This week has been full of sinus pressure and extra evening events. Frank, the very large puppy, has decided to follow me through the house, only stepping in the exact places I step at the exact time I'm stepping there. Benjamin and Wyatt have started sneaking food off each other's plates and battle-throwing it on the floor instead of eating. This is Lifa's last week of grade 11 before he starts writing exams. THEN IT'S HIS LAST YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, AND IS ANYBODY ELSE FREAKING OUT!?!

I've lived in Cape Town for almost eight years. That's the longest I've lived anywhere since I was 18. We got dealt a few hard blows upon arrival in the city we left everything for... so hard my stomach twisted in knots at the sight of that big, beautiful Table Mountain.

Eight years later, I've learned to love this city through the lens of special needs parenting and "a church to call home, a family to call our own". I know how the weather changes based on what side of the mountain you're on, to check tide times and wind speeds, and how to navigate the traffic.

Meet Frank. Frank Ladd.

We unexpectedly, almost accidentally adopted this sweet guy yesterday. We already love him. And yes, he’s wearing a cast. Frank’s got a sprained ankle. 🤷‍♀️

Ten years ago, we crossed paths via similar missions and a shared culture. I thought you were a short-termer, getting the adventuring out of your system. You thought I was the weird missionary type, raising a child as my own.

Nine years, seven months ago, we had a conversation I’ve coined “the business meeting”. From separate couches, we discussed fears, futures, and made a decision to choose each other from that point forward. There were no romantic feelings between us, and the energy in the room was electrically awkward. But we’d start a relationship and see what God did.

Nine years, six and half months ago...

My birthday started with Chris, coffee and Jesus before the sun came up. Then we were whisked away to an extravagant, picture perfect breakfast with church family. The family had homemade (and sugar free!) ice cream cake in the sunshine after naps, and then the boys and I took a quick trip to the beach. It was a dream day that ended with a pile of chicken nuggets and bedtime stories. I’d say it doesn’t get any better than this.

I am continually amazed by the joy of the Lord springing up unexpectedly and faithfully through the zigs and zags of life. I feel surrounded by Him and blessed by so many. Thank YOU for being a part of my life!

Siblings. Absolutely the wildest of all the relationship combinations out there. Body slams and mouth kisses are interchangeable in a moment. Loving and loathing oscillate in milliseconds. Friend and foe AT THE SAME TIME. They are also almost always the longest relationship of your life. That’s probably why you need so much grit, humor, and an occasional Hot Wheel thrown at your head. It’s love built to last long after the bruises fade away. I pray for my kids’ relationships with each other often. Their love for each other is a gift we can leave them as a legacy.

I show up to church out of breath and in a full sweat - even on the coldest winter day! Have you ever noticed that everyone loses their ever-lovin’ minds when it’s time to get to church? …. Go anyway. Show up sweaty, frizzy-haired, with one sock on. Doesn’t matter. Your Father has good gifts for you in His storehouses, and He will clothe you in His grace, mercy, compassion, goodness and love…

You’ll never believe this. We saved Two Oceans Aquarium last night. And it didn’t even know it needed saving. We held down the floors with mighty muscles, uncovered evidence of the Joker in the eel tank, secured a yellow submarine, and climbed unspeakable heights to summit Superhero Tower. It wasn’t easy, but somebody had to do it.

And then we ate crackers and muffins and took bubble baths. Top night! 🎩

The kids were feeling artistic on this oh-so-rainy Cape Town day, so I took a chance and took them for a walk through a “grown up art museum”. My aim was simply a change of scenery and perhaps an opportunity expose Benjamin to the idea that anything can be art.

Some of my favorite Benjamin quotes were…

You might think you know what church looks like on a Sunday morning… but you’ve never experienced SouthPoint Church “At the Movies”. Action-packed, family friendly, fun and dress-ups of epic proportions for the next 4 weeks. Church + your favorite movies! Invite your friends! Dress up like a character from the Lego movie this week! See you at 8:30 and 10am!

Lifa is halfway through 11th grade and thinking about what comes next. Benjamin and Wyatt are ever-changing whirlwinds of personality and preferences - full of tackling, tickling, and tantrumming. We are going deeper and wider all at once at church and working through a missionary kind of sting we’re encountering for the first time after 14 years. Oh, AND, I’m learning how to cohabitate in my own body with an ever-present and absolutely crazy companion called perimenopause.

It is my joy to mark milestones, Monday mornings and everything in between with you. You grow in wisdom, discernment, integrity, grace and good good love every year.

Chris coined the term “chill people” when we moved to Cape Town several years ago. We were not (and are not) “chill people” but seemed to live in a city full of them….

Somebody prayed for us today. I witnessed the proof through supernaturally joy-filled boys playing their ever-loving hearts out. It was a different kind of play. It was light... it almost made light.

Celebrations are the punctuation of life.

Mornings, evenings, weekends, months, and years whiz by like a dizzying run-on sentence. They can feel like they drag on and on. Then suddenly it's over, and you've missed the point.

For me, gathering around meals, birthday cakes, Christmas trees and midnight countdowns create causeways of remembrance. We create intentional spaces to look at each other, look back, give thanks, look ahead, and look around. I'll always do the extra dishes, spend the extra time, and go the extra mile to punctuate a life that sees, remembers, attunes and gives thanks.

Sometimes I worry about our "YES" to remain in South Africa.

Chris and I wholeheartedly know God has authored every step of our story, and we are right where we are supposed to be. It is our joy to love and lead Southpoint Church.

I worry about the repercussions of my kids growing up without their grandparents, cousins, and extended family members. I wonder what it's like for foreign soil to be your only familiar soil.

I took this picture of Wyatt for the boys in the background.

We've been in an extra-challenging season, learning to new sides of Benjamin's PDA profile of autism. I've been posting brotherly bonds and family adventures as a banner over us. We're still doing the things that matter. We choose these moments to mark us.

Benjamin lives with an unusual form of autism called Extreme Demand Avoidance.

Most people's primary drive is survival. Our brains will do anything to ensure we have food, water, and air. Benjamin, and kids like him, have a primary drive for autonomy and equality.

If you've followed along with us, you've probably read that Benjamin struggles with an unusual form of autism. We've developed a great support team in the last 12 months, but there is no better support system than his big brother. I just had to sneak a few pictures this morning of this unexplainable love in action.

I made an angel-friend last year. The kind of friend God sends to you when you need to be seen in a way you can't see yet. I would pump breastmilk in the car on the way to meet her, hold teeny-tiny Wyatt, and drink an extra large coffee while I sniffled and stammered about not knowing how to be a special needs mom. She was the one I could be very raw with and say I didn't WANT to be a special needs mom. I could ask the questions you're not supposed to have and feel all the feelings I didn't think I should feel with her.