tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7243310716902088452024-03-14T12:30:38.738+00:00Emily's Journey: To Know & Follow Hard After YouEmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-60767488884415596082013-12-19T20:42:00.000+00:002013-12-19T20:42:06.390+00:00A White Christmas<span style="font-size: large;">What can you do when you're surrounded by Sub-Saharan African heat in December and your 3-year-old dreams of snow? Spend a few minutes on Pinterest, grab a few supplies, and make some! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This afternoon Savannah and I mixed up some cloud dough (8:1 flour to baby oil), headed out on our little veranda, tucked Nathaniel into a stroller to see all the action, and got creative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">First we used a silicone muffin pan to make fun shapes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Tada!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKoprJ-1EZC_HgNaWp4BDs726T2LNsGC1SrXbkdAqL6EyLHXy1nH5SbrYWZsIzMANFuvKUugAm0yEJRqAhg7kvLl5QeB7BSRuFLgaZHFZNYHWyo58bH7CxJiQduxothzLM-SksgKABoCI/s1600/IMG_4282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKoprJ-1EZC_HgNaWp4BDs726T2LNsGC1SrXbkdAqL6EyLHXy1nH5SbrYWZsIzMANFuvKUugAm0yEJRqAhg7kvLl5QeB7BSRuFLgaZHFZNYHWyo58bH7CxJiQduxothzLM-SksgKABoCI/s400/IMG_4282.JPG" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Then we smashed the shapes for the pure joy of smashing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv9lYR_t3yBuovHldFEyVGLeIKTD-CJ2SFoihMNJnw8usp3y-F47M9xcV7l3T7xNyyyxbVnEnB2Hq17_T3mrDuAwEwPM5jf05ze3tfVRAJiqTkfTNnCxlt5zfXT6mYracgKTiCV6zosX8/s1600/IMG_4283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv9lYR_t3yBuovHldFEyVGLeIKTD-CJ2SFoihMNJnw8usp3y-F47M9xcV7l3T7xNyyyxbVnEnB2Hq17_T3mrDuAwEwPM5jf05ze3tfVRAJiqTkfTNnCxlt5zfXT6mYracgKTiCV6zosX8/s400/IMG_4283.JPG" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After much squishing and smashing I flung some white powdery fun into the air and started a full fledged snowball fight! </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Much giggling and chasing ensued and even Nathaniel had a good time watching us. In the end we were absolutely COVERED in "snow", but a fast sweep of the porch and a wet washcloth erased all evidence of the winter wonderland. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Merry Christmas!!! </span>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-14970058965483327602013-04-20T23:24:00.001+00:002013-04-20T23:27:16.258+00:00Coming back to the USA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Why is it so difficult to pack with a toddler around? Maybe because of all of the wonderful "help" you get :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <i>Savannah "reorganizing" a suitcase just for me :-) lol</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before we left Bissau I made and wrapped up two more busy book pages as surprises for our little two-year-old on the four day journey back to the US. The first one was covered with buttons and had flowers that buttoned on and off and a little fabric lined pocket they could tuck into.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She loves numbers and counting almost as much as she loves hiding and buttons so I combined them all in this cute little peek-a-boo page.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnukt0Ls1ELJTzgziLJxBbj4AeupLFiwMzvMGNavCXk8jT1y1gh4oCnFvZwNavpfyOC02K1v6cZtrzsfYrXspUcKh8WsUbvnMx0IVHxLj85e8hfStLuLIBRMlH33WkN9uBbintAMt00D8/s1600/Busy+Book+Page+9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnukt0Ls1ELJTzgziLJxBbj4AeupLFiwMzvMGNavCXk8jT1y1gh4oCnFvZwNavpfyOC02K1v6cZtrzsfYrXspUcKh8WsUbvnMx0IVHxLj85e8hfStLuLIBRMlH33WkN9uBbintAMt00D8/s640/Busy+Book+Page+9.JPG" width="312" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>The buttons are the same color as the felt flaps.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I also whipped up this little bag out of some adorable bandanna fabric from my Grandma to keep the busy book in. For some reason felt seems to attract dust and I knew that getting shoved into all sorts of bags in our journey would not improve matters :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">As you can see the pages kept her occupied for many hours on our long long trek :-) What a precious little girl!</span></div>
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<br />Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-16312514037072175072013-03-22T15:13:00.003+00:002013-03-22T15:14:42.776+00:00The Antidote to Guilt<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Guilt. What a conniving little thief! The past four days of frantic packing have seen our two-year-old watching more shows than she’s ever watched before :-) Elmo, Lady and the Tramp, Baby Einstein, Veggie Tales, you name it, she’s been enjoying it. Don’t get me wrong, she hasn’t been in front of the TV 6 hours a day or anything like that, just a whole lot more than normal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I know she’d rather be running around outside or playing a game with her mommy; but at 7 months pregnant, with meals to cook from scratch, bags to pack, and an entire apartment to clean out… well, I’ve had other things overflowing my plate. The thing is, it’s just a week. Life has phases, and this is a busy, busy one. I know that, but still I feel guilty. Every day, every double click that starts another show, giving me just enough time to pack a suitcase or clean out a closet or wash a mountain of dishes – guilt! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This morning my friend Janera came over to help me pack. We’re leaving tomorrow and right now we’re at the end of the road, find a spot to stick this, don’t forget about these 12 essential things, phase. My friend was eager to help, but I was getting so frustrated by spending longer to decide and explain how and why and where things needed to go than it would’ve taken for me just to do it myself. Meanwhile Savannah was busy unpacking every box I packed, so I started another show. <u>Guilt. Guilt looking at my child, sitting on the couch; guilt looking at my friend, clueless as to how to help. Guilt.</u> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then inspiration! I turned off the show, turned to my confused toddler and said, “How would you like to go run around outside with Janera?” She jumped off the couch and ran to get her shoes with my friend Janera right behind her, laughing. I smiled and got back to work in the kitchen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">About an hour later I heard the sweetest giggle and looked out the window to see Savannah and Janera having a great time. Savannah was running and jumping and laughing and Janera was right behind her, cracking up at Savannah’s antics. Right in that moment I felt freedom. Everyday is not going to be endless hours of story time and imaginative play with my toddler, with decadent meals simmering on the stove of my immaculate kitchen, especially with another little one on the way. I don’t usually think like that. But in times when I’m stressed out, when guilt rears its ugly head and that image of perfection taunts me, I need to learn to let go so that I can <u>make room for gratefulness</u>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Playing in her room with Janera about a month ago. Yes, she is inside her toy box, and yes, pretty much every toy she owns is out :-)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I heard my daughter’s glee I remembered how grateful I am that Savannah has so many people who love her and want to be part of her life. How grateful I am that she will have memories of friends on different continents. How grateful I am that she gets to travel around the world and consider it normal. And in order to make all of those things a reality in her life there are going to be times where I’m crazy busy and she watches more shows or where a friend runs around with her outside.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Smelling flowers in an African jungle.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Feeding her pet deer.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So here’s my decision – from now on <u>I’m not going to let guilt rob me of gratefulness</u>. I’m not going to focus on the things that my children won’t have and miss the wonderful blessings that they do have. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i>My sweet girl giving kisses to her pregnant mommy :-)</i></span></div>
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Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-66314904154123857702013-03-03T20:18:00.000+00:002013-03-03T20:18:24.051+00:00Ready for Travel With a 2-Year-Old<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Over the past week I’ve been combining my free time and my crafting powers to create a few fun new toys and activities to occupy our busy two year old on the four day journey by car, boat and plane from West Africa back the US. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today, during my Sunday afternoon creative time, I took a handful of bright popsicle sticks and some velcro dots and made a simple, portable, activity just perfect for Savannah’s busy little hands and imagination.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large; text-align: start;">She saw me making them and she just had to get her hands on them. Look at all of the fun shapes we made!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">I’ve always saved cute cards and little pieces of boxes that had characters on them that Savannah liked. I gathered up a few cute ones, a bottle of wood glue, and some plain old popsicle sticks whipped up a few puzzles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A tried and true activity that I’m also bringing along is her sewing kit. She loves to slide all of the buttons onto the string and then slither her button caterpillar around making hilarious ‘caterpillar noises’.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I’ve also got two little Sesame Street sticker books and I’ve been working on a few new pages for her beloved felt busy book. Before we go I’ll wrap everything up and tuck all of her new little toys into my carry on to be revealed at different times along the way :-)</span><br />
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Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-59598925440403057632013-02-11T21:53:00.001+00:002013-02-11T21:53:11.919+00:00Savannah's Busy Book<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If I had to choose one word to describe my two-year-old over the past few months it would be ‘busy’. She’s full of energy, but it’s not really the hyperactive, running, jumping all the time kind; she just always needs to have her hands and brain engaged. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She loves to line up her toys, stack all sorts of objects into “beautiful block towers”, take things out of one container and put them into another, to zip and unzip, snap and unsnap, button and unbutton. She also loves take her little toy animals and people and make up hilarious little scenarios, and her favorite ones involve mommies and their babies. (Can you tell she spends most of her time around a pregnant woman?)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This year for Christmas I wanted to make Savannah a special present and that’s where I got the idea for a busy book. I created a <a href="http://pinterest.com/mamedesavannah/busy-book/">Pinterest board</a> (isn't that how all good projects start?) and scoured the internet for ideas. I mapped out about 20 pages to make, and then ordered some felt, snaps, rivets, and glue online for a friend to stick in his suitcase. My supplies arrived in the beginning of December and I dedicated Savannah’s naps and my evenings to creating a fun book for my daughter’s busy little hands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the end I did not get anywhere near 20 pages done, but I’m actually glad I didn't She LOVES the 7 pages I made and plays with her “special book” pretty much every day. I made the book so that it’s really easy to add new pages and I’m planning on expanding it a page or two at a time for special presents or as a surprise on long trips – we seem to have no shortage of those in our family!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I didn't use any patterns for any of the pages or pieces, which meant cutting every shape and number freehand. I also didn't use my sewing machine because I didn't really know how to get all of the tiny pieces of felt just right with it and because I wanted to use cute blanket stitches, so every stitch is hand sewn. I had a ball summoning all of my creative energy and whimsy and my dear daughter couldn't love it more!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> <i>Page 1 - A rainbow puzzle that velcros together</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Page 2 - Flowers with petals that velcro on and off and tuck into the pocket. In a tribute to one of my favorite kids books I added a very hungry caterpillar and a beautiful butterfly.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i> Page 3 - Shapes that match and snap and tuck into the pocket from an old pair of jeans.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Page 4 - A zipper pocket made from bright African fabric filled with double sided strips that can snap together into chain links, letters, shapes, or even end to end.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i> Page 5 - Buttons that slide back and forth on ribbons with different shapes on the ends.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i> Page 6 - Savannah LOVES ladybugs so this page has three little babies that can come in and out of the zipper pouch and even tuck under the mommy ladybugs wings. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i> Page 7 - Snapping balloons on ric-rac stems.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've already got a button page done for our trip to the US in March and I'm hoping to add another one before we go, so stay tuned for more busy fun :-)</span></div>
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Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-47650631382587995862013-01-24T12:17:00.001+00:002013-01-24T12:17:22.067+00:00More than I do!<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I was pregnant with Savannah I never worried about how she was doing. She was safe in my belly, growing every day, snuggled in tight. When we lost our second baby last May, my world was changed in so many ways. I mourned the loss of our tiniest Atkins - all of the potential of who he or she could’ve grown to be and the ways our family would’ve been changed. It helped to know our precious little sweetie was in the best place possible, and even though I would not have the privilege of knowing the little one now, we would have eternity to spend catching up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ever since the beginning of the new year I’ve found my thoughts wandering to the new tiny life growing in my belly. Our second baby’s due date was December 25th, and as that day came and went, my thoughts turned to the memories I have of Savannah when she was new – her rounded little back, her tiny features, and even nursing her around the clock. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Snuggling my tiny newborn early in the morning</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I love our newest tiny blessing, and even though I’m in well into the 4th month with a nicely rounding bump, I find myself wondering. Wondering if the baby is ok, if I’ll have the opportunity to hold and nurture this little one, if this pregnancy will end with empty arms and another tender place in my heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I shared struggle with a good friend and fellow missionary yesterday. She was so truthful and encouraging, and as I read the words in her email one truth jumped out at me - <b><i><u>God loves my children more than I do</u></i></b>. Sometimes I act as if that’s impossible. I plead with the Lord as though I need to bargain with Him for their welfare. I forget that their creator, sustainer, and savior does indeed love them more than I could ever imagine. Before they were ever mine, they were His, and long after I’m done raising them and they leave my home they will still be His precious children.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_duU3w-gOZAWjLHWBD1dPenfFErUhks2sN9ZyDR0efwy80ZnGpYaaGuMr5uouB2wEAfHd9WEOMpF9Cr9KQ1ksRU2O7KPieoJ60L-qZ6IiEtuJHvR39KvuJLAhyphenhyphen9irZsMB7RFB3YapeqI/s1600/IMG_2173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_duU3w-gOZAWjLHWBD1dPenfFErUhks2sN9ZyDR0efwy80ZnGpYaaGuMr5uouB2wEAfHd9WEOMpF9Cr9KQ1ksRU2O7KPieoJ60L-qZ6IiEtuJHvR39KvuJLAhyphenhyphen9irZsMB7RFB3YapeqI/s320/IMG_2173.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Me and my big girl on Christmas Day</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of course I still long to be the mother of many children; to love and cherish them and raise them to know and love the Lord. I long to know this little one; but last night as I lay down to fall asleep, one thought drowned out all others – God loves my children more than I do. As I let that truth sink in deep I felt a little kick, and another, and another, and another. I hadn’t felt the baby move for sure for several weeks, and as tears of joy rolled down my cheeks I knew that no matter how much I love this child, I’ll never even be able to imagine the depth of God’s love. No matter what happens, my children are His precious sons and daughters and they belong in His hands. </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Singing with my sweet Savannah</span></i></div>
