family.

i love my family. they are a big part of who i am today. i am a daughter, sister, sister-in-law, cousin, and aunt. they have taught me what a family should look like. and it looks like love. and that love looks like helping each other out, driving around grandkids, watching movies and making popcorn, helping with the dishes, going fishing together, laughing together, praying before dinner, taking care of each other, watching sports games, playing hide-and-seek, and the list goes on. my parents are the ones who set the example with their godly relationship. i greatly admire them for raising five children over the years.

i can confidently say that i am where i am today because of the sawyers. they are the reason that i decided to go to gordon - i wasn't ready to leave them. i wanted to be around and be an aunt to my nieces and nephews. and choosing gordon lead me here to peru. and one of the hardest things about peru is that my family isn't here with me. peru is becoming a part of me, just like my family is, but the two don't mix. family is way up in massachusetts (and a little over in ukraine) and peru is down here. it's hard not being able to join the two, but i think i've found a way to balance it out. i've found a family down here. not just in my host family, but also a family of believers, of brothers and sisters in christ. which is what will make peru be difficult and good at the same time. i'll be returning to one family but leaving another behind. it will be really nice to go back to the sawyers. i'm missing them big time.

and today is a special day for the sawyers, it's drayton's 10th birthday. it may sound cliché but i really can't believe that he's 10. i totally remember going to the hospital to meet him for the first time. i was in sixth grade when i became an aunt for the first time. it's been great watching them all grow up and change from little babies to actual people with personalities, abilities and interests. and one of dray's personalities just so happens to be black spiderman:

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY DRAYTON!!