Today, loving the Lord my God with all my heart and soul and strength, and loving my neighbour as myself, here in rural Tanzania, looked like answering an emergency phone call at seven am; getting up and changing diapers instead of the hoped-for sleeping in; making a care package of blankets, clothes, bottles, formula and supplements for a friend struggling to feed her newborn twins; hanging long lines of laundry in the hot sun; answering questions like “what happens to spiders after they run away” and “if I get in the bath, will my hair melt?” while answering the door and answering emails; scouring books and websites and messaging friends for ways to help a neighbour who has chronic stomach troubles; paying school fees for clusters of shy and bashful students who come to our door hoping for help; reading through the Psalms on the couch, bible in my lap, while my boys sit next to me and watch a video about cows (and another about gravity); tying Kai to my back while standing over the stove and stirring caramel; problem-solving for Visible Grace from the small screen of my iPhone; fielding requests from maintenance workers on the back porch while Abram meets with a fellow teacher on the front porch; practicing David’s memory verse with him over a lunch of chicken and sweet potatoes; nursing consecutive babies while chatting with two of our college students; filling water bottles and charging phones for neighbours and workers without electricity; sending Kai to the clinic with our nanny to be tested for malaria, and sending David, James, and James’s baby doll along as well, because they want to "go bye bye"; laughing with joy when Mary reports that, at James’s request, the nurse gave his doll a malaria test, too; talking to our lawyer and social work about potentially adopting Kai; planning a certain four year old’s birthday party and inviting our neighbours; planning backup childcare for tomorrow because Abram is preaching and I cannot handle four young children by myself for four hours; and lying in my hammock with David during naptime.
(I wrote this a couple weeks ago on a particularly busy day- so busy I didn't even have time to post it. Today, everything looks similar, but different.)
PS- David turned four!
PPS- I have a few pictures that won't upload, and I am running out of time, and if I don't post this now, I never will, so here it is. I'll try to post pictures another time. Grr.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
Four boys under four
Life has been extremely busy lately. (More than normal, if that's even possible.) In mid-February we agreed to foster a newborn baby. Kai was at least two months premature, and his mom and twin brother died during delivery. Don't google "preemies born at ____" because you will just panic. But if you were stupid enough to google this at, say, 2am, you would (after panicking) start to realize that EVERYTHING about this baby boy is miraculous.
Not only does he fit into our family SO well (We have so many boy clothes! We have an affinity for twinless twins! I have breastmilk to spare!), but he is in perfect health. He was nursing and swallowing and breathing at an age when he should have needed intubation and a g-tube. He was around three and a half pounds when he came to us. Now he's 10 lbs and thriving. Everything we know about him is another answer to prayer.
I was able to manage nights with Isaiah and Kai for two months before I got desperate and we asked for help. We have a rotation of women who are spending the night in our guest room each night, sleeping next to Kai and giving him bottles (both breast milk and formula) so that I only have to get up with Isaiah. They are happy to have extra work and extra money, and I in turn am thrilled to be getting a couple more hours sleep each night. We are trading in our savings account for the sake of my sanity, basically. (I am sharing this lest anyone think I am superhuman and managing nursing two babies every night. I am not.)
David and James absolutely love Kai. Isaiah is busy learning to crawl, stand up, and eat solid foods, so he's been too busy to notice him. In addition to having FOUR BOYS, a new school term started, and I am teaching English four hours a week! Did I mention we are busy? Luckily most of my lesson plans are ready to go, from when I taught two years ago. And I LOVE having an excuse to get out of the house for a couple hours and talk to grownups. In complete sentences! I taught two periods yesterday and not once did anyone mention poop, snacks, spiders or slugs. It was glorious.
Abram finished his dissertation at the end of February, and is waiting to hear if he passed or has revisions, and will head up to Nairobi sometime this month for his defense. He also wrote two articles for publication in theological journals. He has a few revisions left to do on these articles, but overall, his PhD work is ALMOST done. He has been working around the clock, and we are so relieved he's almost finished. We can't wait to celebrate his graduation in Nairobi in July!
