Six

Today marks six months of being American Africans. SIX MONTHS!!!!

“Wow, that has gone fast,” my conversant commented.

“FOR YOU!” I joked. 😉

In some moments six months has surprised us and in some moments language school feels like a never-ending endeavor. 😉

Six months looks like having enough language to complete our normal needs/wants/tasks without problems, while still forgetting how to congregate some irregular verbs to say something simple like “I have gone to the doctor before.”

Six months looks like preaching and teaching Sunday School lessons. Some sermons even coming with less than 12 hours of notice. HA!

Six months looks like a toddler experiencing some culture shock, resulting in a regression to diapers again, a promise that this is a phase, and more intentional Mommy snuggles. And by the way, this same toddler is reminding me that she wants underwear sometime soon when she does a good job using the potty, so I am encouraged by the grace she has been extended.

Six months looks like knowing what pizza place the family likes and successfully avoiding some other “less delightful” restaurants in town.

Six months looks like moving beyond introductory language to really starting to learn friends’ testimony’s, cultural superstitions, and understanding different ways of life.

Six months looks like looking at future homeschool curriculum so you’ll be ready to order it when the time comes in the next handful of months. (It takes a while to get here, but it’s still an exciting promise of things on the horizon.)

Six months looks like being SO CLOSE to remembering all of Roman’s Road and culturally appropriate questions regarding these verses to engage others in conversation.

Six months looks like celebrating with ice cream while skyping my best friend and her little boy.

Six months looks like a third grader doing 95% of her homework all by herself and casually reading her first grade sister the Portuguese directions to complete her first grade homework. It also looks like two girls enjoying school, but looking forward to returning to homeschool in English (!!!) as well. 😉

Oh sure, six months still has it’s growing pains, frustrations and challenges to rise above.

But six months also finds this country dripping with home, these pot-holed streets and people not so foreign and these hands still open to whatever God would have us learn

here in Mozambique, Africa.

Thank you, Lord, for six completed months.

Happy six months, FPO family!

April 11, 2017 3

The Big 07!

Someone fantastic turned 7 years old yesterday!

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Prior to her birthday, Rachael celebrated with Matt’s side of the family with a cookie cake and blessings from Aunt Ellen and the gang as well as Grandma and Grandpa. Rachael was thrilled to receive an origami book (we’ve already made a butterfly together) and a Snow White doll. Rachael also received two awesome packages in the mail the day before her birthday.

One from her (Great) Aunt Greer revealed a beautiful prairie bonnet that will protect her little head from the future African sun.

And the second package came from Aunt Jes. What was inside? None other than Laura Ingalls Wilder herself. 😉

Rachael is one HAPPY and BLESSED girl!

On her birthday, it was a more normal one with homeschooling, house chores, and a quiet night in. As an added surprise, Rachael got to skip any one subject in homeschool for the day that she desired, so Grammar got the boot. Hehe.

And as per tradition, she got to pick out dinner. This year she wanted to have a candlelight birthday meal so I decked out the table in celebration.

And guess what we ate via Rachael’s choice?

Soft tacos, mashed potatoes and root beer. =) Not all blended of course. 😉

After a giant cupcake happily split amongst all of us, Rachael picked the first Ice Age movie to enjoy her birthday evening. My favorite part of the whole evening is a toss-up between sharing things we like about Rachael’s character at dinner time (though the preschool crowd comes up with some random things) and watching Rachael lose it in hysterical laughter at the stinky diaper scene when the Ice Age characters are trying to figure out what the baby needs. She DIES laughing during that scene at their utter panic as they fumble about to stop the crying baby. Hehe. She doesn’t realize the natural training she’s had with babies and little kids so it makes the scene even more entertaining to her.

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My Dear Rachael,

Happy 7th Birthday!!! Wow! SEVEN! You’re getting HUGE!

I love your heart and the way you flock to babies because you love to love them and play with them. I love your contagious smile and the way you’re not afraid to explode with excitement. I love how you genuinely think of others and just have to make people cards and pictures when they’re not feeling well, have birthdays, or you just want to brighten their normal. I love how you create such cool 3D (even if you don’t quite know what that means yet) pictures, recreating things you have seen or imagine with construction paper and craft supplies. I love how you love to read, not even aware that you happily initiate sitting for 30 or 40 minutes to read books to your sisters or curling up on the couch with one of your chapter books. And I love how you find me amongst my house chores to tell me a funny part of the chapter, fighting through the giggles as you reread the section to me. I love how you think about others, serving them, especially your sisters who aren’t always easy to serve. But so often you see the greater lesson and take the low road so they can have first choice. It may not look like I see that or hear that in those moments that you’re just trying to keep your little sisters from being grumpy during one of those awesome games you have created, but I really do see that and it’s a beautiful thing to watch. I love how you dive into Eden’s world, fully absorbed in helping her be happy. Whether it’s boosting her up so she can also see and be a part of the fun or dressing her up too so she won’t be left out, you see her and it’s so beautiful to watch. It’s no wonder your sisters copy you and want to be like you. You’re a wonderful person! And we all se something in you that we just want to be around.Rachael, you make my day so much more fun.

