10 Months

Shirley is in the double digits!  This is the first month where I've truly thought, time is flying. I can't believe she's already 10 months old.

In an outfit from her namesake, also known as Tilly.  :)  My little French girl.

This month was exciting because our friends, the Hodzi's, visited from Zimbabwe!  For those of you who don't know, Dany lived with us for 6 months my senior year of high school.  After 6 months she went back home to Germany and than she returned to go to the Master's college where she met her husband, Thomas.  Thomas is from Zimbabwe and they moved back there when he finished seminary to be involved with full time ministry.  (I basically copied her life.  ;) 

This is the best shot I got of Joel.  It was so fun to hear him rattling off in German.  I hadn't seen him since he was about Shirley's age and I had never met Aleithia.  (I know I'm spelling that wrong!)

The two girls with sweet Dany.

Don't you think they could be sisters??

Aleithia's so beautiful!

And the big accomplishment this month?  Standing with no hands!

Book Review

My friend, Jennifer, wrote a book.  

Everyday Poetry: Looking on the Bright Side of Life

When I think of Jen, two words come immediately to mind; friend and funny.

Jen deeply values friendships and she is a faithful friend herself.  She regularly hosts get togethers, whether it involves coffee at a local coffee shop or dinner and a movie at her house.  She cares for others and this is seen in her thoughtfulness.  
Jen is also really funny.  She makes me laugh in a way that few others do.  She uses her wit and sarcasm to form a creative sense of humor.  

Why am I going on about these two character traits of hers?  Because they shine forth in her book.  

In "My Forever Friend and Sister" she demonstrates how great friendships can be made within one's own family.  A Record of Rights reveals how friends can show us our own sin in a helpful way.  An Entirely Lovely Afternoon and Twilight reflect her enjoyment in spending time with those close to her.  

Jen's sense of humor is shown in poems like To My Headache, The Subtle Dangers of Whipped Cream and in one of my favorites, The Fugitive - a poem about a weird dream come to reality, a cheeseburger dropping by for a visit!  

Her creativity with words is seen in Harry the Canary, Questions Over Brunch and Unexpected Endings.  

While Jen excels with the unexpected and "experimentations on traditional form", you will still find the occasional traditional poem with beautiful word imagery in Unexpected Bougainvillea and Dictionary.

I have to admit, my favorite poems are always short and sweet and Jen has a number of these in her book.  I'll share a few with you:

Short Summer Haiku

Coffee in the shade.

Nice afternoon naps.

Fun parties at night.

The Inevitable Mr. M.

'Tis grand

to hold your hand

as we walk through life

as husband and wife.

and one last one,

Little Poem

At the end of the day,

I open the window and lie in bed.

Freedom flows through the curtains,

and cradles my head.

I actually meant to write this review awhile ago, but things worked out perfectly as it happens to be Jen's birthday today!  So, happy birthday my sweet friend!  Thank you for sharing a bit of yourself with us in your delightful book.  

You can order one yourself from Amazon, right here.  And seriously, you should get a copy yourself, if for no other reason than to read about that runaway cheeseburger!

Visitors in the Hospital

 Uncle Jeremy

Okay so he's really her cousin, second cousin or first cousin once removed.  Whatever.  Jeremy always felt like a brother growing up more than a cousin, so he's "Uncle Jeremy."  ;)

 Aunt Donna

Or to be more exact again, Great Aunt Donna.  ;)

 Lauren

 Jenn

 Parker

 Danny

 Reagan

 Shirley's namesake!  We call her Tilly.

 And Papa!  (Mike)

 Kristen

 Margie or Gaga.

And Auntie Sarah.

We were so thankful for our visitors!  Unfortunately, this isn't all of them, but most of them at least.

Illustration

Last night Kwacha and I had some of our favorite younger people over - Alyssa, Parker and Reagan!  All three of them were in our wedding.  We found out that Parker's fave place to eat is Jimmy Dean's.  (Our friend, Lisa, said that this is why discipleship is important.  ;)  So for his belated birthday present, we took him and his sisters there for dinner and then they came over to our place for games and baking.  (Pumpkin cookies to be exact.)

