Coming to a close

As we are closing up our time here we are trying to go to our favorite places as much as possible. John has Monday's off so we often go to a place called the Wicker Basket for lunch every Monday. We have gotten to know the workers there and it is just a nice family type place to eat. We are going to miss this place and many many other places that have become our favorites over the years. It all seems so serial. Like we are just going on a long vacation or going back to the US for furlough. It doesn't seem like we are really saying goodbye. I am sure it will hit me soon and the tears will start to flow. Below is a picture of the kids in a shop next to the Wicker Basket. They make hand made crafts and furniture there.

An attempt at a photo shoot

Today we attempted a photo shoot of the kids in the sunny city we live in. ( We are moving to a city where we won't be able to see the sun very often.) I will let the pictures tell the story of how it went :-)

A Surprise Package

I got a surprise package from my sister Holly today. The most treasured thing in it was those Sundrops you see sitting on my table. Sun Drop is my most favorite drink of all. You can't find Sun Drop outside of North or South Carolina much less on the other side of the world so the fact that she sent those to me was a special treat!!

A Miracle!

This morning John woke up early and left for a drive to our new city. He had planned to drive with his good friend Daniel so they could leave Daniel's car there. Daniel and Kayla are moving with us to our new city but they will be in America this summer so they wanted to go ahead and have there car up there. The drive was going to take them about 13 hours so they left really early. John kissed me good bye this morning and I rolled over and went back to sleep thinking nothing out of the ordinary would happen today.

As I was jumping out of the shower this morning I could here my phone ringing. I ran to answer it and it was Kayla she was crying. She said she couldn't believe that the van was totaled and that all of our stuff had been destroyed. ( She had assumed I had already heard from John at this point.) My heart dropped into my stomach as I asked her if John and Daniel were ok. She said "You haven't talked to John at all?" I said "no" and she reassured me they were ok but that I should call John right away. As I hung up the phone I was shaking and I realized I had several missed calls from John. I gave him a call and the first thing he said to me was "Honey, we were in a wreck we are ok but we shouldn't be alive right now." I just started crying. John told me that they had hit some traffic on the highway and had come to a complete stop. A rather large truck was trying to get stopped behind them and couldn't. It flipped on top of the van crushing all of the van except for the driver and passenger side! After we got off the phone I just fell to my knees and thanked God that he spared their lives.

Later that day John sent me pictures of the wreck and it was then I realized that this was a true miracle. God obviously has plans for John and Daniel on this earth and it was clearly not their time to die.

Zeb's Party

We had Zeb's birthday party today. We actually had a joint party with his friend Zoe who just turned 4 as well. They are only two days apart. It was the first weekend the pool was open. May happens to be the hottest month of the year (in my opinion) in this spring city we live in, so it was perfect for a swim! There were lots of cupcakes, chips, salsa, and veggies to be eaten. Lots of fun to be had by all!








Notice how each of my children are eating their cupcakes. Zeb has resorted to licking the plate. Layla is trying to figure out how to stuff the entire cupcake in her mouth and sweet Kayleigh is trying to be so neat.