This year, the week after your birthday, I am going to Peru for a missions trip. I know that you’re nervous about it and don’t want me to go, while you also want me to go to tell the little kids about Jesus. I hear your heart. I’m going to miss you A LOT too. But I wanted you to know what I’m going to miss most of all about you in the ten days that I’m gone. Rachael, you help make my normal. I’m going to miss most the normal things: that twinkle in your eye, sharing homeschool lessons with you on our bellies with Eden riding my back, seeing your maturity break through when I serve a side dish that is not your favorite and yet you eat it without complaint, hearing you talk about Africa with a bounce in your step and a thrill in your tone, passing by a room to find you secretly and humbly investing in your sisters, that big smile as you read another chapter of a book you’ve picked out. Rachael, I’m just going to miss you, wonderful, fantastic you. So thank you for being such an awesome kid that I can’t wait to come back home to even before I have ever left!

Happy 7th Birthday, my sweet Rachael. You’re such a light in my world and a delight to my heart.

I love you so.

Love,

Mommy

January 6, 2016 1

Another Mailed Treasure

And while you had a little preview of the mailed treasure this past Friday through the form of a little boy’s utter and uncontrollable joy, I wanted to share a few other reactions to another sweet package from my dear Darlene. I know she doesn’t send packages so she can get credit, but I want her to see those sweet faces she has reached out to again and again from across the country.

Let’s start with Mr. Happy:

Seriously you could send Mr. Happy a box of rocks and the kid would be THRILLED!

But I’m glad you choose practical gifts. 😉

And then there comes Ms. Smiley:

Nice choice on the ice cream cones. It spoke to her heart… seriously, the kid is three. 😉

And then there was Ms. Screamer:

“SHE SENT ME A TUTU DRESS!!!!”

Nice choice, Darlene. Well done for sure.

And then came the Emotionless:

Nevermind her look of mild disgust, she’s just trying to figure out the glittery tissue paper. 😉

Her later response:

That’s right, flabbergasted. Hehe.

From then on my job became making sure the littlest ones did not eat too much, ahem, tissue paper while the other ones RAN ABOUT THE ROOM screaming in joy about their coloring books.

So thank you again, dear friend.

You have blessed them indeed.

August 19, 2013 1

Mr. Wonderful

Someone delightful turned 6 this past summer.

And we had a transformers birthday of fun with the cousins.

Sweet Big Guy,

We may only get to know you for a short part of your life, but you have blessed us so. You have opened our eyes to unconditional love. And raise a crazy boy who loves crazy boy stuff. You have pushed us to be better friends. And family to one we cannot keep. You have challenged me to listen better. And challenged me to think harder at how to teach someone who I am just getting to know. Your reckless laughter. Your over-the-top excitement. God has protected and sheltered you so. I know you miss your Mom. I hear you when you tell me your heart is broken, I know you want to be there… while you are wanting to be here. I know I tell you to control yourself. And for goodness sakes stop running and rough-housing. I know I even push you to remember 2 step directions and focus on telling one story at a time. I know I ask a lot of you. It’s because I love you. I hope you hear that enough from me. I hope you really receive my hugs. I hope you really receive my “I love you, buddy” reminders.

You have changed me. You have grown me. Thanks for giving me a second chance. Thanks for being willing to talk to me. And share some of your hurts. Thanks for playing with me and rolling down hills with me.

You are a wonderful boy. You love hard. You are so full of life. And you have so much ahead of you.

Run hard, dear one. Run hard after “right”. Ask more people if they pray and remind them that they should (just like you did that lady that drives you to visits). Be brave enough to tell your brothers when they are mean to you. Rise to the challenge of seeing bad examples and choosing to “do the right thing”.

I’m really proud of you, sweet boy. You have risen to the challenge again and again.

You should be proud of yourself.

You are a wonderful boy.

A WONDERFUL boy.

Happy birthday, Big Guy.

We love you so.

August 13, 2013 0

Our Newest Musician

As I mentioned in the post on Saturday, Rachael has begun taking piano lessons from Ms. Betty at our church. Ms. Betty is a wonderful woman who has opened her heart and her home to our crew many times before, not minding our noise in the least, and welcoming us in with open arms for a friendly few visits since Matt first came to our church to serve. Ms. Betty is one of those rare diamond in the rough ladies who hold strong to her gospel convictions and has the natural ability to edify and open up her heart to you in hospitality. So when I thought about who would be a great teacher, with such patience and compassion for our little Rachael’s budding interest in piano, Ms. Betty was a surefire fit.

Once a week, Ms. Betty comes by the house and picks up Rachael for her piano lesson (she’s one of those wonderfully thoughtful people who think about the fact that I have babies who need to nap and other kids to tend to which would cause an inconvenience in the “please sit quietly and mind while Rachael does her lessons” category). Rachael, feeling so big and grown up, walks on over to the church with Ms. Betty and does her half hour to forty-five minute lesson with her. And you should see that big smile as my “big kid” returns home with her sucker (Ms. Betty is so kind enough to get all three of the older ones suckers each week as a reward for Rachael’s hard work).

Since the piano won’t teach itself, Rachael practices each day for 30 minutes. And since Rachael is four and a half years old, I sit down with her to help her learn. It has been another fun journey of play mixed with hard work for the two of us. I’ve been brushing off my old “how to read music” skills and Rachael has been learning quite well. She is a wonderful student, as always, and I enjoy seeing music through her eyes.

And since piano is really a lot of hard work between learning to read music, learning the piano keys, learning correct fingering, learning how to hold your hands and sit appropriately and then adding in some meter and time… we also have to add in some silly helps to keep things carefree in the world of SUPER multitasking.