We started October with a walk to our favorite coffee shop with Takoda and Tahlia. It was a calm, peaceful, and meaningful time. We enjoyed lattes, a breakfast sandwich, almond croissant, and a ham and cheese croissant.
Frank was granted a $12,000 scholarship for his acute care nurse practitioner degree. He received his scholarship at the hospital during a board meeting. It was a lovely opportunity to meet some board members and for Frank to get to share this beautiful moment with me. He gave his scholarship check poster to his boss, as she was instrumental in orchestrating the award.
One of my favorite memories was going to meet Mars, the baby Pygmy hippo with our dear “adopted mom”, Marta. On October 16, we woke up very early. We picked up Marta and began our road trip out to Wichita, Kansas. We enjoyed fellowship and joyful times, sharing what God had laid on our hearts. We arrived at Tanganyika Wildlife Park and were elated to meet Pluto, Mars’ Dad. We fed Pluto carrots and sweet potatoes, petted him (he felt like sandpaper), and each of us received an orange nose boop painting on a canvas. When Mars came out, we were excited to see him with his Mom. He was smaller than I thought, and such a sweet little dude. We enjoyed watching him swim and walk around. We also got to feed lemurs, met Monica the rhinoceros. We enjoyed dinner at Cracker Barrel, with one of Marta’s longtime friends. Marta surprised me with my own plush pink hippo, and I named her Posie, in honor of Mars mom. We crashed in the hotel room, then drove home the next day. The highlight was spending time in fellowship.
We celebrated Tahlia’s 5th birthday with a dog cake. I donned her pink outfit we have used since year one, and she looked absolutely humiliated, even though she wanted some cake. She was fine and ended up eating half the birthday cake a few days later, as it was accidentally left on the counter!
On Saturday, we took a walk with two couples around Rock Ledge Ranch. We enjoyed taking in nature, and allowing Takoda and Tahlia to let their noses go wild.
Frank’s childhood friend, Wesley, moved into town. Frank was excited to to see he’s back.
We also started a side hustle, utilizing Amazon returns. We are still in a trial and error phase, but we are learning as we go what sells and what to buy or not buy.
No adoption news yet. We continue to wait, trust, and pray.
Love,
Frank and Rebecca
Rebecca's Joy 
Leave a comment