Almost There!

Friends and Family:

This is Zach again.

I am writing on the bed of our hotel room in Johannesburg around 9:30 PM South African Time.  Kait just fed Wyatt and is now reading a book to Bruce. To catch everyone up, the flight to Atlanta went well. Once we got to Atlanta, we were not scheduled to have a sky cot (only available on a few seats on the plane) for Wyatt to sleep in overnight, but one seat became available at the last minute. For a majority of the 15 hour plane ride, I was in row 44 with Wyatt (with the exception of feedings) and Kait was with Bruce in row 54. 

There were so many evidences of God's grace through the flight and afterwards. 1) The lady sitting next to Bruce was a grandmother of 4 and was also a Christian. She played with Bruce a lot and helped Kait with the Bruce-man. 2) We received a sky cot at the last minute (which also meant more leg room for me!). 3) The boys cried/whined minimally. 4) The people at Johannesburg airport were very nice and helped us with transporting our luggage (3 carts worth!). 5) The two gentlemen sitting next to me were very nice (one is going to be a bishop within the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the other was very knowledgeable about random conspiracy theories on why Bible and Jesus are not true/real - good talks!).

Some early beginner-Africa observations: 1) $20 USD (approx. 200 rand) is wayyy too much to tip people for helping with luggage! I learned this the hard way, but I am grateful that I could support the South Africa Airport random people looking to help (just this once though). 2) People drive on the wrong side of the road. 3) Make sure that you bring a working phone or have access to one when a cab driver drops you off at the casino so you can exchange USD for South African Rands. I felt very vulnerable when I had to wait for 40 minutes for the cab driver to pick me up!

We are leaving the hotel around 8 AM tomorrow morning for our flight at 11 AM. We look forward to seeing the Whitlock family!

9:50 PM Update: Bruce just pooped on the hotel room floor (I will spare all of you and not post a picture). It is potty-training time!

In Christ,
Zach

The Journey Set Before Us

Friends and Family,

This is Zach.

The bags are packed. The goodbyes have mostly been made. Bruce had his 2-year family birthday party tonight. The journey is upon us!

I am sad, but excited. The cost is great with leaving friends and family, and I pray that the benefit will yield much fruit and it will impact future generations of the Hillegi (plural for Hillegas!). 

We leave from Bridgeport, WV at 6:30 AM tomorrow morning with the me, Kait, the boys, my Mom, Kait's Dad, 7 checked bags (approx. 380 lbs.), 5 carry-on bags, a double jogging stroller and 2 car seats. We will hopefully be in Pittsburgh around 8:30 AM where we need to run a few errands, grab breakfast and feed Wyatt. Lord-willing, we will be at the airport around 10 AM. We leave Pittsburgh around 1 PM for Atlanta (Flight #DL 1599) and should arrive there around 3 PM. Then, we will have 3 hours to grab our bags, go through customs and get dinner before getting on a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa (Flight #DL 200) where we will be in the air for 16 hours until we arrive at 4 PM on Thursday. We will spend the night in Johannesburg before ultimately getting to Nelspruit on Friday morning (Flight #SA 8841) at noon. 

Please pray for our flights. We usually have to bribe Bruce for him to sit still in church for 15 minutes so 16 hours will test us greatly. Thankfully, Bruce is endearing and I pray that people will be understanding. Also, please pray for the transition at the different airports. We will definitely need help!

The verses below are coming to my mind. I just keep thinking about how the Lord is at hand and that all of our circumstances are in his trustworthy, sovereign and loving hands.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7, ESV)

My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! (Psalm 31:15, ESV)

In Christ,

Zach

Baby Squash and God's Mercy

I just laid our sweet son down for an afternoon nap after a morning of eating, playing, and sleeping  (Bruce likes his sleep :)). When we play these days, baby gate is in position and dog toys are out of reach. Bruce is in to everything, crawling, pulling up on things, and everything he finds goes into his mouth. Just yesterday he pulled himself up onto the dog bowl (which is elevated about 16 inches) and tipped the whole thing over onto himself. Water poured/splashed over his face and clothes. The poor thing was sputtering and crying - shocked from the cold water burst. And this is the 3rd time this has happened! Needless to say, Emmitt eats in the basement now.

Emmitt is such a trooper. Thankfully he tolerates Bruce well :)

Socks? Check. Diaper? Check. Clothes? In the dryer from the monsoon!

