The Merry Month of May

Whew! May is a killer for our family. Jessie and Aubrie have birthdays a week and a day apart, our anniversary is the day before Aubrie's birthday, and then we have the usual end-of-the-year mayhem. Emma's kids choir at church made their debut on stage. (Until you're five, they video your choir and show the video at the end of the year.) Jessie made her video debut - a big year for both!

While the girls were having their big moments in the lime light, Todd and I had to be out of town. We were in Richmond, VA, for candidate conference which is part of the missions application process. So, we had someone tape the choir performance and had a Spring Sing S'mores Party a few weeks later. (I'll write more about the conference later.)

The weekend we got back from the conference, we had Jessie's party on a Sat. and Aubrie's the next day. We put ourselves through the partypalooza because the next weekend was dance recital weekend! Both girls had a big time. Jessie wanted a Sleeping Beauty party (We did Cinderella last year.), and we had a backyard luau for Aubrie since she can't tell me what she would like yet. I have to say despite the busy schedule, we were incredibly laid back for the Williams family and had a great time.

She LOVED her cake - that's what she wanted for her birthday.

So, the dance recital was a blast, but no budding ballerinas in the Williams family (which is probably a good thing since I don't think they could take classes in Nampula, Mozambique). Both girls have informed me that they do not want to take dance again. They both have mentioned soccer for the fall (which will definitely fit better in Africa) so I think we'll head in that direction...sounds much easier on Mom!!

They came up with these poses themselves...with NO prompting from me - cracks me up!

Okay, so the Africa update, and then my ramblings should be done. Conference was a mind-blowing series of interviews and meetings in which we were challenged to re-examine our call to overseas work and to see if the job we had selected was a good fit. It was an extremely challenging week in every way you can imagine - we were laid bare in more ways than I can imagine...I'll spare you the details of the physical exams! In the end, we still feel like Nampula, Moz, is where we're supposed to be. One of the things we had been tossing around and was brought up again was that a trip to Moz might be a good idea. So, Todd is planning a trip for June and is supposed to take lots of notes and pictures for me! Please pray for the trip that he will see and experience what he needs to in order to better prepare our family for life there.

So the schedule looks something like this: appointment in Nov in TX, training in VA Jan 26- March 26 and jumping the pond in early April. We have a MILLION things to do between now and then...makes my head spin, but we're already getting started which is exciting!