After the baking, Reagan asked for some paper so she could draw.  Later on she asked for some tape so she could...tape.  When their mom came to pick them up she handed me a "package." 

 

Inside were some pictures and notes she made for us. 

After they left and Kwacha and I were just sitting on the couch, Kwacha started talking about Reagan's package and how sweet it is.  We know she made it for us because she loves us.  It's not perfect; the tape was sticking out, the pictures are simple, but we know the heart behind it and that's what made it sweet. 

Kwacha was saying that it's like us with God.  We seek to please Him in obedience, but it's not perfect.  Our righteousness is like filthy rags, but if we've put our trust in His Son and seek to honor Him, he sees our hearts.  It's a good test for me.  Am I doing what I do, seeking to honor Jesus because I love Him so much?  Or am I doing what I do to seek His favor, to try to earn something?

Reagan's pictures were mainly of fruit and butterflies and pizza, but she also drew something else.  I don't know if you can see it below.  It's right below the pizza.

 

I asked if Reagan wrote "donut".  (I assumed that's what "donet" meant.)  She said "No, it's 'done' with a cross."

I just liked how that summed up what Kwacha said last night.  And I didn't really think about it until this morning.  Jesus has already done it all on the cross.  Now we just get to obey Him in love.

 

And here's what Alyssa was doing while Reagan was drawing.

 

Taking pictures of my silly faces.

 

 

 

Wedding Friends!

I have...time!

Wow. I can't believe I have time to post a REAL blog post!



Not only have I been experiencing the busyness of being engaged, but work has been crazy!  Did every. single. one. of you purchase One Perfect Life?  Because I believe every one on the planet bought it.  But, the orders for that book are finally receding and we can now breathe at work.  ;)

Anyway, I feel like a little random update is in order.  (Mainly in pictures for those of you who don't like to read much.  These are definitely not in any particular order.)

 

First off, it was kind of surreal to take a morning off of work to go with Kwacha to fetch our marriage license. What??!!

  Also, really weird to change my last name.  Weird and just a little bit sad.  But not. 

 Another new happening is that Kwacha and I are now going to a new fellowship group at church, Mainstream.  That means that I obviously left high school staff.  :(  One of my small group girls was so kind to bring a cake to my last Bible study.

 And I was able to go to the Shepherd's Conference one day to work at the GTY booth.  Always fun to see my sister on the job. 

 (Wow, I'm just realizing how out of order this post is.)  Below is a picture from the shower that Emily and Melissa Norton threw for me at her house.  These are most of the GTY girls that came, just missing Bridget!

One thing I have really been enjoying are my early morning coffee dates with Em on Tuesdays and Jenn on Wednesdays.  It's amazing how much you can have to catch up on with people that you live with!  I always learn a lot from both of them and I always leave encouraged.

(Jenn is not typically THIS bright.)

 This year was the first year I've ever had a Valentine.  ;)  We celebrated the day after and went to some friends house for a Valentine's Day dinner on the actual day.  By the end of the night I was slightly disappointed that Kwacha had not really done anything or really even said anything about the day.  (Lame of me since we were going to celebrate the next day!)  But that night when I went up to my room after he left, this is what I found. 

 In Febrary, we were able to drive up north and visit our friends, Anton and Marietjie Van Straaten!  Marietjie used to disciple me and it had been three years since I had seen her!  Hard to believe.  We had such a fun time with them!  (Kwacha's just a little dark and the rest of us are super white so it kind of threw off the white balance.) 

 And you can tell I'm getting married soon, because the girls at work hung a veil over my desk.  Or a mosquito net...depending on how you look at it...

Can't believe the wedding is 25 days away!

Twins

So, you'd think Shelsy and I see each other every day or something...



Introducing...

Kwacha  :)

 

 

(This post is particularly for you Lauren Brown.)

 

For those of you who don't know, I have been dating this guy for about 6 months now.  His name is Kwacha Simwaka and he is pretty great.  ;)  He's from Malawi (where we just visited last week with Em...actually he is still there) and he does want to go back soon.

 

These are some things I like about him.

