Wonderful Wedding

On Saturday we all went to Scott's cousins wedding in Lancaster.  It was a beautiful day, great venue and lovely ceremony...

Even though the ceremony was less than 30 minutes, Scott kept the kids outside as they were noisy after napping on the car ride and would've been disruptive!

All the decorations were gorgeous..

 

The ceremony space was transformed for dinner and dancing...

The best part about being so close with Scott's family is that the kids all know each other.  So it was basically a play date in nice dresses!!  Here Lainey (flower girl), Emma and Paige all posed happily!

 

Emma was in complete awe of the whole thing!  When she first saw the bride and groom (after the ceremony) she asked me "is that her prince?"  Aww!!

Toby really wanted his picture with them, but was too shy and hung back...

The kids all drank their water from wine glasses so they all felt so grown-up!!

Then it was time for dancing, and after being held back for the traditional wedding dances, Emma was raring to go and the others soon followed...

Emma even got Pops up to dance!!

Toby and Paige called a ceasefire on their usual brawling to dance together a few times.  In the background you can see Emma dancing with Josh, the son of another of Scott's cousins.  

The bride and groom were the kids favorite dance partners, so I had to keep telling them to let them dance together!!

They sat out the Cha-Cha slide a few times, only to give it ago later...

At times the music was too loud for Emma,

But she managed to get Scott to dance, which was more than I did!!

The kids were even the center of the party!

The party went on till 10pm (wedding started at 4:30pm) and we were all exhausted.  Toby and Paige were reluctant to get off the dance floor, but we soon had the kids in their pajamas and in the car for the ride home. 

The kids first wedding was a huge success (in their eyes) and hopefully the rest of the guests agreed.  The photographers did not stop taking pictures of them, which only emboldened them more!

Abby Birthday

If you haven't already guessed, September has been a busy month already, and with birthdays coming up there is no calm on the horizon!  I am learning to embrace the chaos.  It's been a slow realization that I don't want to live my life searching for a "peace" that comes from having nothing to do.  There is a certain amount of healthy tension that comes from having a busy schedule and limited resources.  It's helping me to rely on God, and not sweat the small stuff!

The kind of peace I am searching for is one that I have experienced at the craziest and hardest times of my life.  It's not circumstantial, it's spiritual.  I'm asking God to give me that inner peace on a daily basis, that helps me look for the joy in trials and the lessons in failing. 

One place is great for bringing about tension and that's the beach!  That is where we were last weekend for Abby's birthday party.  The kids were looking forward to it for weeks, especially as we don't get to see her family often.  The kids had so much fun when they came to visit us on vacation at the beach in July.

The weather forecast was volatile, but sun won out, with a healthy measure of strong winds (which claimed the life of our awesome tent!)

The kids had fun, and I got to relax while Scott was the perfect Dad, helping [all] the kids build stuff in the sand!

We got to fly kites for the first time, and they even brought a Doc McStuffins cake to the beach!!

After all of that, we had some dinner with Abby's family before heading home.

Real People, Real Miracles

This is an extract from the blog of one of the missionary families Scott worked with in Ecuador.  I encourage you to visit the link at the bottom to hear how this incredible, true story ended...

The Machete Incident - Pt. I

The Monday morning of September 19th started out fairly normal except for the fact that it was our first day of doing homeschool with Sophia & Zak. If you told me I’d be in the “dog house” by nightfall, I’d be the first to say, “yah, I probably deserve that”! But a night in jail? – that was definitely not on my radar! Here’s how it all unfolded: 

After visiting our local clinic, a young Shuar man knocked on our gate hoping I could help he and his wife get back to their village, Untunkus Norte. She had given birth two weeks prior and was not ready for the two hour trek up hill. For $5, a taxi truck can make it in about 20 minutes, so I called for one, we piled in and I put my bike in the back for the downhill ride home. It was a perfect opportunity to visit with several families who live there, most of them are related to Pastor Eduardo who is an integral part of our ministry team. I enjoyed playing with the kids, checked on Camilo’s new baby boy, shucked some of Umberto’s corn, then had a delicious lunch of cow intestines, corn & yucca prepared by Umberto’s wife, Georgina. We said goodbye then I headed home down the mountain with one short side visit to a neighboring village, San Jose Sur, to pray with a family whose father had just died.

Between the two villages, I rode up on a teenage boy who took one look at me and started running. I didn’t get to say anything to him since he ran off so abruptly. I arrived at Carmela’s house a few minutes later and we had a great 30 minute visit as they shared stories of their father. As I chugged along the beautiful mountain road towards home, I was grinning ear to ear with joy, overwhelmed that I get to be here doing what I’m doing. This peace helped prepare me for what was waiting for me just over the next knoll.

