April Fool's--the mumps! (no joke though!)

hey there,

been a while. between 2 busy kiddos, teaching, and life in general, besides internet challenges, i haven't been writing much lately. just taking this brief window of time to post a little note that we are doing fine (pretty good, overall) and SOOO happy it's a little warmner now. whew! we made it through our first winter back! spring is here and it feels "warm"... though i remember a friend who came to visit in May way back when, and thought my idea of warm was pretty crazy. ;) anything above freezing feels warm after so many degrees below zero!

so yes, i have the mumps. hoping no one else in the family gets it. kids had their vacc (i'm one of those 'let's take it slow' moms), and javkhaa may have also. i'm hoping so, b/c no one seems to think he had mumps as a kid. we'll know for sure in another week or so i guess. anyways, i'm holding up okay, but this is dragging on longer than i'd hoped. so much for a spring break.

thanks for your prayers, and Happy Easter!

video archive

this is from a while ago, but... that's ok! :)

(another one was too long to post...)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi everyone!!

It's been quite a year, and we've much to be thankful for. :) Most of all, our family, especially our sweet little girl.

I'll try to write more later, there's diaper to change... ;) but wanted to know how thankful we are for all our friends, near and far, and for our family. God bless you and may your 2009 be filled with JOY, LOVE, LIGHT and PEACE.

We love you, and are thankful for your friendship, prayers and love!

Warmest wishes,
Skye, Javkhaa and Enkh-Yvelle Abigail

A Family Reunion!

Janelle (Skye's sister), Paul and their cute Katie came to visit us here in Virginia Beach a few weeks ago. We had a great time catching up--and it was the first time they met Javkhaa! Katie warmed up to us before too long and it was fun to take her to the playground here and talk and talk with my little sister (not so little anymore). ;)

Thanks, you guys, for driving the long way and making the effort to see us. We had a wonderful time and look forward to doing it again!

Our Gift of Peace

written 7 March 2007 (orig. posted 5.23.07)

Dear friends,

We want to first pass on the love and peace of the Lord Jesus to all of you. May He fill you with the joy of His presence. Skye and I both want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for you ongoing prayers, thoughts and encouragement to us.

On Thursday, March 1, 2007 our precious son Enkhbeleg Samuel was born by Caesarean, at 1.27pm. (Enkhbeleg means "Gift of Peace," and Samuel, "Heard of God.") He was with us for about an hour and a half, and then went to be with the Lord Jesus. Before that time, I helped the nurses to bathe him, and Skye and I took turns holding and talking to him. Enkhbeleg weighed 5 pounds 4 ounces and was 16.5 inches long. He had a double chin and was a little chubby: he looked a little like a tiny sumo wrestler. He cried softly a few times when he was first born, and then simply rested peacefully in our arms.

[Skye] I lay there, holding Javkhaa’s hand and almost holding my breath, hearing snatches of conversation of the doctors and looking up into Javkhaa's eyes. What can I tell you except that this has been a path I never would have chosen… but what a blessed woman I am, to have someone beside me to walk side-by-side on this journey… Until the moment he was born, we were praying and hoping that God would answer our prayers that our son would be healed. Instead, He chose to answer our prayers differently. I heard our doctor say, “There you are, little one… We’ve been waiting to meet you! Are you ready, Dad?” Javkhaa went to see him and I was praying… I heard a little cry and was asking if that was Enkhbeleg. Javkhaa and the baby came back to me and then I was holding our son in my arms. I knew then that we wouldn’t have too much time with him, but I just wanted to savor every precious moment of it.

Enkhbeleg looked so much like Javkhaa: he has his mouth and nose, just exactly! (Although since then we’ve decided his nose was also kind of like my sister’s too.) His hands and feet seem to be more from my side of the family. He was pretty fair and his hair, which looked black at first, was actually dark brown. One cute little boy, he was. I held him as we rolled to my room where we bathed and changed him into a little onesie that said “Loveable” and a sleeper that said “Precious Baby”. A close friend knitted 5 hats of various sizes and we chose the one that fit best for him to wear. We trust that he sensed our great love for him while he was with us…

Knowing we would not have too long with our son, we kissed him and held him and took lots of pictures to have and remember this day. The nurses made hand- and footprints, and we also made some hand imprints in soft white clay that we’ll be able to hang up later. Our pastor came to baptize him, Enkhbeleg Samuel. He prayed for our family, entrusting our son to the Lord. He encouraged us with the reminder that our son is now with Jesus, and we will go and be with him one day when we go to be with the Lord, in His time.

The surgery went very well for Skye, and we came home from the hospital on Sunday. She has been healing well and though full recovery will take quite some time, God has been very merciful in that her body is on the mend. Please continue to pray for her to be able to sleep through the night, as this continues to be difficult. Even so, we are thankful that we chose to have the baby delivered by Caesarean—our doctor affirmed that our choice very probably made it possible for us to have time with our son.

[Skye] We were blessed to have a doctor who was willing to do a C-section (it seems some, perhaps many, would not have supported this choice given the baby’s health condition) and we were also incredibly supported by each and every member of the surgical team and the nursing staff. The nurse assigned to us for our first 12 hours in the hospital was a Christian who, with her husband, had served in Mozambique for a few years with the Mennonite Central Committee. She was full of peace and helped us not to be anxious as we prepared for and then met our little one.

There was also another nurse who stopped by on the evening Enkhbeleg was born, whose words gave us great encouragement. “Today everyone in this hospital has watched the two of you. They have seen your courage and peace in this difficult time. One person in particular who isn’t a Christian is walking around in a daze, wondering where in the world your strength came from. You have truly been a testimony, and I just wanted you to know.” That gave us a lot of encouragement. [Skye] I don’t feel like we’ve done anything special at all, we’ve just tried to do what is right and trust God that He has a purpose, a good and loving and meaningful purpose, in all of this. It hasn’t been easy… The only reason we can go on is because He is giving us the strength to do so. Part of a poem written by Amy Carmichael says,

Clearness and glory, Lord,

Art Thou to me;

Light of my soul, lead on,

I follow Thee.

All through the moonless night,

Making its darkness bright,

Thou art my Heavenly Light—

Praise, praise to Thee.

"Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice" (Psalm 63.7). This time, for us, is a season of shadow… but for us as His children, there is no shadow but His, and there is no place more safe or secure than under His wings of mercy and love.

So we are thankful that our son Enkhbeleg has been a testimony for the glory of God even through his brief time. We are thankful for the time we had to be together with him and show him our love, and thankful He helped us to make the good decision to have a Caesarean. We’re thankful to our new friends here in Virginia Beach from work, school, church, and the Gideons, who have upheld us continually in prayer and have brought food and flowers and offered to help in whatever ways we need. We’re also thankful to our friend Naty, who came to be with us for Enkhbeleg’s birth and stood with us during that time, and our cousin Amy, who also came and helped tremendously. We’re thankful to others from far away who were praying and are willing to come whenever we have need of them.

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven… So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious that mere gold." (1 Peter 1:6-7)

In the past God has been giving us lots of peace from Philippians 4:4-9. God of Peace was with us during every moment of the surgery.

May the Lord our God strengthen us in every little call upon faith, as well in every great call, so to live in patience and steadfastness.

In Christ’s peace,

Javkhaa and Skye