Getting back …

Wow,  it has been three months since I have blogged.   I have had people email me and ask me if we have fallen off the face of the earth.   The answer is: NO.  I wish I were an incredibly transparent person who, without reserve,  can share and pour out victories and trials and express burdens in a way that doesn’t seem whiny.   I have a really bad emotional habit of withdrawing.  That is what I have done in these last three months.   It is not that I haven’t had things to share and write about … it’s that I have needed this to time to step back.  My priority has been to experience God more than I ever have.  I am slowly coming out of this painful, stretching time.   My  husband and I like to listen to a Christian motivational speaker in the mornings.  He made this quote one day last week:   “You cannot climb a smooth mountain.  The rocks and cracks help you to reach the top.”   It was quite profound as I thought of how my life is like a mountain and the cracks, the rocks, the gaping holes are there for the purpose of me reaching the top – reaching my full potential; knowing God more.   Maybe in the days and weeks ahead I will be able to expand on these thoughts and the journey I am on.  But, for now, I will share some things that have been going on here in Estonia, Europe.     ( I LOVE pictures! )

It seems like our small group over here consists of mostly girls!  Poor, poor Samuel!!  ( Bob took Samuel to our favorite Italian restaurant, then out to bowling and then to Meg’s apartment to watch football with her husband, Josh.)    So, I decided to have a girls party and it was a huge success!   I think we had 21 ladies/girls at our house.   We had face painting, polishing nails, and a scavenger hunt for necklaces.  Of course, there was plenty of food – pizza and pop and rice crispy treats, bean dip and chips, cakes and candies.  Healthy, right????    We ended the evening with the movie Dog Hotel.  ( Not sure if that is the name of it but that is what translates in Estonian. )

It was Sana’s birthday so I made her a cake and we sang happy birthday to her.  Her mother, Siiri, is on the left in the blue sweater.  My friend, Wendy, is in the red.  My friend, Jennifer, is on the right in the blue striped shirt.  She was such a great sport and let her daughter paint her face so she was a cat all night long.

My cheerful little butterfly and Eliza.

Sweet Christian ladies – Siiri, Andrea, Megan and Shera.

What is a girls party without nail polish??

Isn’t it amazing the influence we have on the little girls in our lives??  Not just our little girls but the girls around us.  I am thankful for the influences in my girls lives.  My friend Denise came over last week and gave my girls art lessons.  I enjoy her so much.  My friend Jennifer is a gem – such a gentle and kind woman and above all, honest.  My friend Wendy is a strong, godly woman that has the kindest eyes I have ever seen – she is remarkably nurturing and I love it that my girls have been influenced by her.  The young 20 year olds are so much fun and taught my Sophia how to ride a bike without training wheels last summer.

Lets do right by the little girls in our lives today!!   Hug them ( even if they are your neighbor girls or friends of your daughters or girls in your childrens church ministry ) – tell them they are valuable – tell them they are precious and that God made them.   Every girl needs to know that they are valuable and loved and then shown.     I think I will go kiss my little girls as they are in dreamland.       Blessings to you and yours this day, I pray.