Home Sweet Home

~My adorable niece, Honey, playing piano at our house~

Last night I was laying in bed, and I realized I only have 4 1/2 weeks left in the USA!!
When I first arrived home, I missed the kids in Mozambique allot. But God has given me grace
for that, and I am sooo enjoying my family here!

I don't want to take any of this for granted. It is truly a blessing to have 10 weeks with my family! I was thinking, "It is hard to believe I was away from them for a whole year, and now am only home for 10 weeks." In some ways it seems like I have been home for forever.
But also I know time is flying quickly, and I want to savor every moment.

Me, Christina (knitting), and dad
slouching on the couch on a lazy Summer afternoon...

Last night I was feeling kind of sad to think about leaving here so soon.
But this morning I woke up with a bubbling joy that I will be with the dear girls in Mozambique again soon!
I really have 2 families...

My brother Daniel, hoisting my 1 year old nephew up on the roof of our patio!
(Don't worry, he didn't let go)

I love both families so much! In one way, it is incredibly hard, always missing my family here, or always missing my family in Mozambique. But also, it is truly amazing! God's grace is sufficient for me, for His power is made perfect in my weakness. And He is the one that allows me to enjoy my family, and do His work, and not be constantly sad that I am not with one or the other.

That might not make sense, but to sum it up, GOD IS SO AMAZING!
And HE is with me wherever I go. I am never alone, and it is HE who fulfills every need and longing that I have. What a blessing!

The Akron Zoo

Welcome to the Akron Zoo!
Come along for a tour with me...

A leopard waking up from a nap:
(doesn't he look cuddly and cute?!)

Oh look, the new jelly fish display!!

Look at those tentacles!

This tiger was licking the glass. I think my sister was looking tasty to him...

I had to show you these pretty little pink and yellow flowers.
We have these in Africa, too! And the girls like to pick them and bring them to me as a tiny bouquet:-)

Okay, I will stop posting for today. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

A wedding shower for my sister-in-law

This is the home of the Coumos Family, in Ohio!
I do love this place.......!

Okay, now on to the pictures of the shower my sister and I had for my brother's fiance.
It was held at the home of my sister Bonnie.
Some of the guests (I am not sure what Honey is doing under the coffee table there, haha):

Julie and Daniel
Wedding date is September 26, 2008

Some of the little monkeys that were there!:-)
C, Honey, Biscuit, and CT

My adorable cousin, M!

The Fair part 4!

Jelly Bean, our favorite clown! I am not big into clowns, they seem a little scary.
But Jelly Bean is just a normal person, dressed up for fun, and the kids LOVE her!
Throughout the week she does face painting (really cool, full face painting!), balloon twisting,
and tells jokes. We talk to her every day, and have gotten to know her a bit. She is a Christian, too!

Sam, after getting his face painted by Jelly Bean. He wanted a John Deere face,
but she was out of yellow. So he got the International tractor painted on his face, then he went
and bought a John Deere hat from the tractor tent! And those red neck teeth are fake. He won them, and wore them everywhere. He even wore the to the dentist the next week!

Oh look, some more clowns!
(Andrea-11, Joel-13, and Christina-16)

Our 4-H club's flower bed, celebrating 150 years of the Randolph Fair.
(and our 4-H club, Rootstown Small Ones, is celebrating 30 years as a club!)

This was the 150th anniversary of the Randolph Fair. We celebrated all week, and had a birthday party on the second to last day, with scrap books and news paper clippings through the history of our fair. It used to be only 1 day long, then they changed it to 3 days, and now it is the 6 days.

(To the tune of "Our State Fair" from the movie State Fair)
"Our county fair is a great county fair,
don't miss it, don't even be late!
It's dollars to doughnuts at the Randolph fair,
it's the best county fair in our state!"

The Fair part 3!

This is what homeschoolers do without tv...

The steer show:

A horse show:

Isn't this princess castle cake cool?!
(I cannot take the credit for making it, but someone sure was creative!!)

The rough trucks competition. Normally my brothers are a part of this, but not this year.
Our fair is famous for the demolition derby (2 nights!!), and our tractor pulls, truck pulls, and rough trucks.

And one more group of photos on their way!

The Fair part 2!

A view of the fair from the ferris wheel (can you see the tractors?):

My darling nephew Biscuit, sound sleep after a long morning at the fair:

Sam, my 9 year old brother, on the middle tractor. This is the tractor races on Children's day!

My niece and nephew, Honey (3) and Biscuit (1). This was durring the truck pulls, and the trucks were very loud. Honey did NOT like the loud noise at all "What is that noise in my ears?!" she asked. Biscuit's face lit up every time he heard the loud trucks, he loved it!

I got a first place ribbon for this rug hooked wall hanging I entered. I made it 2 years ago,
and when I was deciding what to enter, I thought I would put this in. I really didn't expect to win anything for it, it is my first and only rug hooked project!

More to come!!

The Fair part 1!

Finally I am able to post up some pictures. This is my sister Christina's photography.
The ferris wheel at nighth (I love this picture!):

"Hello there, Wilber!" A curious pig:

L to R Andrea holding her fifth place duck, Anna (me!) with Andrea's grand champion duck, the poultry judge, Cara with her third place duck, and Joel with his second place duck. They did really well this year!

The cows have a private conversation...

Joel at the small animal auction, auctioning off his duck.

More on the way!!

I am in America!

Hi friends and family!
I want to let you know that I am home. For some reason I cannot make normal posts, or add pictures from blogger with my parents computer (my computer is not online here). So here is a quicky...!

I am doing great. we had a good week at the fair. My sister Andrea had the grand champion market duck! Cara, Christina, Joel, and Sam also did good with their ducks and rabbits. It was a tiring week of sleeping in the camper and walking around (and drinking TEX'S Lemonade and eat cheese sticks...).

Now we are on to showers and preparations for my brother Daniel's wedding!

My siblings have started school so they are busy with mom all morning. It's fun listening in on their school work. We went to the Akron zoo for a field trip last week--my, but there are allot of animals at these zoos we have in America! The last zoo I was at had monkeys, crocodiles, a hippo you could pet, and a snake. Yep, that's all! The Akron zoo had lots of animals, including a tiger that came right up to the glass where my sister was trying to take a picture, and started licking the glass on the other side of her! It was so funny. And the lions were pacing back and forth, trying to devise a scheme to get out of there, I am sure! The new jelly fish exhibit was awesome!

Check out thehomespunheart.blogspot.com to see the shoe box SWAP I did with Monica. I can't post pictures on here so head over there to see! It was really fun, thank you Monica! I was very blessed by what you sent me.

I am enjoying my family, and missing Mozambique. God is teaching me allot.
Bless you all!