Dec. 13, 2006 - Catching up
Everything is chugging along here. After a week of packing the wound, the ob decided it was healed enough to leave it alone and let it finish on it's on. Whew. I was THRILLED! So last week was much better, and now I'm just dealing with the normal pregnancy woes and counting down these last few weeks. I bought a few things for the baby last week, and I'm planning a shopping trip with our neighbor Amy tomorrow to pick up the final few things I need... baby sleepers, blankets, toiletries, newborn caps, and a baby bath. It is always fun to pick out the new cute little baby things.
We are planning a trip to San Antonio tomorrow for a couple of days. We've been planning on taking a little trip up there since we moved here, and since the weather is nice and I'm still able to get around a bit this looks like as good a time as any. The girls hate traveling and complain when we talk about going anywhere, but I'm really looking forward to it and think they'll really enjoy it once we get there.
We've got our Christmas tree up and have been making some decorations for the past couple of weeks. They made salt dough ornaments on their own and decorated them with colored glitter glue. We also cut out some awesome snowflakes and made a beautiful frame around our outside window. I've had the stuff to make crystal Borax snowflakes for a while now but we haven't done it yet, so I guess we could start those tonight and have them ready when we get home from our trip. The girls are all really excited about their sisters coming down for the holidays. It will be a very nice diversion since the campus will be pretty empty over Christmas break. We've got plans to go to Mexico and maybe even the beach if the nice weather holds out. It will be a fun way to pass another week or so of this eternal pregnancy. Only about 5 weeks left to go!
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Nov. 28, 2006 - What do you say...
...when you are in your 8th month of pregnancy and someone digs a big hole in your big ole belly and then fills and refills it with gauze daily with no anestesia. Ahhhh!!!!! Eeekkkk!!!!! Ooowwwww!!!!! 
Please pray that this abcess heals QUICKLY!
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Nov. 27, 2006 - Home for the holidays!
Well, we are finally home from our trip to GA for Thanksgiving! We had a fantastic time visiting with family and friends. Although I never did get to play my much desired game of Scrabble, I did get grape juice, chocolate milk, chocolate covered cherries, the Thanksgiving Day parade and lighting of the Rich's Christmas Tree. We lazed around and cooked and laughed and just had a wonderful time.
One down side was that a cyst I had had on my belly for years became suddenly infected and abcessed the day before Thanksgiving. It was very red and painful on my very pregnant belly, and I debated going to the emergency room several times, but decided to try to hold out until I could see my normal ob back in TX today. I went in first thing this morning and he took one look and walked me over to the ER to have it taken care of. I called Ralph to come and we waited forever before finally getting seen. They cut it open and cleaned it out and I squeezed Ralph's hand off before it was all over. Ugh. They did numb it somewhat before working on it, but it was still pretty painful. Then they packed it full of gauze, which was probably the worst part. Ralph swears they must have stuffed a foot of gauze inside the wound. I have to go back to the ob tomorrow to get it checked again and have the gauze changed, since Ralph was adamently insistent that he was NOT going to do it at home. As painful as it was when I was numbed, I don't even want to think about how it will feel without the pain med. Ewwww... They said it will probably take about a week for it to heal enough from the inside, so it will be a long week of having the gauze changed out every day. On the upside, they did a CBC in the OR and my blood looked fine, so they don't think the infection spread beyond that one spot, which was a concern with me being pregnant and it being right on my belly. I'll be on an antibiotic for a week and hopefully that will be the end of that.
It was wonderful to get back home last night. The girls were sad to leave our family in GA, but after three days on the road getting back to TX they were SOOOO happy to be back to their friends and home today. We were supposed to dig right back in to school this week, but after spending half the day in the ER and being so uncomfortable all day I just let them play. Ralph has even gone to do some grocery shopping and fill my prescription and he's going to cook dinner tonight, so that's a real blessing. I hobbled over to the campus library and grabbed some books to read tonight, and I plan on just taking it easy. Too bad I can't take a bath. I have to keep the wound dry until it heals. Good thing I got my shower before leaving this morning!
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Nov. 6, 2006 - Fun field trips
I haven't updated recently because the girls have been having me type up their blogs, and they pretty much cover all the exciting events!
We've had a fun weekend. Yesterday we went with the Kintsell's to Nuevo Progresso in Mexico. It was pretty much a shopping strip and much easier to navigate and less threatening than Reynosa. The prices were really good so we did some Christmas shopping and got Faith a HUGE Hello Kitty pinata for her birthday this week. It was twice as big as the ones at Walmart and only half the price. Now we just have to get a wagonload of candy to fill it... We had also promised the girls before moving here that we would buy them authentic Mexican dresses, so we shopped a bit for those. There were basically two styles everywhere, large baggy housedress types and beautiful but revealing halter top dresses. We finally found a couple that were really pretty and hand embroidered and modest. Katie's was $15 and Faith's was $10. Katie's dress especially was so ornate and just beautiful that I'm really pleased with the price.
As we were walking down the sidewalk everyone was calling to us to buy their different items, either in the open stores or on tables along the walk. I was pretty used to this after my mission trip and trip to Cancoun, but it was really different for the girls. One very poor lady was sitting on the ground with her two little children selling small packs of Chickletts gum. Katie reached for her money and I asked if she wanted to buy gum. She said she just wanted to give her money to the lady. It really tore her up, especially when the woman sent her little toddler over to Katie offering her gum. Katie has been saving her money from doing laundry and working so hard, yet this is the second time she's given it away when she saw someone in need. I'm so thankful that she's not only a hard worker but is a giver with a sensitive heart.