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Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-27816177420849456722012-12-31T11:15:00.001+00:002012-12-31T11:15:47.682+00:00My Sunday Afternoon Creations<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lately every Sunday I get the urge to create. Sunday is a fairly quiet day in our house. Jason doesn't go to work, I cook very simple meals, and we have lots of intentional soul care time. After church we listen to podcasts, read tons of books to our daughter, play outside, make fantastic playdough and block tower creations, and Jason and I both make a point to do something restful and energizing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For the month leading up to Christmas I had been spending all of my spare time working on Savannah’s busy book (more about that later), but yesterday I wanted to make a simple project that I could start and finish in an hour or so - something pretty and useful. Usually I would pick up a hook or some needles and ball of yarn, but yesterday I got out my sewing machine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am a very novice seamstress and somehow sewing anything always takes about 27 times longer than I think it should, but yesterday I was overflowing with the confidence only Pinterest can bring; so I pulled out some bright, African fabric and dove in. To my great surprise, a few hours later I had not 1 but 2 fully lined, zipper close-able very useful little bags. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9J6FpoMo9bvQRNnh4Xjkxk8YqNl_cPy-WZ8aqxpLCO2PkpV26IUzPV5DvlZY3oP1ypTUiUH-6sqtGCMNyM6SHiubJLDAI4jCz3WtxYZR866UwlZBvWHXpaG7SxLQpx8UgMzAI8DGizVM/s1600/IMG_2217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9J6FpoMo9bvQRNnh4Xjkxk8YqNl_cPy-WZ8aqxpLCO2PkpV26IUzPV5DvlZY3oP1ypTUiUH-6sqtGCMNyM6SHiubJLDAI4jCz3WtxYZR866UwlZBvWHXpaG7SxLQpx8UgMzAI8DGizVM/s400/IMG_2217.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I made the tiny one first and it's just perfect to hold Savannah's treasured Elmo cell phone. The large one holds all of her little people. She's really into organizing and she loves that she can zip and unzip them herself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There’s nothing like making something functional and useful with my own two hands to refresh my spirit! I love that creativity in all of its many forms reflects the very image of our wonderfully imaginative God :-)</span><br />
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Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-63376832803421940492012-04-25T15:35:00.002+00:002012-04-25T17:04:59.969+00:00Thoughts from Evacu-cation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">Evacuation… I’ve always known that it could be a possibility. Like I read in a news article this morning: “In truth, there hardly is a country in Africa where the army represents such a great danger for peace and stability as in Guinea Bissau. For the third time in two years the country will now have to embark on another post-coup transition.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">While I’ve always know that we could have to pack our lives, hop in the car, and head for the Senegalese border, the reality of doing it is hard to get used to. Now that we’re starting our fourth day in Senegal, I’ve been able to switch out of survival mode and the processing part of my brain is finally starting to catch up with me :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jason, ever the optimist, is calling our unplanned escape “Evacu-cation 2012”. I understand why – we found a great deal and we’re splitting a beautiful bungalow by the beach with another missionary family; we have hot water, there are flowers everywhere, and even a pool! On the outside this deserves every bit of the “vacation” side of Jason’s hyphenated name. In our hearts though, the concept of being on vacation is a hard one to get used to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are things about evacuation that I always thought would be hard. Even though we have a tiny apartment, you can’t pack three people’s whole lives into one suitcase. There are lots of things you have to leave behind and I am a bit sad that I didn’t grab my recipe box and my Creole notebook. On the other hand, God has given us so much grace for the tough decisions we’ve had to make, and even while we were packing it seemed easy to take the most important stuff and let everything else go. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">Leaving our friends wasn’t so easy. As we said goodbye to the National Director of YFC Guinea-Bissau, who is a very close friend of ours, tears spilled down my cheeks as I told him how heartbroken I was to leave. He said that when a family has problems there comes a time when the problems get so serious that everyone else has to leave and the family has to sit down and deal with them. He went on to say that the problems in Guinea-Bissau are of their own creation and now is the time for Guineans to deal with them. He also said that it was a load off of his mind to have us go because if something big did happen he wouldn't have to worry about us since foreigners are always targets in times of uncertainty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">While we’re fully expecting that this conflict will be resolved in a matter of days or weeks and we’ll be able to go back to our normal lives in the country we love, we also have to deal with the possibility that it could be months, or even years before we’ll be able to head back to Guinea-Bissau. When we arrived in Africa nearly six years ago everything felt so foreign and I cried out to God to give my heart a home in this strange land. He answered that prayer in so many ways, and while I’m so grateful, it also makes this process that much harder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our hearts and our prayers are with the people of Guinea-Bissau. The country needs change. The people are tired of war. They are tired of poverty and suffering and fear. We know that God often does His greatest work in times of great uncertainty and we’re trusting God for miracles in our little corner of West Africa! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">I lift up my eyes to the mountains— </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;"> where does my help come from? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">My help comes from the LORD, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;"> the Maker of heaven and earth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">He will not let your foot slip— </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;"> he who watches over you will not slumber; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">indeed, he who watches over Israel </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;"> will neither slumber nor sleep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">The LORD watches over you— </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;"> the LORD is your shade at your right hand; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">the sun will not harm you by day, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;"> nor the moon by night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">The LORD will keep you from all harm— </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;"> he will watch over your life; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">the LORD will watch over your coming and going </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;"> both now and forevermore.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: large;">-Psalm 121</span><br />
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<br /></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-79124529472886466042011-09-21T16:02:00.005+00:002011-09-21T17:23:21.099+00:00Just to make you smile<div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" >A while ago I was teaching some of my students about writing simple, clear sentences. They </span><span class="Apple-style-span" >always want to write these long, flowery, verbose things and consequentially, their writing is very difficult to understand. I asked them to write three simple sentences about their favorite sport. This guy cracked me up, so I thought I would share it with you.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >“The sport that I like the most is swimming. Swimming allows you to exercise your entire body. Unfortunately, I can’t swim.”</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Just to make sure you're smiling, here are a few recent pictures of our little ham :-)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVfOiTCQbdweuffUdNTfZCJmBi5UtvNxufpAM7vJZt7dkHVArONsjVbKrp1wsHxFCdpCLeT0VQK7rPHtzzhLn61Moou88Lmjpj_3zkWDoFGq2YNdEFZqGZ3kiU1Qqm1WtpTwTfsI7ZgQo/s1600/IMG_4515.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVfOiTCQbdweuffUdNTfZCJmBi5UtvNxufpAM7vJZt7dkHVArONsjVbKrp1wsHxFCdpCLeT0VQK7rPHtzzhLn61Moou88Lmjpj_3zkWDoFGq2YNdEFZqGZ3kiU1Qqm1WtpTwTfsI7ZgQo/s400/IMG_4515.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654860829885371250" /></a></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"yum, yum, yum, I love Cheerios!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH8XSB06nRgjrgYLGPrU36UqA8Nbt-hMN1TRvAbBoWXmD4EvrENgFwR45wboLZFe8VgjDSBkjRLA_wIhuOwNXvICsISELj_orgDSrk067N6eZ-umcOwwGOdqfe_9Jei4-sUYJClIwVX-M/s1600/IMG_4605+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH8XSB06nRgjrgYLGPrU36UqA8Nbt-hMN1TRvAbBoWXmD4EvrENgFwR45wboLZFe8VgjDSBkjRLA_wIhuOwNXvICsISELj_orgDSrk067N6eZ-umcOwwGOdqfe_9Jei4-sUYJClIwVX-M/s400/IMG_4605+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654862035724314210" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"The ocean is awesome!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3RITUkS8yvLMp7SbLst4hA_F1MtvYm8ESPImXv-elOrTKeBqiqnO405T402qusrpjGPxShPCBGS-iXBRkpjNq3N8McX_BKuSuB6siwDOaowBnPNKPZE4Iw0eQS9pKfQC6YwxE1TZTkBw/s1600/IMG_4574+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3RITUkS8yvLMp7SbLst4hA_F1MtvYm8ESPImXv-elOrTKeBqiqnO405T402qusrpjGPxShPCBGS-iXBRkpjNq3N8McX_BKuSuB6siwDOaowBnPNKPZE4Iw0eQS9pKfQC6YwxE1TZTkBw/s400/IMG_4574+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654862029512045234" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"One of my favorite pastimes - seeing who can roar the loudest, me or Daddy!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlPdwg-97seEGw1hCI-5iXQE8cwoIiw2vUYX07mtamekLhUvn6_rR9mZi07nTNgUdMsDkpmdTtNv1FKIMvVoM7-qIqz7uITdeNKfmxGWOyV3DyNaqp1VBIAljOAml-9A_ceHfCPR7f6Uk/s1600/IMG_4560+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlPdwg-97seEGw1hCI-5iXQE8cwoIiw2vUYX07mtamekLhUvn6_rR9mZi07nTNgUdMsDkpmdTtNv1FKIMvVoM7-qIqz7uITdeNKfmxGWOyV3DyNaqp1VBIAljOAml-9A_ceHfCPR7f6Uk/s400/IMG_4560+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654862030137204434" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"I LOVE food!!!!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoXC2JCPlt9QS2suoi4Zd_ayc_vXFxtkUm0_MoSZ3FPNHONItd7hERaEui01qsklSJ2f0-aVGYIh1-zG4YPcdWiP5rCH8yRe904Tuj-M17-d4t_PO_cDvREXj7X5Bia0dSROUpxQzMTjs/s1600/IMG_4553+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoXC2JCPlt9QS2suoi4Zd_ayc_vXFxtkUm0_MoSZ3FPNHONItd7hERaEui01qsklSJ2f0-aVGYIh1-zG4YPcdWiP5rCH8yRe904Tuj-M17-d4t_PO_cDvREXj7X5Bia0dSROUpxQzMTjs/s400/IMG_4553+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654862026080967410" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"For me! You shouldn't have!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-GXgTCOrvyU3fL-9OUuTYDp1IlnhuaLzbSPx7DIQa07u5ELEcwbEbLH6st6mGSobnXNn4uI4byoyMfC7w6ybB8QjABY9rQGtrt4s1zzkzVZyDbScq-PvUIfmC6B3GT7LHq3Xuh_Upog/s1600/IMG_4427+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-GXgTCOrvyU3fL-9OUuTYDp1IlnhuaLzbSPx7DIQa07u5ELEcwbEbLH6st6mGSobnXNn4uI4byoyMfC7w6ybB8QjABY9rQGtrt4s1zzkzVZyDbScq-PvUIfmC6B3GT7LHq3Xuh_Upog/s400/IMG_4427+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654861247727794370" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"Super baby!!!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNAU45p9YrqDPCsD95i7keNN6Wpx5NGsZVCwBXS9uAVBnEOPGcAeFlshlr2Z8YsA_XmCQJj-UNQKesdW3q0XkFS8z8c-lxhToIIJcjtWhHaDFGLw-MKWaPNyOADCvs0os7P23ZQEODhzU/s1600/IMG_4371+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNAU45p9YrqDPCsD95i7keNN6Wpx5NGsZVCwBXS9uAVBnEOPGcAeFlshlr2Z8YsA_XmCQJj-UNQKesdW3q0XkFS8z8c-lxhToIIJcjtWhHaDFGLw-MKWaPNyOADCvs0os7P23ZQEODhzU/s400/IMG_4371+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654861246036676354" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"Mush, Daddy!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0zTv5alo38UPQk9JzNdyeS94S-gMAewmIe6Ij8Peg4-Pn7AjN5hYeT3rNkB1yVYtKAkQ5NOOMziRhV7p29zkjKgciWLMEWfG5exdCuNYVkd-GfF2zyjA0xSScwJIiqgZrSICEoazpcZs/s1600/IMG_4359+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0zTv5alo38UPQk9JzNdyeS94S-gMAewmIe6Ij8Peg4-Pn7AjN5hYeT3rNkB1yVYtKAkQ5NOOMziRhV7p29zkjKgciWLMEWfG5exdCuNYVkd-GfF2zyjA0xSScwJIiqgZrSICEoazpcZs/s400/IMG_4359+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654861243145635250" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"iPhones, handy and also delicious!"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDP3TGzjJK-NPOerbo3y7sXep-tFA725Ll7TGCdjPUv0DM12wYeRfvaUWB7QT9ZLgmgejkQC1AsdPVjDS-ZEZvViZtvS6imlIlD8qf3bUOADaBGtxHsI9yamBkw3a_uJRoqgH9DCFPYk/s1600/IMG_4341+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGDP3TGzjJK-NPOerbo3y7sXep-tFA725Ll7TGCdjPUv0DM12wYeRfvaUWB7QT9ZLgmgejkQC1AsdPVjDS-ZEZvViZtvS6imlIlD8qf3bUOADaBGtxHsI9yamBkw3a_uJRoqgH9DCFPYk/s400/IMG_4341+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654861242400512642" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"Yes, if fact I am too cool for school!"</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpAfopCvdVGYGZNXgY5_sJRUfg4A3ZeADaoMpdlhlq-5Ka3HZb8fy6YnNgzEaU6HfRgp64k66tktKPEA0NIXTZvgdTFq4ogswi2pH9pfE_uW0VxOA4YjhGQqHFRcqPALkYHLAZIuIjfSM/s1600/IMG_4655+%2528Large%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpAfopCvdVGYGZNXgY5_sJRUfg4A3ZeADaoMpdlhlq-5Ka3HZb8fy6YnNgzEaU6HfRgp64k66tktKPEA0NIXTZvgdTFq4ogswi2pH9pfE_uW0VxOA4YjhGQqHFRcqPALkYHLAZIuIjfSM/s400/IMG_4655+%2528Large%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654862038045503906" /></span></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >"Yup, I'm 11 months old - look at me go!!!"</span></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-53974407314131152822011-08-16T09:11:00.003+00:002011-08-16T09:37:08.135+00:00Gina's Boys<span style="font-style: italic;">I remain confident of this: </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">I will see the goodness of the Lord </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">in the land of the living. </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Wait for the Lord; </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">be strong and take heart </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">and wait for the Lord.</span>
<br />-Psalm 27:13-14
<br />
<br />That's what I read this morning, and after I read it, I couldn't stop thinking about the woman I met on Sunday at church. Her name was Gina and she came in with the cutest little boys. Same height, toddling right on her heels, two years old. They started dancing around, and Savannah was watching them and squealing, so Gina and I struck up a conversation.
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<br />When Gina was pregnant she knew there was more than one baby. She was huge, and her stomach never stopped moving. Her husband worked for the government, so even though he showed up to work everyday most months he didn't get paid his salary. About halfway through her pregnancy she had to stop working because she could hardly stand and she was retaining so much fluid that she couldn't even close her hands to grasp anything. Her midwife got scared. She told Gina that she was going to die if she didn't give her money to go and perform ceremonies involving demon worship. Gina refused. She said that she was in the hand of God. Her midwife continued to tell her she was going to die everyday.
<br />
<br />When her labor started, her midwife was expecting the worst. One baby came, then the next, then the next. Triplets!!! No C-section, no drama, no problems. Three healthy babies, one healthy mother. The midwife was amazed and that day she gave her life to the Lord. Gina was confident that she would see God's goodness and even when she didn't know how things would turn out, she was completely content waiting on Him.
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<br />I wish her story ended there; but there were only two little boys with her on Sunday. After the boys' first birthday, one of them got sick. He had a high fever and wouldn't stop vomiting. She took him to the hospital and found out that he had malaria and was severely dehydrated. They started treatment and then left him alone for hours, waiting for a bribe to come back into the room. Gina begged them to come and look at him again when he became lethargic and blood was climbing up the IV tube that was supposed to be giving him nutrients. In the end, he died in front of her. As she looked at me with tears in her eyes (and quite a few in mine as well) her face lit up with a huge smile and she said, “I don't have a single complaint against God for what happened to my son. All my life, He has taken care of me and He knows better than I do what my son needed. My son is with Him, and I will see him again. Right now I look at my other sons and I know I am blessed, but even if they were all taken away from me I would still know that I am blessed.”
<br />
<br />I was floored by Gina's faith and strength. I was inspired by her joy; and I was humbled. After we chatted a while longer I sat down with Savannah and all I could think about was Romans 5:3-4:
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.</span>
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<br />Nobody likes suffering. Nobody likes pain and hurt and disappointment, but when we invite Jesus to come into our suffering, to be with us in our hurt, <span style="font-style: italic;">that's</span> when suffering produces perseverance; and when God gives us the strength to persevere, we develop character; and from the fiber of our character, springs hope. Gina was filled with it.
<br />
<br />Sometimes in the middle of our hurt we turn from God. We shut Him out and all we have is pain. God waits for us to invite Him in, so that He can change us. God has used so many difficult things in my life to make me who I am; to teach me more about myself and more about Him. I don't know what pain will come in my future, but I do know that God can use it to strengthen me and to make hope fill my heart and shine from my face. I am confident that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and I'm waiting on Him.
