Aunt Hannah

We have my little Hannah in our life. But we also have Hannah Kotynski. And she just celebrated a birthday. 

Aunt Hannah is married to my first cousin, Eddie. 

This is a picture of her with her sixth child, Theo. Her oldest son, Gabe, is 15. She is truly a Proverbs 31 woman. Her family comes first. She loves her husband. She serves. She loves. She gives. 

Four years ago, I didn’t even know my cousin-in-law. The last time I had seen her was at her wedding, many moons ago. 

But when we bought the farm, they lived in Asheville, about two hours from us, and they came for a visit. 

A long story evolved and suddenly; they had purchased a house just seven minutes down the road. (That’s really close in the country!)

Before Aunt Hannah arrived, there was one small part missing in my new life as a farmer’s wife. I didn’t have “that family”. The one that I could drop my kids off with at a moment’s notice. But I got that with Aunt Hannah. We started homeschooling together, and three years later, we are going strong. 

We are such different women. I am loud and opinionated and fierce and fast. She is soft and patient and deliberate and patient. I am an extrovert. She definitely is not. But we love our family and our community and our Jesus and each other. We are helping each other raise our children — we are a solid and unified team. 

She has become one of my dearest friends. She is such a beautiful person who truly wouldn’t hurt someone if her life depended on it. She and Eddie met in the Philippines at boarding school — both children of missionaries — and their family is unique and diverse with Bolivian and Chinese and Australia wrapped up into their families. Skin and nationality means nothing to their hearts. 

I want to wish her a happy birthday ... she is an incredible gift to me, my children, and our entire community. 

I am so blessed the Lord purposes our lives to intersect so beautifully, and I hope to grow old as her friend.