Hannah and Mapile: December 2016

Is it just me or does Christmas seem to come and go way too fast every year?

My Mom, Dad, and my brother Jonathan all left yesterday. They were here for 10 precious days. It was super sweet for Simo to meet Grandpa and Uncle Jon for the first time. We spent most of our time together just hanging out as a family – drinking tea, playing games, cooking, eating, smiling at Simo, taking turns bouncing/rocking her to sleep, going for walks, and also playing some 2 on 2 volleyball while mom watched baby Simo.

I guess there’s not a lot to update you on besides pictures of Simo, because I still haven’t gone back to work, and school at the college doesn’t start back up until February (although January will be a big time of preparation for school to start).

If you wanna know some ways to pray for us, scroll to the bottom for some prayer requests.

Morning devos with Grandpa

My view when we go for walks

Her shirt says Merry Christmas in Siswati

Playing rook with the family - gotta train 'em when they're young

Christmas day with Uncle Jon

Goin' for a walk with Daddy

The cute little gecko, next to cute little Simo in her car seat

Wearing our Christmas gifts from Jon - Ball State hoodies (which is where he teaches)

Having a braai with the neighbors

Simo with some of the neighbor's children - Clark, Marlena, and Olivia Cheney

Making the pap/nshima for the braai - it was a team effort.

Please keep us in your prayers :

- It’s so nice to have family visit, but it makes me especially homesick for all the rest of my family back in the States.

- I’m also going to start transitioning back to work in January, so please pray for all the details of that to work out, as Simo will be coming with me to work. I can tend to feel anxious about how everything will work out, and I often have to remind myself that the Lord tells us NOT to be anxious about anything (Philippians 4:6).

- Also be in prayer for the Bible College – for more students to come to be trained and for all the preparation that is involved for Mapile and the other staff members.

- We’ve been in the process of applying to seminary for Mapile in the States. We are definitely still in the early stages of this, and we are trusting that the Lord’s timing is perfect. You can pray for that whole process, as there are lots of unknowns for us.

We are excited as we head into 2017. Of course we sure don’t know what this year will have in store for us, but we’re thankful to know that the Lord is by our side the whole way!

November 1^st we welcomed sweet little Simo (pronounced "see-mow", short for Simosenkhosi – which means “Image of the Lord" in Siswati) into this world. I started having regular contractions on the morning of November 1^st, and baby Simo decided to show up at 9:15pm that same day. Candice Cheney is one of our American neighbors, and she is a labor and delivery nurse. I labored most of the day with her help, so in that way I was able to do most of the laboring at home rather than at the hospital. In fact, I only had to labor for just over 2 hours at the hospital before the baby came. Candice, my mom, and Mapile were my awesome birthing team, along with the midwife at Mkhiwa clinic, Sister Annie, and one of the Congolese doctors who works at the clinic. The air conditioning was not working at the hospital, so Mapile stood by my face and fanned me pretty much the whole time I was in the delivery room. Overall things went really well, and I feel like I had the best birthing team!

I’ve been amazed at the miracle of birth and how the Lord made us. It’s absolutely amazing that you can go through something as hard as delivering a baby, and then immediately afterwards there is so much joy that comes with the little life that has been given to you. Even in the weeks that followed the birth with the sleepless nights and recovery from delivery, God just filled me with so much strength to be able to handle the craziness of it all. Really He is amazing in the way He made us, and He gave us the grace to deal with the different situations, and he continues to give us His grace!

Simo's great grandma and her grandma

Along with the Lord’s grace, He also sent me the wonderful gift of my mother. My mom was here October 26-December 2, and she was an incredible blessing! I don’t know what on earth I would have done without her help. She spent the night in the hospital with me after Simo was born, and once we got home she cooked, cleaned, did laundry, took care of Simo, and helped keep me sane in the midst of my crazy hormones (which are no joke btw – they are really intense!). I can hardly express how huge of a blessing my mother is! I'm so thankful for her.

People always talk about how a little baby will change your life, and Mapile and I are finally realizing what that really means. Simo has been such a joy, and certainly our lives will never be the same as before she came. We have started getting out of the house to go to church, run errands, and just to get out and about. Simo does really well for the most part while we are out. She enjoys bumping down the roads here, and most often falls asleep in her car seat, or she entertains herself by looking out the window.

Mapile was super busy at the end of October, since the students had graduation on October 29. He had lots of really long days waking up early and sleeping late to get all his work done. After graduation most of the students left and it has been super quiet on campus since then. School doesn’t open up again until February, but the staff is still working part time to prepare for then. Mapile has also been busy taking care of all the other things that he was unable to do with the craziness of school – things like getting new tires for the car (yes, three of our tires were punctured due to thorns, nails, and the dirt roads of Swaziland), working on Simo’s paperwork, planting maize in our garden, and lots of other stuff.

Please keep the prayers coming! We appreciate the love and support from all you guys.

- Safe travels for my family – my Mom, Dad, and brother on are all coming out for Christmas. They arrive December 20 and will stay for about 10 days.

- Continued strength and grace to figure out life with our one-month old.

- For rest before we go back to working. I’m looking at going back to work at Project Canaan around the beginning of February when school starts back up here at the college.