I have not blogged in a year. A year of miracles and struggles, laughter and tears, diapers and potty training (!!), traveling and staying put, teaching and learning, and a lot of eating.
I have written dozens of posts in my head, but when I think about logging onto my computer, writing, editing, uploading and posting...I either a) get distracted or b) get overwhelmed (and then post a picture and quick caption on instagram, instead-- follow us there at @ashbyandabram).
2019 was a hard year, to be honest. We have made very little progress toward Kai's adoption. Abram's father died in February, but we were able to make it home in time to say goodbye, thankfully. (We wrote about this on facebook and in our newsletters, so I will assume you already know this. If you want details, let me know.)
We also lost one of our Bible students, some of our friends left the mission field, and in June, James was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Sometimes I look at life from one angle and think: what am I complaining about? Why am I
so sad and tired? Our family is relatively healthy, we live comfortably (by village standards, if not by Western standards), we have a good community here, we have a lot of support from home. There's so much to be grateful for!
Other days I look at this list of burdens, from losing our son two years ago to losing Abram's father this year, and all the losses and hardships in between, and then add full time ministry, adoption stress, and an epilepsy diagnosis on top of that...and I am proud of myself just for getting out of bed each morning. (I'm only half kidding. Getting out of bed is hard. Why do kids wake up SO EARLY?)
In between the challenges and losses and triumphs and celebrations, we have very ordinary things like cleaning up toys, changing diapers, homeschooling David (kindergarten this year!), teaching at the Bible college, and making dinner
every. single. night. (Why is dinner so relentlessly persistent?)
All this to say that this year has been hard, but we are grateful. Grateful that we made it to Canada in time to say goodbye to Abram's father. Grateful that we are only a short flight away from an amazing children's hospital that was able to diagnose James. Grateful that we still have custody of Kai, even if it's not permanent (yet!). Grateful that our boys are happy, and have so many people who love them, and that we always have enough to eat. Always.
I mostly logged into this blog this morning to upload pictures. So here is a quick glimpse of daily life in our home. (Minus Kai...if you want to see his gorgeous face, email or message me!)
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| Being three is hard. |
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| So eternally thankful for a chance to take family photos with Abram's dad before he died. |
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| If you need amazing photos, and live in the Ottawa area, look up SnapHappyottawa.ca. You won't be sorry. |
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| A day at the beach in October. (Does your October look like this? It could, if you moved here!) |
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| Our nanny, Mary, with Isaiah |
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| The boys on Easter morning |
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| Isaiah and Mama |
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| This was at the airport. Flying with kids is hard. I cannot emphasize this enough: it is so hard. |
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| This is our incredible, life giving, reason-we-are-still-on-the-mission-field nanny, Mary |
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| Sometimes James smiles for the camera! |
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| Abram and I do not take enough pictures together. |
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| James is too cool for school |
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| David doing some schoolwork. He is excelling in math. |
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| After going to Canada in February, we got to spend a few days with my (Ashby's) family before coming home. Here are two of our American cousins! |
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| James and David are either best friends or worst enemies, with very little in between |
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| Isaiah |
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| David's first day of school in September |
