another semester. Graduation time again! It is always a happy and sad time. Goodbyes are never easy, but we are so proud of the students leaving ACC. Their communities will be blessed by them!

This week we are preparing for a Thanksgiving meal. A crowd to be exact. Old friends and new. I’m excited to be able to share a feast together. We will certainly miss being with our families on “that” side, but are thankful that we have those we love on “this” side too. However, I can’t find any cranberry sauce so I’m not sure our meal is really going to count.

The weather has been wonderful since we returned in September. Today feels a lot closer to summer weather. The kind that makes you start questioning if the planned activity is going to make you too hot or not. Or if the idea of cooking something in the oven seems worth it because of how much it will heat up the house. But alas, here we are. I’d love for Thanksgiving day to be nice and cool so we can pretend it’s fall (I hung up a fall “wreath” for goodness sakes), but I’m not holding my breath. But I am thankful for the cool weather we have had so far!

As always, we love to hear from you! It may not seem like much, but a word from someone really brightens our day. To think someone remembers us and is thinking about us AND lets us know it…it really means a lot!

And, by the way, we do accept Christmas cards… 🙂

January 11

January 11. A day that has for my whole life been special. A day I have not ever forgotten. A day that for 34 years I have celebrated my Dad’s birthday. Today is January 11. My Dad’s birthday. Today is also 6 months since my Dad has gone home.

I miss him. Oh, how I miss him. I want to pick up the phone and tell him happy birthday. I want to hear his voice on the other end laugh and be so happy that I called. Even better, I want to be with him to celebrate.

Most of my life my Dad and I have celebrated our birthdays together. Being only 6 days apart it has worked out well. We have had some really fun birthdays. I remember winter picnics at the park cooking out and everyone standing around freezing.

I miss him. Even though we are not together for our birthdays anymore, January 11 will always be a special day of remembering the first man that I loved…my Dad! I sure am thankful for all the ways he blessed my life and the times we shared together.

My heart is heavy but forever full of joy that I have so much to celebrate on January 11…and each day.

Happy Birthday Dad. I love you and miss you so very much!!