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<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEzkuf7_XEhk512164gZfEfD4oKFGoKywEKZP-6tGKGJUMjqLV2dn55FZtZJV8CAP8qns-JAa3s4gAKjlak-d35K6rWib6s4IY_7oDXuiHdGESN7ncJ9QWBWFvfPj4EjZwiqu8Z_LxZQ/s1600/photo+2.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEzkuf7_XEhk512164gZfEfD4oKFGoKywEKZP-6tGKGJUMjqLV2dn55FZtZJV8CAP8qns-JAa3s4gAKjlak-d35K6rWib6s4IY_7oDXuiHdGESN7ncJ9QWBWFvfPj4EjZwiqu8Z_LxZQ/s400/photo+2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641385022580291378" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">It's not easy to get a good picture on a camera phone in a dark room :-) Gina and her two boys. Their names are in Balanta (her tribal language) but they translate to "God loves us" and "God loves you". The one who died was named "God loves me"</span></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-22389567619068785532011-08-01T21:53:00.004+00:002011-08-01T22:17:30.300+00:00Lord, Show Your Power!<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A few days ago I was reading First Corinthians and I was struck by something in a new way. Paul opens chapter 2 with these words:<br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" > My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”<br /></span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">-1st Corinthians 2:1-5</span> <br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As I read this, many questions started swirling around in my head. How many times have I prayed that God would give me just the right words? How many hours have I spent planning out exactly what I would say before I speak to a church in the US or a group of women here in Bissau? How many days have I spent praying that God would give me the clearest, most impactful words to share the gospel with a friend of family member?</span> <br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">All of that is certainly part of it, but if that's all I do to prepare, then I've missed the point entirely. Paul doesn't want the faith of the people to rest on man's wisdom. Why? Because it's insufficient. I don't want the message that God gives me to rest on my eloquence. Why? Because it's not enough. People's lives are not going to be changed by the Gospel unless the Holy Spirit comes with power. If I want to see lives transformed, I need to spend far less time searching for the perfect simile and far more time on my knees before an almighty God.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I was thinking about this when I gave Savannah her bath last night. Just this past week she's started to make the transition from playing in the water to playing with the water. While I was sitting next to the tub, she abandoned the rubber ducky that she had been vigorously squeaking between her gums, and decided that it was about time to check out this wet stuff she was surrounded by. She stared at the water carefully, leaned her head all the way to the side a few times, opened her hands and prepared herself. Then, slap, her arms sprang into action like a pouncing lion and her hands smacked each other as the water evaded her grasp. With a confused look on her face she tried again and again and again with the same lack of success.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />What Savannah doesn't know is that you can't grab the water the same way that you grab a ball or a doll. It's not something you can pick up and turn around and examine from every angle like her toys. What we forget, is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ isn't reducible to a scripted sales pitch. The life changing power of the Holy Spirit, like the water in Savannah's bath, isn't something that can be grasped with my hand and controlled. No matter how long I stare at the words I want to say, carefully crafting them into the message I want to deliver; no matter how enthusiastic and ready I am; no matter how much I want to make an impact; like Savannah, I end up with a handful of nothing if I'm doing it on my own.<br /><br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxo64qr3JAtvfh3rsKsQ0L-6BrUmRoq4hzscbWF30khCCdv1swrcpeqmOCX230iTG1-DqLztIxedS3Ax-UZ4TsyddQAfZ2M12P1iodl7Ip5UxvPEu-P0U8cxiBqO-kB791beojoCXYIY/s1600/IMG_4414.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxo64qr3JAtvfh3rsKsQ0L-6BrUmRoq4hzscbWF30khCCdv1swrcpeqmOCX230iTG1-DqLztIxedS3Ax-UZ4TsyddQAfZ2M12P1iodl7Ip5UxvPEu-P0U8cxiBqO-kB791beojoCXYIY/s400/IMG_4414.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636013553858697778" border="0" /></a>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-1155174519464813162011-07-10T16:03:00.006+00:002011-07-10T17:15:16.531+00:00Being a Mom in Guinea-Bissau<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">For the past week, my little 8 month-old Savannah has been saying “mom”. She doesn't know what it means, but it still melts my heart! Hearing her say my name got me thinking about the adventure of motherhood that started about a year and a half ago.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG7KBL4KTZMP1KHrUNiDsNUXOgZaKaVz9T2WfPRpnFoyLoS9FxKmziEXWB_8opeeSeXYhHrDfptrqd47PWGodQs_mbgPhVTJz_cvKHqOLtKUnSZq1H2cxDSOaxc3YBe145GMu4_hmZNkQ/s1600/IMG_4341.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG7KBL4KTZMP1KHrUNiDsNUXOgZaKaVz9T2WfPRpnFoyLoS9FxKmziEXWB_8opeeSeXYhHrDfptrqd47PWGodQs_mbgPhVTJz_cvKHqOLtKUnSZq1H2cxDSOaxc3YBe145GMu4_hmZNkQ/s400/IMG_4341.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627757332262978514" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">When I got pregnant with Savannah people asked me if I was nervous because I was going to be pregnant so long without going to the doctor. People asked me if I was worried about flying so much while I was pregnant. People asked me if I was scared about giving birth. People asked me if I was worried about bringing such a small baby back to Africa. People asked me all kinds of things, and much to their surprise the answer to pretty much all of their questions was no. As soon as we found out that we were having a baby I had a tremendous peace about the pregnancy and about her health and safety growing up in Africa. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Maybe I should've been a little nervous. Guinea-Bissau is one of the 5 poorest countries in the world, and because of that, disease and malnutrition run rampant. It was recently listed as the worst place in the world to be a mother, in part because of the high infant and child mortality. In Guinea-Bissau 10% of children die before their first birthday and 20% die before they reach the age of 5. In the US, those stats are 0.6% and 0.8%. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The thing is, I knew that God called Jason and I here. I knew that God gave us this baby. I knew that God loves her more I ever could. I knew that God could take care of my baby just as well here as He could in the US. And, I knew that if all that was true then God had a plan for this little girl that involved this time in Guinea-Bissau.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXWbGV09KxxZAOS1BTa0uq2w0ga7cBQvxCRwwrtbNg8kUGt5c9I5tT7p1TvJ0b_-FIdezW-75RMe4rbUnErWhohK8oatOu6d_whjBGlJjXM-1IZy5s9Oz-kDHV7aLQBUjjbc3qVpznmQ/s1600/JPA_0166.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdXWbGV09KxxZAOS1BTa0uq2w0ga7cBQvxCRwwrtbNg8kUGt5c9I5tT7p1TvJ0b_-FIdezW-75RMe4rbUnErWhohK8oatOu6d_whjBGlJjXM-1IZy5s9Oz-kDHV7aLQBUjjbc3qVpznmQ/s400/JPA_0166.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627761377270875698" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Sweet baby fresh out of the bath :-)</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The thing that no one asked me was if I thought that I would be a good mom in Africa. That was the thing I wondered about. I knew that God could take care of my baby, what I didn't know is if I would be able to adjust to all that goes along with being a missionary in a third world country and being a mom. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Going from a family of two to a family of three is a huge step anywhere. Making the change from consulting only each other when making plans, to planning the whole day (and night) around a tiny unpredictable thing that can't even talk and changes every day, is a big adjustment! Add to that cloth diapers that dry on a line, cooking from scratch for all of our and her meals, no pediatrician around to answer all of my questions, and all of the work it takes just living in west africa, and that's a lot. Add to that the fact that we live so far away from our family so we don't have them around to babysit for, help with, or generally love on our baby girl. Add to that living in a culture that raises their children completely differently than my own and the stress of constantly having to decide when I'm going to be African and when I'm going to be American; and how in the world to be American in the middle of Africa. Roll all of that up into a big ball and plunk it in the lap of someone who likes to do things right and who doesn't thrive on surprises and uncertainty, and you see my dilemma.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp1YAZRRxGjP7ytHXkr3QAxjkplj3Qqt9v8Dkjw94kzkn9YwsZotJSGeQUmdXdLims1bsh0DMRQAFrHav4qV2ZLuRsH5HnKPqJredXC2r2hjQlDmy2aYOr1BY1X1GqGD3bONd4hZIHpXQ/s1600/JPA_0354.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp1YAZRRxGjP7ytHXkr3QAxjkplj3Qqt9v8Dkjw94kzkn9YwsZotJSGeQUmdXdLims1bsh0DMRQAFrHav4qV2ZLuRsH5HnKPqJredXC2r2hjQlDmy2aYOr1BY1X1GqGD3bONd4hZIHpXQ/s400/JPA_0354.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627765321353102898" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Drying diapers on the line</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhysZMGPzmaEu4WGtYkidfDs8iVOwcOGlnxln75zsurrt3i3mZZNJS-pp_siQYdQA0iB2uq1dzRp9cXRXnto2blpydWzfiJj4c4vxnTHzyXWzwKaXF0Ug_SvMRayFaD_J2eYKXJCKoBVBs/s1600/IMG_3718.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhysZMGPzmaEu4WGtYkidfDs8iVOwcOGlnxln75zsurrt3i3mZZNJS-pp_siQYdQA0iB2uq1dzRp9cXRXnto2blpydWzfiJj4c4vxnTHzyXWzwKaXF0Ug_SvMRayFaD_J2eYKXJCKoBVBs/s400/IMG_3718.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627765315589984306" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Weighing Savannah with a luggage scale, Sydney's leash, and a bucket</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaT73Kp3lv-FgzZYP_8Mit7ezIWXMYuLp5XWxkIfJO9U8J6Y7t7Re1cQh3rb5IDz0GNTTKrN96uCnn0SMvg97T3M2rNVuUub0bE8zK_4aNPddd5vMW9TtEt2jSpiZx5-2aFmxCnbvt0CQ/s1600/IMG_3847.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaT73Kp3lv-FgzZYP_8Mit7ezIWXMYuLp5XWxkIfJO9U8J6Y7t7Re1cQh3rb5IDz0GNTTKrN96uCnn0SMvg97T3M2rNVuUub0bE8zK_4aNPddd5vMW9TtEt2jSpiZx5-2aFmxCnbvt0CQ/s400/IMG_3847.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627765309270452674" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Baby girl LOVES to eat!!!</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Savannah will be nine months old this week, and since she came over to Guinea-Bissau when she was three months old she has now spent almost twice as much of her life in Africa as in America. I guess now's as good a time as any to ask myself how I'm doing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I had to develop a little thicker skin when I was chastised for not feeding my five month old every two hours all night, or for bringing my non-walking baby outside in the 90 degree weather without socks and shoes on. I had to relax a little bit about Savannah's schedule when one of our neighbors passed away and women were wailing outside of our house for 48 hours. I had to offend some of my students when they come over two hours late to pick up their assignments and I couldn't see them because I was giving my baby a bath and then going to read her a story and nurse her and put her down for the night and I wasn't willing to be interrupted just because they didn't come on time. </span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMdLBUyAQN0riC8YmbA0rmLFv3AG9NqEubuabgJfsJTta4vDQvcFWJgMmVFBUzNwS2MtUtx304mxfPU68s1GnNh0LnKthOcL-bsnFVHS_MAbpdeRPiwliLI5Z4uKgYXcRR87R0-XPzQw/s1600/IMG_3621.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMdLBUyAQN0riC8YmbA0rmLFv3AG9NqEubuabgJfsJTta4vDQvcFWJgMmVFBUzNwS2MtUtx304mxfPU68s1GnNh0LnKthOcL-bsnFVHS_MAbpdeRPiwliLI5Z4uKgYXcRR87R0-XPzQw/s400/IMG_3621.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627761384258499266" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Grading papers with my assistant on my knee and our faithful dog, Sydney</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">But, even with all of that, I'd say it's going really well. Savannah is growing like a weed, adapting like a pro to every little thing that comes along, and I am happy and confident. Is that because I, all of a sudden, discovered that I have amazing, previously untapped, mothering super powers? No, I don't think so. Partially I think it's because Jason and I both grew up with such amazing, dedicated mothers that set wonderful examples of mothering with grace and joy. And for the rest of it, I'm convinced that just like God had a purpose for Savannah growing up in Africa, He also had a purpose for me being a mom here. Even with all of things that I was uncertain about, everything is just working, and even going smoothly. God truly does give us grace for every situation exactly when we need it (and not a moment too soon!) and I'm so grateful to Him for the blessing of my little family here in Guinea-Bissau!</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyRUp_BDy3FJDZdvlusJZE8PGixruNHhGl4oxh0KjtleajsvExgcrcQOuoSCJozCvGUkbN4-Oga7mDRX3aDCnQHr63X17X0Ho0QJP9SgavpxJyTOziFcIAkgefa7EHYHXoT_UDi1r9E14/s1600/IMG_3608.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyRUp_BDy3FJDZdvlusJZE8PGixruNHhGl4oxh0KjtleajsvExgcrcQOuoSCJozCvGUkbN4-Oga7mDRX3aDCnQHr63X17X0Ho0QJP9SgavpxJyTOziFcIAkgefa7EHYHXoT_UDi1r9E14/s400/IMG_3608.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627761387759188418" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Savannah wants to touch EVERYTHING that mommy touches! Here she's learning a valuable lesson about reading labels :-)</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeMdLBUyAQN0riC8YmbA0rmLFv3AG9NqEubuabgJfsJTta4vDQvcFWJgMmVFBUzNwS2MtUtx304mxfPU68s1GnNh0LnKthOcL-bsnFVHS_MAbpdeRPiwliLI5Z4uKgYXcRR87R0-XPzQw/s1600/IMG_3621.JPG"><br /></a></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2BkNnjOcKIbBI5JVyVyGw6l_KG4we9XRmYblzRUAKWYNqU6kqEEaMDCr6mbJn8vJfHe0AXqMKXUz2a1mRaoiJcQ9qZlx6Qv5igjwm8sBxVZrJQCf7NiANPCzNUzy5Zoz1hlxhmhQirg/s1600/IMG_3600.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2BkNnjOcKIbBI5JVyVyGw6l_KG4we9XRmYblzRUAKWYNqU6kqEEaMDCr6mbJn8vJfHe0AXqMKXUz2a1mRaoiJcQ9qZlx6Qv5igjwm8sBxVZrJQCf7NiANPCzNUzy5Zoz1hlxhmhQirg/s400/IMG_3600.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627757338719210242" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Story time with Mommy, before Savannah was old enough to sit up.</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfb0qT1gBz2BSVp6JefaVM5df6z12iXNvlMk-CRGa6bvWnXjNxxC7OCI3hj5nFCS_B8njWMlFwTp7UbDSsZcK8gX1lIDGX-ctdPL5dZJJ5x9MQAzXKe2RARxRSNCieBExB7yxRo46GtMk/s1600/IMG_3714.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfb0qT1gBz2BSVp6JefaVM5df6z12iXNvlMk-CRGa6bvWnXjNxxC7OCI3hj5nFCS_B8njWMlFwTp7UbDSsZcK8gX1lIDGX-ctdPL5dZJJ5x9MQAzXKe2RARxRSNCieBExB7yxRo46GtMk/s400/IMG_3714.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627757336375131890" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" >Wow, knitting is confusing! Don't worry, Savannah, you'll get it!