New Bedford, Aunt Bex and 7 years...

These last few days have been fun and meaningful...time is just flying!

While Bex was here, we ran up to Columbus and the second Lily saw kids playing in the fountain, that was it.

At New Bedford, Lily got to go to Sunday school for the very first time...and LOVED it.  Aunt Lori was such a patient teacher, and even though Lily wasn't impressed to have only boys to play with, by the end of the day she was bossing them around just fine :)

The luncheon after the services was wonderful, and a beautiful cake was an extra treat!  Lily was sure it was her birthday, and devastated that she hadn't been told!

After church, Pastor Doug took our family out on the lake, where the girls got to boat and swim in a lake for the first time and Matt got to water ski for the first time!

We had just a really fantastic time with New Bedford...you continue to be such a faithful and praying group of family and friends!  THANK YOU!!

Lily was mesmerized with the build-a-bear store, though couldn't understand why a bear would need underwear, clothes, shoes, sunglasses, hats, etc.  That made 6 of us.  Still a really fun place to play, and thankfully, Lily has been so un-stored in her life that she is completely content to play in a store and leave it without any expectation of actually taking anything with her...like this mustache. 

 While enjoying our few days with Aunt Bex, we went to visit another Asbury College friend, Lisa.  Really Good.

 While I didn't get many pictures with Bex, our time with her was so precious.  Bex is just downright inspiring.  On the hardest days in Haiti, I think of Bex, and simply persevere alongside her.  

Haiti may not be the easiest place to share the Gospel, but it's not illegal.  And it might be difficult to see sincere conversions, but asking people to follow Christ does not threaten their very lives.  It's a very challenging mission field, the place God has led Bex to.

But it's not the challenges that make Bex inspiring, but simply her faith.  She has been called to go, so she went.  She feels called to share, so she shares.  She feels called to stay, so she stays.  No violence or suffering or unspeakable heartbreak has changed any of that.  There isn't an ounce of "woe-as-me" in Bex, not a line of complaint, and being with Bex is the same as it's always been, just a joy.  We love you, friend!

Finally, we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary yesterday on a day that was WAY colder than it was seven years ago :)  Aunt Lisa, Uncle Adam and grandpa babysat and we went out to eat and to a movie (What to Expect...a good bawler).  It was fantastic to have some time alone, though we found ourselves jumping up every time we heard a kid crying!  We hadn't been on a date for...a long time.

So thankful to have had these seven years and to look back at how very faithful He has been...even when we weren't so sure!