"more than a friend"

To our friends, the Dunns:


We have always said that we have the most amazing friends in the world. But never have we had the chance to experience such friendship, love, fun, sacrifice, and giving as we experienced in your home. You have been more than friends to us and we will always remember our time in your home those weeks as such a special and grace-filled gift from our Lord.




Canaan, sweetie, thanks for taking Cohen under your wing (literally!)...


And teaching him about the joy of a good ball game with Dad ...


And how to be a good Cats fan...


Thanks for all the toys you shared with Christian and Cohen. They had so much fun! ...


Especially with your "Flinstone" car and your tricycle.



And Sarai, you're a sweet heart!


What a special treat to be around a little princess!

You had such a sweet little spirit even with the addition of two more brothers...

...to love on you...

...push you around...

...and occasionally steal your popsicle.


We do have such amazing friends in you and it is a privilege to both be serving the same God together! We love you guys.

Ok, so this picture doesn't really fit with the rest... But I love the memory it brings with it. Cohen and Christian were sitting on the large sofa reading books and I watched as, after a while, Canaan inched over to be closer to Cohen. Cohen, without looking up from his book, moved slightly further down the couch. After a few seconds of looking at his book, Canaan looked up to see Cohen and scooted over to him again, this time up so close their arms and legs were touching. Cohen, apparently feeling a bit uncomfortable but still oblivious, picked himself up and scooted WAY over to the end of the couch and settled down to read his book. Not long after that, and still pretty absorbed in his own book, Canaan inched his way over to Cohen and plopped down beside him. Well, not so much beside him as practically ON him, as you can see. I laughed remember how Shannon and I had just had a conversation earlier in the week about how Shannon could tell already that Canaan is someone who really likes physical touch and I had noted how Cohen seems to be more someone who needs his space.

Henry Clay Estate

Stefan's parents from Germany recently visited us and we took them to the Henry Clay Estate to walk around with the boys one morning.



The grounds are so beautiful and it was fun to watch the kids explore the grass and leaves and sticks--all so different from what they are used to in Mozambique.

It was very special to spend some time with the boys' Opa and Oma. Oma met Christian for the first time.

We took some pictures of Stefan, his father, and Cohen....and while I was trying to get a good shot, we had someone join the party.

Strawberry Picking in Wilmore

Last week we went strawberry picking with April and Bethaney and their families on a little farm outside of Wilmore. This was such a fun and unique experience for Cohen and Christian-- they have loved all the new berries they've tasted during our time back here in the States--picking berries with friends will definitely have to be something we do together whenever we are here! I thought it would be great to pick a few pounds myself to make some strawberry pie. But, alas, most of my time was spent supervising the boys' adventures. Maybe you can get an idea from the following pictures:

The girls and I and our nine kids all grabbed buckets and talked about the guidelines for strawberry picking: Pick only the ripe red ones, don't stomp on the bushes, You can eat all the strawberries you want--except DON'T eat the ones out of your sister's pail...


The kids set off excitedly up the hill to the strawberry patch...leaving the little ones to stumble along behind on their stubby little legs swinging buckets about half their size.



Cohen loved the challenge of hunting down the "wipe wed" strawberries and shouted excitedly every time he was successful, "Look Mommy! I found one!"... And I mean each and every time for the about two hours we were out there.



Christian kind of did his own thing.



I'm not really sure if he knew what we were all doing, but every once in a while he would stoop down like he saw us doing...




...reach out, and pop something in his mouth. I'm thinking some of those could have been strawberries, right?


Cohen showed me his bucket proudly. Of course, not all of them were as "wipe and wed" as I would have hoped for making a pie...so I sorted out the really good ones and, not having the heart to throw out his collection of not-so-ripe-ones (and, admittedly feeling a little guilty about tossing a couple of pounds of green strawberries my sons had picked), I set him down on the side of the patch and told him these "special" ones were for him and Christian to eat.

They LOVED them! I figured, they don't really know what they are supposed to taste like anyway.

Well, maybe Cohen had his suspicions about a couple particularly green ones.

While I finished picking a few more strawberries the boys entertained themselves.

And...hey! Christian, that's Mommy's bucket!

crazy ducks

We took the boys to a park the other day and introduced them to ducks. There was a cute little bench overlooking a pond where we stopped for a snack and rested (and gave the ducks a chance to catch their breath after being chased all over by an excited 14 month old).


The ducks were, of course, curious about what the boys were munching on. Well, one duck got a little too courageous and before we knew what had happened, he had snatched the bag of gold fish right out of Cohen's hand!

Cohen was completely taken off guard and more than a little intimidated. Yeah. In fact, I would say it was a quasi-tramatic experience for him.

I mean, hey! A pack of aggressive ducks with limited sense of boundaries can be pretty scary for a two year old! (Or even a grown woman, right Mom? You and the duck episode will always be one of my funniest childhood memories :)

As you can see, Cohen spent the rest of our time at the park a little on the cautious side.