July
July brought fun in Florida with Nana, Papa, aunts, uncles, and cousins! Fireworks and the beach with some of our favorite people don’t ever disappoint!
We rounded out summer with fun in the Arkansas sun, cooking lessons, and eye surgery for Micah. Although it looked gruesome, it was a hug success, letting him see clearly without tilting his head to make up for a weak eye muscle. He has a fantastic pediatric ophthalmologist!
August
We watched the Olympics like true super fans! And did fun things around town like a visit to the capital building downtown.
Our new school year started off strong with the oldest in 2nd, one in Kindergarten, one in Pre-K, and the littlest going to developmental preschool. I may have cried sending everyone off to school full time, but they were both happy and sad tears. They all love their classes and their teachers, and Micah is growing leaps and bounds with all of his therapies!
September
All of that time that the kids are in school is freeing me up to visit their schools and start fun new projects. So far that has mostly included finishing the paint and last minute touches on our house to get it ready to put on the market, but hopefully that will mean starting a business making bags and backpacks soon.
After hearing from a good friend that she was going to Rwanda, I invited myself along. For a year, our community group had the sweetest couple in it who were in the States on a year long church planting fellowship. Joel, paster of Divine Destiny church in Kigali, and his amazing wife who now run a church planting fellowship of their own in Rwanda as well as disciple women and teach them vocational trades like cookie decorating, cake decorating, jewelry making, and sewing are now back in Kigali. I couldn't think of anything better than going to visit them! Our group was comprised of women who own businesses that give their profits to church based charitable organizations like Divine Destiny and Africa New Life, another church based nonprofit in Rwanda that does child sponsorship, vocational education, and discipleship. I definitely left a piece of my heart in Rwanda! I am already trying to plan for how I can go back along with how I can best be used to further the ministries that Joel and Annie have there.
October
Joshua celebrated turning 6!
October always seems to be when the year ramps up with activities. We had three pumpkin patch field trips and two Halloween/fall parties. The entire family dressed up for Halloween, something we have never done before, and went trick or treating with fun friends in our neighborhood!
November
November brought fall leaves, backpack sewing prep, putting our house on the market prep, and lots of activities at the kids’ schools!
Hopefully the backpack business will be launching soon! Here is a sneak peak of my logo!
December
Micah is working on walking!! He is making so much progress, signing and speaking more, learning to walk, and is the fastest crawler on the planet! We spent Christmas at home and then headed to Gatlinburg for fun with family at a cabin in the mountains! The cousins loved being together for the week, and so did the adults!
2017 has already brought a little bit of sickness and a little bit of snow, but we are looking forward to a great year ahead. Our life verse from last year was “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We are blown away by God’s faithfulness as we prayed for wisdom and guidance and clear direction for our future. He made our path as clear as can be, and for that we are so thankful. Our verse for this year comes from Ephesians 4:1-3 “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." It is really our hope in the season ahead to maintain unity for our family relying on the Holy Spirit to change us from within, giving us more humility, gentleness, patience, and love for one another. Here's to 2017!
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