Hard Places Can Develop Good Friends

When you go through a really tough time with a friend, it somehow seems to draw you closer. We found this to be true when we were in Uganda in the winter/spring of 2016. We were there adopting our daughter, Mercy, and stayed at a guesthouse called Providence Guesthouse. Our stay in country was almost 9 weeks long so we really got to know the few other families that stayed there while adopting, too.

One of those families was my friend, Lisa, who was also adopting 2 kids. Our children became fast friends since their rooms were right next to ours. We spent a lot of time together - a lot of hard times but made good memories, too...

We spent a lot of time on our guesthouse patio...

And in the upstairs living area...

And playing outside...

Lots of swim time...

Cleaning for fun - who does that?! 

Lots of walks...

We got to tour the home of Give a Goat & see the future home of Sole Hope...

We toured Amazima with Katie Davis Majors' husband, Benji...

One of our favorite things to do was to walk a few blocks to another guesthouse that served the most amazing Italian food. It was such a nice treat to have on occasion there. This photo was taken on the last night we spent together. We ate at the guesthouse & the Italian owner asked Lisa where they were going to live when they got to the States. After mentioning that she was from Arkansas, the owner pulled out an old encyclopedia & looked up their state to show the kids ;-) ...

Both of our families got to go home at about the same time & I'm so glad we've stayed in touch. Even though we are in Oklahoma, they don't live too far from us so they came and saw us that same summer. It was so fun to reconnect at a more "happy" time & "familiar" atmosphere ;-) ...

It didn't work out to get together in the summer of 2017 but they did come and see us again last year in 2018...

I can't get over how much they have grown these past 3 years! And here's our pics from our 2019 reunion. Hopefully we can keep this tradition going for a long while!....

Japanese Style Bathroom Makeover

I had so much fun doing a makeover for my friend, Amy's daughters, while they were away on a missions trip to Japan. She said the girls love everything Japanese so we went with that theme.

Here are some before pics (with our son, Asher, photobombing one of them 😂). The girl's reactions are at the end of this post...

And here's the after pics...

This project was definitely a group effort. A huge thank you goes to Amy & her friend, Lindsay, for doing all the bulk painting, Belinda Sears for painting the cabinets, and to Amy's aunt & uncle for doing all the "handyman" work involved. So much fun & I'm so glad the girl's like it!