things I will miss 2.0 {an ongoing series}

This weekend we said good-bye to our dearest friends here in Uganda.
It sucked.

I am overwhelmed with the kindness of God when I think back on these past two years and the bright light that my friendship with Kelly has been.
I will miss hanging out with Kelly and her boys. I will miss watching our boys tear around their house and being the three musketeers or Star Wars or Angry Birds characters. They all played so well together and I can even recall a time when we had to separate them or give time outs or anything. I will miss the ease and welcome we felt in their home to just be. I will miss sitting down in the dining room or living room with a cup of coffee and sharing our lives and the things God had been teaching us or the books we'd been reading or the music we'd been listening to.
I will miss the beauty of the drive home coming down the various hills and seeing the city and the cathedral with the sun glinting off the dome on top.
I will miss this wonderful friend and gift from God. I will miss this season of friendship and this "doing life" with someone who intimately understands exactly what I am going through. Oh we'll still be friends - but this next year with them in New Jersey and us in Canada, distance will alter the way our friendship looks.
When I ask the boys what they will miss about Uganda, they always say "Seth & Caleb!".
Yup. We'll miss you, Hallahans!

on breathing

these ladies {aletha on the left of me, kelly to the right}. what an absolute blessing they both have been to me in my first year here in uganda.
they have both been like breathing in fresh air a midst the dust and diesel of this city.

before we left canada, i was googling resources for families living in kampala and came across kelly's blog. her and her family {same as mine; 2 boys about the same age} were preparing to move to kampala only months before we were. i left her a comment on her blog and we soon connected via blogs and emails. it wasn't too long after we arrived that kelly and i met up and the connection was instant. a friend! in kampala! thank you, Jesus!

about mid-october i decided to take a hiatus from facebook but feared how i would connect with other women in kampala without the help of facebook groups like "expats in uganda", etc. God is so good. he doesn't need facebook to connect people.
about a week later i got an email from a friend of a friend who lives in uganda and thought that me and another young mom she knew of should meet up for coffee and get to know each other and if it didn't work out, well that's fine. so me and this other mom {aletha} met up and i really liked her! she was honest and real and had already been living in uganda for a year with her two little kiddos. what a total blessing from God!

this next year is going to look different for me in terms of these two ladies. aletha and her family will be returning back to canada in october and both of kelly's boys will be in school 5 days a week. and oh yeah, i'll be having a baby in mere weeks. so it's going to look different for all of us, but i am so thankful for their friendship during my first year in kampala and whatever this next year looks like, i trust in God's provision for all my needs - all i have to do is look back to how He provided for me this past year and my hope is renewed.

from 6 to 13

...in 5 years.

5 years ago it was just the six of us. 

Mike, Elisha, Jamie and I road tripped it to Windsor to hang out with the newlyweds, Steve & Regan. 

Now there are thirteen of us. 

6 adults.

7 kids.

It didn't feel like there were as many of us as it looks. 

Does that make sense?

It was fun. 

I have some good memories that I'll recall over the next two years with fondness and thankfulness to have such wonderful people in my life.

*photo credit to Regan Thomson (or at least to her camera. and to the kiddie ride attendant that took the picture.)

lovely day

oh i had such a lovely day visiting in guelph today.

seeing friends, chatting, enjoying some high tea at the boathouse with wonderful women {who generously gifted me with the most gorgeous camera bag you've ever seen - it's purple. me = in love.}, spending dinner and quality time with dear friends.

it was a lovely day.

i caught this shot of jude in my lap {holding a pencil?} and noah across from me {holding some wooden toy} and our feet. 

we are who we are in this messy, crazy, wonderful, amazing world we live in.

i'm glad i get to "do life" with these fantastic people.

friend

my heart is full.
full of hellos and goodbyes and catching ups and excitement and nerves and plans and passions and frustrations and wrestling with thoughts of all sorts of wonderful, scary, challenging things.

life seems really busy/crazy these days.

i remarked to a sweet friend today that it seems that in the last year or less i've stumbled into these deep, real, raw, honest friendships and i ask God
why now?

and almost as quickly the answer comes back. so still. so perfect.

to sustain you while you're gone.


it seems like the timing is off, that just as these amazing friendships are developing i'm galavanting off to the other side of the world.
i don't know how many of these friendships will last, but i do know that all of them will change to some extent.
i also know that i am incredibly blessed to have so many amazing women in my life to call friend, regardless of the season of life or the distance that separates us.