After shopping a bit more we walked to a panaderia, or bakery, to buy some treats. The girls got cookies or doughnuts and we sat outside under a tree and ate. Actually, Gracyn just scrapped the sprinkles off her cookie and then handed it to me. The baked goods in Mexico aren't as sweet as we are used to, so it's basically all just various forms of bread with sugar sprinkled on it, and maybe filled with a fruit jelly.
The kids were pretty worn out by the time we left and it took a little while waiting in line to get back across the boarder, but from the bridge it's actually a pretty quick trip home, about 25 minutes. Since this is the place to shop, we'll be heading over there more often.
Today we ran some errands and wanted to visit either the Arts and Science Museum here in McAllen, which we've heard is great, or the birding center. Both were closed on Monday's unfortunately. We went over to Mission and found a butterfly garden nature center that was really cool. Since we're studying flying creatures in science this year this still made for a great field trip. Because the butterflies migrate to south Texas during the winter there are just tons of them, but we've never seen so many as there were in these gardens. They were just covering the bushes, many many varieties, and there were also caterpillars and cocoons everywhere. I don't think the kids had quite the appreciation for the moment that we did, but it was still a neat experience. Since it's free to walk through we're going to pick up a butterfly field guide and go back some more to try to learn to identify them. I'd also like the girls to start nature journaling (a la Charlotte Mason) and these would be beautiful to work on sketching.
At my last ob appointment last week my dr. had a fit that I was planning on going home for Christmas since I would be traveling only 3 weeks from my due date. After discussing it Ralph and I decided to go for Thanksgiving instead and then fly Miriam into Texas for Christmas. I feel much better about this compromise and now we get to visit our family and friends in just a couple of weeks instead of waiting until next month! Yippee! This week will be busy getting ready for Faith's birthday party on Thursday, and then we'll be leaving on Thursday of the following week. It will be a combination Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration, so fun for all!!!!!
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Oct. 23, 2006 - Birthday shopping spree! Wheee!!!!
Actually, it's just amazing that when you have money to spend you can find nothing you like. I wanted to get another Beth Moore bible study workbook since our Palm Valley study is over in a few weeks. I went to a big local Christian bookstore and they didn't have any of the workbooks, only her devotionals. I seriously considered the huge journal study she has on David, but I couldn't tell whether it was a serious in-depth study or just fluffy little devotional so I decided to keep looking. I was also looking for a new bible cover but couldn't find one I liked. I acutally LOVE my bible cover that I have now (it's lavender and green and perfectly matches my Women of Faith bible) but it's getting a bit dirty and worn so I decided to see if I could find another. Nope. It's just against my personality to put my pretty purple leather bible with purple print in an ugly black cover, or worse yet totally clashing color like maroon or blue. Yuck. So I'm sticking with what I've got.
I went down the road to Barnes and Noble and found the Beth Moore workbook for A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place- a study of the Tabernacle. It was the only one they had, but I'm excited about it and feel like it will be a perfect continuation of the Patriarch's study that I'm currently doing. After picking that out I looked for a couple of bookmarks for my bible, of course with matching lavender and green coloring. I also looked for a journal, but they were pretty expensive there, and then you have to get into finding new matching pens....
After the bookstore I headed for Target to get some cute jewlery that I'd seen earlier in the week. Things are much cuter when you don't have money. I ended up giving up on purchasing jewelry and moved over to makeup. I bought a lipstick and debated on a makeup bag but decided it was also too expensive. Thus, at Target I ended up with a package of bandaids, flip flops for Katie, a lipstick and bobby pins (my spur of the moment decision while at checkout). I'm a wild woman. Oh yeah, I also bought a coke.
Off to Walmart. I picked up a 2007 calendar for my purse and also an Amy Knapp organizer figuring I could decide on one or the other as I wandered around the store. I looked at more jewelry and decided on two necklaces and a bracelett. In baby clothes I dumped the Amy Knapp organizer and then headed back to jewelry to toss back the necklaces and bracelett, which I liked but decided might be too small for my wrist. I DID find a makeup bag that I liked. Off to check out where I scanned the makeup bag and then decided not to get the 2007 pink suede calendar. Oh well...
I'm happy with my purchases and still have hopes of someday finding jewelry that I like and I may pick up some yarn in the near future to begin working on a new blanket.
Tomorrow is my official 32nd birthday and to celebrate I told Ralph I just as soon skip finding a babysitter and just take the kids with us to Denny's for dinner... where kids eat free AND I can get a dinner of chicken strips and mozerella cheese sticks. Yum! I'm making myself caramel pie for my birthday desert. Double yum!!
Happy birthday to meeee... Happy birthday to meeeee!!!!! La la la la la...
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Oct. 20, 2006 - Feels like FALL!!!
Ahhhh... the weather has been in the 60s since yesterday morning and I am in HEAVEN! I'm actually wearing a sweater today! It's supposed to go back up into the 70s and then 80s in the next few days, but I'll take what I can get at the moment. Just a taste of what winter will feel like here! Yes!
I had an ob appointment this afternoon and all is well. Baby Isabelle is hopping around all over the place and always tries to kick the doppler off when they check the heartbeat. Even the nurses think that's funny.
I stopped by the new Target that just opened up down the road before my appointment and fell in love with a bunch of the jewelry there. I've never been a real jewelry person, but they have some of the cutest braclettes and necklaces! Hmmmm... I'm sensing a birthday request coming on! It's pretty cool to have a Target to hop by just a couple of minutes away. I could seriously get used to living in civilization!
