We are enjoying Easter with Grammy and Papa and our “Lynn Johansson” cousins.
Festivities have included an egg hunt…
lots of piano playing…
making some very festive cake pops…
family feasting…
pre egg hunt instructions (aka big kids let the little kids go first)…
Hope you are enjoying your Easter. Behind the sugar and the family and the feast we are so thankful for the reason behind our holiday. He is risen indeed!
I love the hustle and bustle of this season. My day started early, sending Ashley and Sam off to school. The others stayed home today as we all prepared a feast. But this moment, in the quiet, with a cup of Dunkin Donuts from the French Press, I had some time to reflect
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I love being here with a house full of people (this year I have GIRLS to help!!) In all the busy-ness, I love to take a minute to stop and really think about all I have to be thankful for. This year, the first thing that comes to mind is God’s blessing and favor in the life of my friends Juanita and Rodrigo.
Hope and Juanita~ October 2008~ Gao, Mali
Two days ago we all got a very physical representation of God’s faithfulness in the form of new life. Rodrigo and Juanita Rivas are celebrating the arrival of their first born, Nathan. The Lord has truly turned our mourning into dancing. I can’t wait to meet him.
I am so thankful for my missionary friends who have walked with us and helped us make sense of this life. Juanita and Rodrigo hosted me in their home for more than a month the first time I visited Niger in 2005. Those conversations and experiences had so much to do with my “yes” to this place. I have watched this couple grow and adjust, suffer and mourn, and wait on the Lord trying to accept his plan. I can’t quite put into words the gratitude I feel this week as I celebrate with them.
We had an awesome day today. Sam and Ashley went to school. Amber and Rachel stayed home to help in the kitchen. They did so much. I will miss them next year. They even made place cards for the table.
Rachel made her grandma’s mac and cheese. It was a big hit. I’m sure she’ll be asked to do it again.
Amber is also known as Cherry Pie Expert.
We had an awesome feast with plenty of friends and amazing food- much of it sent with love from America (thank you!)
Happy Independence Day. We’ve been celebrating in style all day long.
This year, our Embassy threw a cook-out. This is our fourth (can you believe it!?!) Fourth of July to be here, and the first time there has been an Embassy hosted event for the whole family. In past years, we have declined the invite to a formal diplomatic event. We so enjoyed the pool, hot dogs, and all-American feel today and were very thankful for the change.
With a beautiful view of the Niger River, we were keenly aware of where we were.
Major holidays like this one, Christmas, and Thanksgiving feel very strange here. Everyone else is just going about their business, having a normal day. Which makes an American think constantly, throughout the day, about home and the celebrations going on there.
The fact that millions of people in our home culture are with friends and family eating hot dogs and hamburgers, watching fire works, and celebrating who we are didn’t feel sad this year.
I thought of home with joy in my heart, thankful to be here. Enjoying the holiday from a different perspective. I think it took the last three years to get to that place. This 2 hour Embassy pot-luck definitely helped to add a festive feel to the day. I am so glad to be an American. I’ve learned I take that with me wherever I go.
sorry that I haven’t been posting. Trying to process this month has left me feeling a little numb. We have, however, had some very good times. I thought less words and more pictures might help to catch you up. I expect to be a little more contemplative now that the holidays are over and the baby waiting is really on. We’re almost to the one-month-to-go stage. I can’t believe it!
I can’t, in good conscience, give you the December highlights without mentioning that Dave and I stepped onto this shrine-to-all-that-is-great-about-baseball for the first time ever earlier this month.
The boys with Dad in their new car bed reading Burt Dow, Deep Water Man- a gift from Aunt Bob and co.
Sam named this guy Frosty. And you would too if you were learning how to be an American.
our driveway, December 23.
Twas the night before Christmas.
I love this picture not only because it captures Nata in his Nata-ness, but also because the photo was taken by Sam.
Finally, I want to end with a very large and heart felt thank you. In some of these shots, you have gotten a glimpse or two of the house we’re staying in. This house has really become a refuge for us. So many of our friends in the Richmond/Mechanicsville area have given so generously of their time and money to provide us with this little nest, and we are so full of gratitude to each and every one of you. We really love being here and appreciate all that went into preparing a home for us in Hanover. We have been so safe and warm and loved these last few weeks. Thank you. And please, ya’ll, stop by. We love being walking distance to the front door of MCC.
Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing all that God has in store.
Happy Easter Monday. He is risen indeed!
The way I remember it, as a child, every Easter Sunday there would be a kind of pep rally between the pastor and the congregation. He would say, “He is risen!” and we would shout back, “He is risen indeed!” and this would go back and forth many times until the pastor shouted, “HALELUJIA!” and the whole building would erupt into a noisy and unordered few minutes of clapping and shouting. Every year we all expected it. And I would bet money that in that same church it happened yesterday too. It makes me smile to recount this to you. I think that’s exactly how it should be on Easter.
This year Easter was different for us. It was quieter. Less formal (no new Easter clothes). We went to church with maybe 5-10 adult Christians and a handful of half dressed kiddos. Daniel preached an awesome, and somewhat basic message. It covered sin -back to Adam and Eve- and the cross. It was beautiful, and exactly the kind of review we all needed. For some, I think, maybe it wasn’t a review at all. Instead of eating ham, we went out for Lebanese food at lunch, had a good nap, ate spaghetti with friends for dinner, and read the Easter story to Sam and Nata before bed. And the celebration continued today. Easter Monday is a national holiday here with no work or school. There were church services in the morning and evening. Although we didn’t attend these services, we really enjoyed an extra day of r&r.
I think this was my first Easter with no Easter baskets. And I wasn’t sad about that at all. I remembered this afternoon that I have some die in the back of a closet somewhere that I was saving for Easter eggs. Then I remembered that they only eggs I’ve seen here are brown. How would that look? We finished the last of the pastel colored M&Ms this weekend. They were brought out by Dave’s parents. Sam also hunted for plastic eggs with his grandparents before they left three weeks ago. Upon finding them, he put them in a leftover biscotti container. :) And that’s about as commercial as it got.
I love that.
I have spent the last 7 weeks doing an in depth study of the tabernacle. It has been opening new doors to me in my understanding of the sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross.
1 John 2:1  My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
I’m so struck by that. Not only did God send his son to suffer and die on a cross for my sins (and I have some every day favorites). Christ also sits at the right hand of God interceding on my behalf. What love is this? He wants us to get it so badly. By it I mean a life overflowing with the fruit of his love. A joy that is not dependent on circumstance or monetary blessing. A peace that surpasses understanding. Do I really have that? Is it honestly evident in my every day interactions with my family and my peers?
John 15 No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and i in him, he will bear much fruit.
That is his desire for us. And that is what my Easter has been all about.
Bunnies and ducklings are so boring compared to that. Maybe we’ll do Easter baskets next year.
