Like Riding Giraffes to School

The other day it struck me, my life isn't quite normal, at least not to most people.

Damarise and I tend to tell some over exaggerated stories. Don't worry, we always correct them. But sometimes it is fun to pull someone's leg. Like when people ask us if we saw giraffes in our backyard while living in Africa. "Oh!", we reply, "Giraffes! Of course! We rode them to school unless we wanted to go nice and slow, then we just lassoed the nearest tortoise we could find." False and false. But you see how easy it is to just go along with their question. And it definitely makes our life sound anything but boring.

The other day Damarise and I were sharing some stories and I realized that some of our stories do sound over the top. I mean who's lived in Canada with no running water (showering in a bath house and then walking up in -40º weather and having your hair turn to icicles), lived in a house built out of duct tape and plastic, seen many african animals, lived in Europe, had hook worm, eaten cow tongue, took their SAT with 2 other people, and can't drive at 19? It sounds absurd, and yet, that is my life.

As I was talking with Mom on the phone the other day she was telling me all about their life right now. "Well, we're trying to figure out how long it'll take to get renewed passports, visas, our stuff from Mozambique to South Africa, plane tickets, and pack our stuff up to move." She went on to say where they would be the next week. It involved staying in two different states and three different houses. I just laughed. This is our life.

It never seems unusual to me until I tell someone else about my life. Like the people who talk about going home for break and how they can't wait to sleep in their own room with their own bed. Damarise and I just look at each other and smile. (Christmas break involved two houses and four different bedrooms for us. Yet it was SO fun!) When they turn to us and ask if we're going home for break we simply reply, "Nope, we don't have a home. Our family will be living in Africa." Their expression is usually the same, a mix of shock and confusion. But this, this is normal. This is life.

Maybe to everyone else this life seems weird. A life where I know that at the end of this month of February I will head back to Missouri to say goodbye to my family as they leave for Africa. Not very many people have that scheduled in their planner for part of their life. But, this is where God has our family.

My life isn't abnormal, my life is just the way God planned it. And that is comforting. It's comforting to know that even though my life may seem anything but normal to some people, God knows everything and He knows just how my life will be, crazy over-the-top stories and all.

Highlights

Ok, time just keeps going by and I keep realizing how much there is to blog about, and how far behind I am. If I were to ever catch up... well, it'd be a long day. So instead, I decided just to post some of the highlights of the past month.... starting back in Nampula. 

Nampula:

We said many goodbyes our last week in Nampula :( It was sad... but I'm SO thankful for all the friends we made in Nampula! I miss them so much already! 

The DeJoungh family :) They had us over our last Sunday in Nampula. It was really nice to visit with them :) They have the most adorable boys ever!!! :D

Margreth came over the Monday before we left to say goodbye :( It has been SO wonderful to have a Mozambican friend :) 

Tuesday we said goodbye to all of our workers and guards :) We have been so blessed with Dona Rosa, Sr. Armando, Sr. Jose, and Sr. Mario. They're like family to us. 

Sarah, Ian, and Andrew said goodbye to Sandy. The LP's, an MAF missionary family, took her to stay with them. But Sandy kept jumping over the walls. Whoops! So, in the end, the family who moved into our house took Sandy and Sandy is now living at our old house :)

Kris made lunch for Steven and us on Tuesday. It was really good! Thank you Kris!

The Roger family :) Damarise and I have gotten to babysit their kids since Portugal and we love em! 

Damarise and I with Noah, Renata, and Asher! They are SO cute!!! :D

Chiboleca, his wife Elsa, and their baby Kenny (named after Dad) came over Tuesday to say goodbye. They have been really good friends of ours while we've been in Mozambique. 

Tuesday night, the pastor and his family had us over for a meal. 

The week before we left we stayed with the Woodrows! What a wonderful way to end our stay in Nampula!

For April Fool's Day, Damarise, Bethy and I dressed up... well... like fools ;) 

We had SO much fun all day saying April Fool's for every little thing :P hehe..

The Woodrow's puppies are SO cute! 

We definitely had fun with the Woodrows!!!

Kent was teaching Gracie how to drive! :D It was fun to watch and Gracie did amazingly well!!! She's only 13 and she is driving super!! And I haven't driven at all! Haha.

The crowd's reactions to Gracie's driving :)

Avery and Gracie making some delicious rolls to go with dinner :)

Damarise and Bethy cooked up their famous lasagna :) It turned out tasty as usual! :D

The Morrison family :) They are a VERY sweet family! And we are so blessed to have gotten to know them! 

Benaiah, Garrett, and Andrew :) three happy friends :)

Damarise and I wrote out recipes for Bethy when she's off on her own :) It was fun to write little side notes on all of them :)

We had our last youth group, Thursday night :( 

The Trip:

Early Friday morning we hit the road...

We passed the Tropic of Capricorn! SO cool!

We also stayed at this lovely little beach spot :) It was really neat how God worked it out! We couldn't get a hold of the place because we had the wrong phone number. Then we realized that is was a holiday weekend in South Africa and the place we were going to be staying at was South African, anddd, we had seen a bunch of South African driving on the road. So we figured that the place might be full, but we prayed about it and asked that if it was the Lord's will that we stay there, that He would provide a place. Well, we pulled up into the beach resort and asked at the reception if there was any room. The guy said, "Yes! Someone just canceled. So you can stay in their house. It sleeps six!" Wow! God is SO good!!! :D

We had a lovely breakfast there... and Andrew got to drink coffee... bad idea ;)

The miles or kilometers on our car reached 111111 :)

We saw some BEAUTIFUL sunsets!!

Nelspruit: 

We stopped by Nelspruit to visit the Kerns :) They just had a baby girl, Wesley Grace, and we wanted to see her :) She is adorable and all the Kerns are doing well :)

While there we had a good ol' American BBQ!!! Mmmm :)

Little Wesley Grace :) She is SO cute! 

Three generations of Kerns grilling hamburgers :) 

Mmm it was quite a feast! 

The Kern Clan! :D They have been a JOY to get to know!!! :D

Pretoria:

After two days in Nelspruit we headed to Pretoria to stay with the Stolks. :) That Saturday we all went to the lake :) It was SO much fun!! And we got to go tubing! Something I had never done before, but I now love!! :D It was a blast! (for more pictures click here)

The Farm:

Sunday, we, with the Stolks, left to a game farm :) Another couple's son-in-law owned a house on the farm and offered that the Stolks, this other couple and we could spend a week in it! :D It was lovely!

We took a bunch of fun sister pictures :)

And we saw a lot of cool animals!

My fun parents :D :D 

We also had amazing food! Ouma and Tanni Anali did all the cooking! Oh it was amazing!

I think the coolest part of the whole week though was getting to WALK with giraffes! It was amazing! :D Giraffes have always been my favourite animal, and getting to walk out into the field where there were.... it was WONDERFUL! 

Spending time with the family was also a big highlight of the trip :)

The stars! Oh they were beautiful every night! :D (And Damarise did an excellent job capturing them on picture :D )

All the kids who were at the farm :) (Us five and Eldon, the Stolk's grandson)

The house we stayed in. It was huge and lovely! :D

Oom Philip and Tanni Anali :) They couple who's son-in-law owned the house :) They were a really sweet couple! ... (For more pics of our time at the farm you can go here and here)

And there we have it! There are the main highlights of the past month!! :D Sorry it has taken me so long to blog them :)