The kids are all doing well. All the sickness is over and they love having all these kids to play with. While I was at the dr. Ralph turned on Over the Hedge for them to watch. He said that including our girls there were about 11 kids in our living room watching the movie! I'm glad they were all back at the park before I got home, but when you're already used to a housefull of kids a few more really just doesn't make that much difference.
Right now the doors are open to let the cool breeze in, chicken and vegetables are in the roaster for dinner making the house smell yummy, and except for the birds outside making a racket all is quiet. Savor the peace. Ahhhh....
Hope everyone is doing well! Love ya'll!!!!!
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Oct. 13, 2006 - Yippee! Care packages
We waited on pins and needles all day for our care package to arrive from Mama and Daddy today. We'd finally given up hope when the UPS man pulled onto campus! Happy Joy! The girls loved their candy and presents and I can't wait to go shopping with my birthday money. What shall it be... purse, shoes...??? Actually I want to get some exercise pants to go with my new pregnancy exercise video. My old sweat shorts that I used to wear to work out before the pregnancy just aren't as comfortable anymore. If I can't find any at Walmart that I like I may let that be a present from Ralph from the maternity store at the mall and buy some other stuff this afternoon.
The weather today has been FaBuLoUs!!!! We were supposed to get a cold front in today, dropping the temp to 77. This morning it was as hot and muggy as ever, but then around lunchtime the sky clouded up and an amazing cool breeze blew in. We're all outside just soaking in the cooler weather. Of course the kids are all still in shorts and tank tops and it's probably still in the low 80s, but it's as close to fall as we've been so far! If this is what we can expect for wintertime I'll be in heaven. Melody, you can keep your snow and just send us pictures!
By the way, I took my 3 hour glucose test yesterday and it came back normal, so all is well and the pregnancy is chugging along uneventfully. I'm almost 26 weeks.
Hope everyone is having a great day! Love ya'll!
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Oct. 10, 2006 - I guess I'll live
After being horribly sick all week with the wretched cold 
I'm finally on the upswing again. I feel like I've done nothing but sleep and blow my nose for the past week, but I had an ob appointment yesterday and he prescribed a decongestant and antibiotic. It's good to be feeling more like myself again. On a more sour note, I also had my glucose test yesterday and failed it horribly, so they're bringing me back in on Thursday to do the three hour test. I'm hoping my results were skewed because of the sickness since I have no symptoms of gestational diabetes and have always had fantastic numbers in the past. We'll see...
The weather is cooling down a bit, down from the upper 90s to low 90s or high 80s depending on cloudiness and rain. This morning I was ready to get out of the house, so after breakfast the girls and I gathered up our camera and some school stuff and headed outside. I promised mama and daddy ( 
) that we'd send them some pictures of the kids and the campus. Our digital camera has disappered, so we were back to a trusty ole disposable... which is probably better since I've never figured out the digital anyway. So we got a camera full of pictures of the girls posing in front of the house and campus, in the house and with their friends, and even a preggy photo of my increasing belly. Katie informed me that my smile was fake... I think the way she phrased it was that it was a "Pop Pop" smile. Hmmm... 
After taking pictures we did our devotionals at the picnic area at the playground and then headed back for lunch. Emily told me this afternoon that she wanted me to print a picture of a "punkin" for her to color for Grammy and Pop Pop, so we ended up printing a bunch of fall coloring pictures from the computer and they've been coloring all afternoon. In response to the very thoughful care package that was sent out for us today, we are reciprocating.
Opps... our song just came on- back in a minute.
Ok, here's the thing. Every time the song Shackles by Mary Mary comes on we have an unofficial rule that everyone has to drop what they are doing and get up and dance. 
Only Miriam may appreciate our tradition since I had to listen to that song blare from her alarm clock for YEARS when she lived at home.
I don't suppose much else is going on. I'm in a real fall mood and I've just sprayed my apple cinnamon air freshener. Ahhh... Little 2 year old Averick from next door just came over to play with Gracyn. It's so funny that she has her own little friend. He just kind of pops his head in the door and Gracyn is the immediate host, asking him to play with blocks or go upstairs and get the baby dolls. She knows that he is HER friend. Since Katie and Faith have Angel, and Madison and Emily have Abigail, it's so cute that she has her own little personal playmate. Shoot, too bad I used up all the pictures already... that would have been a cute one. Oh well, next time....
Hope everyone is having a great day! Melody can enjoy the snow on our behalf, and my family can collect some fall leaves for us, and Miriam can avoid the nuclear fallout from North Korea for us 
. Love ya'll!
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Oct. 5, 2006 - Colds abound
We've all been plagued with rotten colds around here for the past couple of weeks. Yuck. The weather has cooled down to about 90-94 degrees during the day depending on whether it's cloudy or not. Actually we've had rain and thunderstorms for the past few days, so that's been nice. It's about as close to fall as I can get to at least have a nice overcast day. I long for some chilly weather so that I can bake all my wonderful breads and muffins and soups and desserts... well, I'm making the effort by at least keeping the desserts coming. Ohhh... speaking of which, wouldn't a caramel pie be a lovely addition to our meal tonight???? Mmmmm...
The girls have all blogged about our weekend, so I won't repeat the info about going to the beach and seeing the sea turtles. It was nice and made a great science field trip. The rest of the week has just been trying to keep our heads above water with schoolwork when we haven't really felt like doing much but laying around and sniffling. I dragged myself off the couch last night to take the kids to church, even though I wasn't motivated. I'm so glad I did. That Beth Moore study is SO wonderful. Last night was Abraham's sacrifice of Issac, and she took such a familiar story and brought out amazing points and background that made it new and fresh again. I've probably gotten more out of being in this on Wednesday nights than anything I've been a part of in years. In fact, I can't even remember sitting under such wonderful teaching except for listening to Mark Rutland on the radio.