James's birthday came and went in March, and we didn't even celebrate until two weeks later, because on his actual birthday we were all sick with the flu. As in influenza, and no, the flu shot is not available here, and oh my goodness we were SO sick. It was bad.
So when we were feeling better, I made him a little cake, and we had a few friends over, and we gave him a train set and some books that we had bought while in Nairobi (thanks mom and dad!). He also got cards from each of his grandparents in North America, so he was one happy and loved little boy.
The months of March and April were extremely discouraging for us. In addition to getting the flu, everyone but me and Kai had malaria more than once. Isaiah has had it twice, David and Abram and James have had it FOUR TIMES. (Sometimes it's a new occurrence and sometimes it's a resistant strain that keeps coming back.) Caring for sick kids is hard, and Abram has so much on his plate in addition to not feeling well. I've also been struggling to believe we are really called to live in this beautiful place, and do work we love, and watch our boys continually struggle with a disease they wouldn't have if we lived in North America. (No one gets sick in the US...right?) Thankfully, the past week everyone has been HEALTHY (give or take a light cold), and I'm feeling a lot more supported and a lot less discouraged. Thank you to those of you who prayed for us and for our health!
I will try to keep blogging every so often. I have also shared more about this adventure on instagram. We are keeping his little face offline for now!
Please be praying for us, if you are the praying sort. This parenting stuff is HARD! Getting malaria is hard! Nursing two babies is hard! Teaching English is hard, because as it turns out, our language is crazy.
Not only does he fit into our family SO well (We have so many boy clothes! We have an affinity for twinless twins! I have breastmilk to spare!), but he is in perfect health. He was nursing and swallowing and breathing at an age when he should have needed intubation and a g-tube. He was around three and a half pounds when he came to us. Now he's 10 lbs and thriving. Everything we know about him is another answer to prayer.
I was able to manage nights with Isaiah and Kai for two months before I got desperate and we asked for help. We have a rotation of women who are spending the night in our guest room each night, sleeping next to Kai and giving him bottles (both breast milk and formula) so that I only have to get up with Isaiah. They are happy to have extra work and extra money, and I in turn am thrilled to be getting a couple more hours sleep each night. We are trading in our savings account for the sake of my sanity, basically. (I am sharing this lest anyone think I am superhuman and managing nursing two babies every night. I am not.)
David and James absolutely love Kai. Isaiah is busy learning to crawl, stand up, and eat solid foods, so he's been too busy to notice him. In addition to having FOUR BOYS, a new school term started, and I am teaching English four hours a week! Did I mention we are busy? Luckily most of my lesson plans are ready to go, from when I taught two years ago. And I LOVE having an excuse to get out of the house for a couple hours and talk to grownups. In complete sentences! I taught two periods yesterday and not once did anyone mention poop, snacks, spiders or slugs. It was glorious.
Abram finished his dissertation at the end of February, and is waiting to hear if he passed or has revisions, and will head up to Nairobi sometime this month for his defense. He also wrote two articles for publication in theological journals. He has a few revisions left to do on these articles, but overall, his PhD work is ALMOST done. He has been working around the clock, and we are so relieved he's almost finished. We can't wait to celebrate his graduation in Nairobi in July!
James's birthday came and went in March, and we didn't even celebrate until two weeks later, because on his actual birthday we were all sick with the flu. As in influenza, and no, the flu shot is not available here, and oh my goodness we were SO sick. It was bad.
So when we were feeling better, I made him a little cake, and we had a few friends over, and we gave him a train set and some books that we had bought while in Nairobi (thanks mom and dad!). He also got cards from each of his grandparents in North America, so he was one happy and loved little boy.