1/2

i am the best person to throw a surprise party for.
simply because i am always completely clueless and totally blown away.

example:
today.
a week or so ago i got an email from my sweet friend jen, inviting me and a few others to join her today to have a little birthday celebration at her place. myself and several others replied saying that of course we'd be there.

today i had lined up a hair appointment that was conveniently right before the party and as i walked in to jen's house with freshly cut hair {whoo boy i needed it: as in i couldn't remember exactly when i last had my hair cut} i saw that jen had a funny look on her face. within seconds a bunch of people jumped out holding signs with "1/2" and "30" on them and it took me a minute to figure out that this party was not for jen, but for my 1/2 birthday. you see, i turn 30 on october 21st which means i'll be in uganda by then.
my amazing friends jen & suz had organized a surprise 1/2 birthday party {i turned 29 and 1/2 on april 21st} for me in the guise of a birthday party for jen so that i would get to celebrate my 30th with my friends!

wow.

there were tears, folks. and then i believe i said that i was thankful i had just gotten my haircut. {oh the vanity.}

and if that weren't amazing enough it was a "1/2 and 1/2" party which means that people gave money in lieu of gifts and half of it i get to give to an orphanage in Uganda when i go! this speaks so deeply to who i am and what i'm passionate about. and my friends know it and are now a part of it.

best 1/2 birthday present EVER.

it was also a really great opportunity to say some good byes and spend some time with people that have been such a part of my life here in guelph and i truly pray and hope that we will stay in contact with each other over the next few years.

i feel very loved and very blessed and am still in shock.
thank you jen and suz. i love you both very much and am trying not to think about how very much i'll miss the both of you. {please write. and call. and skype.}

more tears.

to be refreshed

I went away this weekend.
To a girls (can I still call myself a girl? calling us "ladies" conjures up thoughts of doilies and calling us "women" makes me think of something more professional or organized than this weekend actually was. "girls" it is.) cottage getaway.
It.Was.Delightful.
And refreshing.
It truly was just what I needed.

About a year ago (more?) I started getting together with several young moms from my church for a purely social evening. You see, it's kinda hard to make friends on Sunday mornings. So we all would get together and at first we got together at a restaurant and that was pretty fun, but soon our conversations would last longer and were more intimate than a restaurant setting provided. So we started meeting in each others' homes. Until this past December as we were heading out sometime before midnight I said, "I feel like we could talk all night long! We need some kind of retreat!"
And then Katie said that their family had a cottage.
And the rest is history.
To be honest, I didn't know if it would actually come together but I'm so glad it did.
We pretty much just talked

and ate.

The amazing thing is that we didn't just talk about our kids and our husbands and our lives, but we shared deeply with each other. I shared things I've never told many people (save for my husband and maybe even my sister) before. There was no judgement, no competitiveness or one-upping. It was safe and fun and loving and I think probably one of my favourite parts was sharing our testimonies with one another on Sunday morning. 

Each person was vulnerable in their own way and we were able to pray for each other and come along side each other as we shared how God has redeemed us and changed us and continues to work in our lives. 

It was beautiful and such a perfect example of how the body of Christ is supposed to come together to truly be a family - sisters in Christ.

I loved it.

Part of me just weeps when I think of leaving this group now as I know in my heart that God is doing something and is going to do something really big through this group and these women, but I know that He is sovereign and His timing is perfect. 

But mostly I'm just thankful to have experienced such awesome fellowship and friendship and I hope to continue to experience it - it will just look a little different.

Oh and I ate amazing food (quiche & thai soup and indonesian curry and scones and delicious salads). And laughed. A lot. It was amazing.