Let's see... what else to report. I had a hormonal meltdown this week and had to do something to get me out of the house for a mental health break. I wanted to watch the movie Lake House that had just come out on video, but none of the Blockbuster's had a copy in. I was NOT happy about that. Ralph told me I could go buy it if I was that desperate, but even with my tumultuous emotions I'm still cheap at heart. Instead I decided to go to Walmart and get a much needed haircut. The lady spoke no english, but I showed her a picture of me (the one from my blog) where I liked my hair and also a picture in a book, so we managed. It's not as good as my first cut was, but it is much better than it was before. I also bought a new leather fall purse, which everyone in my family knows will cure all troubles and bring stability and organization back to life.
I have an ob appointment tomorrow afternoon. They'll be doing my glucose check this time. They've always been fine, so I'm not concerned. I do have to stay in the office for an hour, so I might run over to the hospital and check out the labor and delivery department and get my registration paperwork filled out. I start my final trimester in a week, so time is just flying by. I've got a big belly, but I'm not really uncomfortable yet. Little Isabelle is just over a pound and moving all over the place.
Nothing else going on here. Love to all!
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Sep. 25, 2006 - Really short term missions
We had a great weekend fellowshiping with a couple here on campus. Yesterday we went to lunch together while their teenage daughter watched our girls. Lunch was nice and it was great getting to know them better. Ken is a teacher here and Glennis works in the office. They have both been missionaries in various capacities for years in latin America and lead the home church we have been attending on Saturday nights. It was late afternoon by the time we got back home yesterday, but they stayed at our apartment for another hour and we just shared our ministry war stories and vision. They lived and worked at an orphanage in Reynosa for a while when their children were younger and still go back there periodically so we asked them to take us over sometime. They said that today would be good since we don't have class on Monday's, so we left with them around 10:30 this morning.
After running some errands in town we crossed the boarder into Reynosa and decided to shop and eat first since we'd skipped breakfast. They took us to a WalMart type store called Soriana and we had a lot of fun there. The girls enjoyed seeing many of the same types of items they were used to buying. We went back to the bakery and bought a bag of huge rolls that were made fresh daily, probably about 9 of them, for about $.85 and then hit the desserts. We bought a wedge of carrot cake, a large cupcake type thing, rectangular chocolate cake slice with chocolate icing, and two things that looked like large haystacks of chocolate cake covered in chocolate icing and then rolled in sprinkles... all for about $2.50. We also had fun checking out the fruit and vegetables and bought some freshly cut papaya that none of us really liked, but at least we can say we tried! After picking up some chips and drinks we checked out and went across the store to an area where they had some restaurants. Ralph, Ken, Glenis, and their son and daughter got some Mexican tostadas. I was afraid the girls wouldn't eat something different, and since they missed breakfast I wanted to make sure they ate, so we went to Dominos instead which was in the same food court area and ordered a pizza.
After eating we drove around Reynosa for a half hour. Ken and Glenis showed us some of the really nicer areas of the town. The houses were huge and beautiful, but the town itself is so rough and poor that it doesn't really make much difference if you own a mansion when the next street over is so rough and full of tiny shanty houses. Here's a link to some photos of Reynosa that are posted on the web. They are very typical of our boarder crossing and street scenes.
http://members.virtualtourist.com/vt/s/?m=6&l.q=e3bc0
After running around town we went to the Casa Hogar, Josiah and Bethany Children's Home. http://www.josiahandbethany.org/index.html It was named for Keith Green's children who died in the plane crash with him. Even though it was literally in the middle of the city, they had created a nice haven with a pretty courtyard full of murals and a basketball court and play yard. They showed us the renovations that are underway in the four story building. They are switching over from a dormatory style housing for the children where they are piled in big rooms in bunk beds, to apartment style. Each little "apartment" has 3 bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, laundry room, and small kitchen. They want to have some couples come in who would be like house parents, but for now they simply have an older girl in charge of the little ones in each apartment. They hope this will create more of a sense of family. After touring the facilities we spent some time visiting with the pastor and his wife who are directors of the orphanage. They were very nice. One of the needs that we discovered was involving the older girls. They are attending school all day and then come home to be little mothers to the children, complete with chores and childcare. We asked how they are able to disciple and train the children in the Word and they said that there just isn't time to do all that they'd like. The older girls do devotions with the little ones in the mornings and they go to church, but there is a real need for more people to come in and help minister to the children there, over 50 in all. Glenis and I discussed taking the older girls out to eat every now and then, 9 of them, to just get them out and maybe do some bible study with them. It is a need that we see and have the ability to do something about while we are here, so we look forward to plugging in to the orphanage more while we are here.
By the time we were finished at Casa Hogar it was 6:30. We were back across the boarder in no time, which was wonderful considering that sometimes you get stuck in traffic for an hour waiting to get through. So basically we're finding it really cool to be able to plug in to a literal "foreign mission field" and be back home within about 15 minutes. Tomorrow we have to get back to our normal school work, but I think today was a real educational experience for the girls. They had a great time and will be blogging with the details from their point of view tomorrow.
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Sep. 18, 2006 - Catching up here...
To pick up from last time... We did go see the movie Monday night with Amy and Nathan and then out to dinner at Chili's. It was a fun night out. The next day we found out that one of the little boys being watched with our girls was up all of that night throwing up. Great. This dreadful stomach flu hit the households in apts B and C, but thankfully none of us got it and everyone seems to have recovered now.
