And Now We Have a Teenager

It was a fantastic day filled with friends, rollercoaster rides and fun!

Then we headed to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

Where you happily snuggled your baby sister to sleep and ate with one hand because you didn’t want to pass her off.

We topped the night off with cake (that you wanted to make and decorate again this year- naturally decorated with a stethoscope and sutures) and ice cream: of course both were mint chocolate themed. 😉 And also a few sweet gifts from friends and family.

Rachael, you are a delightful young lady. Your heart is so prevalently shared with others and you always look for a smaller hand to hold. You are a wonderful leader of our sorority and model of gentleness, diligence and responsibility. You are blossoming into such a pursuer of Christ and faithfully seeking out servant-hearted ways. I couldn’t be more thankful to be your mom and love getting lost in conversations with you. You know, everyone jokes that teenagers are a pain to raise, but I happen to think that you have broken that stereotype already just on your day 1. Keep living life to the fullest, Rachael, pursuing Christ and His fabulous plan for your life. And I cannot wait to see you embracing all that your first year in the teens has to offer your growth and maturity. Rachael, keep smashing all the stereotypes with your beautiful heart poured out into others’ lives. And this mom will be standing behind you applauding your many achievements.

❤️Happiest of Birthdays, my Rachael! ❤️
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The Middles (once the Littles)

Some moments the competition can be strong. You have no idea how alike you really are and that can make for some clashes.

But you can’t stay annoyed long because you need each other. You have this bond creating games out of thin air together. Laughing in hysterics over movie quotes repeated for the 19th time in a row but still absolutely hilarious to you both. You have jokes only you two get. Story lines that entertain you talking for hours on end about fantasy castles, imaginary animals and lists of future pets. You have such similar interests, similar play needs and similar attention spans.

You both have zero barriers or hesitancy to play with anyone: young or old, regardless of whether they speak your language or ever will. You both don’t see barriers, just opportunities. And yet you always play together with a new friend. Always inviting each other to go meet the new friend. You are a pair that comes together naturally.

And how I love to watch you both play. You can always create a game anywhere.

Sisterhood is truly a gift from the Lord and I’m so blessed to see how He has given you to each other.

And how you have received His gift with joyfully open arms.

I absolutely love getting a front-row seat encouraging your love.

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The Bigs

Sometimes you annoy each other. You sure know how to push each others buttons like no one else can.

Sometimes you just want some alone time. Time to learn and discover who you are as independent people.

But it’s a treasure to see how you always come back together after your short stints of “human nature”. 😉 You always seek each other out to share your thought, hearts and dreams together. You constantly choose depth and togetherness over the easier options of selfishness and competition.

I love that you both don’t remember a time without each other.

Sisterhood is truly a gift from the Lord

and you both choose to wear it so well.

I absolutely love getting a front-row seat encouraging your love.

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A Tiny One.

One week has never felt so short and so long. You’re so tiny, but haven’t you been in our family forever?

Happy one week young, Eliyanah! Here on Christmas Eve with all the excitement right around the corner the girls still say you are the best Christmas present ever!

How quickly you’ve become “one of us” and it’s hard to imagine our daily lives without you.

We’re all just so smitten over snuggly you. ❤️

We love you so, baby girl. ❤️

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Then Six Became Seven

This past Friday, December 17th our six officially became seven.

Just in case anyone doubted I was “super pregnant” 😝

After 3 days of labor (2 of early labor that didn’t progress) she finally decided that yes indeed she, who had initiated the labor, would indeed reluctantly like to come out. 😂

She did need some extra induction encouragement at one point, but, by the grace of God, she and I were (and still are) in good health and strength upon her grand entrance.

Due to COVID restrictions is was a quiet, though kindly short (due to good reports), stay at the hospital for our small fraction of the family. We were able to have video chats with the big sisters and grandma back at home. And yes, it was a time to recover from the eventful previous days.

We chose to keep quiet to “the public” until our four could meet their newest little sister first. After years (for many) and then specifically the past nine months of praying for this little, she is as much their baby as she is Matt and mine.

We carried on with our family tradition, though with a COVID respecting adjustment. We picked up the girls and drove “the rest of the way” home together as an expanded family so the newest little could be welcomed to the back seat sorority.

There are no words to describe the emotional depth of these faces.

These past months have been adventurous and, while very gratefully full of good health reports, still an emotional road for all of us as we awaited sometimes unavailable information and adjusted to a “quieter” pregnancy in the developing world. We didn’t get to see this little one’s full face at all during scans of this pregnancy and while we are BEYOND grateful for the information we were able to receive and that it was all good news, it was a very different and sometimes weighty experience for our family unit. We all learned and leaned together all the more into Christ in our hearts and prayers these past nine months.

After everyone got their turn to hold her and marvel at the reality that she is really our baby (some with tears in their eyes at the relevation of all our prayers), I would like to now introduce you, dear friends and family, to:

Eliyanah Rebecca

Born at 38 weeks gestation: December 17 at 8:10p. 8lbs, 8oz and 22 and a quarter inches long (for all you US people 😉).

Her middle name is after our foremother in the faith who left everything in pursuit of God’s purpose for her life. The spelling, Rebecca, is in honor of my best friend.

Her first name, Eliyanah (Ellie-yah-nah), is Hebrew for “MIGHTILY the Lord has responded to our prayers”.

Eliyanah, indeed! Welcome to the family, baby girl. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God!

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Pullets

Remember the chicks one overjoyed new nine year old got for her birthday?

Well, much like that nine year old, they’re growing by leaps and bounds. Therefore, they outgrew the small chick cage and moved on to the yard version outside.

(Lady checking on the chicks during a rainstorm after we put a tarp on part of their cage for a rain shelter. She’s a sweet and gentle “mama dog” to any animal we happen to bring home.)

With quadrupling their size, our happy pullets then moved on to the deluxe coop recently. They seem to really enjoy the bug buffet in there. And while they flew the coop into our larger yard a couple of times on the first day, they’ve since settled into their new, expanded bird sanctuary as their home.

We have it in the books to upgrade the hutch to an enclosed laying house before heading to South Africa at the end of next month (and about the earliest the pullets could start laying), but for now the old cage is a good perching place and rain shelter.

Since we don’t have chicken predators within our property’s walls, the fence is there as a courtesy idea to keep dogs, rabbits, chickens and children from mingling 24/7 (especially when we have neighbor kids over to play) and also makes for easier future egg collecting (less daily Easter egg hunting throughout the yard 😉). Our dogs have very little interest in the chickens, honestly, and have accepted them as “just another one of us” like our bunnies that have free reign in the yard with the dogs.

(Sometimes the bunnies come up on the porch and peak in through our “floor to ceiling” windows to see what we’re up to in the house. Hehe.)
(Eating the dog’s leftover food while the dog watched at a distance without a care. 😂)
(Feeding the Marshmallow a mango while Shadow came over to say “hi”.)

Yeah, the chicks have grown into teenager pullets, with all their awkward feathers growing in patches like a bad haircut. Haha. But the love for them hasn’t changed one bit. 🙂

(Éden posing with “Sunny” [in memory of her beloved duck from the States].)
(They even tolerate being interrupted to be pet sometimes.)

And this chick mama is still loving her babies as much as ever before. ❤️

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