Merry Christmas!

Thank you all so much for your kind love and prayers in response to the post that I wrote and shared about my miscarriage. Please know that Eric and I are doing really well and we are tremendously grateful for the friendships that we have that are spread vast around this world!  

We are abundantly grateful for our parents and families who communicate, love and support us so well while we are so far. 

Our family! Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

Also, we are immensely grateful for the “family” we have here in East Africa who medically and emotionally helped us through the miscarriage. These are friends who we get to build deep relationships with on a regular basis, who we get to support and who support us as well.

This year, like many, has been a true gift filled with different experiences, adventures, surprises, joy, sorrow, challenges and the overall fullness of life. 

To say we are grateful and amazed at what this year held would be an understatement.  We have often found ourselves looking at each other and saying, " if you would have told me this time last year that we would be where we are now, I would not believe you....". 

We are in awe of the beautiful journies that our lives have been and even more so now that we get to walk them together as one and we get to build relationships with so many people and continue growing in the individual passions and talents that God has gifted us with and support each other in them.

Here is a quick recap of our year:

January: I left Eric in State College to work hard on his thesis after a wonderful three weeks of getting to know each other's families and communities and deepening our own relationship. I returned back to Uganda to start a new semester as Academic Registrar and teaching in the school of education at LivingStone International University (LASS).

Christmas Day together- 2017

Eric's view from his Penn State office window. He would often send me a picture of this view each day!

March: Eric came to visit me in Uganda and we got engaged! It was such a beautiful and special time to commit to each other in a new season and to celebrate and plan for what was coming.

Engaged couple in Mbale

May: I finished my semester and Eric was working really hard on his thesis.

June: I came back to the US to prepare for our wedding, took a two week trip to Northern Ireland with two of my dearest friends (who live in Mbale as well). 

Also, Eric defended his thesis and alllll of those months, never ending days and endless hours of research, reading, and writing paid off!

Eric's defense in action!

Beautiful Northern Ireland Coast

Katharine, Rhonda and I

July: I moved to State College to be close to Eric and we spent our days working, hanging out, meeting friends and family. I learned more about what life on a farm is like. 

Also, we were showered with TONS of love from family and friends with three wedding showers: a couple's shower at my mom's teashop, one for me hosted by my mentor Mary and one hosted for me by Eric's church family (it is incredibly loving because they didn't even know me! It shows how much they love Eric! And I sadly did not get any picture from that shower.)

Summer Softball watching with some of my new siblings:)

My dad and mom (and her amazing team) hosted the most beautiful and loving shower for us at her teashop!

My mentor momma Mary hosted an intentional and lovely shower in DC for me!

Eric planted and nurtured sunflowers for me and for our wedding!

August: Eric graduated with his masters in Animal Science from Penn State!

Happy Graduation! I am so proud of him!

We got married and we had a blast! It was completely humbling to have our dear family and friends put forth so much hard work to make our day easy and stress-free for us, and it was more than we could have envisioned. It was so fun to celebrate with people we love and admire.

Our first look- Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

 

Our first look- Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

If you know me, you know I love tea. Tea in real tea cups was essential for my wedding. Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

Our ceremony at Eric's parents store property. Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

Our brunch wedding was served by JDK Group weddings and it was incredible!
Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

Our dear wedding party! Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

Cake cutting! This INCREDIBLY beautiful cake (and all desserts) were made by the talented bakers at my mom's tea shop!
Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

And away we went! Eric used to be a firefighter and drive the truck, so naturally, this was our getaway!
Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

September: We moved back to Mbale- I started back to work teaching and doing some admin work. Eric worked on the farm that he was apart of in 2016 and taught a computer class at LIU. We settled into a new routine together and we have been loving it! 

October: We had LIU graduation and graduation for my students in South Sudan at LASS. Also, Eric worked so hard to create our personal garden (and throughout the months we enjoyed a delicious harvest!). During this time, he has taken the opportunity to teach others about effective and sustainable farming.

Outdoor thanksgiving:) 

November: We celebrated a fun Thanksgiving together with our Mbale community! 

Also, we went north to Gulu so I could spend time with the recent LASS graduates to share some lessons with them. 

We found out that I was pregnant then sadly, lost the baby a few weeks later.

GOOD ice cream on the road to Gulu! If you know Eric, you know he LOVES ice cream!

Thanksgiving!

Me sharing with my LASS graduates in Gulu

December: We officially finished the school semester!

Also, Eric went to an agricultural training/workshop in the northwestern region of Uganda in a town called Moroto for a week.

So beautifully, our first sunflower blossomed J

This beauty greeted me whenever I walked out of my house, since then, some of his friends have bloomed!

We are now on our way to Israel for two weeks for our honeymoon, our first Christmas as a married couple! 

We will travel to various parts of the country and spend time with a dear friend of mine and her family in Jerusalem. 

It is an incredible gift for us to spend this season in one of the most sacred of lands. We look forward to learning, seeing, reflecting, and being in awe of the tangible nature this trip will be in drawing out and bringing us closer to Scripture and truth.

One of my most favorite parts of Christmas is the reflection that the HOPE of a long enduring promise was fulfilled. We now have a Savior born in the most unique way and He is compassion, peace, strength, and the truest embodiment of joy for all.

Thank you for loving us, walking life with us, supporting us, praying for us! Thank you for your encouragement and intentionality to reach out to us with a note, letter, call, text, or email!  Your love and friendship has strengthened and sustained us and we are immensely grateful for each of you. We will share what is in store for us in 2019 in our next update.

As we close, we pray for peace, joy, hope, and newness to embrace you this season as you celebrate Christmas and enter into 2019.

We wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

With love and joy, 

Eric and Lauren Ranck

Photo by Katherine Zell Photos

Joy and Sorrow

Miscarriage. It is a scary word. It is a word directly connected to death and sadness and also the hope of new life.

It was a real life experience for me.  It has been a thought and a fear in my mind even before Eric and I conceived… what if?  Am I dismissed from having such a thing happen to me?

Early last month, we found out that I was pregnant, we were surprised that such a gift was becoming a part of our new little family so soon. In the less than two weeks that followed, there were a whirlwind of feelings, emotions, efforts to plan and the struggle to comprehend what our life was about to become. However, before we could even get our minds fully around baby, we lost her. She slipped through my hands before I even felt her there.

I wrote this little note to her in my “baby journal” that I had just started in order to process my own thoughts about her coming. The journal only had three entries in it- this one being the 4^th.

“It was so strange and so unknown, yet you, little blueberry, were apart of me and the one I love, your daddy, and now you’re gone. You will always hold a sacred space in my heart and in my mind, yet you no longer take up space in my body, you no longer need that home. The only one who can carry you to death has carried you and has given you life once again.”

There is a cycle that I am familiar with-- the cycle that life needs death and death needs life.

Death is only apart of the process of living. Death is a process of transformation.

In times past, life has challenged me to drink from the cup of joy and of sorrow, as one of my favorite authors (Henri Nouwen) states. That cup is life and the drink is beauty. The ability to hold two seemingly conflicting postures is the depth of beauty in which our life is written.

In the days and weeks since my miscarriage, I have been hearing ladies stories as I have shared my own. I have learned about myself, my body, the way I handle pain, both emotionally and physically, and the way that we keep things hidden.

I have learned that a miscarriage is not a curse or an end, for me it’s been a pathway to know, to hope, and to trust that death is needed for life.

Identity is not formed by my present day situation- I am not pregnant, I am not. My identity has been refined by those situations that ultimately point me back to me truest, deepest, unchanging identity- a beloved daughter of my heavenly Father.