Below are several Facebook posts from the past few weeks!
JUNE 25th
Asher and Levi are 14 years old today! They went to the beach yesterday and had 8 kids sleep over last night. Though the days can feel long – time has flown by.
June 25th 2009 – After a total of 92 days in the hospital, Asher and Levi greeted the world….and the world has never been the same since! 
They couldn’t be more opposite but they still have a special bond! So thankful God blessed me with this dynamic duo!
Happy Birthday Asher and Levi! I know you will be mighty men for the Lord!
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JULY 4th
Today at Princess Camp, we painted star wands! The girls came up with positive words to write on their stars that best represent who they are. Then we painted them and added glitter.
Tomorrow we will add ribbons, jewels, and small metal tags with their names engraved.
I just thought it fitting that we worked with stars on the 4th of July!
Hope everyone had a great holiday!
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JULY 11th
My little girl turned 20 today. She’s growing up too fast. She has been teaching herself photography for several years now. She has become a highly requested photographer for any special event in town.
She took these 2 photos yesterday! She will always be my little princess! I can still picture her dressed as Aurora and wearing the plastic heels.
Happy Birthday Mikela! I’m so glad you get to share this special day with both Lori and Bud too.
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JULY 16th
I had been wearing my hair in a ponytail/bun for about 10 days straight. Jose said it was time to go to the salon!
Johnny was my hairdresser. He owns the salon with his sister. We chatted a little bit about Haiti but he actually did most of the talking. We were so chatty that I spent 3 hours there!!
We started talking about “the church” – after an hour or so!! Nothing like talking about somethin’ spiritual with your hairdresser!! We agreed that we are so tired of people talking about religion – and yet missing the whole point of Christ and having a personal relationship with Him.
I told him that people want a “drive-thru kind of Jesus”– you get to stay in your car and not do any of the work. You tell Him what you want and expect to pick it up at the next window. I said I think the problem today is people lack the patience and the faith.
Johnny corrected me and said:
The world isn’t lacking faith. You walked right into this salon – never met me before – and had faith that I would give you a nice cut and style. (I corrected him and said – I don’t know if I had the “faith” – but more like the “hope”!)
Every time we drive on a divided high-way with only two yellow lines keeping us from hitting the oncoming traffic – that’s faith. We have faith the truck passing us is going to stay in his lane.
When we get on a plane – we put faith in our pilot. We don’t know the pilot at all. We don’t know where he was the night before. We don’t know what is happening in his daily life – yet we put our faith in him every time we step on the plane.
No….the world doesn’t lack faith. We just forgot where to put it.
*******
It’s been two days and I haven’t been able to get that conversation out of my head – out of my heart. It’s true. We put our faith in EVERYTHING without much consideration.
BUT when it comes to putting our faith in Christ – we want to “see” something first. We want proof. We want a background check. We want His credentials. Yet we ask little of everyone else.
These last few weeks with Asher have been really hard on my heart. I hate feeling so helpless. I had blogged that we couldn’t get into Cincinnati Children’s Hospital until August.
Within a few days of posting that – we had an appointment for today! Finally, Asher is now on some preventative medication for epilepsy! For the first time I feel like I can breathe a little bit.
I keep thinking about my conversation with Johnny. I honestly believe these past few weeks there were moments – maybe even days – where I put my faith in everything but God.
It’s amazing the lessons that God is teaching me through this difficult time. I’m not trying to preach you a sermon – I’m just bringing to a light a little conversation I had over a haircut…..
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JULY 21st
Though the past few days have been full of unrelenting waves of grief, today we turn our hearts and minds to celebrating Gabriel! I can’t believe he’s 16 today! He’s taking all the boys who live on campus to the beach this afternoon. Then they have a movie-marathon planned for tonight.
With Malaya now living in the states, he has stepped-up in major ways. I have watched him mature into such a young gentleman over this past year.
He has become such a caring big brother to ALL of the campus kids. He’s also gentle, loving, and compassionate with the community children -those who come weekly for trauma counseling. I seriously couldn’t be prouder of my boy!
When asked what kind of dessert he wanted for today – he told Malaya to make Sharon Snivley’s homemade brownies!
HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY GABE!
2 responses to “Summer Family Update…”
Love the great conversation you shared regarding faith – what a great conversation to have and good reminder for all of us….but the key question is….was the faith in the hairdresser well placed? We need to see pics!
HAHA! I always tell them to just trim off the dead-ends. By the time they do that, it’s like asking for 3 inches off! LOL!