A Fly By of the Year!

So.. it's been a while hasn't it. *sigh* It's called life. Very very full life. Which means that there's a lot to share.

So without further ado, here is a long, and long overdue overview of the big events from the last few months (of course it's a quick fly by, so I'm skimming but you'll get the idea! :)

Early May saw Faith and I abandoning the house for nearly an entire week (or most of it anyway) to help prep for Banbury Cross Tec's annual Derby Day Fundraiser. As always it was a wonderful event, though Faith and I enjoyed the week of getting ready as much as we did the actual day!

This is just a collaboration of adorable photos taken the week before Josiah was going to leave (oh.. more on that later) and Squishy was over to visit. *shrug* just had to share :)

And this was the everything party held the 3rd week of May... I believe it was titled "Welcome to our new home, Thank you for helping us move, Good bye Josiah, and Farewell Christianna Party" Or something like that. Basically it was an excuse to have a bunch (yes there was a TON of people.. almost too many at one time for this introvert) of friends over all at one time! It really was a blast! The food was great, the fellowship wonderful, and then fun almost never ending (I think the last group of people left somewhere close to midnight. And that's late for a Sauve party!)

So I mentioned "Farewell Christianna" as one of the party reasons. Well it was only a temporary leave taking. I went on a week long trip to Haiti to visit an Orphanage I support and also meet a dear friend in person for the first time, who does Special Needs advocacy in Haiti. The trip itself was amazing, this girl's first time by herself on a plane, let alone international. But God was gracious and I honestly had the smoothest traveling imaginable! Haiti itself was an incredible experience that I will never forget.

I loved putting together these collages.. looking through all those photos again (over 1,000) remembering stories, special moments, names. Truly, I made so many friends and learned ever so much. The things I miss most are "my boys" who followed me around and played with my camera, the babies (Taina, William, and my little Watson) who I had the privilege of holding and loving on, and the Haitan Mommies' Rice and Beans (that I actually got to help make one morning! It's a complicated tiring process!).

Another one of my favorite things, was watching those that lived there and were with the children 24/7. Their self sacrificing commitment, Christ like love, and untiring nurturing was a beautiful thing to watch. It's not easy, or all fun and cute kids, there's a lot of hard work and decision making that goes into it.

I arrived home from Haiti, stayed a week, and then the second week of June took off again (This time by car. Oh oh! My very own new car! :) to the west sideish of the state to help out at Camp Living Water's for Special Camp week! Like always it was an upbeat, fun time, full of hugs, laughs and some hysterical moments. This year I had the opportunity to be even more involved in the teaching area of the Horse rides we gave, as well as having a wonderful surprise visit from some friends for the last 2 days, and a wonderful long trail ride to cap off the week.

 Here's a glimpse into the rest of our June. Random walks through the woods, Moths found, Driveway finished (it's beautiful!), friends visiting, Daisy fields visited, Goats moved (pretty much every other week.. they destroy brush pretty fast), and moveable Chicken coops built. 

The next big event back home was Faith's Birthday!!! Since we had a wedding to go to (for which I was the photographer) on Faith's actual Birthday, we celebrated it a day ahead on the 3rd. It was great to have family, including our dear Aunt Myrt, over for a nice relaxing meal and afternoon.

Random July bits: We got our Piano tuned, we watched (and heard!) wrens raise babies next to the driveway, we had a last minute 2 day early celebration of Mumsie's birthday, and Shine (Grace's Golden Retriever) came to live with us. 

There! That catches us up to this month, which is almost gone itself, and deserves a post of it's own! :) Hope ya'll enjoyed that brief aerial view of our year so far!!

~Chs