</span><br /></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-76043538861618485242011-05-08T17:42:00.002+00:002011-05-08T18:14:07.741+00:00My Mother's Eyes<div>My daughter has my mother's eyes and it's wonderful and sad all at the same time. There's nothing like becoming a mom to make you realize how much you still need to learn from your own, and when I look into the adoring eyes of my biggest tiny fan I miss my mom so much! It's always been hard living an ocean away from my family – missing big events and so many little hugs – but it's even harder now that I have so much joy that I want to share with them.</div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">My daughter is amazing. She laughs and cries and squeals and goos and shrieks with joy at the sight of me. She loves her life! She found her feet last week and ever since then she can't stop grabbing them. She started eating off of a spoon this month and every time she even sees a bib she gasps in delight. She's been working for months at perfecting her motoboat noise and now that she's finally got it, she does it whenever she's really happy to see someone.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">As I marvel at this little miracle God has entrusted to me, I am amazed at how strong my need is to cherish and take care of her. When I look into her tiny little face and see the lacy blue eyes of my mother staring back at me I realize over and over again how blessed I am. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Happy mother's day Mom! I love you :-)</span></div></div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHK6ydEVDfYqZD5VZC57AJRUr4UG_wMSG_0gpYVL96X7sqEVTc-PwSQ4KoFDWCliGGYXHm9QaTRI3pTKYScxPcq-w3EgAuCHvZ1kQQyG3m7YLerZOkDU8pZeJc9b-dLQWQgmIF-pytKDw/s1600/IMG_3956.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHK6ydEVDfYqZD5VZC57AJRUr4UG_wMSG_0gpYVL96X7sqEVTc-PwSQ4KoFDWCliGGYXHm9QaTRI3pTKYScxPcq-w3EgAuCHvZ1kQQyG3m7YLerZOkDU8pZeJc9b-dLQWQgmIF-pytKDw/s1600/IMG_3956.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHK6ydEVDfYqZD5VZC57AJRUr4UG_wMSG_0gpYVL96X7sqEVTc-PwSQ4KoFDWCliGGYXHm9QaTRI3pTKYScxPcq-w3EgAuCHvZ1kQQyG3m7YLerZOkDU8pZeJc9b-dLQWQgmIF-pytKDw/s400/IMG_3956.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604405076867909074" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">This is what was waiting for me when I got out of the shower this morning :-)</div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-91797709431193288042011-04-13T07:44:00.003+00:002011-04-13T08:11:04.529+00:00Birthday Girl<span class="Apple-style-span">Well we have a 14 year-old mother of 5 living with us. 14 in dog years that is - Happy 2nd birthday to our Australian Cattle Dog, Sydney. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Syd likes to sleep on soft things, but when we got back we couldn't find the little rug that we had for her. I looked in all of the stores here but no one has rugs right now. I bought her a hand towel, but it just gets all wadded up under her. I decided that for her birthday I wanted to do something nice for her. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I had some extra fabric from past projects laying around so I got online and figured out how to crochet a rag rug - there was only one problem, I didn't have a crochet hook big enough for the job. Never fear, Jason to the rescue! I described what I needed and he whittled it for me out of a wood scrap from the shop. Then I ripped the fabric into strips, attached them together, and got to work. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihZhb5hncE7zGN6e8rhXeZuUdX2Fwsl2CNI5GiMRHykf9w_zyqJz762vVQwgacOR8INjPlqrezJpVr6jpKhr0-KKKI2SvQx9Px8qWtnUiyophkb1Rm6XTLaZGV3wa7Kippkf4Z3hOH9g8/s1600/IMG_3830.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihZhb5hncE7zGN6e8rhXeZuUdX2Fwsl2CNI5GiMRHykf9w_zyqJz762vVQwgacOR8INjPlqrezJpVr6jpKhr0-KKKI2SvQx9Px8qWtnUiyophkb1Rm6XTLaZGV3wa7Kippkf4Z3hOH9g8/s400/IMG_3830.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594976829756642946" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Jason got the hook made in the morning and the rug took me about 3 days. We gave it to Sydney yesterday and she cuddled up right on it. We also gave her a bone and Jason got this picture of her this morning.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEq0N8XiFLFmGojeg1r3EjMP1AeBlEeGvVFKTG_oXI5SQAqpYA-LwuEdbyYrZqPjkv4ZJeOgHmjQI6Vneo1Iy8jV4Ks3acVS_q2SkAyGhLsicDA1v2leAYreHAAM5h_MEt3W6B_MM30mI/s1600/IMG_3893.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEq0N8XiFLFmGojeg1r3EjMP1AeBlEeGvVFKTG_oXI5SQAqpYA-LwuEdbyYrZqPjkv4ZJeOgHmjQI6Vneo1Iy8jV4Ks3acVS_q2SkAyGhLsicDA1v2leAYreHAAM5h_MEt3W6B_MM30mI/s400/IMG_3893.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594976831866477106" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Now that this rug was such a success it makes me want to make tons more! Since rugs aren't available here I talked to some of my Guinean friends about the possibility of teaching women how to make them and they thought it was a great idea. I'll probably make a few more first and get all of the kinks worked out, but I'm pretty excited about the possibility already! First I've got to get the curtains finished in the kitchen though :-) </span></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-71848262457219823772011-02-26T16:46:00.002+00:002011-02-26T17:31:14.848+00:00A Mixed Blessing<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" >About a week ago I started noticing that Savannah wasn't really nursing much when she got up every three or four hours in the night. I decided to see if she was really hungry, so I started just rearranging her blankets, rubbing her tummy for a minute and giving her back her paci. Sure enough that was all she needed. So for the past five nights she's been sleeping 8 to 10 hours with 2 little mini wake ups. Last night however, was different.<br /><br />After a bath, some fun calm play time and some rocking, I fed her a little after nine and put her down. I heard her once for just a minute around 3ish, but she fell back to sleep quickly so I didn't even get out of bed. Around 6:30 I woke up to the sound of her happily chirping. I was elated. An entire night without my feet hitting the floor.<br /><br />As I joyfully hopped out of bed to snuggle up my baby girl my feet splashed into a puddle of water... My first thought was a very unkind one directed at our dog, Sydney. Upon further inspection I discovered that the puddle covered a good amount of floor in our room and the hallway and my anger with our dog turned into curiosity. I traced the water back to it's source - our lovely washing machine! (We haven't gotten our new machine yet because it requires a 4 hour car trip and a border crossing, but I think the events of last night might've bumped it up a few notches on our priority list!)<br /><br />The washing machine and I have an interesting relationship these days. I would characterize it as love/hate. Don't get me wrong, I am super grateful for it and it's saving my bacon with these cloth diapers, but it does require a little TLC. The pump motor and the temperature gauge are broken and the filling mechanism doesn't work great. So with each load I have to manually drain and fill the machine 4 times and I never really know what temperature it is going to decide to wash the clothes in. Luckily it is super tiny so washing an all red/pink load and an all blue/green load isn't really wasting any space :-)<br /><br />Back to last night. I guess even though the machine was unplugged something in it decided it would be a good time to fill up with water, which it did until the water spilled onto the floor and wended it's way throughout our house. If Savannah hadn't been so wonderful I would've been up several times in the night and I probably would've noticed the water all over the floor much sooner. Isn't that the way that it always goes :-)<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj617T0_8UVqKqYgTbZ9kpYuupIGlvUFSvsVAZ-9FOgVVF07zg6WDt4Q4oPYTKhVxUGt-iEedoON6iUMLxlCcXK7RFeZ54BdEc8YQMbVCNX0gc0u_TublNdW8VOgz1e0TH7Rx6lfd8nrg/s1600/IMG_3472.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj617T0_8UVqKqYgTbZ9kpYuupIGlvUFSvsVAZ-9FOgVVF07zg6WDt4Q4oPYTKhVxUGt-iEedoON6iUMLxlCcXK7RFeZ54BdEc8YQMbVCNX0gc0u_TublNdW8VOgz1e0TH7Rx6lfd8nrg/s400/IMG_3472.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578041784750281282" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Savannah hanging out with a few of her Brazilian friends</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ><br /></span>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-61590247512445229702011-02-13T20:07:00.004+00:002011-02-13T20:35:54.159+00:00Another Day, Another Strike<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I know there are some people in the world who love the snow, but I am not one of them! I love being back in the land of perpetual summer! Second only to the wonderful warmth are the piles of fresh fruits and veggies. Yesterday we had deep red tomatoes that had just been picked off of someone's vine that morning. We got a whole bag of them for 50 cents and I think we ate half of the bag for lunch :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">We went to a birthday party this weekend for the little girl of some other missionaries here. Her dad, Jens, is from Germany and her mom, Anna, is from Ivory Coast. While we were eating my friend Anna took Savannah in the other room for a minute. When she walked back in she turned around and this is what I saw:</span><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9oxXwVy4pBU3TF5qT7Cj9E_21iUW7oatL6GXR-THOxIRfD2s9k1bFDYXPfzRQu_MpqL5u1Gk804EVNwEfqdZF2nu75xUVwEr0mZOuYOv0fH03l-2C83uks6vd4Ad08xshs_8qXZDHzB0/s1600/Savannah+Bomba-ed+from+Jason%2527s+phone.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9oxXwVy4pBU3TF5qT7Cj9E_21iUW7oatL6GXR-THOxIRfD2s9k1bFDYXPfzRQu_MpqL5u1Gk804EVNwEfqdZF2nu75xUVwEr0mZOuYOv0fH03l-2C83uks6vd4Ad08xshs_8qXZDHzB0/s400/Savannah+Bomba-ed+from+Jason%2527s+phone.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573272146798541842" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Savannah looked so cute peeking out and I laughed so hard!!!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Cooking is always a challenge the first week back. It always takes a few days to get the dishes and the cooking stuff unpacked, washed, and put away; and it takes several trips to the market to get my kitchen stocked with all of the different ingredients I need to cook from scratch. This time I thought I had a great plan – I bought peanut butter, jelly, and tuna in Dakar on our way down. The only thing that I was missing was bread. Since there are little huts that bake bread everyday on every street, my plan was to have sandwiches for a few days until I could get the house in order. Great plan right? The only problem was when we got here all of the bread bakers in the city were on strike!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The government fixes the price of a lot of different things here and bread is one of them. A loaf of french bread is 20 cents anywhere you go in the city. The problem with that is the price of flour has risen and the bread makers haven't been making any money. The bread makers decided that they had to raise the price to 30 cents. The people refused to pay 30 cents and the bread workers went on strike. I've seen the taxi drivers strike, the rice sellers strike, the postal workers strike, and the teachers strike, but I did not anticipate a bread worker strike right when we got back! After about 4 days they did get it resolved. They bread makers decided to make slightly smaller loaves and sell them for 20 cents :-)</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80PWhbm3mGhSz2NI5G66vxwQDil5wEU_-pfJr-LfoWRsjlVsOpXvbVvrnBablLHMpKiov0M2LURo3gyTi2GMp0o6PMh0dZxfOibS63bqoTiI1bCKq0ONYvX65eZ3a9-nmGXXlnCtDgx4/s1600/IMG_3418.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80PWhbm3mGhSz2NI5G66vxwQDil5wEU_-pfJr-LfoWRsjlVsOpXvbVvrnBablLHMpKiov0M2LURo3gyTi2GMp0o6PMh0dZxfOibS63bqoTiI1bCKq0ONYvX65eZ3a9-nmGXXlnCtDgx4/s400/IMG_3418.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573272139429199970" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >In the Kitchen with my darling little girl in her dress from Aunt Rachel</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCWutcxP5o_HM4jiwTcgWuVo_eSMWjY1Qc9yrxSWH6blyaoKaKXztmkSRJmJ0W3tQs5fPi6PArMx8-mMJRr9x_v39VUAqdJ0mqp9Alv-AYroPaNqpD4dIxOr49i5iRn5x1Z_r7WCnqfI/s1600/IMG_3426.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCWutcxP5o_HM4jiwTcgWuVo_eSMWjY1Qc9yrxSWH6blyaoKaKXztmkSRJmJ0W3tQs5fPi6PArMx8-mMJRr9x_v39VUAqdJ0mqp9Alv-AYroPaNqpD4dIxOr49i5iRn5x1Z_r7WCnqfI/s400/IMG_3426.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573272146258814082" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Savannah can sleep anywhere but she especially likes her monkey bed :-)</span></span></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-70850603255542840372010-11-10T22:37:00.004+00:002010-11-16T01:30:06.727+00:00A Lifestyle of Ministry<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Growing up my family had 6 core values – the 6 things that my parents wanted to make sure that we understood and integrated into our lives before we left the house. 1.A heart for God, 2.A lifestyle of ministry, 3.Sexual purity, 4.A strong work ethic, 5.Proper roles of men and women, and 6.A sense of humor. There are a million things you can teach your children and sometimes I think we try to teach them so many things that we end up not really teaching them anything well. My parents understood the need for focus in parenting and I'm so grateful that they took the time to weed out the unimportant.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The one that's been on my mind a lot recently is #2 - A lifestyle of ministry. This past weekend we traveled to a church in Ohio that has been supporting our ministry in Guinea-Bissau, and it was fun having Savannah grace our table with her cuteness for the first time. Having her with us while we talked about our ministry made me think about what it will look like to raise her to have a lifestyle of ministry unique to the special way that God made her.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja55PttkjkB8Tihg_nhAK_mus09-ZniaMfoH6jGC_UOfoM5qi0pdjg-gZdOQLx4ofOhdyZSISh8OexmeOsHC8U2qTvbW5s2I4fu-jroaqXfyewToyOQhDk7F1zMDzAsSmuDscwTItJbP0/s1600/IMG_3039.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja55PttkjkB8Tihg_nhAK_mus09-ZniaMfoH6jGC_UOfoM5qi0pdjg-gZdOQLx4ofOhdyZSISh8OexmeOsHC8U2qTvbW5s2I4fu-jroaqXfyewToyOQhDk7F1zMDzAsSmuDscwTItJbP0/s400/IMG_3039.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539098282428168466" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Me and Savannah at our display table.</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:130%;">When we were growing up my parents were on staff with Family Life (a division of Campus Crusade for Christ) and it was cool watch them dedicate their lives to saving marriages. As much as I learned from watching them, the real lessons that I learned about having a lifestyle of ministry came from the ways that they taught me to get involved in ministry myself.<br /><br />Because we're missionaries Savannah is going to grow up watching us visit churches, write newsletters, send out thank you notes, and more than all of that she will watch us dedicate our lives to loving Guineans well and spreading the good news of salvation in a tiny little country in West Africa. I'm sure she'll learn a lot about the ways God has called us to live out a lifestyle of ministry. That's a start, but I want her to learn how minister in the way that God will call her.