The months of March and April were extremely discouraging for us. In addition to getting the flu, everyone but me and Kai had malaria more than once. Isaiah has had it twice, David and Abram and James have had it FOUR TIMES. (Sometimes it's a new occurrence and sometimes it's a resistant strain that keeps coming back.) Caring for sick kids is hard, and Abram has so much on his plate in addition to not feeling well. I've also been struggling to believe we are really called to live in this beautiful place, and do work we love, and watch our boys continually struggle with a disease they wouldn't have if we lived in North America. (No one gets sick in the US...right?) Thankfully, the past week everyone has been HEALTHY (give or take a light cold), and I'm feeling a lot more supported and a lot less discouraged. Thank you to those of you who prayed for us and for our health!
I will try to keep blogging every so often. I have also shared more about this adventure on instagram. We are keeping his little face offline for now!
Please be praying for us, if you are the praying sort. This parenting stuff is HARD! Getting malaria is hard! Nursing two babies is hard! Teaching English is hard, because as it turns out, our language is crazy.
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| Four month old Kai |
Super-Baba
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| James's birthday party. He was graciously and magnanimously greeting his guests. |
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| James's birthday cake (note big brother standing by so as not to miss anything!) |
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| Mr Cool |
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| Baby toes |
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| James gave himself a black eye...he got in a fight with his crib and his crib won. |
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| I left the watercolours out...whoops |
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| James copied David...sigh. |
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| Isaiah at 8 months |
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| Bookworms |
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| James visited my English class yesterday! |
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Life and loss and everything in between
I have written a thousand updates in my head. I have actually typed out two updates that remained in the draft folder. I keep vowing to blog, giving up, deciding that no one cares anymore, resorting to Facebook for updates, forgetting the whole thing, and then starting the cycle all over.
But Facebook memories reminded me that two and three years ago, I used to consistently update my blog. I re-read one blog entry this morning and realized it's more than just an update of what's going on in our family. Or at least, it used to be.
I used to write because I like writing. I used to capture not only the "where are we now" moments, the "which country are we in and how many babies have we had" moments, but the in-between moments: the homesickness that catches you unaware when you're rinsing dishes in the sink. The life-loving moments that fill your heart to bursting when one of your boys holds hands with his neighbour and leads her gently to the sandbox to play. The when-will-this-end moments that come in waves, malaria on top of colds on top of dirty diapers on top of funerals. The what-did-I-learn-today moments that occur on a daily basis but fade gently into the back of our minds as we fall asleep each night, things that build us up and make us into better people, but don't get written down or overtly observed.
Back when I only had one or two children, I made time to capture all this. And I'm not even sure how many people read this blog, but I realized today how important it is for me. Even if no one reads it, it's there for me, and since I can type faster than I can write, it can be a journal of sorts. Our life here is unusual, and since sleep deprivation causes memory loss, perhaps I can look back on this when I'm old and grey and have adjusted the font on my computer to geriatric size, and I'll sit in my rocking chair and squint at the screen and mutter under my breath about the memories I chose to capture here.
When I'm washing dishes, nursing a baby, or trying to fall asleep at night, and chastising myself about my lack of blogging, I wrestle back and forth: first of all, no one is beating me up about this except myself, and I need to be gracious with myself and "let it go", etc etc. Second of all, can you imagine if I told one of my neighbours about this internal struggle? Me: I just really need to blog, you know? It's been a year. Them: I have no idea where our next meal is coming from...what's a "blog"?
So then the pendulum swings back to "who cares" and "no blog at all". But then I swing back the other way, again, to this: I need to write. It used to be life giving to me. And so I'm going to try. Again. And I may neglect it, again. But that's okay. I can care for my neighbours, and keep perspective, and still make time to write. Right?
