The Princess of Princewick

About 16 years ago, in the dying coal town of Princewick, WV, a little girl was born.  She came into the world in the middle of the night, about 12:08 AM.  Her older siblings had gone to bed, but were awakened by her cries.  It was a momentous night in the Lowe household when Charis was born.
Our next youngest child was seven and a half years old, so it was like we were starting over.  Charis grew to be a determined child, teaching herself to tie her shoes at 3 and to read at 4 (using a computer).  That same determination has made her a top notch, prolific knitter and a self-taught pianist.
Twice the Lowe family has made major moves right before Charis' birthday.  The first time was when she turned two.  We moved from Beckley to Charleston to be with her Dad, who was spending most of his time in Charleston with his job at Union Mission Ministries.  Her little sister, Zoe, had been born in August, we  moved in mid- October and her birthday was Nov. 8.  We celebrated among the boxes as I was so tired we didn't get totally unpacked for six months.
We moved a couple of times between then and now, but the second major move was also in October, here to Hampton.  She celebrated early with her best friends in Charleston, and then again here, with friends and family.  Her new Hampton friends came in the afternoon of her birthday to take her out for a little while.  They brought balloons and a party hat, and I, forgetful Mom that I am, did not take pictures of them together.  (My new mantra is "get the camera".  I'm hoping if I say it enough, I will actually remember to use it when I should.) It was Alex and Mikayla and Emily who came, and I know they brightened Charis' day.
Our family tradition is that the birthday celebrant chooses the meal, so we had spinach lasagna and chocolate cheesecake in place of cake and ice cream.  Grampa and Gail got to come, a first for Charis, since we have always lived so far away from them.  Mark bought her her first dozen roses, another "Sweet Sixteen" tradition at our house.  Honestly, it had been so long since we had celebrated a 16th birthday, we almost forgot the roses.


 It is hard to believe that our "Joy Girl" is 16.  Charis, we love you, and we can't imagine life without you.

Breaking the Silence

It has been a long time since I felt the freedom to write for my blog.  Since my last post I have done a lot of old fashioned journaling, but haven't felt the freedom to do much publicly.  Let me just say that a lot has changed since my last entry.  We have started a whole new chapter of our lives.  October 14 we packed a 21 foot Penske van with what remained of our earthly belongings (which was quite a lot of stuff, actually,) and headed north with our two youngest daughters, the family dog and the porch swing tied to the top of our little red Vibe.











We were on our way to a new adventure, leaving West Virginia to start a new life in Hampton, New Hampshire, where Mark had been voted in as pastor of the small but mighty First Baptist Church of Hampton. 



It is an adventure in many ways.  Mark has never lived outside of West Virginia before, and neither have Charis and Zoe.  The church congregation is small, but made up of people who believe that God is not done with Hampton First Baptist.  They have a desire to see the church move forward and reach the next generation for the Lord.  We were moving, for the first time, into a parsonage, and the house we thought we might spend the rest of our lives in is for sale. 

We arrived on October 16, after a couple of days on the road, and found some of our new church family working on the house, getting it ready for our arrival.  The next morning, we were ready to unload the truck, and Mark did a wonderful job of parking it.  He took pictures because he said his brothers would never believe he did it himself.



We had a great crowd to help us unload- new friends from the church and some of my family drove down from Maine.  We even had a volunteer from a local high school, putting in her community service hours.   It was a good day, though I personally didn't know what to do with myself.  Thankfully, we had lots of  other good help.
I am including a few more random pictures of the day, though the one I didn't get would probably be the best- Mark and Joe Noyes could only get our couch into the house by putting it through the living room window.  It's a long story, but we are just glad they actually found a way to get it in. 

So, the silence is broken.  You will hear from me again much sooner this time.