More than Meets the Eye

When you look at these pictures, I wonder what you'll see.  I hope you see a month full of blessings and happiness to spend time together with our family and friends in the US.  However, sometimes these pictures tell a bigger story than what we see at first glance.  Here is what I see...here are our stories....

Cassia got to meet her Great-Grandma's!  She is so sweet and full of smiles for everyone :)  We're so glad we went back to the States now instead of waiting until fall.  This way people got to see Cassia when she is still a baby!

Orrin got spoiled again at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  Pop-cycles, sure.  Stroller rides, yes.  Skid steer ride? Of course!



Speaking of spoiled....I felt really spoiled!  David's mom got in a lot of "Grandma time" which was really nice :)  Diaper changes, holding, rocking, reading, lawnmower rides, watching kids while I rode on the ambulance one day, and even drawing smiley faces on stomachs with a marker :)



I thought it would be fun for Orrin to go swimming at the pool.  Will's birthday was that day and so he came along too.  The water was really cold, but the boys swam for a while.  Cassia's swimming experience was very short-lived....enough to get her feet wet and have her suck in her breath and shudder.  She did get to go swimming though one time when we went to a hotel to stay with my parents and mom's family.  And I'm sure she'll be ready for the beach soon enough...

In this picture I see a new generation of Gerst's.  Orrin and Titus look so much alike and so much like their Gerst side!  Their mommies used to play together too when we would get together for family things like these cousins are.

As I look at this landscape, I see a lot nostalgia.  It's like looking at a whole different life.  Iowa, cornfields, the "bottoms", gravel roads, the farmhouse, the grove of spruce trees.  Starry nights of lying on the roof, talking about the future.  Where would I be in five years?  Ten years?  Sure didn't see the flood, the farmhouse and church that no longer mark the landscape, Illinois, David, mountains, or Haiti, but God has been good!  Just seems so....strange....and so long ago.

CORN!  Orrin ate sooo much sweet corn this trip!  Corn for supper, corn for snack, cold corn, even corn for breakfast.  As long as the corn was on the cob, he was pretty happy!

Oh, the things that grandparents do..... Last time when we left my parents' house, Orrin had left hand prints on their mirror.  One day mom cleaned the mirror and dad was so bummed that the hand prints were gone.  So this time, we put the kids' hand prints on the mirror so they can see them when the kids are away :)

David told me one of his favorite parts of our time home was that his brother Joel is now working and living in Fairbury.  So they got to spend time hanging out together, playing virtual basketball, and of course the occasional wrestling match in the kitchen :)

Another chapter in the Orrin sleep saga.  Over our vacation, he usually made it into our room once or twice a night, or had to have one of us sleep or lay down with him.  One night I got fed up, and told him not to come down the stairs.  So he sat on the stairs and looked through the railing at me in the living room.  And that's where he fell asleep.  I also see a little boy that became very very attached to his mom on this trip.  I think it was a little stressful for him not to know where we were going or what we were doing...after all, he's lived in Haiti most of his life that he can remember!  So we went through a lot of crisis' whenever I walked out of the room.  It seems to have improved a little since we got back to Haiti.  I think he's in his element again....

Yes, we lit the fireplace in May.  It was a cold month!!  We are used to the heat and humidity of Haiti so much that we all got pretty dry and had some colds :(  The fire was kind of fun though :)

Good friend time :)  Spent a day with Lindsy and Cassia shopping in Williamsburg.  Cold but really really good to be able to catch up.  So glad that all our friendships seem to be able to pick up right where we left off.

Speaking of friendships... :)  Orrin and Tristan sat together in church one Sunday.  After the service I saw Orrin go over to Tristan.  They held onto each other's hands and had this little conversation....not sure what about, but it was really super cute!

One day the kids were being nap rebels, and I was pretty grouchy about it.  So we loaded up the crying kids into the car and took off to the park.  It ended up being the perfect afternoon.  Orrin loved the swings, the slides, the merry-go-rounds.  He also had a great time riding his really old red trike!  Last summer he was just starting to get the hang of riding, and this time he was a pro!  We walked, pushed Cassia in the stroller, and Orrin rode his bike all over the park.  He would take off ahead of us and we couldn't keep up :)  It was really nice to enjoy the spring weather outdoors together as a family.  I had to wonder how many people have experienced these things I think of as "normal".  First world country, quiet small-town neighborhood, a kid on a bike, paved roads...and then it goes further....parents that are married to each other, that go to church...I wonder what percent of the world has this experience.  Maybe a fraction of a percent?  I need to not get so grumpy over the little things....kids that don't sleep aren't really that big of a deal in the big scheme of things.  Being thankful for what we've been given helped my mood a lot :)

In this pretty boring picture of a high school graduation, I see a bunch of cute second grade faces that I helped "tutor" when I was in High School.  Wow, how crazy that it was 10 years ago, and they're now graduating Seniors and going off into the world!  It was also fun to see and show David my dear old Wapello High School :)

Memorial Day we got together with the Zimmerman cousins...had a cookout at Tory and Wendy's.  In this picture I see a bunch of really great people that have great times together, enjoy good food and some good-natured teasing.  I'm go glad to be a part of this family :)

Orrin got luggage that had his name on it from a different Orrin...and it was so great!   He was such a big boy and pulled his luggage all through the airports.  Traveling home to Haiti again went pretty smooth.  Thanks to William for taking us up to O'hare for our noon flight!  Thanks to U Bill and A Joan for keeping us overnight in Ft Lauderdale and taking us from and to the airport!  After catching a ride back to our mountain, we're getting settled back in to our routine here!