Our Indiana Trip

So, I didn't take hardly any pictures while we were in Indiana. It was really good though. I just read, sat by the pool, went on my daily runs, read, sat by the pool...you get the picture. But all that with a toddler is not quite as relaxing as it could be. But even still, I really came home feeling relaxed. Chris seemed to stay somewhat busy. He has way more energy than I do. He flew in on that Thursday night from Africa after being on 11 flights in 15 day!! He woke up early the next day to take care of some of his Mission Year stuff before we left for Richmond. We spent the night there and got up early for my uncle's memorial service and then drove the 90 minutes to the rivah to spread his ashes. It was a good service in many ways even though it was difficult. That ended about 4pm and we got back in the van and drove 7 hours to Wheeling WV to sleep at our good friend Jimmy's.. Chris stayed up until 1 am talking to him but I went to bed. We woke up at 8 and left for Indiana. He spoke to a youth group of another friend of ours. He even played in a game of dodge ball. I stayed on the side lines because my foot was hurting pretty bad. (I also have bad memories as a kid of playing dodge ball, so I was glad for the excuse) Anyways, throughout the week, he woke up early almost every day for meetings with different people. We did go out for breakfast in honor of old grandma (we always took her out and ordered mush with her).
After that we went to the grave yard which was neat to see all the Lahr ancestors. We will really miss old grandma. I am so glad that Alexa and Moriah have such fond memories of her though.
The kids swam every day. India loved getting in and out at the steps and by the end of the week was jumping in as Chris caught her. Alexa was swimming the whole length of the pool and jumping off the diving board trying to make it to the olympics. Moriah was doing handstands and flips and made up a new stroke. It was breast stroke with the arms and freestyle with the legs. Cute stuff.

Chris' new Blog

Chris has started a new blog, as suggested by me, to share his Africa stories. His trip was very intense and life changing, as expected. He made some great connections with amazing folks, and I thought it would be helpful for him to process everything if he wrote it all out and it would be a good way of letting others know about what is going on over there.

The Clearing

Finding myself in the middle of the woods, with no people around, no distractions (except for spiders, squirrels, frogs, beavers, and deer), and a journal and a Henri Nouwen book. I didn't know how much I needed that until I had it. The place is called "The Clearing" because it is a place where you can clear your head. It took some time for me to find the silence from within, and maybe I never quite got there. It is really hard to quiet yourself when you are not used to silence! But I really need to do it more often. This book really journeyed me into a place of receiving. I mostly sat in quietness and felt like I was receiving peace more than anything. But I also feel like I have come out of this time with a new look on my life, my family and my purpose. It is probably all much too personal to blog about. I am going to be taking this time that I am not working to refocus my life. I learned a lot about myself while I was there and part of my response to that is feeling the need to take some time to just be. I don't know how else to describe it, but I am pretty excited about it and I feel a lot of peace. I also made the commitment to myself and to God that if I feel myself spiraling down like that again, that I will make the time to go off in the woods (or somewhere) again.
Another book that was suggested to me is pretty good in talking about finding the "secret place" wherever you are. It has been a challenge for me as a mom and working to find times to really pray or be able to listen to what God may be speaking to me. I like the whole idea of being able to escape in your mind in the midst of chaos:)
I also learned a lot about organic gardening and chickens while I was there.

The 30 acres was bought by this couple 2 years ago in Charles City Virginia. On the land is where the first treaty was signed between the American Indians and settlers. It is very close to Jamestown. It is awesome that the land where so much deception took place is now being used for good. I love that! Anyhow, they are also gardening and raising chickens. Almost everything we ate was straight from their land. I love that too! They are planning to make a labrynth on the land which will be awesome. I am hoping Chris and I can go together sometime.

Here a couple pictures from the rivah, my favorite place to see a sunset.

The Rivah

Being at the rivah is fun for the kids and relaxing for me. Alexa tubed and tried to ski for the first time. She almost got up! They had fun playing witht heir cousins and the weather was so nice. I love sitting at the end of the pier reading or just listening to the water. I tried to sneak out there during India's nap times when I could.

The hardest part of these past two weeks has been not having Chris here. We have not been able to talk at all for 2 weeks!! WE are emailing every few days which is helpful. I am heading back to philly tomorrow to get some things done before Chris gets back on Thursday. Then we will come back to Virginia for my uncle's memorial service. Then we will drive to IN for Chris' grandmohthers memorial and to spend a week out there.

Alexa and Moriah were supposed to have to start back at school tomorrow but their summer got extended. THANK GOD! We are looking forward to having family time for a couple of weeks before we get back to the whole school routine. Chris has not shared much of his experiences with me. All I know is that it has been pretty hard on him and most of the stories are not appropriate for the kids. I can't imagine the poverty he is face to face with, and how hard it is to just come and go like that. He did get interviewed on public radio and was also interviewed on TV that networked 23 African countries. All that because Shane got stuck in Kenya an extra day so he was taking his place. I laughed so hard when I read that because Chris gets so nervous in front of the camera. They even put makeup on him.

I did have my retreat the other day. It was really good. I will write about it soon. I want to get my pictures developed from it. I read through some of Henri Nouwen's book The inner voice of love--wow, that book is something I needed 10 years ago, but I am glad for what it is speaking into my life now. More later.

India's first haircut

I know chris won't be too happy but I felt India needed some settling of her wild hair. I just felt the need to get it under control. Her hair was getting pretty wild and ratty so I decided ot try to tame it. What do you think?? Anyways, it seems thicker and will grow in much nicer now...She was great for the cut. She did not move hardly at all. So cute.