Eleven months ago I wrote about our upcoming trip to Nairobi. At that time we were expecting twins. In June of last year, we lost Simeon at 27 weeks gestation, and in August of last year, Simeon and Isaiah were born at 36 weeks. We buried Simeon in September and had a memorial for him in October. All of these things are worth blogging about, and I don't know if I'll ever get around to it. This is one of the reasons I didn't get back to writing- because the things I need to write about were piling up, and I got overwhelmed. And how can I write about the little things if I haven't caught up on the big things? But here we are. I might never get around to writing down all the details of 2017. It wasn't a great year. Our son died.
But so much of that has been captured by camera and by memory. We don't forget the details anytime soon (some I wish I could). Nor will I forget the kindness of our neighbours, our families, our home church and our colleagues. They lifted us up in that time and carried us to this point. I still ache to hold Simeon every day. But the pain has lessened. I wonder, when Isaiah smiles, sits up, or rolls over, what it would be like to watch them both grow. To watch them grow together. To watch James try to kiss both babies, instead of just begging to "kiss Saya?" every morning, noon and night. To discuss a living child with David, instead of talking about where his brother is now, and why he can't play with him just yet. To hold them both. To hold all four of them.
So here we are, nine months after we lost our baby, almost seven months after we brought Isaiah home from the hospital. We are exhausted. We are busy. We are happy. We laugh every day. I cry every other day. Boys are no joke. They climb windows and bring dead beetles to the dinner table and stick their fingers in every single thing you bake. They have big feelings and strong opinions and loud voices and dirty feet. They have the energy of a dozen caffeinated puppies. They hate brushing their teeth.
Abram finished his dissertation at the end of February, which is a huge accomplishment worthy of celebration. He still has to write two articles to be published in journals by the end of May. At that point he will defend his dissertation, and at THAT point he will truly be done. The dissertation is a huge load off his shoulders, but he's still quite anxious to be finished with all assignments, and to move on to the next chapter of our lives. (Which is basically the same chapter we're in now- teaching and child-raising- but without a PhD hanging over our heads.)
We stayed in Nairobi for five months last year, but we've been home in our little village in Tanzania since late October. I made a quick trip to the States with Isaiah in November, which warrants another blog post at another time. Since then, we've been here at home, Abram has been teaching, and I spend every waking moment trying to parent our children, or trying to recover from parenting our children.
Below are a few pictures from the past seven months, everything from the birth of the twins up till now, in no particular order. Next week is James's second birthday, so I'll make every attempt to blog about that in the next, oh, six months or so.
But Facebook memories reminded me that two and three years ago, I used to consistently update my blog. I re-read one blog entry this morning and realized it's more than just an update of what's going on in our family. Or at least, it used to be.
I used to write because I like writing. I used to capture not only the "where are we now" moments, the "which country are we in and how many babies have we had" moments, but the in-between moments: the homesickness that catches you unaware when you're rinsing dishes in the sink. The life-loving moments that fill your heart to bursting when one of your boys holds hands with his neighbour and leads her gently to the sandbox to play. The when-will-this-end moments that come in waves, malaria on top of colds on top of dirty diapers on top of funerals. The what-did-I-learn-today moments that occur on a daily basis but fade gently into the back of our minds as we fall asleep each night, things that build us up and make us into better people, but don't get written down or overtly observed.
Back when I only had one or two children, I made time to capture all this. And I'm not even sure how many people read this blog, but I realized today how important it is for me. Even if no one reads it, it's there for me, and since I can type faster than I can write, it can be a journal of sorts. Our life here is unusual, and since sleep deprivation causes memory loss, perhaps I can look back on this when I'm old and grey and have adjusted the font on my computer to geriatric size, and I'll sit in my rocking chair and squint at the screen and mutter under my breath about the memories I chose to capture here.
When I'm washing dishes, nursing a baby, or trying to fall asleep at night, and chastising myself about my lack of blogging, I wrestle back and forth: first of all, no one is beating me up about this except myself, and I need to be gracious with myself and "let it go", etc etc. Second of all, can you imagine if I told one of my neighbours about this internal struggle? Me: I just really need to blog, you know? It's been a year. Them: I have no idea where our next meal is coming from...what's a "blog"?