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The lifestyle of ministry that my parents taught me (and that I want to teach Savannah) is about seeing people's needs and loving them well. I want her to know how to look at a situation and see how God has gifted her to be salt and light in that situation. I want her to know how to be a friend to someone who is friendless. I want her to bring encouragement to someone who is hopeless. I want her to take dinner to someone who is overwhelmed. I want her to know how to share the gospel through her words and through her actions so that the world will be changed. </span><br /><br />Having a lifestyle of ministry has nothing to do with being a pastor of missionary. It's about using what God has given me in the place where He's put me to impact the world for Him. I guess I have high hopes for my baby girl. I want her to understand how to use everything she is and everything she has to glorify the Lord. <br /></span></div></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqinzAMfz-fYgQTvJzc0XMokd5tXUSyETa31y-EBaUxNsg68Jv-D2etULcWS6pc9KusQqKsnHnvzIfa4m6XqR54pdX-QU8Etxr82TmZQm-JC3qicORNCSww3MKmb8JZdderRvfiKbWIhc/s1600/JPA_9715.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqinzAMfz-fYgQTvJzc0XMokd5tXUSyETa31y-EBaUxNsg68Jv-D2etULcWS6pc9KusQqKsnHnvzIfa4m6XqR54pdX-QU8Etxr82TmZQm-JC3qicORNCSww3MKmb8JZdderRvfiKbWIhc/s400/JPA_9715.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539098270015025330" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">A family shot on the day that Savannah turned one month old. A lot has changed in our lives in the last month :-)</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5FLKUHAp3qJsAt0pVpIxiGn4bLyMphQRQ6xsm17aFfQQhSdamUboYKo6054L8gnGD3jO-uSYIxkdS4dD2MWd54pfo6mEompnW4kaaNmx5XWfDxGWqNSPiQhJeXCegpWY1x_nyjQKA_kE/s1600/JPA_9701.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5FLKUHAp3qJsAt0pVpIxiGn4bLyMphQRQ6xsm17aFfQQhSdamUboYKo6054L8gnGD3jO-uSYIxkdS4dD2MWd54pfo6mEompnW4kaaNmx5XWfDxGWqNSPiQhJeXCegpWY1x_nyjQKA_kE/s400/JPA_9701.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539098264903037810" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Hanging wither her pigs a few days after she was born.</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMx0Ah95gjULz7WJhd2IxaS561SZLz_mOBC1TWdNl9uwumNMvKJxw9h_o-mBGNleDKROiN1x80SxALl8YqjsWNzbeoN3llBhG3Q2ssLdZd87ablx_JRv_5Gk0-XDgWiotA669f9gBY9Pg/s1600/JPA_9739.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMx0Ah95gjULz7WJhd2IxaS561SZLz_mOBC1TWdNl9uwumNMvKJxw9h_o-mBGNleDKROiN1x80SxALl8YqjsWNzbeoN3llBhG3Q2ssLdZd87ablx_JRv_5Gk0-XDgWiotA669f9gBY9Pg/s400/JPA_9739.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5539098259692030130" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">One month old - isn't she precious!</span></span><br /></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-77525189197856763592010-11-01T14:02:00.007+00:002010-11-01T21:04:04.806+00:00The Rapidly Expanding Belly<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Somehow in the business of packing up our house in Bissau, finishing projects to prepare to come home, traveling home and then traveling all over once we got home, I didn't write a single blog the whole third trimester of being pregnant! Yikes!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">To sum up the last three months of being pregnant I would use one word – long! The last month definitely felt longer than the first 8 put together! The good news is that on October 12th (a week late) our darling daughter, Savannah, finally decided to grace us with her presence. She is wonderful and adorable and we are having a great time getting to know her and learning how to take care of her.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />Just for kicks, here's a little pictorial review of my third trimester :-) It's kind of amazing how much bigger I got each week – definitely noticeable!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLR0QjwRS8URoAVp-VOZcUBFKVCis_kKgP62luCOAQWpIasrz9y7G7UsaQanwHzEg6ChIMnvpBdbOQT2xr6qFoJn99Q5YXxV0tXKKVsxxfvXiP6l60oilfEzBECTZiraHsiHxXaVsluv8/s1600/28.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLR0QjwRS8URoAVp-VOZcUBFKVCis_kKgP62luCOAQWpIasrz9y7G7UsaQanwHzEg6ChIMnvpBdbOQT2xr6qFoJn99Q5YXxV0tXKKVsxxfvXiP6l60oilfEzBECTZiraHsiHxXaVsluv8/s400/28.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534656328741941458" border="0" /></a>28 weeks, our last day in Bissau<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFC7FIRMmzhe38Qp58qUOAid9Z2qcoKREbPrQpuVOMyHW529_5nPUZr9UwycM1xmYFF_ousu6ruKoL0vu48yRZZH17VokNOst9Xn_UewV7z5Itf9V1mxPezpSVvCdQsg5mW7E9bvUxTKU/s1600/29.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFC7FIRMmzhe38Qp58qUOAid9Z2qcoKREbPrQpuVOMyHW529_5nPUZr9UwycM1xmYFF_ousu6ruKoL0vu48yRZZH17VokNOst9Xn_UewV7z5Itf9V1mxPezpSVvCdQsg5mW7E9bvUxTKU/s400/29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534656325075921426" border="0" /></a>29 weeks, our first day back in the States after a week of traveling to get there. The first thing we did when we got to New Jersey was order a pizza from Papa Johns.<br /><br /></span> <a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvaFHpTWLeC9F6YzEP2RWoF2JCMrDqUWRX7Ed3WVnyPoRVe5Dv-WZL4p3TgijlTZzkC2kuYug0ZTVxkvfuk2ZW7wKNmAIf_9Hv1h4mVJdcvgi8pPeweSo9-oZNLgtSAjB326fnUpsyfI/s1600/30.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvaFHpTWLeC9F6YzEP2RWoF2JCMrDqUWRX7Ed3WVnyPoRVe5Dv-WZL4p3TgijlTZzkC2kuYug0ZTVxkvfuk2ZW7wKNmAIf_9Hv1h4mVJdcvgi8pPeweSo9-oZNLgtSAjB326fnUpsyfI/s400/30.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534643078728528290" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;">30 weeks at Simpson Park Camp</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDDP3Uv_hDGu5wgCfMA-Co4MITlPxGqVlGraBC_UVeScddpa65OFtu72HFDeUiRpdludlMIIbOdI1KX5RbFPTGqM_uElI6lo6tc7qpjA_lgST8szRg-0A9ljagwYyOsF6Fhb-x72pxag/s1600/31.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDDP3Uv_hDGu5wgCfMA-Co4MITlPxGqVlGraBC_UVeScddpa65OFtu72HFDeUiRpdludlMIIbOdI1KX5RbFPTGqM_uElI6lo6tc7qpjA_lgST8szRg-0A9ljagwYyOsF6Fhb-x72pxag/s400/31.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534643071830277538" border="0" /></a>31 weeks, outside of Jason's parents' house</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpuZVQbmcQ2vWSMYW8OOsZO0vP_3o3-tm1VtSGJKgldZ5utBC1JIugncsBiwjqY3eEk4SEy7zLwBofckhQu_fnRSVxrOGy1zlmGtxXNXpawwnq9M7HzJyp0_3mw6MbrH7Uao-cHw6Rk6w/s1600/32.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpuZVQbmcQ2vWSMYW8OOsZO0vP_3o3-tm1VtSGJKgldZ5utBC1JIugncsBiwjqY3eEk4SEy7zLwBofckhQu_fnRSVxrOGy1zlmGtxXNXpawwnq9M7HzJyp0_3mw6MbrH7Uao-cHw6Rk6w/s400/32.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534598179542132674" border="0" /></a>32 weeks, getting ready to get in the car and head down to Little Rock to see my family.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjWvBpfYmrXiEagRw-uzNFYLE33w_arXEGRx0n7VD8FCGd17QV3TLm2RNE06YtqUMkRxvHl2xTVDLDkcruQiUJ1oTxm3FiXWfenzQ2x1oPd7ekDcQmZH_5QErGHuBv3qa56T0ajGFVJRo/s1600/33.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjWvBpfYmrXiEagRw-uzNFYLE33w_arXEGRx0n7VD8FCGd17QV3TLm2RNE06YtqUMkRxvHl2xTVDLDkcruQiUJ1oTxm3FiXWfenzQ2x1oPd7ekDcQmZH_5QErGHuBv3qa56T0ajGFVJRo/s400/33.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534598115023226866" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> 33 weeks, after my baby shower in Little Rock - there's quite a bit of pink on that table!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQR2i_pYUiO4SfZ3f_havTK6XCZCYWpHJ9_pb7PPT5Hs9P4Dp0kGnbxkqBo1KL97O6y8N_XQuOCY4Q5wx24sZgdW7xg78jpJy3oA7qHVc3lHgpjpauC5wLDkzJT1kzVLevt-yc_1MvhPo/s1600/34.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQR2i_pYUiO4SfZ3f_havTK6XCZCYWpHJ9_pb7PPT5Hs9P4Dp0kGnbxkqBo1KL97O6y8N_XQuOCY4Q5wx24sZgdW7xg78jpJy3oA7qHVc3lHgpjpauC5wLDkzJT1kzVLevt-yc_1MvhPo/s400/34.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534598110972933042" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;">34 weeks outside of a famous Imlay City restaurant, Nachos :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqkQxuC_cxKz-Ff65fl-zA43lWSROxzFVlp1zjwaTthvrpQjZnBAa0UKLgyIkQ06rvn8P3fhpdfoYtQxyCD80_WEKXHgrsxJu8AuqpCAsB7WQH66_6s9o6Xl9r4zcGKJahCga419cFvc/s1600/35.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqkQxuC_cxKz-Ff65fl-zA43lWSROxzFVlp1zjwaTthvrpQjZnBAa0UKLgyIkQ06rvn8P3fhpdfoYtQxyCD80_WEKXHgrsxJu8AuqpCAsB7WQH66_6s9o6Xl9r4zcGKJahCga419cFvc/s400/35.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534598101346500034" border="0" /></a>35 weeks at Jason's grandparents' house in Caseville. Don't worry, I had Jason move the logs :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> <a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7w7R_0hwGx3ckyqKztlgrZ_2fVTKStO3ckEgpehuiXPH67X-vS6Vn6BdW3ToP6vA83K-433iK4Lmjq0yYgE5cbRwcB61E3EFmCho67wVGFH9lq4vXZqK6rMeISkUC-aAwe8-pRvSg-vw/s1600/36.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7w7R_0hwGx3ckyqKztlgrZ_2fVTKStO3ckEgpehuiXPH67X-vS6Vn6BdW3ToP6vA83K-433iK4Lmjq0yYgE5cbRwcB61E3EFmCho67wVGFH9lq4vXZqK6rMeISkUC-aAwe8-pRvSg-vw/s400/36.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534594000065636130" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> 36 weeks, the last month begins!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhND59qoy-p0Avmu0-Eihn-_KQ-p4OEVAIOtpNvQhYT59S_rjEzwz2ikXVVEncH0bK3caKgL7Ynjha6ZyaBZehdupA37pDVwykuOseignnd-QIaYYzDkqN6xA8jNuz3jGugJqNsw081Gy0/s1600/37.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhND59qoy-p0Avmu0-Eihn-_KQ-p4OEVAIOtpNvQhYT59S_rjEzwz2ikXVVEncH0bK3caKgL7Ynjha6ZyaBZehdupA37pDVwykuOseignnd-QIaYYzDkqN6xA8jNuz3jGugJqNsw081Gy0/s400/37.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534593992343837426" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> 37 weeks in a raspberry shirt in front of the raspberry bushes. Now that is a belly!!!</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBh_1vXhyXj_tSwZliwNaYukwV5NHdhCxvbY-r2Hu0PmvBFs4XkHvBEcl46LbiY5l8RUW-tYrkAjPhr7BVmxfgrfSnRwDaPb3FrkltelAjGELl7Q1-X9_ZskdwAN6O_qXBMXA8903I6A/s1600/38.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWBh_1vXhyXj_tSwZliwNaYukwV5NHdhCxvbY-r2Hu0PmvBFs4XkHvBEcl46LbiY5l8RUW-tYrkAjPhr7BVmxfgrfSnRwDaPb3FrkltelAjGELl7Q1-X9_ZskdwAN6O_qXBMXA8903I6A/s400/38.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534593989715275266" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> 38 weeks, putting away her clothes. The onesie I'm holding says "Daddy's Little Girl"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgEl2j_JY5KjYZxPNAOFO2PQ7A0kYAZakuh-hjoHmiQRBRCKe96og2_QRfDJwalepH0gz_lZJzSkIY8hYFvvNAwt3EL68OIqKnTdVJ8tmMy_XwFdmUmEjNTSRbh9llGIuOhwrAdefuso/s1600/39.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgEl2j_JY5KjYZxPNAOFO2PQ7A0kYAZakuh-hjoHmiQRBRCKe96og2_QRfDJwalepH0gz_lZJzSkIY8hYFvvNAwt3EL68OIqKnTdVJ8tmMy_XwFdmUmEjNTSRbh9llGIuOhwrAdefuso/s400/39.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534593981263367026" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> 39 weeks, yes my hand is on the door. Ready at any second darling :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-9zUNw_SZrqKdDu01Sj7hi4xESFbDpHevzrJsZN2IWQ6-c1uRVLZLmR61R0YVGNtizF4LeY2IIAbgjy-R5D9QjdPRt9weInh5Z-VjU_7DIKeWgP5JCZQCgFV1UgOYvZ8qlvt0_hG7OMw/s1600/40.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-9zUNw_SZrqKdDu01Sj7hi4xESFbDpHevzrJsZN2IWQ6-c1uRVLZLmR61R0YVGNtizF4LeY2IIAbgjy-R5D9QjdPRt9weInh5Z-VjU_7DIKeWgP5JCZQCgFV1UgOYvZ8qlvt0_hG7OMw/s400/40.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534593980072579474" border="0" /></a>40 weeks outside among the changing leaves.</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />She was born one day before the 41 week picture would have been taken :-)<br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-14410288327104213922010-07-12T11:59:00.003+00:002010-07-12T19:33:02.454+00:00Cops and Robbers<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There are lots of things that happen in the course of a normal day here that would be anything but normal in the US. Today I saw something that is a little bit strange even for Guinea-Bissau. I hopped in a taxi this morning to run a few errands downtown and as we neared the police station in our neighborhood I saw a huge crowd of people. It was sprinkling, so it seemed a little odd that they would all be standing outside getting wet. As we passed the station itself I saw about 10 police officers with rifles dressed in full riot gear. The police usually don't carry guns and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen them in their helmets and shields.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />I started asking around to find out what was going on. Apparently yesterday there was a dispute between a guy selling cell phone credit and a guy who bought credit from him and said that the credit didn't work. The seller ended up calling the police and they came to the scene of the argument.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />The police in Guinea-Bissau don't have too many options. The jail is only really for murders so all other crimes are usually either dealt with by someone paying them a “fine” or by someone getting beat. This time the police sided with the seller and the guy who wanted his money back ended up getting beaten. I'm not sure if he just just wanted a refund or if he had stolen money from the seller to get his money back.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The police beat the guy so severely that when he arrived home his family took him straight to the hospital but by the time they got there he had died. This morning the family marched over to the police station with the body and demanded some answers. A crowd formed rapidly, shots were fired in the air, riot gear was broken out, and more people came to see what was going on.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When I passed the police station to go into town there were about 200 people in the crowd and maybe 10 officers, when I passed an hour later on the way home there were probably about 300 people in the crowd and at least 25 officers.<br /><br />We've been asking people we know at the Youth Center what they think is going to happen. Since the guy who died was just a normal guy people seem to think it will pass and nothing more will come of it.</span> Pretty sad when you think about it. No consequences other than just a tense day with a big crowd of people and having to wear extra gear in the rain. <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />Stuff like this just reminds me how grateful I am for the police in the US. I have never seen a police officer in Guinea-Bissau and felt safe. I've never had one speak to me except to harass me to try to get a bribe. In the US I don't even know how many times I've been helped and protected by our fine men and women in uniform.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We're leaving in two days, so I guess that's what's making me a little reminiscent :-)</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />I will leave you with a few pictures of my adorable, gigantic belly :-)<br /></span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRJQUn-XgoZ3m9BbHD0Zl6AX-Ae2F3cZuZ_aFmskxbyXj6FwsMCxs2WReGzurkk0yNDXGT-GVbpLAbJbWTmszQw0ru4Kx5zCG3NDxXmM1Dfp9JbnxShET2Eqg79XmooubPPUHUjSqgF0/s1600/IMG_2365.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRJQUn-XgoZ3m9BbHD0Zl6AX-Ae2F3cZuZ_aFmskxbyXj6FwsMCxs2WReGzurkk0yNDXGT-GVbpLAbJbWTmszQw0ru4Kx5zCG3NDxXmM1Dfp9JbnxShET2Eqg79XmooubPPUHUjSqgF0/s400/IMG_2365.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493087349542909538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">25 Weeks - living large :-)</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2cmMYJ2NzSx90zwiPnjtWu2ysLZ01iGFd7rXm7vgbYwJS6HxwxU9DEtXGxmxGBYGHQmXTLtrorng1cGWEvab6NYx8uhsIkDI0m_GExhT2mCyBL317SnpZopqYJ-vI1KjS6hVZ-g0sI6Y/s1600/IMG_2410.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2cmMYJ2NzSx90zwiPnjtWu2ysLZ01iGFd7rXm7vgbYwJS6HxwxU9DEtXGxmxGBYGHQmXTLtrorng1cGWEvab6NYx8uhsIkDI0m_GExhT2mCyBL317SnpZopqYJ-vI1KjS6hVZ-g0sI6Y/s400/IMG_2410.