So Long Ordinary

Well, our crazy month of July is over.  And we survived it.  You know what?   Grace.  All was grace.  God was good and He gave us what we needed.  Through two weeks straight of work for Sean with no weekend in between.  Through week upon week of guest upon guest (at one point we had 6 guests sleeping on every bed and air mattress in the house). Through parties and meals and meetings and grocery runs God saw us through.  And we had fun!  We worked hard, played hard, and laughed hard.  I'm coming away from this crazy month feeling both tired and exhilarated.  God brought us through!  And we didn't just survive, we were blessed. This is how God works.  More than we can ask or imagine. We're trying to sell our house (see the link here , in case you are in the market for a small house in South-Central Colorado) and things were looking grim. Houses aren't selling this summer in small town Colorado. I wanted to worry.  I did...

I'm just gushing over here.  My second-born took a big step today and made a decision for Christ!  We were having a talk in the car on the way to the store about heaven and next thing I know she's over there quietly folding her hands and whispering a prayer to Jesus. When she was done, she looked over at me with a big smile and said, "I have so many blessings from God, Mommy!" Indeed. Happy Born Again Day, Madison Elizabeth!  We love you so much.  

Paige had a blast on the water (without Mom there to ruin the fun) and I'd say the older kids had even more fun, if that were possible.  Again, I'm just glad I wasn't there.  They all came back alive, sopping wet, and giddy with excitement.  Can't really argue with that now, can I? Life jackets, Becca.  Life jackets. Maddie and Brooklyn take a turn. Then the boys jump on board! It's getting more fun! Uh-oh! And... they're off! Let's play spot the kids in the ginormous Borneo river! Life jackets. And really great Daddies watching out for the kids while also helping them have the time of their lives and make memories they'll never forget.  

A while back, we spent a fun evening on the river with our teammates.  While my friend and I sat back in the air-conditioned MAF office at the dock, the guys took the kids out for some tubing.  Paige was not about to be left behind, even if she is the little four-year-old and Mommy's little Wuvvy-Duvvy-Baby-Poo.  Here are some shots her Daddy got of her playing on the river.  A nice calm start on the inner tube, looking relaxed and happy.  Whoa!  Hitting a bump!  Weeeeeeeeeeeee! Two things: 1.  It was a good thing I was not there because sending my baby out on an inner tube behind a speeding boat seems like exactly the opposite of good mothering. 2. When I see these pictures, my heart jumps into my throat and I can't breath.  She's four.  She's my baby.  She's having way too much fun for her health and safety. This post brought to you by Nervous Nellie. P.S. Lifejackets.  I just keep telling myself "lifejackets."  

The other day, when Sean was cutting our grass, he came across this little guy.  Our animal-loving, tomboy-ish, fearless Blondie was really excited about it!  This was a cute little fella with a long, long tail and tiny little body.  Being an MK (missionary kid) is the perfect gig for Madison - she can hold, pet, raise, adopt, and smother all sorts of interesting creatures!

We've been having such fun with our guests this week!  We've been to movies, celebrated the Fourth of July, laughed a LOT, and enjoyed more social activity than we have in months (with more planned for the coming weeks, too)! Part of the fun has been having a built-in playmate 24/7.  KJ used to live here in P-Raya, so whenever he comes back for a visit, the kids jump right in where they left off.  The girls are sleeping HARD every single night...and so are their parents, actually.     The older kids put together a little Sweet Tea Stand. They worked at this little entrepreneurial project for pretty much the entire day on Saturday - building their own table, making their own Sweet Peach Tea, and even making and decorating their own paper cups!  Their biggest customers were Paige and Madison but they did get a few other customers off the street.  They made Rp. 38,000 - that's about $4 whole dollars!

A few weeks ago, when the moon was full and reportedly very close to the earth, we headed out to the MAF dock to try to see the rising moon.  It's hard to find a good place to watch the moon rise when there are tons of big trees all around and the land is flat as a pancake for miles and miles.  Sean's grand idea was that we would climb up on top of the hangar roof.  At first, I thought this would be fun...until I saw what that meant.   Somehow, scurrying up a wobbly ladder and up onto a steep metal roof with a 100 foot drop into a muddy river is not my idea of fun.  Not really. Fun fact: my feet sweat when I'm nervous.   I was nervous. And I was also wearing flip-flops.  Sweating feet and flip-flops are a bad mix on a steep metal roof.  Ugh.  I don't even know how I shimmied up to the peak of the roof, but I'm pretty sure it was done with a few tears and some harsh words for my husband who was so helpful by telling me to "just stand up and wa...