Memorial Day Weekend

It was the official start of the summer and we celebrated with warm weather, sunshine past 9 o'clock, and campfires and s'mores at night.  I think we can finally - finally - declare that winter has left the Northland for now.  Some of the trees even have leaves already!

The true highlight of our holiday weekend was a long visit from our friend Steph!  We were all friends at Bethel and then Steph and I reconnected at Wheaton for grad school and we even lived in the same apartment building for awhile in Oak Park.  She drove up from Des Moines and spent the whole weekend with us and it was refreshing to spend time with her!  She and I spent quality time with the kiddos at the zoo and Canal Park, watched a girly movie, played games, talked about life, and took hilarious selfies around the campfire in which a certain third party was too tall to fit in most of them.  Steph also cooked a lot while she was here, including making me a birthday cake from scratch!  Needless to say, it was a blessing and a joy to have her here!

And since Steph is a dear friend and feels at home with us, we felt no pressure to make our kids more presentable than normal.  We like to keep it classy around here.  As we stood on the sidewalk to say goodbye to her yesterday, Caleb was rockin' his Spiderman sandals and a diaper...and nothing else. Like I said, we like to keep it classy around here!

This kid actually is kinda classy.  If he wears nothing but a diaper it only adds to his charm :)

Another part of the weekend was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Horn's trailer.  They have a seasonal spot at a campground on Lake Superior and we ooohed and aaahed at their upgraded new rig.  We laughed at their "glamping" because we're pretty sure their trailer is nicer than our house.

It was the perfect way to enjoy the weekend and welcome Summer to Duluth.  (You hear that, Summer?  You are welcome here!  Please don't disappear too soon!)

On the Road to Africa

It's official: after nearly a decade of praying and waiting, we've been appointed as missionaries to Africa!

We spent the past few months working through the various stages of the application for World Gospel Mission.  Then we flew to their headquarters in Marion, Indiana this past weekend to attend an official Candidate Interview, and now they've informed us that we have been accepted as missionaries!  We are ecstatic!

So what's next?  First, 2½ months of residency.  Eli's official last day of residency is August 8!  The countdown has begun!  We will start training and fundraising for the mission field after residency is done.  Eli is currently in the process of signing a one-year contract to work at a hospital 20 miles south of Duluth, and during that timeframe we'll be working through the logistics of getting to the mission field.

Let me answer some basic questions you might have.

Where will you be working in Africa?
Kenya.  Although we don't yet know the specific location, Kenya is currently the only country in Africa that WGM sends medical personnel.  They know that we are called to work in a rural setting and during our interview they acknowledged and affirmed us in this.  We'll be eagerly awaiting to hear where we'll be specifically sent.

When will you be going?
Sometime in the first half of 2016.  We told WGM we'd be able to leave the States by then (assuming we have all our training and fundraising complete).

What kind of work will you be doing?
Eli feels a strong call to train African physicians.  We're hoping to come alongside a current residency program that is expanding the work of training Family Medicine doctors in Kenya.  As for me, I'll be taking care of our boys and eventually homeschooling them.  Once we're in Africa I'll see how else I can get involved in the community.

Will you be working with anyone else?
Yes!  We are teaming up with another family we met through the residency here in Duluth who have a similar calling to do medical work in Africa.  Pete and Angela Olsen have two kids (Ella and Sam) and they've become good friends of ours the past few years.  We'll be doing all our training together and heading to Kenya together.  We traveled to the interview together this past weekend and WGM is supportive of us going as a team.

Eli and Pete (and Kai), & Angela and me

How can we keep track of your progress toward the mission field?
I've created another blog that will focus thematically on missions.  I'll be explaining the process of getting to the field as well as telling the story of how we got to this point.  More than anything, I'll be posting information about missions for anyone interested in learning more.  I'll address topics like intercultural communication, theology of mission, cross-cultural friendships, the global Church, language blunders, etc.  Anything related to missions is game!  The new blog can be found at www.storiesinmission.blogspot.com.  (I'll still be posting here too.  FYI.)

We are incredibly excited to take this huge step forward in the process!  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue walking with the Lord and waiting for His timing to officially move overseas.

Mother's Day

Neither of us remembered that Mother's Day was nearly upon us, so nothing was planned in advance.  Eli had to round at the hospital in the morning but he brought me a waffle for breakfast.  After church we headed straight to Canal Park because it was nice outside and we wanted to walk around.  It was a beautiful morning and it felt good to have the sunshine bless us with its presence!

stopping for a cookie at Caribou

relaxing with the iconic carved moose outside a popular store

After lunch we all took naps.  Let me repeat that glorious news: we all took naps.  There were four of us sleeping at the same time, which was nothing short of a Mother's Day Miracle!

And that was it.  Nothing fancy or extravagant, or even that memorable.  Being with my family and enjoying the present moment was the best way to celebrate.  And, since Eli currently has a week of vacation, it's kinda like my Mother's Day celebration keeps on going since he's around to help and play with the boys this week.  That is the best way to celebrate!