He is humble
He is kind
He is teachable (he puts himself under many wise people)
He is a servant
He is good with kids
He puts others before himself
He is patient
He loves God and His Word
He challenges me
He encourages me
He keeps me accountable
He listens
He shares
He hopes
He trusts
He is caring
I like his smile

Things Kwacha likes:
Soccer
Malawi
Peanut butter cookies
The Amazing Race
To laugh
Theology
Thai food
Learning about different cultures
Trying new things
Music
Rain
And many other things that I am daily finding out  ;)

Post about Malawi to come!

Today

I had a really long posting streak for a while there.

And then it just ... DIED.

I'm not promising anything different for those of you who have been waiting with bated breath.  HA.  just kidding.  (This blog has no comments for a reason.  Don't kid yourself Amanda.)

No but really, sometimes it is nice just for me to have an online journal of sorts to look back on and see some things that God has taught me, or brought me through.  He is so faithful.

I really drifted far away from the purpose I wanted this blog to have.  To recount God's faithfulness and to grow in thankfulness for who He is and what He does.

Not that blogging DIY projects and recipes is bad.  There is definitely a place for that.  It can be so helpful.  But this blog became way too much about ME.

Our days are numbered.  Life is about God. 

I was talking to a close friend (temporary family member) this morning and she was encouraging me that life should not look something like this, for example:

...where you're just trying to stick Jesus into the little cracks of other things that are taking up too much of your thoughts and attention.

 

But this:

 

Jesus is our life and all those other things fit in.  Of course we have to give them some attention, but in light of who Christ is.  They do not become the focus.

I don't know if that is helpful for you, but it really is for me.

This was brought up in light of a conversation about John 15 and what it means to abide in Christ.

I was reading somewhere else this weekend in The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges, that to grow in godliness we need to have a:

 

fear of God

love for God

and desire for God

 

I certainly want those things to be true of me. 

 

This last quote was something that encouraged me today as I often find myself worrying about tomorrow.  It's from John MacArthur's book, Anxious for Nothing, which is actually free right now if you call in to Grace to You for your first time.



“Lack of joy is a sin for the child of God.  By worrying about tomorrow, many believers miss the victory God would give them today.  That is not fair to Him.  ‘This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it’ (Ps. 118:24 NIV).  God gives you the glorious gift of life today; live in the light and full joy of that day, using the resources God supplies.  Don’t push yourself into the future and forfeit the day’s joy over some tomorrow that may never happen.  Today is all you really have, for God permits none of us to live in tomorrow until it turns into today.” -JM

I hope these things can encourage you as they do me! 

Friendies!!

Kristin is in the hospital gown.  (Sorry Kristin, but it IS on facebook and you look beautiful!  Megan is the other adult.  ;)  Devany is the one in the striped pants.  She is Megan's daughter.  January is holding Autumn and they are both Kristin's girls.  ;)
 

So, I am really excited because I get to see not one, but TWO of my best friends next week!  Pretty soon after college, most of my closest friends moved away, and not just one state over or anything, but on to the other side of the country!  Tennessee, Minnesota and Massachusetts!  Geesh.  What's a girl to do? 
 

Well, next Tuesday Megan is coming into town to meet Sara's new baby, Jessa, and I am going to pick her up from the airport.  It will be a quick thing but I am just thankful that I get to see her at all.  I'm thankful that Sara lives here, she is so close to Megan she is practically family.  (They grew up together in Montana.)  And Jason's sister and brother-in-law and their kids live here too.  All GREAT excuses to come out here and visit frequently. 
 

Then next Thursday, Emily and I are flying out to Massachusetts to visit the Cooley's/Fish's/DeFilippo's!  We are staying with Kristin and Megan's parents, the Cooley's, and we finally get to meet January, Devany and the newest girl in the family, Autumn!  Can you tell that I can't wait??!! 

 

 

We are going to a baseball game one evening in Boston, and we may go apple picking in the New England fall weather!  Can you believe that?  I always think of the end of Anne of Avonlea when I think of apple picking, when Anne and the once-evil-turned-nice principal are picking apples.  :)

 

It has been three years since we've seen Kristin (she came out to stay with us when my dad died and was a major help) and even longer since we've seen Megan!  It's hard to believe that it's been that long.

 

So.  I will obviously have much to post about after we get back.  I love my friends and I am so thankful for the chance to see them.