We ate squash, peas, and strawberries for lunch while we listened to a Brooke Fraser station on Pandora. Strawberries are our favorite; sometimes we don't like the consistency of peas and like to gag and then laugh - because it was funny, of course, that we gagged.

It's been an especially sweet morning, not because of any special circumstances, but because the Lord has opened my eyes to the many blessings he's surrounded me with. He's reminded me that my hope is in Him, and when the things in this life fail - he remains. It hit me as I was feeding Bruce. Mid-bite (mouth full of yellow mush) he's screaming that shrill baby-scream out of sheer joy, and my heart melted.

Just look at this sweet baby face! How can your heart not melt??

Psalm 131 says this :

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high;

 I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. 

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, 

like a weaned child with its mother;

 like a weaned child is my soul within me.

 O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. 

 Thanks be to Him who gives us an everlasting and unfailing peace to enjoy and endure the ups and downs of each day. We have this freedom not because of anything we've done or due to our outside circumstances, but because of Christ's death on the cross on our behalf. I love the psalm above. It's a good reminder for me not to "occupy myself" with things that are not for me to worry about, things "too great and too marvelous for me". Instead, it's a call to calm and quiet my soul. But how?  The last verse is my answer : hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. 

This life is certainly full of troubles and sufferings. Life is hard, and the sin and brokenness all around and within us is evidence of that. "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:5-7). 

We have a hope that will never fail! Amen and amen.

 

8 Paws on Deck!

This is Rocky....

Rocky came to visit last Friday to Tuesday. I have two words that describe our time together - utter chaos.  There was a lot of rough housing that occurred and a lot of Zach and I saying, "boys, knock it off." 

These two were always together and always where we were. Where Emmitt went, Rocky followed. Where Rocky went, Emmitt followed. And where one of us was, a pooch was sure to follow, which meant the other was following close behind. This made for quite a party anytime one of us re-located in the house!

All in all, Rocky is  a very sweet dog, loves to snuggle, and get's along with Emmitt well. BUT, I'm thankful just to have one dog :)

Birthday Celebrations

My birthday was just this past week and my husband blessed my heart by making it a special occasion to celebrate. On Thursday when he got home from work he told me to get ready, he was taking me to the restaurant of my choice! We went to Sesame Inn (our favorite) after dropping Bruce off at Jordan and Meredith's house, our sweet neighbor friends. After a lovely evening with my man, we went to pick up the babe only to find that Meredith had prepared a surprise birthday dessert (recipe compliments from my sweet mamma). Needless to say, it was a lovely evening :)

Bruce loved spending time with Meredith and Jordan. He was sad to miss out on the dark chocolate mocha trifle, though :)

Mt birthday gifts - Beautiful hydrangeas from Meredith (my favorite flowers), a new bible from my man, and a camera! I've been having so much fun learning how to use this new gadget.

On Saturday, the Jacquay's showed up at our doorstep with my favorite cake in hand (recipe compliments of my mamma, again!) for dinner. I was making our favorite fall dinner, beef bourguignon and fresh bread (make this!!!!), per Zach's request. Little did I know we would have special guests for the evening. The Jacquay's are dear friends, and we enjoyed having them over to celebrate. 

I'm so thankful that Bruce enjoys spending time with those whom we enjoy spending time with! Angela and Jarah are awaiting the arrival of their first baby, due 12/12/12! P.S. - notice the dog that is NOT Emmitt on Jarah's lap? That's Rocky. There will be a post soon to follow, explaining his presence at our house :)

This is a regular occurrence and I'm so happy to have captured the smiles! Bruce adores his daddy.

Wedding Weekend

Recently, we went home home for my cousin's wedding at the University of Charleston. The venue was absolutely beautiful and we saw it as a perfect family photo opportunity. See the Capitol in the background across the river? That's where we got married two years ago!

Then

Now

The night before the wedding, my dad lit up the fire pit for the first time! Zach and I invited some friends over to my parents' house where we roasted s'mores and enjoyed some refreshing fellowship.  We cherish times like these when we can have 'real talk' with other brothers and sisters in the Lord. 

Fall Photo Session

The boys (Emmitt and Bruce, that is) and I were out walking the neighborhood recently when we met another fellow new mommy who lives close by.  We have become friends with Otilia and Dominik and, over the past several weeks, we’ve enjoyed meeting for mid-day walks and photo sessions of our babes and the fall foliage. We used Otilia's camera to take pictures (ours is broken) and it has made me so excited to have a new one of our own soon!

Otilia and sweet Dominik

Daddy came home just in time to catch the end of the photo session :)