Our Temporary Home

I don’t know where to start! It’s been such a long time since my last entry. Let’s see...Reese is 7 1/2 months old, rolls over from front to back and back to front like crazy, and smiles all of the time. She is also starting to laugh more and more which is so much fun. She loves Sweet Potatoes, Butternut Squash, Oatmeal, Bananas, Carrots, Spinach (sometimes), and Applesauce. She is completely opposed to broccoli though. We will reintroduce that later. I can barely stand the smell myself when I’m feeding it to her. We’re not broccoli fans. I have been pureeing all of her food here, freezing it in ice cube trays, and then I put the cubes in separate dated baggies. It has worked great and I like it because I know everything that goes into what she is eating. Plus, we have saved a lot of money! Reese adapts so well to things. If we stay at someone else’s house she still sleeps great. She does wonderful (for the most part) when we are out running errands. She’s like my little shopping buddy without choices. She has to come :)

Reese has already been to the ranch five times in her short life. This has been so much fun for us. It’s great for her to spend so much time with everyone there. This year has been a tough year with family. On Easter we lost Adam’s grandmother, Fufa. Adam has so many fond memories of Fufa. His memories range from stories Fufa told, food she would make (sounds amazing!), and the adventures she would experience. We are currently carrying on her tradition through doing Ukrainian dancing. She was such a strong, adventurous, and talented woman and she is missed greatly.

During a few of our trips to the ranch we spent time with my Aunt Rene. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and battled it up until last month when she passed away. My Aunt, or Tante, was such a beautiful woman and she LOVED Reese. She called Reese her “little tonic”. I gave her a picture of Reese and she had it up in her hospital where she told all of the nurses about her. I remember one day distinctly with my Aunt. She sat in her chair, joked about Reese, and talked to her. She told us how blessed she was and how thankful she was for all of the people that were taking care of her. She went through and listed all of them. She was such a witness for Christ in such a hard, difficult time. We’ll miss her, but I know we’ll meet again.

A few weeks ago Adam’s grandfather passed away. We were able to visit him a few times before he got sick and in the hospital as well. When we would visit him he would always ask us if we wanted anything and was very interested in the happenings of our life. Adam’s grandmother passed away a few years ago and his grandfather has been alone since then. He was a very strong, independent man, who always provided for his family. He will be missed, but now he’s in a better place with his sweet bride.

All of these things help put life into perspective. It serves as a reminder that this life is temporary. Sometimes we have the temptation to hold onto this life with such an unrelenting grip that our focus is taken away from the eternal and placed solely on the temporary facets of this life. We get tied up in our problems or our wants on this Earth and forget there is something so much grander than we can imagine. Our time on this Earth will expire, but what a beautiful thing that really is. On this Earth we serve our creator and honor him through our actions. When we pass away we will be in the presence of the one we have served all along. I cannot even fathom what kind of joy that will bring. We often question pain in this world and suffering and wonder why? Why can’t it be easier? Why suffer? Through these times this year the Holy Spirit kept speaking these words to me from Romans 5:2-3 where it says, “...And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance” and in Job 36:15, “But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.” Through our suffering the Lord brings us to a place with him that we might have never been able to reach without the pain we experienced. Shouldn’t a closeness and relationship with him be our overall goal, especially since ultimately the pain we experience is only temporary? I have met people who are suffering and they have said they feel “honored” to have been chosen to suffer. I don’t think I fully understand it because I haven’t experienced it to the extent of others, but I understand it more now than I did. It’s hard when you are on the outside looking in. You don’t know how you would react in that situation and you can’t fathom how they are dealing with things. We don’t have to try to grasp it though. The Lord is working in their heart and giving them a peace and understanding that only He can give. As it says in Job “he speaks to them in their affliction”. That is so comforting and I saw this carried out in my Aunt. She had such a peace. I know the Lord was with her.

I’ll end on that note today. I’ll write more in the next few days (fingers crossed) about lighter things and about what’s been going on in our day to day lives here. Little teaser: Ukranian Dancing, Wisdom teeth, and Craft fairs...I know you must be intrigued :)