Catching Up

For the past few weeks we've been catching our breath, which has been much needed.  For four months prior to this we were going going going and rarely taking care of each other let alone ourselves.  And now God has graciously given us some time to catch up and say hi to each other and spend time together and take a breath.  It's been very good.

Here are several snapshots from the past few weeks.


Home Church

Whenever Eli is on-call for the weekend, I avoid taking the kids to church by myself (read: I avoid the chaos of managing at least two kids fighting over who gets to sit on my lap and the inevitable chasing of Asa up and down the aisles), and choose instead to do Home Church.  We pull out several instruments (many of which are makeshift instruments using toys) plus our djembe and guitar.  I bought the djembe at Maasai Market in Nairobi, and we eventually decided to spend money on a guitar since we left Eli's guitar in America and realized we really wanted one available.  So we make a joyful noise unto the Lord during Home Church, or at least a noise :)  And one time recently we decided to stay home for Home Church even though Eli wasn't on-call.  It was great!

Picking Carrots

We harvested carrots in our garden!  We had a TON of them, and there's no better way to dig up carrots than to send in two dirt-loving boys to do the job.  It was a highlight of the week :)

Eli's Birthday

Eli turned 35!  It was a quiet celebration since he was sick and on-call for OB (which means he was gone most of the day - Kenyan women have babies like it's their job and keep the docs quite busy!).  But the boys made him birthday cards and he had a couple presents to open, including a new fantasy book I ordered and had his cousins bring over when they came to visit (thank you Ben and Ryan!!!) and a new Minnesota shirt from Eli's parents.  Even at 35 it's nice to have a couple presents :)

Bubba in the Kitchen

Asa has discovered how much he loves to help in the kitchen.  This Bubba loves to stir, loves to taste, and loves to make a mess!  He especially loves to make cookies, but who wouldn't?  Sometimes I have to be super sneaky when I'm cooking because if Asa realizes something's happening in the kitchen he wants to be involved, and I must confess that sometimes I prefer to accomplish my task without his "help" :)

 Asa Bubba

Speaking of Bubba, this kid is embracing toddlerhood head-on and voices his many opinions forcefully.  He was such a babbler as a baby and we always anticipated that he'd have a lot to say whenever he had words to use, and that is proving true!  His language is developing at a rapid rate and this little man has lots to say.  And although he can be a little punk sometimes, he's mostly still his adorable self, giggling and squealing and flashing those dimples :)  I tried to get a cute picture of him the other day, but he was most uncooperative.  The second picture below cracks me up!  But check out that dimpled smile with the chameleon :)

Outside Fun

Several other MKs have scooters and ripstiks and are regularly riding along the sidewalk in front of our house.  One day we borrowed a couple of the small scooters for Caleb and Kai to try.  Caleb was a bit nervous but eventually gained some confidence and wanted to do it by himself.  Kai was all about it from the start but hasn't figured out how to ride by himself yet.  Scooters can be tricky!  But it was a fun time and felt like such a normal American experience.

And every once in awhile we have a picnic lunch right outside our house.  When you live/work/school at home and the weather is virtually perfect every day, there's no reason not to!  Usually we'll have sandwiches and such, but this particular day we didn't have bread and I couldn't pull together anything else easily, so we had a lunch of popcorn, apples, and cheese.  Lunch accomplished.  Cooking from scratch all the time can be exhausting and sometimes it's just necessary to have meals like this!

Daddy's Home!

These are good days.  Eli's been home more often and the fun always increases when he's around.  We have a firm "don't beat up Mom" rule in our house, but the boys are welcome to wrestle with Daddy and roughhouse to their heart's content!  Dads are so important for that, and the boys have been enjoying his willingness to indulge their wild hearts :)

So we are thankful for times of rest and recovery.  There's a reason God ordained the Sabbath, and why Jesus went off by Himself to rest and to pray.  Even though we're still working and teaching and parenting, these days feel like a rest compared to the past several months, and we are grateful.