Wednesday night I started the Beth Moore bible study on the Patriarchs at Palm Valley Church and had a great time. It was very in depth and I can't wait to by the study workbook for it this week so that I can continue the study on my own during the week. The kids had a really good time at the children's program as well. Gracyn stayed home with Ralph because she had hurt her foot earlier in the evening and couldn't walk on it. The next day we planned on taking her to the doctor, but as the day progressed she began placing more weight on it, and by Friday she was back to normal.
Thursday we spent the day running errands and shopping. I was able to pick up a
few schoolbooks that we needed and the rest we ordered by phone. We should be getting several packages in this week with our final curriculum for the year, so that will be lots of fun. Nothing like opening up brand new math and english books to bring out the festive spirit in a homeschooler!
Friday Katie, Faith and Madison were invited to a birthday party of a sweet girl who lives down the road. Our house church meetings are at their house. They had fun shopping for presents and enjoying their first party here in Texas. I'm sure they'll be blogging with further details.
Saturday night was our house church meeting and we had a great time. Ralph and I are about the only ones who are solely english speakers, although I understand enough to minimally communicate and understand some of what is going on before translation. Everyone else in attendance is either bilingual or spanish speaking only. We were there until 11:15, so it's a good thing we only live a couple of miles away!
Sunday we went to Harvest Church, the one that Ralph prefers, for services. It was ok. The kids and I aren't as fond of it. I like the minister and his wife and the teaching is good, but they are weak on their children's ministry and I just can't seem to get into their praise and worship, which for me is a big thing. After church we went to a really good buffet around here called Furr's Fresh Buffet. The food was really good and it was a nice break from cooking. After lunch we went to the big Barnes and Nobel down the road and bought a bird identification guide we needed for school and Christmas gift for some beloved family member who shall remain nameless. It's hard to get used to the fact that we have such luxeries as malls, movie theaters, bookstores, etc within minutes of the house now. After living in the boondocks for a year and a half it's certainly something I could get used to! By the time we got home we were really worn out, so Gracyn, Emily and I all enjoyed a long nap.
I spent most of Sunday evening doing laundry. I wait until I have a pile because it's a pain going back and forth across campus taking it over, switching it from washer to dryer, putting in new loads to wash, and bringing it back again. I did about 6 loads, hanging the sheets and towels out to dry behind the appartment. I was still awake from my nap, so after the kids went to bed I stayed up and read until about 12:30. I had no idea I'd end up being up most of the night! At about 2:30 a huge thunderstorm rolled in with constant lightening and window rattling thunder that lasted an hour. All the kids were up and scared, so I stayed up with them until it finally passed. Another round of storms came through about an hour later, but luckily it didn't wake the girls up this time. We were planning on going to the beach today, but we woke up to a wonderful drizzly, overcast morning that made you just want to stay in bed and cuddle up with a good book. Basically we had a lovely rainy day all day and got very little accomplished, but it was restful and I'm so glad we didn't have any school or errands that needed to be done.
The rest of the week will be busy... I have an eye appointment tomorrow, church Wednesday night, ob appointment Friday, and on and on it goes....
Hope this was enough to get everyone faithfully caught up.
By the way, for those who haven't heard (I don't think I've already posted it) we've decided on the name Isabelle Joy for the new baby. All is going smoothly and uneventfully with the pregnancy as usual, although I feel as big as a house going into my 6th month here and can't imagine how huge I'll be in another few months before this is all said and done. My recent desert fetish probably isn't helping much... Oh well...
Love to all!
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Sep. 10, 2006 - Week in review
I guess I haven't updated since last weekend, so I'll try to remember if anything dramatic happened this week.
I found a new doctor that I'm very happy with. I'm switching because this one was highly recommeded by a lady here who is going to be my doula for this birth in January. He also delivers from the hospital that she works at, so I knew I could trust her judgement. I was very pleased with the office and doctor, so that's one less thing to worry about.
We actually had rain this week! Whooppee!!! It's such a novelty here that we were all standing outside watching it roll in. The kids were playing in it, and then they all got incredibly wet and dirty afterward enjoying the puddles. We have a speed bump in front of the appartments which then has a slight dip afterward. Gracyn, Emily and Averick (the 2yo next door) were laying on the speed bump like a pillow and soaking in the warm pool of water like a hot tub. The adults all hung out on the sidewalk watching the kiddos and chatting, so it was a lot of fun.
Wednesday night we did church at Palm Valley, the big church, so that was fun. I'm looking forward to starting the Beth Moore study next week. Saturday night w went to the home church donwn the road again. It was a wonderful time of food and fellowship. We did tons of Itallian food and then worship and body ministry. Half the people there don't speak english, a few of us speak little to no spanish, and the rest are bilingual... so it's funny how you have a home group with constant interpretation and still have such good fellowship. Half the songs we sing for worship are in spanish, but the words are on an overhead so that makes it easier to sing along and helps expand our vocabulary in the process. It's been neat.
This morning we went to church at Palm Valley again. The kids and I were supposed to go to the orphanage in Mexico again today because Ralph was ministering, but we were so tired that we stayed home and he went. It's been a nice peaceful afternoon, other than struggling with Gracyn who didn't get nearly enough of a nap this afternoon and has been miserable. I look forward to putting her down this evening!
Several of us in the appartments are talking about leaving the kids with Ashley, the teenager next door, and going to see the new football movie that's out. Ralph's been wanting to see it, so hopefully we can make that matinee tomorrow. Seeing a movie is such a treat for us, so two within a month is unheard of! It's nice to have folks to hang out with and know that the kids are all together and in good hands.
