home again

This is another one of my new favorite pictures of shoes as of late...

Maxi and Kerline came home from the hospital today,

and this is their front door step (with a Lily foot in there, too boot!)

So fun for Matt and Lily to bring these good friends and their new baby home!  The community has been so excited, and most of their family met Christie for the first time today.  Everyone is doing well, so happy to be home, and Kerline is on the up and up.

I wasn't able to go because this dear couple, and their boys, were coming for lunch!   My post visiting-professor cooking strike ended, and we enjoyed catching up with Janiel and Peninah, and learning that she is expecting!

After lunch, they asked to go meet Christie, so I led the way and quickly felt like I was with celebrities.

Janiel was the pastor of the Saccnaville church for several years, and though he hasn't been for at least 2 years, they both have such a good reputation in the community and are so beloved, I thought we were never going to get to Maxi's!  Janiel is known as a man of prayer with the gift of encouragement, and I can't tell you how many people stopped him and asked for prayer today, almost all people not in the church.  Christ radiates beautiful in Janiel, and Peninah, too.

When we did finally arrive, we found Christie looking cuter and happier than ever, and her parents both finally sinking into the new reality:  they are parents!

As we all visited and stared down at Christie, 

Maxi and Kerline were particularly chatty, and I heard all kinds of stories I've never heard them share.

The most heartbreaking ones were of the many persecutions they have received over the years for not having children...people refusing to pay back debts owed them because "you don't need the money, you don't have children," slights for years about not being a true family, criticisms for both of them about what sins they've committed that them to not have children for 10 years.  

As Maxi shared some of his many prayers from over the years, his high and low points, and even a nightmare he had a few nights ago about Christie actually dying, and her healthy birth just being a dream, I was touched by his simple faith and the power of prayer.

We often think He's not answering...and sometimes I wonder if we quit believing and praying far too soon.  

Add in an afternoon with the Charlot boys (and a movie :), and dinner with Maxi and Noel...it was a busy social day full of friends we are incredibly blessed to have.

this one, we're not sure how blessed we are yet.

tomorrow, this guy turns 30...

and is off to preach at Granny Giselaine's church!