A Mother's Day Gift

I was very blessed this year to be able to arrive at my mom's the day before Mother's Day, how nice it was to celebrate it with her in person!

My mom is very hard to buy for her, she "has everything she needs" and doesn't even want much either.  But what mom can resist a handmade gift from their child?

In my sewing class, I made an apron which turned out beautifully, if I  do say so myself.  So I decided to make her one as well, with a kudu, an African antelope, which she likes.  I think it turned out pretty well too, even though I was doing it at the very last minute before I left! Here we are in our aprons together, pretty cool, huh? 

(on a side note, I have been mulling over the idea of making some of these aprons to sell for a little fund-raising - if you or someone you know might be interested, let me know!)

I was able to be with my mom and her boyfriend Larry for two and a half weeks in New Jersey.  My cousin Maureen flew out from Oregon for a week which was  such a special blessing for me and my mom - thanks Maureen!  The big thing we did during her visit was hit up all the thrift shops we could find.  Good thing she was taking back a suitcase for me so she could fill it with her treasures!

We also got to spend some time with our cousin Sally and our Uncle  Bobby.  We even went to Atlantic City with my uncle, took the senior's bus down for $20 which was a lot of fun.  Us three cousins are each daughters from a different sibling.

 

Larry was making a dresser for my mom which was nearly complete  when I left.  Here's the proud craftsman with his handiwork!  He's made lots of things they have around their house.  He even made me a bird feeder once!

 

Before I left Mozambique, one of my Tias, Tia Laura, knocked on my door and said she had a present for "her mom."  She had a capulana for me to give me my mom.  A capulana is a large piece of material that women use for many purposes, a very traditional gift.  I was so touched that she wanted to give my gift.  That was very sweet of her.  It is such beautiful material I am tempted to keep it for myself!  Instead, I think I will look for a matching one for myself!  So she got two Mother's Day gifts!

Doesn't my mom look lovely in blue and her scarf??  With her full head of hair grown back?

I'm so glad I had an opportunity to visit my mom again.  She hasn't been feeling well lately and my visit perked her up a little although it obviously doesn't make her cancer go away :(   Please keep my mom in prayer, for her to not lose hope as well as for physical comfort and healing.  Thanks so much!

I'm now at my dad's in Florida which will be the subject of another post!  I head back to Mozambique on June 4th - I'm looking forward to seeing my boys again. 

My Darling Boys!

It's been a bit too long since I've shown everyone a group shot of my little pumpkins! So here they are, in their school "uniforms", getting ready to eat lunch which you can just barely see in the bottom of the photo. 

The boys in front are Room 1, the middle age boys.  The second row is Room 2, my oldest boys, followed by Room 3, the littlies, in the back.  Not all of my Tias are represented here, as this is just one shift.  And, missing, is Fiona, my cool British helper in the dorm. 

I believe if you just click on this photo (or any for that matter) it will open it up a bit bigger so you can see their beautiful faces!

There are 28 of us right now, after seven moved last January.  We are meant to be a getting a new little six year old any day now that we look forward to helping when he arrives. 

Let me take a moment to thank all my readers for your interest in my work in Mozambique and stopping by to read about what we're up to.  Some of you leave encouraging comments (which I LOVE, keep 'em coming!), some of you send us gifts or financial support, some of you pray for us. . .  all of you are a blessing as you invest in us in some way and I thank God for you!

Pedro turns 13!

 

What a super fun weekend I had!  Friday was Pedro's 13th birthday so  he's a teenager now, I can't believe it!  I've known him half his life   now.  That's him in the black shirt with the white stripes.  It's always so fun to arrive at his house to get him, greet his family and see his happy, smiling, handsome face!

 

 

I took five of his friends with me to pick him up from home and then we had a fun lunch at a restaurant called Mundo's.  It has a play area for kids and TVs so that was fun for them.  We were in a little room with AC so that was fun for me!

The boys each had a "half chicken and chips," chips being fries.  Their absolute favorite meal! (I had a Thai chicken wrap which was chock full of unusual-for-here veggies like broccoli and cauliflower and was  very yummy!)  We all left full and happy.

When we got home, we set right to making a cake.  One by one, lots of Pedro's friends trickled in (all boys who used to live in my dorm) until at one point we had 19 boys in here!  Everyone got cake and  juice and even popcorn.

 

  It was so fun watching boys   be boys, moving from one toy to another, the biggest draw as always was the trampoline.  I must have taken 50 photos of them doing flips!  Here's the birthday boy doing one of his flips. 

At one point, after making pots of popcorn and the cake was eaten and the photos were taken and the juice dranken, I sat on my chair in my room, looking thru the door to the chaos a mere five feet away.  Then I proceeded to check my Facebook and totally drown them out!  I was surprised how thoroughly I could focus and ignore them, yet still hear something that was amiss and address it.  After six years here, I guess I've honed some mom skills!

What a joy to celebrate Pedro's birthday with him.  He is such a lovely young man!  I'm really enjoying seeing him mature and grow in God's love and kindness.  I pray it continues! My heart is so full of love for him and I am so thankful God has made him the son of my heart!