A Little Boy Turns Two

We started the day with cinnamon rolls and the Birthday Boy was very happy :)  A sweet breakfast combined with Curious George on the television is a great recipe for a great birthday!

Then we moved on to presents.  Caleb has figured out the whole "present" thing and asked for more presents later in the day :)

Eli came home for lunch, which was a special treat, and the Birthday Boy enjoyed some snuggles before nap time.

He enjoyed some reading too.  A lot of reading takes place in this house, birthdays included.

After his nap, he saw his new superhero shirt on the dresser and immediately pointed and said, "Shirt!  Shirt!"  He identified everyone - Hulk, Ca (Captain America), and For (Thor) - and I asked if he wanted to wear the shirt.  "Okay!" which is how he answers in the affirmative these days.  He couldn't get his other shirt off fast enough, and he giggled as he donned the superheroes :)  He's never before cared about what clothes he wears.  To have him care so deeply about wearing superheroes...well, let's just say that Daddy Horn was a bit pleased :)

And apparently the Avengers inspire his inner dancer to come out.  There's nothing like dancing to save the day!

 We had a low-key celebration and it was perfect.  Two years of loving this boy has been amazing and we delight in him everyday!

Child Dedication

On Sunday we dedicated Kai in church.  We stood before the Body of Christ and declared our intention to raise him to know Jesus and to pray for him regularly.  We want to follow the example of Hannah, who dedicated her son Samuel to the Lord (1 Samuel 1:27-28), and the example of Mary and Joseph, who dedicated their son Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:21-24).  More than anything we want our son to love Jesus and to follow Him wholeheartedly all the days of his life.

We stood in front of the church to dedicate Kai, but I honestly don't remember anything that was said because a certain toddler made it rather difficult to focus.  We wanted Caleb with us, but it was a long time to ask a little boy to wait patiently through the worship and announcements before the actual dedication began.  By then, our little boy had ants in his pants and beyond.  Sitting still was simply too much to ask of him.  Taking him out of the sanctuary offered only a small reprieve from the wiggles.  Eating fruit snacks was an even shorter reprieve.  That poor boy just needed to run around.  And so we took him to the front of the church just when his patience was spent.  It was a brilliant idea on our parts, let me tell you :)

For about 30 seconds he was distracted by the plants and instruments and I thought we might just avoid a scene.  But oh, those wiggles are wily things and they simply don't go away once they encroach upon a little boy.  So Caleb wiggled in Eli's arms first.  Then he wiggled in mine.  I sang to him in hopes of distracting him.  That worked for about 10 seconds.  In the end, after more wiggles, some whines and cries, and an attempt to escape down the aisle, Caleb settled on one of the stairs and laid on his tummy, kinda rolling around till the end of the dedication.  It was super classy :)

Kai, on the other hand, was an all-star.  He was quiet (minus a couple cries toward the end) and looked about curiously.  I have no doubt that he charmed the hearts of many a lady in the congregation :)

Despite the distraction of his brother, we still declared our intent to raise our son Hezekiah to know Jesus.  It was a joyous occasion and we were blessed to have my parents in town to pray over us and to celebrate!  Our dear friend Angela was also there and we were grateful to be surrounded by people who love us and will help us on the journey of raising Kai in the Christian faith.

We had a lovely week with my parents in town as we celebrated two milestones for our boys - Caleb's birthday and Kai's dedication.  They flew back to Michigan this morning but thankfully we'll see them again next month.  It's always a treat to have Grandma and Grandpa in town!

A Curious George Birthday

Caleb loves Curious George.  He loves loves loves that monkey!  Every morning we watch the show on PBS and it starts the day off right :)  We have a few CG books too.  (We say "CG" around Caleb because if we say the words "Curious George" he will automatically yell "George!" and run to the TV only to be utterly disappointed that he can't watch George and then will in all likelihood have a mini meltdown.)  He also loves to play Curious George games on Eli's iPad.  So it was an easy choice to have a Curious George birthday party this year!  Caleb's birthday is next week but we celebrated today and had a play date at the playground behind our house.

We made a delicious marble chocolate cake for the occasion and although Caleb was a little overwhelmed when everyone sang Happy Birthday, he was happy to blow out the candle and dig into a piece of cake.  (Kudos to Grandma Horn for finding the extra Curious George decor at the Farm!)

He opened some presents and was excited about his new toys and books.  He also got a couple Curious George DVDs of his very own and had a CG marathon this afternoon :)

After a week of cold and rainy weather, we were thankful for a sunny morning that was warm enough to get outside and play.  Some of Caleb's friends joined him on the playground and they had a great time!

Kai enjoyed the festivities too, despite the frowny face in this photo :)

It was fun to celebrate this little guy!  We can scarcely believe it's been almost two years since our monkey-loving, dirt-digging, jolly-jumping boy came into the world to meet us.