CHERRY ON TOP...

 

(Time with cousins and new friends!!  God is good!)

 

 

I think of the 7 moves Greg and I have made this was one of the smoother moves but harder as well...

Is it because we now have 7 kids living with us and last time we only had 4?

 

I think it is mainly because the kids are getting older...

 

When we received this call to serve at a church in Illinois many things went through our minds... There was much to pray about... All of our kids would  be leaving many great friends... our older boys would be leaving a very active youth group...  There were some very hard days for our kids, especially our older boys before we left...

 

 

 

 

(Levi with his sweet Godmother cousin Ella!)

 

One of the HUGE bonuses of the  move is that we are now less than 2 hours from a bunch of my side of the family... But really that is how we look at it... A TOTAL bonus... kind of like the cherry on top... not really something that weighed in our decision AT ALL! (sorry mom, dad, brothers and siblings... you know how much you are loved!!)

 

If the truth be told... After I returned from Africa last January there was MUCH discussion about the Lord possibly moving us there, most likely Uganda... we were doing our research... and had this call not happened, I KNOW Greg would have made the call to synod to check further into it...

 

So if you are willing to move to Africa... being 2 hours from family is like a whole bowl of sweetness with a cherry on top!

 

(New... old... friend Elissa, We knew Elissa's family at the seminary... but have been reunited here at St. Peter:) 

 

God has been so gracious to bring us close to cousins where it is possible to literally plan a sleepover last minute and make it happen.  And he has been slowly but surely bringing friends into the kids lives... (Elissa, above, even had a bunch of friends over and invited the boys so they could meet some of her friends. That was sweet of her) (And this girl rocks by the way... she has showed up on my doorstep 2 different Sundays when I was alone with all the Little's and offered to help me get them ready for church!!! Hello awesomeness!)

 

Cute story... the other night the head pastor hosted a youth party to say hello to the boys and goodbye to some volunteers that have helped here... Well the little 5 came home with me after dinner and the boys stayed with all the youth kids to do some planning... While we were praying before bed, Jojo says, "Oh God, please help the boys to be making some good friends tonight!"  He was so concerned about them... The sad thing is Jojo is really the only one who hasn't made a buddy yet... Would you pray that he will soon find some special little buddies here... He is starting to think he might never... But I keep reassuring him, it is just a matter of time... I know that the Lords has sweet friends planned for him. 

 

We are so thankful that the kids love spending time with their cousins and that now we are close enough to make that happen...