richness

These two turkeys are becoming better and better friends, filling our house with lots of fun games and  lots of fun new messes :) I love, love hearing them chatter and cracking each other up. Not matter how rare the much sought-after "rest" and "clean" are for this mama, I'm a rich one, for sure.

This week has been full of packing (packing 6 people for 4 weeks in a colder climate where apparently you have to wear shoes along with homeschool materials has been no joke!) classes, wrapping up 4 weeks of lesson plans for two different classes, meetings, delegation, taping Bible studies for 4 weeks, etc.

On top of all that, we are on the brink of one of our most precious friends and sisters leaving Haiti and moving to Mexico, where her husband has been the last many years.  While we are away, Micheline and two of her children are leaving the country, and she truly was my first friend the week we moved to Haiti.  

She has helped me (and all the kids) learn Creole, helped me learn to cook and clean in Haiti, helped me learn through lots of cultural questions, been there for all four of our babies, taken care of them when I've been at work, and been a peaceful, joyful, hymn-singing presence in our home.  I can't even begin to tell you the millions of ways Micheline has been grace in our lives and homes these 13 years, and what an example she has been, from the death of her daughter our first Christmas to living in a very broken family, to solely supporting her children and grandchildren for so many years...what an example she has been of a woman trusting in the Lord and choosing joy.

I have a million precious moments of Micheline, but here are two of my favorites.

We will miss her terribly and it hasn't quite hit us yet that she'll be gone when we come home.

The Lord knows how we'll miss her, and I am grateful knowing He goes with her. 

Frankly, one of the things that I am consistently most grateful for are the people who love on my children. That is a PRECIOUS, precious gift, to have men and women in our lives that we can say to our children: "honor these people...they love you, and we want you to be like Christ in them."

I love looking out my window in the office and see tati Gertha playing soccer with Ben in the yard...

...to work on language arts with squirrelly Sofie and have Nikki snuggling and reading to Ben and Nora...

As we love, we are loved, and He is continually giving us such good tastes of His love... what an answer to an always-mama prayer! Looking forward to extra time these next few weeks to love on these four.