A group of about 20 people gathered in the road/path about 50 yards ahead, machetes are normal to see here, but this time was different. As I approached, it quickly became obvious that I was the subject of their interest. At first I thought they were just upset that I was in Shuar territory so I quickly explained that I was there by invitation of several Shuar who they also knew. That did not matter as it became apparent that a deeper issue was at hand. The teen age boy had run home telling his mother that I had threatened to cut off his head and that I had offered money for heads. This is a line often used to stir up trouble in the jungle because it plays on their long history of fear, superstition, and murderous ways. The boy also had mental issues and I’m sure the adults put him up to much of it. They forced him to stand face to face with me and retell his story. When I heard the phrase, “this Gringo tried to cut my head off”, I knew there was no explaining my way out of it, they were bent on revenge. The boy’s mother was completely wild in my face screaming, “cut off his head, cut off his ears, cut this gringo”! They wanted to see my sword or knife.  Miracle #1 – I always carry a knife but did not this day. I called Ashley on my cell, which happened to have signal (Wouldn’t that make for a great commercial?!) I told her that some people were upset with me and that I needed to get a number of a Shuar pastor who could explain to them who I was. While she was giving me the number someone grabbed the phone as the situation intensified. I never saw the phone again.

Visit richardsonmission.com for the rest of the story.

Stay at home, Mom

Just in case you were interested, I thought I'd let you know what the kids and I got up to while Scott was away!

When Scott was preparing for Ecuador I was not worried about his leaving (love insurance!!) - I was worried about my staying!  He left early Friday morning, and that day we took it easy, went to see The Lorax at church in the evening.  Love family movie night!  But Emma napped and on Friday night, Emma refused to sleep until very late.  

Saturday we had a birthday party at church which lead to no nap and early bedtime!  (Unfortunately that meant Toby was "up" in the night for 3 hours  After letting him watch tv in my room until 5am I put him back in his bed.)

So Sunday, I was a mess and I was doing my very best not to lose my mind!  Thankfully some friends asked us over for dinner, so I was not stuck at home with the kids and nothing much to do. On Sunday afternoon we headed over to Nate's house, and Scott's cousin brought Lainey and Paige for a mega playdate...

Toby is all about the guitar and listening to Garrett, Nate's dad play...

While the girls did their own thing on the giant beanbag...

 Monday I worked.  It was nice to be independent for a few hours, but I knew it would not be fun after being a single parent all week, so I had taken the rest of the week off work!

Tuesday Emma had an audiology test and a pulmonary follow-up.  Her hearing is perfect - the tubes are working!!

In pulmonary the kids got the better of the student doctor and she handed over her stethescope - rookie!

Emma's pulmonologist almost came to tears when he came in and saw (well, heard) how well Emma is doing, especially speech.  He remembered our little blob in the NICU and was speechless, except to tell me there is no reason for him to see her again!  I was quite choked up - it's like saying goodbye to a friend - and crutch!!  

It was great that Scott had free wifi in his hotel down in Ecuador, so I could send him pictures of the kids during the week and keep in touch.

He did call most days, from a payphone or his mobile - there's no escaping technology!  There's no question the kids missed him, and when he would send them a video message, they would watch it over and over.  However, often when he called, they were playing and they either couldn't be bothered to speak to him or just for a moment.  Emma is notorious now for ending a call with "I'm gonna let you go now!"

On Tuesday evening I got the kids to bed early and a couple of my friends came over for the evening.  We watched TV and ate junk food - AWESOME!!

On the days I would normally work, Scott's parents took the kids as normal, allowing me time to run errands, or in this case, head to the Thompson's pool for a swim!!

On the Wednesday night, Scott's cousin, Bevin brought Lainey and Paige over for a sleepover.  The plan: Let the kids play and sleep while we hang out and indulge our Pinterest habit online.  We even made sure everyone could sleep in Emma's room:

The reality was much different! After running ragged, the kids (mainly Toby and Paige, the youngest) refused to sleep and my kids ended up in my bed (where they slept every night thereafter) and Bevin stayed with her girls in Emma's room. 

On Thursday we went to the indoor playground for one of their friends birthdays, and they had a lot of fun...

And then Chick Fil A for lunch!

I was really very nervous about this week, because I know that I find it difficult to sleep when Scott's not here.  Much of that is the safety issue, and we made a decision ahead of time to get a security system installed - for long-term, not just this week!

However, it seems to do deeper than that. I really don't like to be alone, which is odd because for a long time I lived alone and was very independent.  When I started to think about how I handeled that, I realized I had a lot of coping mechanisms.

One thing I still do all the time, is have the TV on.  I like the noise level and distraction it provides.  Music doesn't offer the same thing because there is no visual.

I find myself quite sad, so I look for things to make me happy.  Some people use drugs or alcohol, and I'm not about to go there.  Instead I shop andif I'm home and the kids are in bed there's the internet. Scott did tell me to do whatever I needed to to survive!!

Seriously though, when we're all in bed, every noise or movement drives me crazy.  In the end, it was for my sanity that we resorted to this...

Scott got home the following Saturday evening, with a shirt for Toby, pan pipes and a wooden knife!  (Yes, I took the knife and Toby can have it back when he's older!)

Emma also got pan pipes, and a new dress (not pictured!)

I probably would have discouraged the wind instrument for Emma, if I hadn't already made the mistake of bringing whistles home for both the kids recently.  At first it was apprent Emma would not be able to make it work.  But she was determined and so I showed her how to do it...

Despite the lack of sleep and missing Scott, the week was good for me and the kids.  It was great to be off work again, and there was so much to do that we did not get bored or spend too much time in front of the TV.    And who wouldn't have a great time with these little monkeys...