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493087359890577842" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">26 Weeks - on the balcony in front of our house with the youth center in the background</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLc1tCB4zc2u93eqEqPJ7ZAh69YhY-4kSM07Trh_13yjCwZn6UQRCiP6fGRtQmNLw0ylUDmYjLbVSCwiyxHvKu9d3rROR6zyy_5JgEW36qZAmYgV7U5NJAMf0Q_YRoghmKRoj5FfNXYI/s1600/IMG_2425.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLc1tCB4zc2u93eqEqPJ7ZAh69YhY-4kSM07Trh_13yjCwZn6UQRCiP6fGRtQmNLw0ylUDmYjLbVSCwiyxHvKu9d3rROR6zyy_5JgEW36qZAmYgV7U5NJAMf0Q_YRoghmKRoj5FfNXYI/s400/IMG_2425.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493087371723520530" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">27 Weeks - for this monumental occasion (entering the third trimester) I had a few assistants. All this week I taught a continuing education seminar for our current English, French, and Computer teachers. One day on break I had a few of them pose with me.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Week 28 will be my last pregnant picture in Bissau. After that we're headed back to the US :-) Hope to see you soon :-)<br /></div></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-85734345928501533632010-06-15T18:23:00.007+00:002010-06-15T20:04:05.402+00:00Beach Bums<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">So far 2010 has been the busiest year on record for the Atkins family. When I got back from my 5 week whirlwind US adventure I returned to find a very burned out husband waiting for me. We spent about three weeks getting caught up and working with Jason's construction crew to get the shop water tight and then we hit the road for a few days at the beach.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">There aren't many beaches in Guinea-Bissau, but there are several beautiful ones in Senegal, the country just north of us. So we packed a few clothes, a few snacks, and the Wii and set off with some friends of our for Cap Skirring, Senegal. Since it's a tourist town and right now is not tourist season we got an amazing deal on a two bedroom air conditioned villa and we spent a long weekend split between the pool, the beach, and several yummy restaurants specializing in delicious seafood with prices around what you would pay for a value meal at McDonalds!</span><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5ABA7QGgAEfk9dT3utG26UIYZbkUcCtZSXeN89UjodXehr4UIJtJ2ljKjx5Cz0zqsOjGz4cSvn06KU7SWTbcgoOmOX71Wg_C32vQ2GD37a_h8XFotXCX1b4qqd2EnGoL-xV65WHaFMg/s1600/IMG_2348.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483090621667094882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5ABA7QGgAEfk9dT3utG26UIYZbkUcCtZSXeN89UjodXehr4UIJtJ2ljKjx5Cz0zqsOjGz4cSvn06KU7SWTbcgoOmOX71Wg_C32vQ2GD37a_h8XFotXCX1b4qqd2EnGoL-xV65WHaFMg/s400/IMG_2348.JPG" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">The Quinn family and Atkins Family at our little villa in Cap Skirring</span><br /></p></em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSPejewSDt1ye06E-hEsHvHY6ltpzk4WTfocnSB1yDzog5IWGIewS8FW_lzWMs7NTI3ak1vOuGUuNZaI8I-SEUotafcMzoLb-MCzeML5xoWMHnpmLxJv1XrV82WxKMw3COkGeanet8Q4A/s1600/IMG_2248.JPG"></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">Since my bump is growing by leaps and bounds I had to improvise a little to come up with a swimsuit, but I think it worked out pretty well. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoIQBBGLnqqw5PR9jq5H5yKBBPTyVYrJ8NqzJAVB_0qpV4T-q2rMxtAYAdvhPVuQZAUShC3kNzWsoD1xa3weeGtMFBx899h0k1hBjhbPlYRgMapTL85GqOLAPV4zwAeqiF2tyOnDjunFc/s1600/IMG_2285.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483086751679898738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoIQBBGLnqqw5PR9jq5H5yKBBPTyVYrJ8NqzJAVB_0qpV4T-q2rMxtAYAdvhPVuQZAUShC3kNzWsoD1xa3weeGtMFBx899h0k1hBjhbPlYRgMapTL85GqOLAPV4zwAeqiF2tyOnDjunFc/s400/IMG_2285.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">One of the highlights of the trip for the kids was that a stray beach dog followed us home from the beach one day became an instant pet, guarding the villa, munching up leftovers, and generally enjoying all of the attention.<br /></span><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05xQA7RRfh9e7hq2-N9AzYhN0CNsyexpBN2bGhxvjkjQdTmp29cjt_jEhJiL2AWoqXg-3DvvTk8s-U8AWxHql7HQwZAy2USaH5M-5vyvED0iDAq9aJyuqnDipDcqvRHvC61elR26CAyY/s1600/IMG_2302.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483086744116086322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05xQA7RRfh9e7hq2-N9AzYhN0CNsyexpBN2bGhxvjkjQdTmp29cjt_jEhJiL2AWoqXg-3DvvTk8s-U8AWxHql7HQwZAy2USaH5M-5vyvED0iDAq9aJyuqnDipDcqvRHvC61elR26CAyY/s400/IMG_2302.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"> </span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">When we were not enjoying the water Jason and Jonathan spent a good amount of time watching the World Cup games (that's the world-wide big soccer tournament for all of you non soccer watchers in the States). One day when he turned on the TV to watch soccer for a few minutes he was elated when game 5 of the NBA finals was on instead. We will cheer for anyone against the Lakers, so it was even cooler when the Celtics won after an amazing game.<br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483086740081106770" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDlKV_IEa2g2rgcRyFDAv2PrnIGhw9Rg_Q7H1m3QVFXtiTJZVf0PIpm9xBrdSBBkKLJzNrJ1olmTwXQ52aStiF_Ms0noxs0nF10CjsPclBkWXPELCKNbR51_37bxVgxUCqUtJClx5Ovs/s400/IMG_2293.JPG" border="0" /> <p align="center"><em> Haha, Lakers loose!</em><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">I never really post enough pictures of Jason on my blog, so here are a few more.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgharyrHvY7mVVbjyg0_Cwt_uH5_-b0qagyoY6EZB6IBnpGIoiUt6eB2kJcofUbzeDb-vyfPJ_WFwOdBuCiwgL7BMBekX6xgGSL6fjTT9HdeZ0h4XPs_VSHGLNftRNY8Zf1Uo8b-yPcSRM/s1600/IMG_2341.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483081842150844802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgharyrHvY7mVVbjyg0_Cwt_uH5_-b0qagyoY6EZB6IBnpGIoiUt6eB2kJcofUbzeDb-vyfPJ_WFwOdBuCiwgL7BMBekX6xgGSL6fjTT9HdeZ0h4XPs_VSHGLNftRNY8Zf1Uo8b-yPcSRM/s400/IMG_2341.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"> </span><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh53zYTFDXubyTBzSb4jb0iJt8oYHNw7rhz515qjCshFBg6U4qYoJXdQadvTVTtBtrHu4WZpoC3fvYGohw0v7dk2Oc_YkgFMgvkU4qHazvGOEbTR9F7PZHO0xiUNwxXiN5MhIHxWXRWA0Y/s1600/IMG_2358.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483081833083607778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh53zYTFDXubyTBzSb4jb0iJt8oYHNw7rhz515qjCshFBg6U4qYoJXdQadvTVTtBtrHu4WZpoC3fvYGohw0v7dk2Oc_YkgFMgvkU4qHazvGOEbTR9F7PZHO0xiUNwxXiN5MhIHxWXRWA0Y/s400/IMG_2358.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><em> Jason spent a lot of time giving Joseph (who was pretending to be a crab) rides in the pool.</em><br /><br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsGjaUtIC_-TfvH6d18GWYXzJhTxibADrX1XenOnQsRtFv1DDUpPGGJjA-DmNRa78Z_G3P4DHjtbDhvL9DgMGnF8V7iYHd2uOHlJqzE7eAR9vMxthNf7-1Hhv2Y5pB02yLa0pthynV5M/s1600/IMG_2343.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483081824400499762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsGjaUtIC_-TfvH6d18GWYXzJhTxibADrX1XenOnQsRtFv1DDUpPGGJjA-DmNRa78Z_G3P4DHjtbDhvL9DgMGnF8V7iYHd2uOHlJqzE7eAR9vMxthNf7-1Hhv2Y5pB02yLa0pthynV5M/s400/IMG_2343.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><em>Why sit on the couch when you can find a comfy spot on top of your favorite Jason shaped jungle gym?</em><br /><br /></span><div align="left"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">All-in-all we had a much needed rest and for the first time in months Jason has the energy to be excited getting some serious work done. Good timing since we're leaving in about a month and we've got a lot to finish between now and then!<br /></span><br /><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLKqR6fm1wnDjqBPq2ewRvJdRRELlpEk2nhurj2xtUm_Cc3nDKaG03eWwPbFoU0II7GrUaNnQd34nL7E_jP_fX8_76l0oXBQ_4D49781TpQ3sTUJPgbR9pUrhWIX3nVCf_6qlp6dTGj1c/s1600/IMG_2310.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483078619032516434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLKqR6fm1wnDjqBPq2ewRvJdRRELlpEk2nhurj2xtUm_Cc3nDKaG03eWwPbFoU0II7GrUaNnQd34nL7E_jP_fX8_76l0oXBQ_4D49781TpQ3sTUJPgbR9pUrhWIX3nVCf_6qlp6dTGj1c/s400/IMG_2310.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><em>After an evening walk on the beach</em><br /><br /></span><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiYDOv9OagIgsD3O0C7q2rEvnOjSR-F5OvpgmG_4XZBrOWUvNbmM1ZOyEIdZ38QUXd31GESzMXPTipQ5SRT8AIpoxXwiTz7hYgM1YFWe2TEFW6J8D6kyNtEeYrRRqz6Vfg29res2QBmSI/s1600/IMG_2346.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483078611218456130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiYDOv9OagIgsD3O0C7q2rEvnOjSR-F5OvpgmG_4XZBrOWUvNbmM1ZOyEIdZ38QUXd31GESzMXPTipQ5SRT8AIpoxXwiTz7hYgM1YFWe2TEFW6J8D6kyNtEeYrRRqz6Vfg29res2QBmSI/s400/IMG_2346.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><em>I leave you with my latest belly pic :-)</em></span></div></div></div><br /></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-66611728079406391452010-06-09T11:46:00.008+00:002010-06-10T21:37:18.456+00:00Wii Mania!!!<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">For a combination Christmas 2009 / both of our birthdays / our anniversary present Jason and I bought ourselves a Wii. I brought it back with me a few weeks ago and we’ve been having a ball. It’s a nice way to spend some time relaxing after a super busy day. So far I am awesome at Frisbe, but Jason always beats me at Ping Pong (who didn’t see that coming).<br /><br />There are two other missionary families who live close to us and they both have kids, so we’ve had a few “Wii parties” and everyone has had a blast. It’s a little too much for the two 3 and half year olds, but even they enjoy sword fighting – when else can you swing something crazily around in the air and knock someone else into the water?<br /><br />Since the Wii uses your whole body, people get really into it! Jason said yesterday that we’ve already gotten our money’s worth out of it just in the entertainment value of watching other people play it!<br /></span><p><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHM2FkKUnpjI9b382vTLKnwoEzHy5Cpc-ZgTo3jG_PtLU7T4NlEFoRKK50i-Y-tURelybPiJwk8_B-m6JrqmxNObbKXOIMaAmr6NXtP2drK-0ITCIWQbS1fNOsz7lM1rGlC_fGTcjVEc/s1600/IMG_2212.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481242557662234802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHM2FkKUnpjI9b382vTLKnwoEzHy5Cpc-ZgTo3jG_PtLU7T4NlEFoRKK50i-Y-tURelybPiJwk8_B-m6JrqmxNObbKXOIMaAmr6NXtP2drK-0ITCIWQbS1fNOsz7lM1rGlC_fGTcjVEc/s400/IMG_2212.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"> Jason demonstrating archery on the Wii. One Saturday night we set up the Wii in one of the classrooms and played on the rojector. </span></em><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span></em></p><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jsZgtv3vM37CqicD2a73CNXNOMXbRunHP1Gp2GhJW-5apYIARd3fvAhr2UhBgem0__S640wJm3cUHfdHQNT9zazFbD4wDRfYBllVjAvkh6Z36ECz3o-XOG-t037LjUEpvTS8sxDWSGo/s1600/IMG_2213.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481231468187602946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jsZgtv3vM37CqicD2a73CNXNOMXbRunHP1Gp2GhJW-5apYIARd3fvAhr2UhBgem0__S640wJm3cUHfdHQNT9zazFbD4wDRfYBllVjAvkh6Z36ECz3o-XOG-t037LjUEpvTS8sxDWSGo/s400/IMG_2213.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em> Abby Bowling</em><br /><br /><br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3n32tFe8kyrmhsBK_mfGTzoQzbLZP1ydC9ExpIlJTtRpjd2N2Jyf_pwH5S2sTSzEcMLTdxLQL-c03kcy5pyrUmpu9lvjudcjjUWmPBEmrbvv1zB_1VaD7_QtR5BREjCXnxmGUVmqKzI/s1600/IMG_2249.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481231452617103074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv3n32tFe8kyrmhsBK_mfGTzoQzbLZP1ydC9ExpIlJTtRpjd2N2Jyf_pwH5S2sTSzEcMLTdxLQL-c03kcy5pyrUmpu9lvjudcjjUWmPBEmrbvv1zB_1VaD7_QtR5BREjCXnxmGUVmqKzI/s400/IMG_2249.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em> Jonathan and Tammy racing in canoeing at our apartment</em><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFgS8ZzjAIwpWpw-AVYyz3nOW2wnVPwN1DeKyGEG0ajjbkmYwDNZ83N2saDBHtPheHMjPqqCapgWlmeTGNPT8bSjEhpIn6J4i4kPIysYkdgbBShOao2elakX54VetJ9bsTGkjg7STiGw/s1600/IMG_2252.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480834772010709538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFgS8ZzjAIwpWpw-AVYyz3nOW2wnVPwN1DeKyGEG0ajjbkmYwDNZ83N2saDBHtPheHMjPqqCapgWlmeTGNPT8bSjEhpIn6J4i4kPIysYkdgbBShOao2elakX54VetJ9bsTGkjg7STiGw/s400/IMG_2252.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>An intense game of ping pong. I had to get the proper stance with the belly :-)</em><br /><br /></span></span><div align="left"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">In other news our silly dog Sydney is now full grown and loving Africa. She does a bunch of crazy things and I think that Jason is really going to miss her when we’re in the States! </span></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXlAe_6Ua0JZP6JaxB7ijUMCchl6QTVCZ1DIJGUuPPSfiH7KhOy5rO1-EOA-oEa22T0WCrpubme5eLaZLm1bww_jvZQy5LfjL670O0rpb4e0UiyMFiwMAFWtex0mIfmyZFuIXUkA5za1Y/s1600/IMG_2247.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480834761425703506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXlAe_6Ua0JZP6JaxB7ijUMCchl6QTVCZ1DIJGUuPPSfiH7KhOy5rO1-EOA-oEa22T0WCrpubme5eLaZLm1bww_jvZQy5LfjL670O0rpb4e0UiyMFiwMAFWtex0mIfmyZFuIXUkA5za1Y/s400/IMG_2247.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><br /><br /></span><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4GSzLLQwmzFswFLo2o3RlklV3Cg4d-f9HcBZkcDtdt3Y-GNt3NcX5-jKag1zCll5tnmpFNNDiQqrDdQLU9TMHrJbM-ln_4cEPVQ-BFAa_fPWo_ylwZnCPjFSQWcbll5JYCG5I9OjHWg/s1600/IMG_2248.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480834751826088290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4GSzLLQwmzFswFLo2o3RlklV3Cg4d-f9HcBZkcDtdt3Y-GNt3NcX5-jKag1zCll5tnmpFNNDiQqrDdQLU9TMHrJbM-ln_4cEPVQ-BFAa_fPWo_ylwZnCPjFSQWcbll5JYCG5I9OjHWg/s400/IMG_2248.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em> Lately she loves laying on her back and twisting from side to side to get our attention. What a nut! </em><br /><br />I know you want to see more belly, and trust me there's more to see :-)</span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></span></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SoxhdnHC-LuUrJ0QbQD5YBAkAg4WjPgoliMHnhcS2alP2iefMZQdVh4sCGwJt-MDNpfgIulfCIB95M_g_biBfqu4J8FlBNa8B8oIPTjqEGiR5r1lWnNyLpPlSY6x36LxdYhMjHnmONo/s1600/IMG_2228.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480814879409662834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SoxhdnHC-LuUrJ0QbQD5YBAkAg4WjPgoliMHnhcS2alP2iefMZQdVh4sCGwJt-MDNpfgIulfCIB95M_g_biBfqu4J8FlBNa8B8oIPTjqEGiR5r1lWnNyLpPlSY6x36LxdYhMjHnmONo/s400/IMG_2228.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"> <em>21 weeks, in front of a mango tree with Sydney hanging out in the background.</em></span></span></div><div align="center"><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRgOODmb0EBAt0uF53AeENkFZg17TbKQMv8g_HrqsCPfCJDHPgjiQVtDXtm3O-_IfiYAFfyRJYEN6YtNTwJPFoe0M4K25-R-v1xJmctjHDx2GGPvrV9Y2fmUi8VNt7wrUrSuPl2Kpjn2U/s1600/IMG_2227.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480814892760253570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRgOODmb0EBAt0uF53AeENkFZg17TbKQMv8g_HrqsCPfCJDHPgjiQVtDXtm3O-_IfiYAFfyRJYEN6YtNTwJPFoe0M4K25-R-v1xJmctjHDx2GGPvrV9Y2fmUi8VNt7wrUrSuPl2Kpjn2U/s400/IMG_2227.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em> Anna, Sydney, and Joseph joined me for this one - "Tada!!!"</em><br /><br /><br /></span></span><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Y6Z0D67S_W-fka_04KK6cS4uXuK_VbkQ4I__Mcqxr9jOIvG-M8iNOpbHIl5yjAKykEgVJ08dTGLCe_MCoRmBGjUz_I2_UCMBFdpr-qn7rSQoLtFcSwzJFexBtElyNpLp_SknMvt0p8o/s1600/IMG_2232.