That's about all for now. Things are just chugging right along!
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Sep. 3, 2006 - Yawn...
I have been so sleepy this weekend! Gracyn has been very difficult to get down to sleep lately. I have to lay down beside her until she falls asleep now that we don't have the crib. While I welcome the rest when she actually settles down and goes to sleep, it's just more exhausting and nerve wracking when I want to rest and she's jumping all over the bed and singing. 
Last night we went to a home church meeting near the campus. Many of the people from school attend so we already knew lots of folks there. It was very nice to have a meal and fellowship and then have some time of worship and sharing. There were tons of kids there, most of whom the girls knew, but the other families wanted their kids to stay and be a part of the meeting, so the girls weren't thrilled that they just had to "sit there" instead of going to play. I think Katie and Faith at least are old enough to be participating and taking in some of this instead of just being "entertained", so hopefully the example of the other children will be a good influence in this area. We went to a church this morning that we had visited once when we were first here. Ralph likes it better than the big church that the girls and I have been going to on Wednesday nights. The teaching is good and the couple who pastors is very nice. The biggest issue is that both times we've been there Katie and Faith said that there was no lesson given at all during their children's service, which takes place after worship during the sermon. The first time they just played darts and this time they played a game to learn the kid's names. We spoke to the pastor about it the first time and then when they came out after church today and said that they hadn't done anything again he said he was very surprised to hear it and would take care of it this week. We'll probably give it another shot and see it the issue gets corrected. I've promised the girls that they can still attend the bigger church on Wednesday nights for Missionettes. I'm looking forward to it as well because they are starting up a women's Beth Moore bible study week after next at the same time and several of my friends from campus will be going. We'll probably also go there on Sunday's when Ralph is ministering out of town.
Anyway, back to today. We went to church and then took the pastor and his wife out for Chinese food for lunch. They are the ones who brought over a ton of food for us when we first moved here, so it was nice fellowshiping with them again and getting to return the favor. Gracyn was acting really exhausted at lunch, refusing to eat anything and running around and crying over everything. That made it difficult to have a relaxing lunch, but I told myself that I'd be rewarded with a nice long nap out of her when we got home. Before we went home we decided to let me run into the mall to the ... you guessed it... maternity store! Not that I needed ANYTHING else, but after my last shopping spree I discovered that I'd forgotten I had a $5.35 store card in my wallet from a return that I'd made back in the beginning. If I didn't use it I'd lose it, so I ran in to get a white stretch t shirt like the other 3 that I have (purple, blue and red). It's a really flattering style that can be dressed up or down and goes with anything. So I run in a use my card and get my shirt without trying it on because I obviously know the size at this point. I got back to the car and told Ralph that I'd never have to see that store again because I have all the maternity clothes I could ever wear at this point. So I get home and put on my new shirt and realize that it is completely see through and I'll never be able to wear it.
Now I have to return it next week. Maybe I'm just making up for lost time from all the years that I never stepped foot in a mall and never bought myself any clothes. I keep telling myself that I still have 5 months to enjoy my new wardrobe, but it's still hard shopping for things you know you will only wear for such a brief time. Now if I can just find a good place to get my hair cut this week I'll be prepared for anything!
When we finally got home this afternoon Gracyn refused to settle down for a nap. She's been bouncing around like a crazy person while I've been trying to keep my eyes open. At least the other girls have stayed occupied. Madison and Emily have been off playing with Abigail and Katie and Faith are with Angel. Ralph has gone to the store to pick up a few things and in spite of not getting to sleep I've enjoyed the quiet afternoon getting to read the next book in a series I've been reading. It's nice having the informal library here on campus. If I run out of something to read I just have to hop over there and grab something. I'm sure all of it was donated, so there's a real hodgepodge of things to choose from, but I've found a surprising number of things that looked good.
We're going to the beach at South Padre Island again tomorrow. I'm concerned about fighting the crowds, but we're planning on leaving early so that we can hopefully avoid a lot of that. Ralph has a test on Tuesday so he wants to get back early to study.
I guess that catches everyone up for the moment. All is well and I look forward to a nice restful sleep tonight. By the way, we stayed up way too late last night watching the new Superman movie that someone here on campus had gotten from Mexico. It was in english with spanish subtitles, but you just get the feeling it's not totally legit when there's the sillouette of this guy's head at the bottom of the screen the whole time. Anyway, it was a really sorry movie, with or without Jose's hairline adding to the background scenery. Wish I'd gotten that extra couple of hours of sleep instead. 
Hasta luego everyone!
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Sep. 1, 2006 - Not much new here...
but I've been asked to update, so I will attempt. It's been a fast and pretty uneventful week around here. We got a lot of schooling done. Katie has been working on the spanish alphabet in addition to our Powerglide Jr. Spanish. The kids have been staying out until 9and 9:30 playing dodgeball and freeze tag with all the other children here on campus. It's really nice at night, cooling down a bit with a nice breeze. I've been doing my laundry late in the evening when it is much more comfortable to walk back and forth across campus carrying clothes and checking to see if things are finished yet. With the gated entrance it is completely safe to be out after dark, so that makes it even nicer.
We finally got our new bookcase set up today so that we no longer have to trip over our piles of schoolbooks all the time. It's nice that the smaller space here is more quickly straightened up during the day, but I'm still amazed at how quickly we can go from clean to disaster area with all these kids. That and the fact that they are eating me out of house and home. Every time I turn around they are eating or asking for something to eat. At least with the cheap fruit here it makes it easier to eat healthily. For a few weeks Walmart had 4 lb bags of oranges for $1.50 so we ate tons of them. Then the past couple of weeks the pineapples have been on sale for $1.50 each, so we've been grabbing one of them each time we stop. A friend here told me that there is a fruit and vegetable market nearby on Saturday mornings where the produce is really cheap, so I hope to find that one weekend soon.
