The Year of the Brave was full of life, loss, conquering, crying, incredible need, and being met in that need by the God who holds it all.  

In the Year of the Brave, we won rugby “Forward of the Year”, learned how to swim, worked so hard academically, and doubled the size of our family – two in heaven and one growing right here with his mama.

Today's blast from the past is from Lifa's first trip to the ocean in 2012. He doesn't remember it, and I remember being right in the middle of some of the hardest emotional turmoil of my life. I didn't know what would happen to Lifa the following year. LOOK AT US NOW! Praise God! And look at where you are now - Praise God! And seriously, this story is worth reading for the pics. Because he was CUTE.

Almost 5 years ago, I wrote a blog about "What I Didn't Know 4 Years Ago." I can't believe I've almost been in South Africa for 9 years! I still remember the power in writing those words as I reflected over my first 4 years here. If I wrote today about what I didn't know 9 years ago... well, you better be glad you can just read it one short story at a time! Read my story, and then take a minute and look back on where you were 4 years ago. And think about how far God has brought you!

I'm so excited about this week! In my previous story (Learning How To High School), I shared my current battle between reasoning, questioning and just plain remembering what is TRUE by remembering what God has brought us through. I'm celebrating God's faithfulness and welcoming in even more of His goodness this week by reaching back into the archives and posting stories on our website that have never been seen there before! This is one a personal favorite... and it's about CAKE! Please enjoy this story from August 24, 2014.

I grew up surrounded by cousins. Vacations, holidays, sleepovers, Saturdays… anything fun happened with cousins in tow.

My cousin Carli has been my lifelong closest friend. We spent our childhood making radio shows, being fake Avon ladies on fake phones, coordinating jumpers and jellies, concocting absurd recipes for cooking shows, spying on the grown-ups with disposable cameras, feeding NaNa the yellow and green fruit snacks we didn’t like, and creating clubs, rules and games that always put our male cousin counterpart, Chaz at an impossible disadvantage. We still find the occasional mix tape, hilarious photo, or the newspaper we created in the treasure trove of NaNa’s house – evidence of the precious gift of cousins.

Here it is, world. The Internet’s first up close and personal interview with Lifa. I thought his would be the most qualified voice in the Ladd Family to celebrate Father’s Day, so I (Mom) interviewed Lifa on all the ins and outs regarding dads and why they are important. 

The hero of our house is 35 today! Read a few mushy lines about why we celebrate him, and then leave Chris a birthday message in the comments please! We love you all and are so thankful you’ve come by.

It’s 5am in South Africa, and it’s Lifa’s birthday! 

There’s a pink-swirled sky, and I’m pouring through pictures of baby Lifa before his 10-year old self wakes up. 

LADD FAMILY MILESTONE: This is the first Christmas in the history of the Ladd family that we will all be in the same country! ...In two days, Lifa’s father will board the fanciest, memory foam recliner Greyhound has to offer and begin a 24-hour journey to Cape Town. He will spend two weeks with us, experiencing Lifa’s life as a part of our family. He will see Lifa’s room, watch him practice guitar, play Legos, ride bikes, walk the dogs, see Lifa’s school, and experience what an incredible young man Lifa is. 

They ranged in age from 3 months to 79 years. Our Thanksgiving guests came from every walk of life, spoke multiple languages, and one of them is going for his purple belt in karate this weekend. It was everyone’s first time to celebrate my favorite American holiday, and they had all googled “Thanksgiving” before they came to know what to say, bring and expect. They had hilarious expectations from American movie clips, and they came with flowers, chocolate, wine, hugs, double-cheek kisses, a jar of honey, a candle, a ball, and a giant clay pot. South African hospitality is amazing!

On Monday night, we told him we were going to have pap, beans, cabbage and beetroot for dinner the next night. And he could eat it with his hands. His eyes lit up, and he said, “It’s like it’s a birthday dinner!”

We said goodbye to Chris’ parents on Monday after three glorious weeks together. There is such power in three generations gathering around the dinner table. We shared the stories that shaped us and narrated new ones. We watched Lifa take developmental leaps with giggles abounding. His personality sprouted and bloomed in the presence of our family’s root system.

After my first year in South Africa, I visited my family in Texas. I took a walk… No, a stomp down the beach on Galveston Island, spiritually arrested with the choice God had laid before me. He gave me a “Yes or No only” invitation for a very special kind of life and family.

We don’t know many people in this city yet, and South Africa doesn’t know Thanksgiving. We are our pinching pennies (or rands), and the table is tiny in our current rental house. And all of my placemats and tablecloths are in a storage unit in Johannesburg until February.  This is not the proper recipe for a Hallmark Thanksgiving special. 

A miracle is something that happens in this world but doesn’t follow the rules of this world. We are bound with all kinds of rules like gravity, time, space, probability and logic. A miracle reminds us there’s something more and Some One bigger and better than that. We want to be a miracle family. No, scratch that… We are a miracle family.

“This is our house. I think God just showed me that.” We just got married. We just moved into the perfect newlywed home – safe, secure, within our means, and just the right size to learn how to be a family. Our small home was perfect for our small family. But what about God's Family - the One we were made in the image of?

Six years ago, I had no idea that you could use buckets for everything. Bath-taking, food-serving, dish-washing, house-cleaning, rat-trapping, water balloon-storing, laundry-doing, foot-washing, and even an indoor, night-toilet when life so calls for one. Disclaimer: NOT the same bucket for everything. Let’s not be gross. Four years ago, I watched malnourished, 2-year-old legs walk too far to get a plate of food his body just couldn’t take in. Pre-school aged family members showed him how to dip his fistful of food in his juice to soak the food so it would slide right through his revolting throat.