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480789250518058354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Y6Z0D67S_W-fka_04KK6cS4uXuK_VbkQ4I__Mcqxr9jOIvG-M8iNOpbHIl5yjAKykEgVJ08dTGLCe_MCoRmBGjUz_I2_UCMBFdpr-qn7rSQoLtFcSwzJFexBtElyNpLp_SknMvt0p8o/s400/IMG_2232.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"> </span></div></div></div></div></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>22 weeks, back in the baby's room. In the next month there should be a lot of cool progress :-)</em><br /><br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkzstkPRLzxTKPrsDoSJlttO03pzuYu8BGvhJc3kB-2BUQTqc0QYyvzM5Wy3n9sbZ8Ecf5iIZZjj6KPm9NiuqiqKVivYBtjmES2sQnXsy_WVl-KS-jHxvHdlJT3f8K7qwJadwxmtw2Z6E/s1600/IMG_2263.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481241218471916146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkzstkPRLzxTKPrsDoSJlttO03pzuYu8BGvhJc3kB-2BUQTqc0QYyvzM5Wy3n9sbZ8Ecf5iIZZjj6KPm9NiuqiqKVivYBtjmES2sQnXsy_WVl-KS-jHxvHdlJT3f8K7qwJadwxmtw2Z6E/s400/IMG_2263.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>23 weeks, Jason joined me for the picture because he felt the baby move for the first time this week. She moves around a lot and I feel like I'm already getting to know her a little bit.</em> </span></span></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-12824654242998533272010-06-04T11:52:00.011+00:002010-06-05T13:45:13.231+00:00Catching Up<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">With the the crazieness of the last few weeks in the States, the rush of travel, and the mountain that awaited me when I got home, I haven't put many pictures up lately. Since some pretty fun stuff happened, I thought I would post a few :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">Here's a shot of what my belly was looking like at 16 weeks</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2H3Hqqwh1AkXkhQGTbK5RW8D8S2w-dSipBrrnGUPtYkhF8JjR0xEew66O_E9uoaIAUCPUHgduMeT2BBZWmA-bRhYEL6kTxN4Mav7uUQqA1YQmREgxTB5HpbFX-DBj51wW5iz1u4QzBOE/s1600/IMG_2161.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479280636919642162" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2H3Hqqwh1AkXkhQGTbK5RW8D8S2w-dSipBrrnGUPtYkhF8JjR0xEew66O_E9uoaIAUCPUHgduMeT2BBZWmA-bRhYEL6kTxN4Mav7uUQqA1YQmREgxTB5HpbFX-DBj51wW5iz1u4QzBOE/s400/IMG_2161.JPG" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPIfDO-I989oe3i2F6m81p3ZJSUy0xNm9OqKmxxe8i5v-_PllindosW_hh35jYHSZe00nZTn04L1QezOjiSaew9RXj4rNxV1ZFpUt8Su_6kRnaNypOw58ZO6Q-JADFpt_jEKxt-6Pdqas/s1600/IMG_2160.JPG"> </a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">This is right about the time when people that I don't know started smiling at me in stores for no reason. Not quite big enough for them to ask me, but big enough for them to be suspicious</span><br /></em><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">On May first my sister Rachel got married. She and Josh had a beautiful outdoor wedding in Cotter, Arkansas. The baby happened to pick that weekend to have a huge growth spurt, and it was fun to have my belly be noticeably bigger everyday for about 5 days. It also meant that I was really hungry (good timing with all of the awesome wedding food) and in general not that much help. Good thing they had 14 bridesmaids and groomsmen (all together), three flower girls and a ring bearer to pick up the slack :-) hehe </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">I stole a few pictures from friends :-) </span><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHMra8DRUvDI9jy7omAymFkvic_kn57ubt-vItjQ2LpirNxEn9ZI5MNmTX0_0VgcDyWd782PeuMFL3DGNjke2Nl683zA09Y26wVlEt0PysNq0rtSIc7As1FqX-T3UOOznjYI17FI19E3c/s1600/28215_1333890341785_1066843568_794315_7542504_n.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479276418479607442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHMra8DRUvDI9jy7omAymFkvic_kn57ubt-vItjQ2LpirNxEn9ZI5MNmTX0_0VgcDyWd782PeuMFL3DGNjke2Nl683zA09Y26wVlEt0PysNq0rtSIc7As1FqX-T3UOOznjYI17FI19E3c/s400/28215_1333890341785_1066843568_794315_7542504_n.jpg" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">The wedding party looking snazzy</span><br /></em><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmT6j9AJ8q07uoFz6tw3SJ6NvZc3nGrSA9oI-LQROiCnzPgW8DVKEZXYvhwf0bUHfFaHV0xFAwdVs7HP6FXbYy5livOs2VU5xRKPbTWbw8ilMyCrWa_tetd09xp-L4UPKOARLu9z4pd1Y/s1600/DSC00031.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479276440472663042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmT6j9AJ8q07uoFz6tw3SJ6NvZc3nGrSA9oI-LQROiCnzPgW8DVKEZXYvhwf0bUHfFaHV0xFAwdVs7HP6FXbYy5livOs2VU5xRKPbTWbw8ilMyCrWa_tetd09xp-L4UPKOARLu9z4pd1Y/s400/DSC00031.JPG" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;"> Rachel and Josh</span></em><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqJhsucJYj1Y5rD-0Va87n9j6d5jqoo2VHRrizRRGWyLsG_XN-IR8SnsxdxiHvQjUCMtCz2Q_ydVf19GZGQdDDgrExHzONUFgoEhN9rbN4ZHXvDKZRfmXyte2pfWfWN4EM7wWzTHGLOE/s1600/DSC00020.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479276431429910562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 225px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpqJhsucJYj1Y5rD-0Va87n9j6d5jqoo2VHRrizRRGWyLsG_XN-IR8SnsxdxiHvQjUCMtCz2Q_ydVf19GZGQdDDgrExHzONUFgoEhN9rbN4ZHXvDKZRfmXyte2pfWfWN4EM7wWzTHGLOE/s400/DSC00020.JPG" border="0" /></a> <em><span style="font-size:130%;">My Sibblings - Amanda, Me, Rachel, and Jordan</span></em><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0l24n7dzfjA4lVMOHBwXZxxLRf7YDYHd1zt74gntghKQmCGq9K2AQESNWp0SZ7mff6tkL84SfKS2RfCQUxzyJpZflLcZnh4tQunD8gUoOhamTf6fKIJF-ySep0HO7IZ743hq-9WCCdU/s1600/P7210028.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479284025863424802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0l24n7dzfjA4lVMOHBwXZxxLRf7YDYHd1zt74gntghKQmCGq9K2AQESNWp0SZ7mff6tkL84SfKS2RfCQUxzyJpZflLcZnh4tQunD8gUoOhamTf6fKIJF-ySep0HO7IZ743hq-9WCCdU/s400/P7210028.JPG" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">My Mom's Family - Cousin Tim, Uncle Dan, Aunt Sue, Dad, Olivia (flower girl), Rachel (bride), Josh (groom), Mom, Leslie, Uncle Kevin</span></em> </div><div align="center"><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEoJ9-jVLm4VvKHauvDgKgTZIbOBJTh1-lPLSJMwxRvqXFpeKfVK_h-xRpdS4N3NhJg_7BsLy7v990ClN_njTBR2xnJTDIr3C_ePzypcMtZ1r9NMEPcjcqML4oId02oT59dmOeksuJDi8/s1600/30602_435143119621_642329621_5637065_1666446_n.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479276428199162738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEoJ9-jVLm4VvKHauvDgKgTZIbOBJTh1-lPLSJMwxRvqXFpeKfVK_h-xRpdS4N3NhJg_7BsLy7v990ClN_njTBR2xnJTDIr3C_ePzypcMtZ1r9NMEPcjcqML4oId02oT59dmOeksuJDi8/s400/30602_435143119621_642329621_5637065_1666446_n.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dDyEF7y1gAxF79VBRCdOvSGupI876E4GQRh47zpG2K-6uMWoDZfP0GRizul3n3kZeJ6UaSe4ASwbT5FKXtBYCix4hGreGiNOrtjL3jHrGfB_Abux1Z5GK14pqNCfnViszuqtkpZEXBY/s1600/IMG_2179.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478903257237489650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_dDyEF7y1gAxF79VBRCdOvSGupI876E4GQRh47zpG2K-6uMWoDZfP0GRizul3n3kZeJ6UaSe4ASwbT5FKXtBYCix4hGreGiNOrtjL3jHrGfB_Abux1Z5GK14pqNCfnViszuqtkpZEXBY/s400/IMG_2179.JPG" border="0" /></a><em><span style="font-size:130%;">17.5 weeks - we waited a little bit to get a picture in the bridesmaid dress. At the time my mom said that the baby was trying so hard to grow so that people would notice her at her Aunt's wedding that my mom was sure it had to be a girl :-)</span><br /></em><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">Jason sent me flowers since he couldn't be at the wedding with me – stargazer lilies, one of my favorites! So I took the 18 week picture with them</span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxzRkWmErzmmOzKgP4eMCuUNJf-ALEEhrZi48TT7NDa25QKz6HUEea-1b3AJJoDBgbp052rzCr2eZFksp8WZ_vu4Rhh2AeYksuY9TahvlUWHTmTLYPsiYmbT4W5SIIq-s7TzTB-yPcE4/s1600/IMG_2184.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478903246702199458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxzRkWmErzmmOzKgP4eMCuUNJf-ALEEhrZi48TT7NDa25QKz6HUEea-1b3AJJoDBgbp052rzCr2eZFksp8WZ_vu4Rhh2AeYksuY9TahvlUWHTmTLYPsiYmbT4W5SIIq-s7TzTB-yPcE4/s400/IMG_2184.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">Then I headed to Houston to visit my friend Kelly. She is also pregnant and we due the same week so we had fun going out to eat to celebrate our first Mother's Day together. The baby decided that the day should extra special for me so right after church I felt the first kick – how about that for timing? </span><br /></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">After that I went back up to Michigan and spent a few days in a crazy whirlwind of packing up about 160 pounds of equipment to take back with me for the youth center. I had toner cartridges for our printers, replacement parts for wide variety of things, certificates for our computer program, a 26 pound reel of fiber optic cable, and whole assortment of other things just like that. I did manage to fit a jar of sweet pickle relish and a bag of peanut M&M's for Jason's birthday.<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">After that I went to the doctor, got an ultrasound and a few more tests, got the all clear to head back to Africa, took a picture to document week 19, and hit the road! </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478892289469480370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNOebNXQZw_jON4Rq5yiliB2C_DDgVC5gtJQYkpOM3mSB2AM-Ies8Uahyl5Kjl7IbqSwbrKvc4e-suHe4rlwRJ_tMyhjBipLWZ6drJKf_oPuuws9WIBVjBGqL8a7yY4drwJ1FHkdOnTY/s400/IMG_2191.JPG" border="0" /> </span><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">The plane ended up being craziness! One of my tickets was accidentally canceled then reinstated, then one of my flights was late, and it looked like I was either going to have to stay in Washington DC for 5 days; or fly stand by to Paris, stay in Paris for a day, then fly down to Africa (with out bags which would come by another route); or run like crazy and pray that I could change 2 concourses and make it to my flight 40 minutes before departure so that I'd be cleared to board – with a 28 minute layover... Nothing's impossible with God, right? So after considering all of my options I decided to run for it.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">I've never really been much of runner and being 5 months pregnant didn't help matters. I hiked up escalators, ran on people movers, and sprinted down the straightaways. People were calling out to me to slow down, but I kept on going. I arrived at my gate, pregnant and panting, 5 minutes before the plane was supposed to take off. I'm pretty sure the gate attendants felt sorry for me because even though the doors were locked and the pilot was turning up the engines to pull away from the gate, they radioed the plane, franticly scanned in my info, reopened the flight for boarding, and got me onboard moments before take off.<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">Sadly, my bags were not as speedy as I was, and while the flights to Dakar were booked full of people for the next 5 days, they did manage to find room for my luggage – no small feat! So the next day I got my bags on got on the overnight boat to the south of Senegal to finally see Jason again.<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">I slept like a log on the boat and arrived safe and sound with all of my bags to the biggest hug of all time! Then Jason and I crashed in a little hotel that has AC went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. We got up the next day and set out for Guinea-Bissau.<br /></span><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHVgXFKnoszy6uGxnhZSeUbWlQ4J7libwXHW0SE07hp_ELetBkpmAcsd-8OdUJTN-EnCHktzMW3brNJMNJ2rpcF1Ym7NmvLiNTd9-8i4KqetZ0-W4AcRQ2jnldf8oLAmyikm71kjJSAc/s1600/IMG_2221+cropped.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478892282220589074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 235px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiHVgXFKnoszy6uGxnhZSeUbWlQ4J7libwXHW0SE07hp_ELetBkpmAcsd-8OdUJTN-EnCHktzMW3brNJMNJ2rpcF1Ym7NmvLiNTd9-8i4KqetZ0-W4AcRQ2jnldf8oLAmyikm71kjJSAc/s400/IMG_2221+cropped.JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"><em> This is my 20 week picture. It's not a great belly shot, but the baby and I were really happy to see Jase again!</em><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">It was so fun to come back home to Bissau and I have loved everyone's comments on my belly as it has been growing more and more noticeable! Usually when I see people I don't know here the first thing they say to me is “you're white”, but now the first thing they say is “wow, look how beautiful you are!” with a special gleam in their eyes as they rub my belly. Not a bad change. I should've gotten pregnant a long time ago!!! :-) lol!<br /></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">About a week after I got back we celebrated Jason's birthday with a stellar apple pie! I didn't have any birthday candles, but we made due :-)<br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrW43-z_LlLkKeGqe_cY0z5PxTImVg9RYPc7z5Uf-yAzMfn1-zTey43deZ0LvNBTjOtKqaCHWo0H0KlTx5BbyMAJgW79L4E9Qkiq7uIOcONqpchsWMbqbncCSjcefaZmTfLswHXr1vFpw/s1600/IMG_2223.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479278464329928514" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrW43-z_LlLkKeGqe_cY0z5PxTImVg9RYPc7z5Uf-yAzMfn1-zTey43deZ0LvNBTjOtKqaCHWo0H0KlTx5BbyMAJgW79L4E9Qkiq7uIOcONqpchsWMbqbncCSjcefaZmTfLswHXr1vFpw/s400/IMG_2223.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;">Speaking of pie, it's getting to be about that time, so I'm going to get some food ready – this pregnant lady's gotta eat!!! I'll post some more in a few days :-)</span> </div></div></div></div></div></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-40619126577587196762010-04-18T11:06:00.003+00:002010-04-18T11:29:20.256+00:00pregnancy induced delusional thinking<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">After much traveling I made it to the States safe and sound with all of my luggage and most of my sanity :-) I've been having a great time with Jason's family and the baby had it's first doctor's appointment last week. It looks like everything is going well and I'll know more in a few days when I get all of the results back.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Jason's been super busy in Guinea-Bissau and the shop at the youth center is starting to resemble a castle! They've got the walls for the first story finished, they've poured the floor for the second story, and the walls of the second story are going up! Now all they have to do is finish the walls, cover them with plaster and get them painted, and install a roof before the rainy season starts – did I mention that's around May 15th!!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I found this cartoon on a baby website the other day and I laughed really hard! I thought I would share it with you!</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9gUXXzM_fW7o9C03x41Z7rZmbtcMW-yWhBUY-IxOVlR5gwIw4qEzLBJITTfxqoaAYTcymaZFpb53yWZe-UFqYG8O2WTdrKttxzUWLj1mglXCLyksCqN1T1dK0bTfWqayLnVhwbXhLStQ/s1600/cartoon12.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 325px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9gUXXzM_fW7o9C03x41Z7rZmbtcMW-yWhBUY-IxOVlR5gwIw4qEzLBJITTfxqoaAYTcymaZFpb53yWZe-UFqYG8O2WTdrKttxzUWLj1mglXCLyksCqN1T1dK0bTfWqayLnVhwbXhLStQ/s400/cartoon12.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461436377121116482" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The bump is finally making an appearance noticeable to people who are not me. Here are my two most recent pics</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaMT2jqJxzu3NsrKP2Yn-eVxubdK5BC1jBFYl98R_Rd7J1t5Tzi3QBLPf1yNX1VNM5HW2i2v1XP1G286gIDAYvXmt_Q8eYbKPy8KYWdBME_Th_ZpbcoLVmdNmOrLryhOH22zVCIXNHO1c/s1600/IMG_2148.