We will be going to our regular church service on Sunday since we found out today that the group won't be traveling down to the orphanage in Reynosa Sunday afternoon. There's also a large home church meeting on Saturday nights that we will be visiting this weekend. Many of the people on campus go, and the girls will have lots of their friends there, so they should enjoy that. Monday Ralph is wanting to go back to South Padre Island. He says he needs a break from school. I'm afraid that with the holiday it will be packed this time, but I guess we'll see.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'm off to go get my dried laundry and head up to bed! Adios!
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Aug. 27, 2006 - Weekend update
It's been a busy but good weekend. Yesterday was Ralph's and my 11 year anniversary. We left the kids with a sitter at 2:00 and went to see the new movie World Trade Center. It was really good and a nice treat since we hardly ever go to a theater. After that we went to the mall to shop for some maternity clothes for me. Since most of my stuff is winter and I didn't have any dresses at all I needed a few things. I ended up with a bathing suit, 2 nice dress shirts, a t shirt, camisole, and a dress. Our neighbor in the apartments also brought by a few of her maternity things for me to borrow before we left, so that gave me an additional pair of denim capris overalls and a nice long black skirt. I've never had such a full maternity wardrobe before! After mall shopping we went next door to Logan's Steakhouse for dinner. All in all it was a very nice date night. Unfortunately I indulged in too much sweet tea with my dinner and was up half the night from the caffine. Ugh.
This morning we would have gone to the new church that we've been attending, but we were already planning on visiting the orphanage in Mexico that the school runs for their Sunday service. That was at 3:00 and with my lack of sleep I thought it would be too much to do both churches. We had a really good time at the orphanage. The church servic was obviously very child centered. The man who runs the place and led the service was wonderful with the kids and had a really nice spirit about him. I was very impressed with how well groomed and well behaved the children were. They have around 32 kids between the ages of 2 and 18 and they were very joyful and loving. The facility was a bit in the country along some very rural, bumpy roads. It was a pretty poverty stricken area, but the orphanage had a brand new wonderful housing facility for the kids. It was air conditioned and very nice, so that was great to see. Our kids had a good time and we'll probably be traveling over there to attend services and minister several times a month while we are here. It's a nice safe way for them to get accustomed to the different culture and maybe learn some of the language.
We are now back home and I'm completely done in and ready for bed. While we waited in line to cross back over the boarder this afternoon we had to turn off the air in the school's van so that it didn't overheat. It was probably about 103 outside anyway, and I had the sun shining directly in my window on top of it, so I thought I was going to have a heat stroke by the time we finally made it back across. The lines are pretty bad and the wait can be long, but we finally made it home around 7:30. Ralph's thinking about going back to the beach tomorrow, but he has a test on Tuesday and I'm completely exhausted, so I don't know whether that will happen or not.
Anyway...Adios for now!
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Aug. 25, 2006 - Computer at last!
I'm back to cyber normal finally! We have our computer set up in the living room, complete with our lovely new flat screen monitor. Now I'll be able to keep up with my blogging and checking in on everyone else's (M&M- quit your griping!
)
Not much got accomplished today other than shopping for groceries at Walmart with all 5 little ones, taking Katie out shopping for her late birthday presents (which I'm sure she'll be blogging all about ) and watching as the computers got all set up while I made dinner. We didn't get much homeschooling done at all, so we'll have to put in some double time tomorrow to make up for it. With Ralph's schedule being Tuesday thru Saturday, ours feels a little mixed up, but since we went to the beach on Monday we definitely have to school tomorrow to get our week finished out.
We got a wonderful book at the library by Lois Lensky called Texas Tomboy which we are doing as our read aloud. It's so cool looking at the pictures and reading about ranching after driving past so many ranches on our way here and seeing those Texas critters like jack rabbits and having citrus trees and cactus growing right here on campus. I'd say other than the extreme heat (always between 101 and 105 during the day) we're happily adjusting to our new life here!
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Aug. 24, 2006 - Sonogram results...
It's a Girl!!! 
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Aug. 23, 2006 - Whew... a free moment
It has been so busy here that it seems like there is never a moment to get away to the computer lab without children in tow in order to blog. All is well, although the heat is really getting old. It has been 102 to 104 every time I've been out during the day for the past couple of weeks. The little ones have been playing at the preschool playground here on campus which nice and shady, so at least I don't have to swelter quite so much to get them out of the house to run around.
One of the biggest blessings of the past week was meeting a wonderful lady here who is a nurse who cares for the newborn babies in the hospital and teaches childbirth classes and is a pastor's wife and leads worship and homeschools... and has joyfully agreed to by with me during my labor with the baby in January! After having my two good friends with me for my last three labors I was a little unsure of who I would have here as a doula. This is absolutely heaven sent and I'm so thankful that God brings just the people into our lives at just the time we need them. All is going well with the pregnancy. I've got quite a belly now and we'll find out whether we're expecting a new little blue or pink bundle tomorrow afternoon at the sonogram.
We visited a church on Sunday that the kids and I are happy with, so we'll probably try to get involved there during the week. It is a mini mega-church with all the cool kids programs, so they all had a good time. The teaching on Sunday morning wasn't anything new or extremely enlightening, but it was good just to be in the body and hear the Word so I'll be fine taking the kids there. They have missionettes on Wednesday nights and another children's program on Saturday nights. I'm also trying to get some information about the local homeschool group and try to plug in there.