So then the pendulum swings back to "who cares" and "no blog at all". But then I swing back the other way, again, to this: I need to write. It used to be life giving to me. And so I'm going to try. Again. And I may neglect it, again. But that's okay. I can care for my neighbours, and keep perspective, and still make time to write. Right?
Eleven months ago I wrote about our upcoming trip to Nairobi. At that time we were expecting twins. In June of last year, we lost Simeon at 27 weeks gestation, and in August of last year, Simeon and Isaiah were born at 36 weeks. We buried Simeon in September and had a memorial for him in October. All of these things are worth blogging about, and I don't know if I'll ever get around to it. This is one of the reasons I didn't get back to writing- because the things I need to write about were piling up, and I got overwhelmed. And how can I write about the little things if I haven't caught up on the big things? But here we are. I might never get around to writing down all the details of 2017. It wasn't a great year. Our son died.
But so much of that has been captured by camera and by memory. We don't forget the details anytime soon (some I wish I could). Nor will I forget the kindness of our neighbours, our families, our home church and our colleagues. They lifted us up in that time and carried us to this point. I still ache to hold Simeon every day. But the pain has lessened. I wonder, when Isaiah smiles, sits up, or rolls over, what it would be like to watch them both grow. To watch them grow together. To watch James try to kiss both babies, instead of just begging to "kiss Saya?" every morning, noon and night. To discuss a living child with David, instead of talking about where his brother is now, and why he can't play with him just yet. To hold them both. To hold all four of them.
So here we are, nine months after we lost our baby, almost seven months after we brought Isaiah home from the hospital. We are exhausted. We are busy. We are happy. We laugh every day. I cry every other day. Boys are no joke. They climb windows and bring dead beetles to the dinner table and stick their fingers in every single thing you bake. They have big feelings and strong opinions and loud voices and dirty feet. They have the energy of a dozen caffeinated puppies. They hate brushing their teeth.
Abram finished his dissertation at the end of February, which is a huge accomplishment worthy of celebration. He still has to write two articles to be published in journals by the end of May. At that point he will defend his dissertation, and at THAT point he will truly be done. The dissertation is a huge load off his shoulders, but he's still quite anxious to be finished with all assignments, and to move on to the next chapter of our lives. (Which is basically the same chapter we're in now- teaching and child-raising- but without a PhD hanging over our heads.)
We stayed in Nairobi for five months last year, but we've been home in our little village in Tanzania since late October. I made a quick trip to the States with Isaiah in November, which warrants another blog post at another time. Since then, we've been here at home, Abram has been teaching, and I spend every waking moment trying to parent our children, or trying to recover from parenting our children.
Below are a few pictures from the past seven months, everything from the birth of the twins up till now, in no particular order. Next week is James's second birthday, so I'll make every attempt to blog about that in the next, oh, six months or so.
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| Playing piano with a friend |
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| David and Isaiah |
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| David and James carrying their baby (dolls) on their backs |
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| Isaiah Immanuel Kidd |
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| Isaiah at one month |
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| Abram and his boys |
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| Isaiah |
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| Playing outside |
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| Isaiah had emergency hernia surgery in October at 7 weeks old. We were thankful to be near a good children's hospital in Nairobi. |
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| Our road trip from Nairobi back to Tanzania with our nanny-friend Mary. |
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| James painted himself |
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| Abram and Isaiah |
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| Abram and boys with our tanzanian family |
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| Isaiah is, in general, an incredibly happy baby |
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| Taking a bath |
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| Abram and boys |
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| David opening presents with friends, on his third birthday, last September |
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| I made Abram turmeric macaroons for his birthday |
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| Abram reading with James |
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| David's birthday |
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| In the hospital with the twins- Isaiah on the left and Simeon wrapped in a blanket |
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| David and James meeting Isaiah in the hospital |
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| Headed home from the hospital |
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| Isaiah at six months |
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Back home
After seven months of travel, thousands of miles, four countries, eight states, two provinces, and too many goodbyes to count, we are finally "home" in our village in Bulima. (It certainly feels like home, but at the same time, it's ALL home- Canada, America- so it's confusing when I use the term.)