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaMT2jqJxzu3NsrKP2Yn-eVxubdK5BC1jBFYl98R_Rd7J1t5Tzi3QBLPf1yNX1VNM5HW2i2v1XP1G286gIDAYvXmt_Q8eYbKPy8KYWdBME_Th_ZpbcoLVmdNmOrLryhOH22zVCIXNHO1c/s400/IMG_2148.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461436381618428770" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">This was my last one in Africa for a while so I thought I would wear a very bright African dress :-)</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFSKVrYPCDUUiRBxQWkV41t0tFKU8yVJFFxQdRJQMtbaZVc9bD7i6BQ9rhjjrAKqov2mAO3MhUzD_Emq1JwfRed4ScSXYBmpXZ1nm1b1GGSOeW5SOWx-MQlZ_jxQTzJJv0RRrohtEdcI/s1600/IMG_2154.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbFSKVrYPCDUUiRBxQWkV41t0tFKU8yVJFFxQdRJQMtbaZVc9bD7i6BQ9rhjjrAKqov2mAO3MhUzD_Emq1JwfRed4ScSXYBmpXZ1nm1b1GGSOeW5SOWx-MQlZ_jxQTzJJv0RRrohtEdcI/s400/IMG_2154.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461436389552594690" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">At the Atkins house. This is actually 2 weeks after the last one, but I missed a week because of traveling and then the doctor moved my due date when I saw him last week, so it worked out.</span><br /></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Right before I left the English department at the Youth Center had a talent show. It was pretty creative and fairly hilarious! Here are the adorable judges:</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZwzR6wdwX_GzEmL4F0j-_rN2dhZX87p6bBlKIKdEjQVeWJL89QjTVXyhq1QZlHPvRjEspwMdmPdkJ4zTpauFDwENS5F_XCmQfyEI5LibnPG8unL45Y6jTDTbEosjOwWAYHXSvgBo9nc/s1600/IMG_2150.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZwzR6wdwX_GzEmL4F0j-_rN2dhZX87p6bBlKIKdEjQVeWJL89QjTVXyhq1QZlHPvRjEspwMdmPdkJ4zTpauFDwENS5F_XCmQfyEI5LibnPG8unL45Y6jTDTbEosjOwWAYHXSvgBo9nc/s400/IMG_2150.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461436397543265138" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Anna, Emily, and Katie</span></span></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-50065078457063004282010-03-25T11:20:00.006+00:002010-03-25T11:50:04.647+00:00The bump has arrived<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Jason and I have been running around like crazy getting ready for me to head to the States for my sister Rachel's wedding and I realized today that I haven't posted any pictures of my belly lately! There is actually a visible little bump now and I'm quite proud of it!!!</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi82gAThLFLzt3ZL01FPVuEXxsJu2CqXMQwp-FTm61vPH_tpKow3wolOGGmHW6Tx-kTl0li97jl2Cg6ZO-g4S5u5RHfJYdTKKtqCfobwGypbTsKl3FvOOceN9DNCPZMVkNwS4PbkkeZW0s/s1600/IMG_2068+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi82gAThLFLzt3ZL01FPVuEXxsJu2CqXMQwp-FTm61vPH_tpKow3wolOGGmHW6Tx-kTl0li97jl2Cg6ZO-g4S5u5RHfJYdTKKtqCfobwGypbTsKl3FvOOceN9DNCPZMVkNwS4PbkkeZW0s/s400/IMG_2068+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452531192549572082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">This was taken a few days before the bump became apparent. At this point I was having tons of hip pain and not walking around well.</span><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWU957sgvtcxg2HliwAhrJnnc7VJ7EA6fmziPqh2vt0uFTKVEuCZTZmtpjwMKfagYL660byD9Ii3WNm5EpYvRvZSzP7tI6itfid-iED4XoxOfftoN-QvRAZqiHdsAknnPBIAU4q2H_RE/s1600/IMG_2083+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCWU957sgvtcxg2HliwAhrJnnc7VJ7EA6fmziPqh2vt0uFTKVEuCZTZmtpjwMKfagYL660byD9Ii3WNm5EpYvRvZSzP7tI6itfid-iED4XoxOfftoN-QvRAZqiHdsAknnPBIAU4q2H_RE/s400/IMG_2083+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452530793807532850" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Then about a day before I hit 11 weeks I woke up one morning and Jason looked at me and said, "Hey, I think I can see the baby!" I ran to the mirror and discovered that he was right!!! Then I noticed that I had just run to the mirror - no hip pain. I don't know why the baby decided to wiggle around and make his/her appearance, but I was happy about it!!! My hip has been fine since then!</span><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_H6hYHRDbxsmpMlrvnzybK3A8YNWI6ow8bAWiqzcVuyblsEmWPCc78ME8yYYmQ3w3Cl-Q8cJvJmEdNtLBvjZA_8cyiBOsk-yOGkW_c565e8wOXDtFFURiqhyphenhyphenxR0kcENzEfxuKL7Ud1_o/s1600/IMG_2107+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_H6hYHRDbxsmpMlrvnzybK3A8YNWI6ow8bAWiqzcVuyblsEmWPCc78ME8yYYmQ3w3Cl-Q8cJvJmEdNtLBvjZA_8cyiBOsk-yOGkW_c565e8wOXDtFFURiqhyphenhyphenxR0kcENzEfxuKL7Ud1_o/s400/IMG_2107+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452530781018411826" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">At 12 weeks I went in for my second ultrasound. I hadn't gained any weight yet and even though the bump was sprouting a little I was getting nervous about the baby - first time mom jitters I guess. We took the 12 week picture in front of the little house where the doctor does ultrasounds before I went in. I don't look very nervous in the picture, but I was. We had to wait for hours and by that point I was getting pretty anxious. The good news is that we got to see the baby and he/she is doing great!</span><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4HoJlaMC1HGof3PXjWSpO9eRPj9tOo6VBN7fI0iT3JHGXz-7O7PS0IeGjPpmnWHC37EBZAYI-b7hIvsvpG7ZnsJOpFUOrM04lvbd1GuU3KlVSY5EopLhTPGl_wEUWIbp9EorQIppfDc/s1600/JPA_9268+%28Large%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4HoJlaMC1HGof3PXjWSpO9eRPj9tOo6VBN7fI0iT3JHGXz-7O7PS0IeGjPpmnWHC37EBZAYI-b7hIvsvpG7ZnsJOpFUOrM04lvbd1GuU3KlVSY5EopLhTPGl_wEUWIbp9EorQIppfDc/s400/JPA_9268+%28Large%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452531197187007218" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">If you are experienced at checking out ultrasounds you will see the baby right away. In case you don't, look in the mostly black circle near the top (just a little bit farther up than the really bright spot - my full bladder). In that circle the baby is laying at the bottom. From left to right you can see his/her giant round head, then the little round body, then you can barely see the tiny legs kicking around - he/she is about 2 inches head to rump in this picture. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">We got to see the baby waving and rolling over. It was so cute and it made the baby seem so much more real. I loved it!!! We also heard the heart beat. Since the baby was rolling around the heart was beating pretty fast - 149 beats per minute.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WAoy2RHsxsxeBExthi-Ig499QdeC0xWtKRHRJ00k4nP6WgnbqTYH-D_KD38B4q9xUlr_vKIwRiy4T0Wg6W_Y9HokScI9f65pHhJyARTDQifzSRWElVWXoxBcA3bvOV0HHrArXrMnDYM/s1600/IMG_2135+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WAoy2RHsxsxeBExthi-Ig499QdeC0xWtKRHRJ00k4nP6WgnbqTYH-D_KD38B4q9xUlr_vKIwRiy4T0Wg6W_Y9HokScI9f65pHhJyARTDQifzSRWElVWXoxBcA3bvOV0HHrArXrMnDYM/s400/IMG_2135+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452530776022203858" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Right now I'm 13 weeks and we took this picture this morning outside on our little veranda. It's hard to see the belly in this one, but trust me it's there. I'm still wearing all of my normal clothes at this point and I am confident that I will fit into the bridesmaid dress for Rachel's wedding May 1st, but soon after that I think I will have to bust out some maternity clothes :-) Good thing I'll be in the States for a little bit to pick up some cute ones :-)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">About two weeks ago all 6 of the pregnant missionaries in Guinea-Bissau got together for a party. We ate SO much food and were waited on all day by our proud husbands. At the end of the party we took a picture lining up by the age of the baby. </span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSRuBTWPuSDm5BTeO9BRrh2BcscdJH4U_P0wCINEesTvgxd_Afb2DCe7fy47QNhdFF99QCs4yBV3QNAsmSiu5mXkxyn41UiicmwM5yiLgMqkR6Dds_S7eXNTjuJvE3NDZACOM7PSn9hpc/s1600/IMG_2100+%28Large%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSRuBTWPuSDm5BTeO9BRrh2BcscdJH4U_P0wCINEesTvgxd_Afb2DCe7fy47QNhdFF99QCs4yBV3QNAsmSiu5mXkxyn41UiicmwM5yiLgMqkR6Dds_S7eXNTjuJvE3NDZACOM7PSn9hpc/s400/IMG_2100+%28Large%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452530791568843282" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The pregnant missionary women. Left to right:</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Tanya, 5 months, first baby, twins, from Norway</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Suerda, 4 months, second baby, from Brazil</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Fabiana, 4 months, first baby, from Brazil</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Me, 3 months, first baby, from the US</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Nete, 3 months, first baby, from Brazil</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Rosania, 2 months, third baby, from Brazil</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">So, that's the latest little Atkins info :-) I'm really looking forward to coming home for Rachel's wedding, seeing lots of family and friends, and eating lots of yummy food (for the baby). I'm not looking forward to being separated from Jason for 5 weeks, but we will be back together soon. Thank you so much for all of your prayers for us and our little guy/girl :-)</span><br /></span>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-724331071690208845.post-8433558132035706162010-03-13T08:54:00.006+00:002010-03-13T09:13:24.420+00:00serious thoughts about women in Guinea-Bissau<span style="font-size:130%;">Monday was international women’s day and since there is never a reason too small to take a holiday in Guinea-Bissau, everything shut down :-) Supposedly the men go to the market and cook for their wives while the women chill all day, but I don’t know anyone who actually did that.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><p align="center"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilP6xZn49wYlw8mngR35y4xa6YeT895rdWY7v2R4VZxT1tBLLeWkxkZVI5mQwl2BxDg2MLjszX1wB3-77e-E628-wyxz-OgErc-AxVgUeQOg7yDmu5xfb2aTFltyFobt7kKRFCwrL-njQ/s1600-h/IMG_0989+(Large).JPG"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448040910654692482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilP6xZn49wYlw8mngR35y4xa6YeT895rdWY7v2R4VZxT1tBLLeWkxkZVI5mQwl2BxDg2MLjszX1wB3-77e-E628-wyxz-OgErc-AxVgUeQOg7yDmu5xfb2aTFltyFobt7kKRFCwrL-njQ/s400/IMG_0989+(Large).JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><em>Serving up yummy Guinean food for a large group</em> </span></p><span style="font-size:130%;"><p>Because Monday was a holiday, I had a little extra time to catch up on some reading on the internet. I did a little searching for news about Guinea-Bissau and I started noticing that lately our country has been appearing on lots of different lists. One of the 10 poorest countries in the world, right near the top on the list of the most corrupt governments, infant mortality through the roof, 1 in 13 women die in childbirth or pregnancy related causes, AIDS is on the rise and the literacy rate is terrible, and it’s ranked by the World Bank as the worst country to invest your money in a new business in 2010 because of instability, corruption, and lack of infrastructure.<br /><br /></p><p align="center"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsdeRXDXpFAjAO9m1zW62Sqrtl9G5MfB10Twm3L3NELlW82tNWxlU-CUHpaNg6D9WGDMVkOvQOfFJCwixTz6Vkql9y8PgqVh33h894Je49LevlBjGIt9dvWBB3xuLXN2z5UHa5Gab-q4/s1600-h/IMG_1063+(Large).JPG"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448040908840817538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsdeRXDXpFAjAO9m1zW62Sqrtl9G5MfB10Twm3L3NELlW82tNWxlU-CUHpaNg6D9WGDMVkOvQOfFJCwixTz6Vkql9y8PgqVh33h894Je49LevlBjGIt9dvWBB3xuLXN2z5UHa5Gab-q4/s400/IMG_1063+(Large).JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> <em>Just before telling her that she had lost the baby. This happens at least 10 times more often than actually delivering a baby out in the village.</em><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">Bearing all that in mind, a new list came out this week in honor of international women’s day that shouldn’t have taken me by surprise, but it did - the 10 worst countries in the world to be a woman. I bet you can’t guess one of those 10... yup... Guinea-Bissau. Female literacy is low, spousal abuse is high, and we’re one of the only countries in the world where female genital mutilation is on the rise. When you focus on the stats, the picture is bleak for the women of this country.</span></p><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">I know a lot of women here. Some of them are just like the statistics would lead you to believe, uneducated, beaten, and without hope. I’ve been in a village during a mutilation ceremony and felt oppression so thick I could hardly breathe. I’ve looked into the eyes of woman dying from AIDS because her husband takes medicine himself but doesn’t think his wives are worth enough to treat. I’ve talked to women, covered in bruises, blaming themselves for their latest beating. Some days the heartbreak is overwhelming.</span></div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:130%;">But I also know others. Over the past year, through Ajuda Bajuda and my women’s Bible study at church, I’ve gotten close to so many strong Christian women. The message of Jesus Christ has changed their lives in so many ways! The church in Guinea-Bissau is building schools, digging wells, and training families how to love one another. Christian husbands are sending their daughters to school, staying faithful to their wives, and arguing using words instead of fists.</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448040652794816450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8f77bnXOyFkY4bwXMRqdw4yXinVO5tS-SO0NFjWIF-C9_mItc4F1MbC1lBq4feCFBD5DBZmdpsY42PLEmoIfT6wSty9PD6X-lTWLJtvGD-B7gYdWbQDlF5c_qPe7x-rR32HzIHJN9RhY/s400/IMG_1630+(Large).JPG" border="0" /><br /></span><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLK2sYpZiI9hQJKQnuROj79xlBaWDIF3d-Z6rNwTCDgmwjIa9WiWo22QfjvhdcX09-HoR-GfK42aBkHEFyykyJJa-8n7VS5IdNYNqnwbV8_aWzMosH2kQEWejVh0zoq5S4Turp0frvgo/s1600-h/IMG_0231+(Large).JPG"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448040649120399394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLK2sYpZiI9hQJKQnuROj79xlBaWDIF3d-Z6rNwTCDgmwjIa9WiWo22QfjvhdcX09-HoR-GfK42aBkHEFyykyJJa-8n7VS5IdNYNqnwbV8_aWzMosH2kQEWejVh0zoq5S4Turp0frvgo/s400/IMG_0231+(Large).JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />It just brings me back to the cry of my heart – Guinea-Bissau needs Jesus. Desperate people need Hope, battered people need a Fortress, lost people need a Savior. Satan’s got this country so wrapped up and he’s ruining lives left and right! Join me in praying for this beautiful country – that it would change because God changes the hearts and minds of its people; that people would find the peace, hope, and the reason for living that they’re searching for in the life changing message of Jesus Christ.<br /></span><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5qNBreKlI9By5axMq_tKd3L_uja-muSJ3Jd3nPqvMzNWp1_7CZ018fa03LKtobDhTulJ1YMipuHftkElhPu919k60xqJRVnkC21-kbKKTnuQWKNh5RVk8WeoymaefbpuSnR53SsU1TjE/s1600-h/IMG_1625+(Large).JPG"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448040629788090482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5qNBreKlI9By5axMq_tKd3L_uja-muSJ3Jd3nPqvMzNWp1_7CZ018fa03LKtobDhTulJ1YMipuHftkElhPu919k60xqJRVnkC21-kbKKTnuQWKNh5RVk8WeoymaefbpuSnR53SsU1TjE/s400/IMG_1625+(Large).JPG" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><em> A group of Christian women from the islands worshiping God as they watch the waves.</em></span></div></div></div>Emhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14635666513972398805noreply@blogger.com0