Everyone here on campus is just wonderful and I feel like we're one big family. Our neighbors in the apartments are especially great and it's nice having such likeminded young families within arms reach. I've been leading worship and helping out with music for chapel each week, so that's continued to give me an outlet since I hope to not be on the road with Ralph nearly as much while we are here. If I was stuck being completely without musical ministry I would hate it, but it's wonderful to be able to minister and not have to drive hours away to do it!
We went to South Padre Island on Monday and had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful and there weren't many people there, so it was really nice. The beach itself was lovely and the water was so clear that we could go way out and still see our feet and shells and fish swimming by at the bottom! It's a nice experience being only an hour away from the ocean now! I managed to get burned in spite of my abundant sunscreen, so next time I think I'll wear a shirt over my swimsuit, but otherwise it was a really great afternoon!
I guess that's all the catching up for now. Ralph's classes are extremely difficult and I'm selfishly thankful that I'm not taking them, but I am trying to help Ralph out as much as possible. Homeschooling is off and running and I hope to get our final books ordered this week. As it is we are taking all morning just to accomplish what we have now, so I guess I'll need this extra time before adding anything additional to get settled back into a schedule. Oh, another blessing... a lady here gave us the Powerglide Jr. Spanish curriculum! I had wanted this for a long time and was always detered by the large price tag, so this was great timing for us. Now the kids can learn some Spanish while Ralph is taking classes. We're supposed to visit the orphanage in Reynosa, Mexico on Sunday and hope to make it a regular ministry that we can take part in as a family. It is run by the school and I think it's only about 15 miles away, so we don't have to drive far to get to the mission field and get our feet wet cross culturally! It will give the kids a chance to use their new language skills!
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Aug. 10, 2006 - Found a new dr. today
This town is so big that when we looked in the yellow pages to find a new ob there were probably 50 to choose from. I had no idea how to begin to pick, so we tried the one with the biggest full page add and went from there. They were able to get me in today and I had all of my records from GA faxed over before the appointment, so that's settled. They did another ultrasound just to check things out and all looked fine. He checked on the sex and didn't see anything that would indicate a boy, but said it could still just be too early to tell. They will do the official ultrasound where they take the measurements in two weeks, and maybe then we'll know something for sure.
Other than getting that taken care of today, not much has been going on. We went to the library again this morning and I grabbed some more books to keep me busy for a while and our first Five in a Row book to begin our school year next week. I got most of the planning for the week done already. We won't be able to order the rest of our materials until probably next week, but we certainly have enough to get us started. The kids have been playing hard every day and sleeping very well at night. It was 97 degrees today, so it's hot outside, but not intolerable. They come in fairly often and drink LOTS of water, and we've started putting sunscreen on them in the mornings after we noticed them getting some pretty pink cheeks. This warm weather will be very appreciated in January when the new baby arrives!
All of the neighbors on campus are very nice and we've become friends right off the bat. The couple next to us is young and was with YWAM for 8 years and will be going to Mexico full time after language school. They have boys ages 2 and 4. The other couple next to us is around our age and sold their 1000 acre farm in Kansas to go full time to the mission field in Mexico. They will only be here until January and then they'll head down there for further training and begin their work. They have two boys in 1st and 2nd grades. Another very nice couple we've met have 4 boys. We plan on starting up a homeschool support group here on campus since all of the families homeschool, so that will be nice. Luckily the town has a big support group of it's own to get involved in, though, since the kids would love to actually have some female friends! There is one little girl who is 6 here that Madison and Emily have been playing with, and another who is 12 who Katie and Faith have been spending time with. At least they aren't completely alone! I look forward to finding a good church program for them to make some more friends at in the coming weeks as well.
That's about it for now! All is well and we're enjoying our final few days off before classes and homeschooling begin!
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Aug. 8, 2006 - I'm Baaaaaccckk!!
With our computer down at home and preparing for the move I haven't been able to update in quite a while. I'll try to catch up on some of the highlights...
We are now settling down here at language school in Tx. Everyone has been extremely nice and I look forward to meeting more of the students as everyone gets settled in this week. We've been here for exactly a week already, arriving early to get all the "housekeeping" details that are involved in a move taken care of before classes begin. Our housing is small but very sufficient since we brought only what we could fit in the two vans with us. Everything else was put in storage or gotten rid of in the move. The apartment is furnished, but you'd be surprised how many "necessities" you find you have to bring along! Just our bedding, clothes for 7 people, computer, curriculum, and kitchen items filled us to the brim!
We spent 5 days on the road getting here because Ralph preached in AK on the way out, which is not exactly along the way! We were blessed at the churches and had a really cool time taking a side field trip to Hot Springs before heading out again. Ralph and I both drove so that we could take both vans, and the walkie talkies that we used to communicate were a lifesaver. I hate driving when I don't know where I'm going anyway, and especially trying to follow someone, so I never could have done it without them. Basically most of the drive was uneventful aside from some panicking on my part in Birmingham and some of the TX cities that we had to pass through. We were SOOOO tired when we finally arrived!
Anyway, the past week has just flown by as we've gotten acquainted with the area and taken care of various things getting settled and set up here. I love being so close to everything after living out in the middle of nowhere for the past year and a half. The kids are enjoying being able to play outside on the closed campus and meeting new friends. Most of the families here have several children and homeschool, so we look forward to making many new friendships with likeminded neighbors!
That's all for now. I'm having to use the computer lab here on campus until we get our computer set up, but I'll be better about updating frequently from here on! Adios!
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