Our time in the Northwest US (from mid-December until early April) went by quickly but was thoroughly enjoyable. We loved seeing friends and being a part of our home church again. And of course, my parents loved spending time with David and James and watching them learn and grow. We miss everyone already...
We are grateful for safe travels from Portland to Nairobi, although it was EXHAUSTING. I cannot overstate this. Exhausting. So, so hard. Traveling with toddler boys is hard, in case anyone was wondering. We thankfully had the foresight to rent a hotel during our 12 hour layover in Amsterdam, and we got a few hours of sleep there, which helped...but those 8 and 9 hour plane rides are a DOOZY.
We also spent a week in Nairobi, and visited friends, celebrated Easter, and visited Visible Grace. A week ago we flew to Mwanza, and now are slowly settling back into our house here at the Bible college.
I forgot...
...how hard it is to find good toilet paper here.
...how many ants there are.
...how HOT it can be.
...how slow the internet is.
...that you need to grind your coffee beans first thing in the morning, in case the power goes out.
...how difficult it can be to establish whether or not something in a restaurant is "gluten free".
I also forgot...
...how polite everyone is.
...how gorgeous our front yard is.
...how much everyone loves our boys.
...how big my kitchen is.
...how good it feels to be settled in our own home!
If you haven't heard through Facebook or our newsletter (would you like to get our monthly newsletter? Let me know), I am pregnant with twins! The babies are due in September. This changes our plans for the year pretty significantly...more on that later!
We are almost unpacked and are getting re-settled into our house. James and David are sharing a room, which is...eventful. Abram is teaching an intensive, three-week course on Genesis (because we will go up to Nairobi partly through this term), and I am spending my days trying to prepare for twins, trying to keep up with two TODDLERS, trying to remember how to conjugate verbs in Swahili, trying to get some rest, and trying to figure out what to make for dinner every night.
I will try to update again in a few weeks, but for now, here are a few pictures of David and James exploring our house and being best friends:
Our time in the Northwest US (from mid-December until early April) went by quickly but was thoroughly enjoyable. We loved seeing friends and being a part of our home church again. And of course, my parents loved spending time with David and James and watching them learn and grow. We miss everyone already...
We are grateful for safe travels from Portland to Nairobi, although it was EXHAUSTING. I cannot overstate this. Exhausting. So, so hard. Traveling with toddler boys is hard, in case anyone was wondering. We thankfully had the foresight to rent a hotel during our 12 hour layover in Amsterdam, and we got a few hours of sleep there, which helped...but those 8 and 9 hour plane rides are a DOOZY.
We also spent a week in Nairobi, and visited friends, celebrated Easter, and visited Visible Grace. A week ago we flew to Mwanza, and now are slowly settling back into our house here at the Bible college.
I forgot...
...how hard it is to find good toilet paper here.
...how many ants there are.
...how HOT it can be.
...how slow the internet is.
...that you need to grind your coffee beans first thing in the morning, in case the power goes out.
...how difficult it can be to establish whether or not something in a restaurant is "gluten free".
I also forgot...
...how polite everyone is.
...how gorgeous our front yard is.
...how much everyone loves our boys.
...how big my kitchen is.
...how good it feels to be settled in our own home!
If you haven't heard through Facebook or our newsletter (would you like to get our monthly newsletter? Let me know), I am pregnant with twins! The babies are due in September. This changes our plans for the year pretty significantly...more on that later!
We are almost unpacked and are getting re-settled into our house. James and David are sharing a room, which is...eventful. Abram is teaching an intensive, three-week course on Genesis (because we will go up to Nairobi partly through this term), and I am spending my days trying to prepare for twins, trying to keep up with two TODDLERS, trying to remember how to conjugate verbs in Swahili, trying to get some rest, and trying to figure out what to make for dinner every night.
