January Update

Hello everyone! Hope you are well. I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last newsletter! Life has been busy as always, and lots has been happening, although it shouldn’t keep me from writing to you!

We still have five babies, although not all of them are the same. Rolypoly was placed in a family – a sweet Christian family from a sister church. We are so happy for her! Little “Donut” came to stay with us for a few months, but was placed as well. 

His place has been taken by “Munchkin,” who is about two months old and very sweet. When I picked him up, he wrapped his little arm around my neck and settled right down, promptly stealing my heart.

M&M is still here – he is ten months old and on the move. He crawls faster than the speed of light, gets into everything he’s not supposed to, and is cruising the furniture. He can laugh or cry at the drop of a hat and is wary of strangers, but loves his aunties. He really enjoys being outside in the grass and exploring.

Tiny T (now Doodle) is six months old and very laid back. He mostly only cries when he wants to eat. I really enjoy caring for him. Of course, now that I’ve said that he will probably become naughty overnight!

Babybear and Special K are still here as well – although it’s difficult to watch them grow older and not be in families, we are thankful that they are with us and that we are able to care for them until then, even if things take longer than expected. They both turn two within the next couple of months. 

We have been trying to do a lot of fun things with them. They enjoy painting, arts and crafts, playdough, and science experiments. 

They like helping to bake, and we made gingerbread houses over Christmas. 

They also really love playing outside and hanging out with the big kids. I take them for storytime where Makoena reads library books to her kids. 

This week we were even able to take them on an outing to the mall where we rode the train, had milkshakes, played in a play place at the restaurant, and attempted to play in the outdoor fountains (everyone was terrified of them, including the older kids, but they looked cute in their swimsuits, anyway).

I finished another semester of school in December. It was on Pilgrim’s Progress, and it was really good. The projects were pretty intensive – for one of them, I had to answer almost six hundred questions! But I did enjoy the subject matter and the books I had to read, and I am thankful I was able to do it and to learn from it. I’m also thankful that ALL those homework assignments are finished now! This semester I started a class on marriage and family. I’m the only single person in class – please pray for me! I actually enjoy my singleness, but I’m feeling a bit under-represented, even though I do think I will learn a lot and I hope that I’ll be able to better encourage my married friends. Also, please pray for my time management with homework assignments. It’s busy working, studying, and maintaining relationships in my church family.

I have been so happy to build more of those relationships. I have found that I really do like hosting, and I’m enjoying having people over to my house – I’ve had a few game nights, had some different people over for dinner, and have a couple girls who come to visit regularly who I really just enjoy living life with. One of them is staying with me for a week right now while she waits for the university dorms to reopen, and it has been so nice. I’ve had a number of other people in and out of my house as well. 

My parents came for several weeks this fall. It was awesome to be able to show them what my life here is like, especially since my dad has never visited before.

 I also had an Alaskan family here over Christmas – they took care of the babies for a week to give us ladies a break. It was such a blessing, even if it was very busy! I was able to leave for a couple of days to visit a friend a few hours away.

You may remember from my last newsletter that my car was more or less on its last legs (although it had been resurrected from the dead). I’m now happy to tell you that Sunshine has moved on to greener pastures (I sold her) and that God has blessed me with a newer, larger (7-seater), and hopefully more reliable vehicle. So far I have not had any issues, other than when a taxi backed into me and dented the hood a little. Now it has matching scrapes on all four sides – it came with one on either side, and I backed into someone’s gate when I was ignoring the usually-overprotective backup cam that was beeping at me – so I feel like it’s been officially broken in. But mechanically, it seems to be doing great, and having a minivan has been SO much more practical for church and baby home life. I can fit all the babies inside, and it is making Sunday trips to church so much less hectic!

I really do appreciate it when I hear from you, and when I know you are praying for me. Please do pray for me – ministry is hard, in many ways that I can’t share publicly. It’s been a good year full of a lot of good gifts from God, but sometimes those blessings come from some very difficult and painful times. It’s never easy to deal with the effects of sin in a broken world. But, I’m very grateful that God has put me in a place where I have a lot of wonderful biblical friendships where we are able to encourage each other and point each other to Christ.

Thanks so much for listening!

Love, Auntie Abbie