Turtles, Pirate Ships, Modesty and Bro's!

We have arrived! After 9 months of work, we are finally moved into our house! We are so excited and thankful for what God has provided for us.

Home sweet Home

While my brother was visiting us in Shikarpur he turned 21! Happy Birthday bro!

Just for fun..

The month of July would not be the same without home made Ice Cream.  I found the Ice Cream maker in the market and, with the help of Aus, we made so much happiness!

We went to visit the Bhutto Mazaar.  It was fun to show Aus around the Sindh

The Uncle of the year made an awesome pirate ship for Hudson and his friends.

More Ice Cream!!!

NOTICE:  When wearing a Dupatta, do not stand next to a pedestal fan.  This scarf is a sign of modesty here, and in front of all of our guests (Austins Birthday party), it was ripped from her shoulders like a bandaid from a wound!  All of a sudden three men rush to block everyone's view of Steph with no scarf, while other women are scurrying around trying to find a spare scarf.  Myself, I am laughing so hard while trying to untangle what is left of her scarf from the fan.  Funniest Austin's Birthday ever.

Leonardo made is debut at Hudson's 5th Birthday party.  We were in Lahore, where some of Hudsons best buds live, on his birthday.  

We had an awesome TMNT themed party.  It was so fun to remember my own 5th birthday and its theme in 1990...it was also TMNT! Every fathers dream.

After the party, Uncle Aussie's magic touch put Gianna to sleep and she was so sound asleep that she didn't wake up through the entire rickshaw ride.

So many fun things happened this last month and a half.  But the best thing about the last month and a half has been the fact that we have had a good time of rest, routine, and meaningful fellowship.  

...now on to the fun stuff!

From may until now, we have been focusing on three things:  Good Sleep, Routine, and Meaningful Fellowship.  We went up to the mountains to decompress and get out of the heat for the month of June.  It was beautiful!  Almost like a Pakistani Washington State!

YES! Mountains and Trees!!!

Little miss THANG walking around in the grass, picking flowers, etc..

Family picture take 1....nope

The first Camel that Bo has ever ridden...and no one took a picture of Bo actually on the camel.  Go figure.

The newest addition to our family! Thor!

Having meaningful fellowship and Hudson singing "Aint no Rock!"

Bo was in heaven! He was able to go on a 2 day trek.  In the woods...in the mountains...Two of Bo's most favorite things..

And the goof also managed to get his mountain bike up to the mountains as well.  

Go on a "date"  Whats a "date"?  It was so relaxing and such a blessing that our friends were able to watch the kiddos so that we could spend some time together.  Not to mention there was a Fro Yo place in Murree!

Family Picture take 2...yeah still not getting it right.

Our time in the mountains was a time of true rest and a time to get our strength back after the stressful month of may.  We are so thankful to all of our fiends and family who prayed for us and supported us through this time or refreshening.  

"All That I Am For All That You Are"

The month of may was a tough month for the White family in Pak.  At the beginning of may I was listening to an new album by Rend Collective that had songs with titles like; "All That I Am"  and "Joy" and "My Lighthouse".  Each song spoke to what it means to be completely surrendered to Jesus and CHOOSING Joy.  God gave me those songs for the month of may.  Because if there was ever a month we needed to CHOOSE Joy, that was it.

Gianna had gotten sick.  She was very lethargic and unresponsive.  She was throwing up everywhere, but did not have a fever.  She was pounding at her head like something was bothering her.  After a couple of days of this, one evening she was laying in my arms and she began to seize.  Immediately we rushed her to the hospital building.  Thank God we were living on the Hospital Compound at the time.  As I got up to take her to the Hospital, she stopped breathing.  I don't remember exactly how long it was, but she wasn't breathing and she turned blue.  The Doctor and nurses (her Aunties) worked hard and were able to stabilize her.  Then they began to diagnose the problem.  They found that she had Meningitis. We were in the dark about which kind of Meningitis, but the Doctor chose to treat her for Bacterial Meningitis.  The treatment worked and after over a week in the hospital we were able to get her home and start the recuperating process.

There is so much that goes into this chapter in our lives.  But the main thing that hit us was the reality of our situation.  We live very very far away from quality medical care.  Thoughts like "why did you bring your children here?" and "You are about to lose your daughter, was it worth it?" were going through our minds.  There were a lot of mixed feelings.

But God spoke to our hearts...

Our call to this service overseas was actually confirmed, not retracted.  Those songs and scriptures that I had been thinking about came to mind in those times.  "Its only in surrender that I'm free..."  "We choose Joy..."  "Oh God you are my God, and I will ever praise you.."

We are here.  We live in Shikarpur and stand firm in our call and in what we are here to do.  We know others before us have gone through much worse, but the whole situation hit us hard.  It shook us.  But there is power in prayer and God is sovereign.

She spent most of her time in the hospital in this position.  She grew very weak and had a little trouble walking after we went home.  Eventually she her strength came back to her.

Hudson = best big brother ever.  Never wanting to be out of the loop or separated from his sister, he would "read" her stories, hold her hand while she was getting a shot, and try to sing her to sleep.  When told to stay out of the hospital (in the beginning of it all), he snuck in like a ninja (literally) twice.

Aunty Joanna (the head nurse) helped Gianna escape for a real meal toward the end of her hospital stay.  She was getting very restless

Hudson was very good about staying clean around the baby.  He would often scrub up like a Doctor before entering her room.

Thanks to the power of God, our baby girl is happy and healthy.  She has slight hearing loss (nothing significant.  She still responds to everything we say), but we will continue to get that tested and trust God.