Baby Shower and 11 mos

Today Claire and her family are moving in with us for the next couple weeks. Thank the Lord, Norah is actually taking a good nap here. She has been napping at Claire's house a lot since her house was bigger and more accommodating to a quiet sleeping place. We had been spending the afternoons at each other's houses with the babies when the guys went to youth programs in the townships. My house is a lot smaller and with all of us in it, we know not all naps over the next two weeks will go perfectly, but I'm thankful for what we can get. :)

Yesterday, Claire and I attended a beautiful baby shower for our YWAM friend, Marysol.  She is due with her daughter on the 9th of September, and is also awaiting to bring home her 3 month old son through adoption in the next few weeks! She and her husband De Wet are seeing God fulfill their calling to have twins through birth and adoption. It is an incredible story to witness, and it was wonderful celebrating it with her and many other missionary women. Several other women at the shower were adoptive parents as well. I love seeing other mothers here, seeing how God is working in so many families. It is interesting to watch how God is playing out His story in my family's life. I dreamed about being on the mission field, but often imagined it would be before I got married, or before I was a mother. It's exciting to see how God changed my expectations, and to see that His plan for me to come as a wife and mother was there all along. In all the stresses and unknowns of parenting a baby in the midst of an international move, I take comfort that God planned for Norah to be here, and for me and Andy to be here as her parents. I am excited to see what else He has in store for our family. 

Speaking of the little girl - she turns one in less than a month! I cannot believe that this day is so close. What an incredible year it has been. I have discovered some wonderful blogs about doing "Tot School" at home with 12 mos olds and up, and I can't wait to get started with Norah! :) I'm just looking forward to being more settled and having a more predictable day-to-day with her. Life has been full and wonderful, but it has also been crazy-busy. So I'm looking forward as she gets older, and as we hopefully move into a new place in the next couple months, to getting more established and settled and feeling more free to really invest in her with all my focus.

But for now, I'm going to just enjoy these next two weeks with our family and see what God has in store from day to day.