I will try to update again in a few weeks, but for now, here are a few pictures of David and James exploring our house and being best friends:
Saturday, October 22, 2016
World Travelers
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| I got to take my real camera on a walk on one of our last sunny days, to capture the fall colours here on the farm in Renfrew. |
Surprise surprise- I'm behind on blogging again. Lots has happened in the past few months! We are now on home assignment, which is another way to say furlough. Which is another way to say that we are spending time as a family, spending time with extended family, visiting friends and supporters, and hopefully relaxing somewhere in there as well. Living in Africa is draining and difficult- I don't mean to complain, only to explain why we are traveling at this time. We love living in Tanzania, but our mission (AIM) knows that people need "down time", where they are not "on". Living in a village has us in the spotlight almost constantly. We are hopeful that these next few months give us time to reflect, relax, and connect with people who love us and support us in what we do. But I digress- here's what we've been up to lately:
AUGUST (still in TZ) was a really difficult month- all four of us had malaria, and I had strep and a sinus infection, as well. Taking care of sick boys when you are not feeling well is HARD. Abram was very busy, wrapping up work projects and dissertation research. The boys were busy exploring, growing and learning, and I was busy trying to pack and prepare for our upcoming trips. We left our home in TZ on August 31, to drive to Nairobi.
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| Moments before we got in the car for our 11 hour drive! James accurately demonstrates how we all felt at 6am. |
SEPTEMBER was a whirlwind of travel. We spent a week in Nairobi, a week in Oklahoma, and a few days each in Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota. Highlights included a Kidd family reunion in the Ozarks, a Rauch family wedding in Indiana, time with friends in Illinois, and time with each of Abram's brothers. The boys did remarkably well with the constant upheaval, but I think they are glad to be settled now.
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| In OK with cousins. We love getting to see D get to know his family! |
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| The Kidd cousins, together for a crazy and fun weekend in Missouri |
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| My brother and James, at my brother's wedding |
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| Ashby, David and the VG kids |
In Indiana, the day after my brother's wedding, David turned two! We were so grateful to be with my family, since last year we didn't have either biological family with us. It was simple and perfect- a song, a cake and a couple gifts. (Shout out to my sister for providing a "2" candle and a "happy birthday" banner.) We sure love this growing, talking, squirming, mischievous boy!
OCTOBER has mostly been here in Renfrew, in Ontario, at Abram's parents' farm. We've been here 2.5 weeks now, and the boys seem pretty settled in and comfortable. They are finally sleeping in their own rooms, after 5 weeks of sharing rooms and beds on the road! David loves playing outside and helping Grandad with chores, and James loves the extra attention and cuddles he gets from his grandparents...and I love having extra help with diaper changes! James is now almost 7 months, and is crawling and has two teeth. Eek- slow down baby!
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| Picnic lunch on possibly our last sunny day of the year. |
We will be here in Renfrew for 2 more months before flying to visit my family in the States. The time is going so quickly- I can hardly wait to be with my family, but it's hard, because once we leave here, we won't be back for a couple years at least. It's not easy to love more than one home. It's always a balance between enjoying the one you're in (and we have four places we love now), and longing for the one you're not with. But for the meantime, we are trying to soak up every moment here in Canada, while missing and thinking of our friends back in Africa, and looking forward to time with friends in the States.
Though our internet is better here, I'm still finding it hard to blog, because the boys are so busy! Maybe I'll have time to blog more in 18 years or so... (will we still have internet then??)
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| Abram, David, Steve, John and Judy at Visible Grace |
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| Family picture at the wedding |
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| Cousins |
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| On the Kidd farm |
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| Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! |
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| We got to go on a DATE. Thanks, David and Erika! |
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| Chicago Airport Selfie |
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