His faithfulness.....

"Come and see what God has done.." Psalm 66:5

There is much to be thankful for!  Here are some recaps....

Camilla turned 4 at the end of March and is spunky as ever!  She is the cuddliest bug we have and exudes joy most of the time- still loving all things puppy and people.

We finished our homeschooling year and thrived thankfully!  Maybe the first year I'd say that- thrived.  Its been a gift to see how God is molding us through the process.  Next year Camilla will be joining us at home for Pre-K and the bigs will keep chugging along.

For Dave's birthday we headed to Charleston for some fishing, boating and reuniting!  It was my highschool reunion after 15 years!  Many of these folks I haven't seen since graduation (except for good ol' facebook) so it was a fun time of reconnecting.

We are thankful to have met some new neighbors that we really enjoy and we have been sustained during some harder experiences these last few weeks during election time which quickly brought very honest conversations with them.  Its also served as a natural environment to explore truth with Celia in new ways.  We're thankful how the Lord uses all things for His glory.  Actually as I type this Dave is currently cleaning both of our cars.  Its happened to both of them this morning.  Dog (hopefully) mess on our driver side windows and all over the doors.  Honestly its hurtful.  But this is low level persecution comparatively.  Pray for us to endure well. 

Dave took the girls to the ballet and they had a blast!  It was a special Daddy-daughter date for sure!

 We're also seeing new church friendships grow that are offering grace and depth.  I (Mary) personally am really encouraged by a new friend in particular- It seems our lives have many common themes and am thankful to see this new grace to me.  Pray that I would be genuine and loving in this.

I've been playing the banjo quite a bit and have enjoyed playing and singing with some friends.  We played at an event for youth and families which was pretty fun and ended up with some gig requests.  How funny is that?

Also on the musical front I was able to weasel my way in to singing back up for the Welcome Wagon who is a folky fun musical duo from Brooklyn.  Their songs range from quirky weird to Christ worshipping and thought provoking.  Here's a little sample from the night.....

Our fantastic lifegroup was challenged to a kickball game and we dominated!  Seriously, who's next? The Andrews/Pyrch group hosted us at the Covenant Day Baseball field and though they brought their sweet orange shirts, they forgot to bring their skills.  ;)  so we shut them out.  Better than the win, was the fellowship and laughs had by all!  Sadly for me, my knee injury prevented me from playing fully....surgery will be this summer once our business reaches a short-lived lull.  Pray for me to cope well in the mean time.  Days are mostly ok but some days are really painful.  Its inconsistent pain but the MRI showed I have bone fragments that need to be removed and my bone surfaces smoothed. Hopefully just 2 weeks on crutches and a couple of months til I'm back to normal!

We hosted a missions night for friend, Michael Treadwell, who is home continuing to raise support to return to Ethiopia.  And next week we'll get to reconnect with our dear Jake and Melissa as they are stateside for a surprisingly longer trip than expected. 

Speaking of missions, Dave is headed to Southeast Asia this month to visit and encourage some friends of ours.  I'm especially jealous that he will see the Gainors.  Its been over 2 years since they left for India and have 2 sweet boys we haven't even met in person yet!  But it won't be long til they're back in the States for a much needed furlough.  

 Camilla was recently confirmed as having asthma.  She's just prone to get nasty wheezing coughs when a cold comes which leaves her depleted.  She's never had an asthma attack but more often she just really struggles to breathe well while sick which results in difficult nights and tired days.  Please pray her medicine will help her to cope well!

Overall we are encouraged.  We are currently feeling loved and cared for by our family and friends.  Most of all we are feeling held by our Lord!