America

Shiloh and Taliah have a million Aunties. 

Well not literally. But I am sure that Shiloh was super confused in America that almost every girl we were with was “Auntie.” 

I have 4 sisters. Cory has 2. And I am extremly close to my cousins so they are Aunties too. They are like sisters to me. 

That is why we were in America. 

My cousin Jessy got married and I am so thankful that we were able to be a part of it. 

I couldn’t imagine not being at a family wedding. 

On a day to day basis, I don’t feel super far away from my family. I wouldn’t see the every day anyway. Chances are I wouldn’t live by all of them and we would have to plan to get together and meet up and even fly to see eachother. 

When I really have a hard time is when EVERYONE is together and we are not there. That is by far the hardest thing about living across world. Because that’s when I know I would be there. 

It feels like I should be there. 

So while I know that we may not be able to go to every family wedding, I feel so thankful that we were at this one. 

It was perfect timing to because none of Cory’s family (only his parents) had met Taliah and neither had some of my siblings. So after the wedding, we headed up to Seattle for a week. 

We spent time with my parents and sisters in a little town on the beach. It was amazing, relaxing and a great way to recover from jet lag. 

I got to be around for the wedding week and do last minute shopping and decorating with Jessy. 

We spent hours talking, laughing and just being together. 

We were able to see so many dear friends. 

My sweet mother and sister and law threw a shower for Taliah in Seattle. 

We went to the Children’s Mueseum, Pumpkin Farm and Zoo with Cory’s family. 

We saw my 90 year old Grandpa and he met Taliah. 

We were able to talk at our sending church and have a lunch with our supporters. 

We had a birthday party for my 3 year old nephew. 

We went on a date! 

We went to Costco!

Shiloh had an absolute blast. She was overwhelmed with the attention, the toys, the candy, the ice cream, the pools, the parks, the yards, the stores, the English. 

The growth in her vocabulary was insane. 

She sprinted down the isle to Cory at the wedding and it was one of the sweetest, cutest things I’ve ever seen. 

And my favorite part of the whole trip was watching my girls be loved on by my family. 

And I struggled with it a bit at the beginning. 

It is one thing to make a decision for your own life and an entirely different thing to make a decision for your children’s lives. 

We have chosen a life that pulls our children away from our family in many ways. 

Our girls have the most amazing grandparents and aunts and uncles. Seriously, they are the best. And we are all so close and laugh so hard and share everything with each other. There is nothing better. They are our best friends. 

And I felt bad for my kids. Bad that they don’t get to go to Grandma’s house and have their aunties and uncles and cousins around to play with them. 

But, I am reminded that if God has called us here, then He has called our children too. At least while they are in our home. 

And the reality is that God will use all of these things in their lives to make them who He wants the to be, to use them how He wants to use them. 

And as hard as it is, I’m sure He even uses it in the lives of my family. 

Saying goodbye only gets harder. And in some ways it makes them all so much more precious to me. Not that they weren’t before, but the moments we have with them are so much more valuable and cherished because there are not very many of them. 

And I guess, as I have said before, this is the hard part. 

The only truly hard part. 

And I don’t even really know how to wrap that up other than to ask you to pray for us. For my family, for our families. 

Pray for us to be constantly reminded of the fact that God has us where He wants us, that we are to be faithful to Him, and that there is such blessing in obedience. 

And I almost feel silly saying that because we are THRILLED to be here. We love this place and we love these people. We can FACETIME! Have I every mentioned how amazing FACETIME is??? 

But they are both realities. 

We love Albania. But we love our family too. 

And may the love that we have for our families pour over in our hearts and give us love for the families here in Albania. The ones that don’t know Christ. The ones that are broken and hurting and lost. 

To all of the people who encouraged us: thank you. Thank you for your words of encouragement, kind gifts and promised prayers. 

We were overwhelmed by the love we felt from all of you. 

Thank you for sending us here. Thank you for being a part of what God is doing here. Thank you for pushing us to press on.

Tomorrow we have our first Sunday Service in Pogradec. 

I am amazed to see what God has done in the last almost year and a half since we have been here. 

We feel so thankful to be a part of what God is doing and privileged to watch Him work.