We are so blessed to have RBC as our sending church. We got a little surprise in the mail. Each year the RBC children send Christmas cards to all of the supported missionaries. Although we're not yet on the field, we received some. They are so cute and remind us that so many people are praying for us now and will continue to pray! Are are a few of them...
That wasn't a type-o. We have a new car. Well, bigger than a car but small than a mini van...I think it's called a microvan. The Altmia, at 120,000 miles has been giving us trouble for the past 6 months. We figured it wouldn't last until we go overseas. So since we'd have to get something else when it dies or when we have another child, we figured we should get a larger car so we could enjoy it a long as possible. Damien had never wanted an SUV or MiniVan because of the poor gas mileage so he looked for station wagons. But there just aren't any out there with a third row. So we came across a Mazda 5. It gets about as good of gas mileage as our Altima, but has three rows to fit 6 people (2 seats per row). It's smaller than a minivan which will leave us with less storage with more children. Joel is driving down with us at Christmas so we'll be testing out the luggage on the roof. We would have liked to get an older car, but the first year they were build was 2006 so that's what we bought (luckily, even new they are pretty affordable). There aren't many around so we drove to Winchester (about 50miles away) to look at this one when it came up. It actually had more "gadgets" that we necessarily wanted, but we thought it was a good price and they were giving us a deal for the Altima. The kids seem to like it. In fact, Micaiah, who often cries in the car, has made a complete change. He loves sitting in the back row because it is higher than the other's and he can see really well! I LOVE the unexpected sunroof and navigation system way more than I thought I would - especially since I'd never thought I'd get something like that. We're really thankful that God has provided it for us and that we have a reliable car as we travel to churches and to visit family. It was really sad to say goodbye to the Altima. It was our first new car that we bought in 2000! Orin seems to have had a hard time letting go as well. When we said that this is our new car he would say, "Our car is broken." (the Altima has been in the shop a lot so he was familiar with it being gone for short periods of time.) When we tell him no, we gave it to someone else and we're going to use this car from now on he says, "No, our car is broken and they're going fix it." Oh, well, I'm sure he'll learn to love it!
Bye, bye, Altima!
Yes, I realize it's like 9 days until Christmas. I've been busy! We really had a nice Thanksgiving. Mimie came up to celebrate with us. It was very nice having her here. We were lucky to be house-sitting for some friends (who have a four bedroom house) so everyone got their own room! Almost every morning of her visit she got up with the kids and let us sleep in. We've really missed not having much extended family around to get to know our amazing kids so it's always nice to have them in town to show them off. :-)
We've definitely had a different year than ever before. We started off by selling our condo and moving with a 20 month old and 4 month old into an area about 1/4 the size. We are very thankful that we sold when we did and that we have such wonderful friends who are sharing their home with us. We enjoy living so closely together with our kids and it may even be preparing us to live in cramped quarters overseas one day. Thanksgiving also marked the one year point of being approved by the elders at RBC as supported missionaries. It's amazing to think that we've been raising our prayer and financial partners for a year now. We are so thankful as to how far we've come and we've definitely seen God's incredible faithfulness. It's been a difficult year with illnesses. Damien had a pretty rough summer. He's was tested for Mono and it seems like he had it back in April and is just taking a long time to recover. Another recent test showed that the dizziness and lightheadedness was a result of this illness. He's slowly feeling better and it's really nice to have him back. :-) We're looking forward to this year. We are so excited about moving to Dallas and becoming "real" missionaries. :-) God has a plan and we're looking forward to watching it unfold.
We've had a tradition of spending Thanksgiving with a family for the past 4 out of 5 years. Here is everyone during the inevitable "waiting for the turkey to cook" phase of the afternoon.
Yeah, dinner was finally ready. Joel brought a fellow Marine friend. Orin loved the "bread and butter" (can't have bread without butter).
Unlike Orin, Micaiah loves eating with utensils. He's already better at using them than Orin is. Micaiah definitely loves to eat and was really ready for the food.
Here is our "host" family and a happy Micaiah after the meal.
My younger brother Joel is in the Marine Corps and last week he received a promotion to Staff Sergent. Joel has faithfully served our country for almost 8 years now. He's had two tours to Iraq and will be going back next Summer. I'm so proud of him for his hard work and sacrifice. We always knew he was a great Marine, but we are even more convince now after the Colonel who was in charge
of the ceremony talked with us at length about how wonderful Joel was and what a great Marine he was. He went on and on about Joel's talent in his job and that it was an honor to work with him. My mom was able to come up and she and I went to the very nice promotion ceremony. It was at 7Am (so Joel must really know I love him to make it that early!) but was about 1 1/2 hours away - that's without rush-hour traffic which is a nightmare. We figured we'd need to leave by 5am to make it in time. So the night before the ceremony we decided to drive down to Quantico and get a cheap hotel to make sure we made it in time. I'm glad we did! Here are some pictures and a video of the ceremony.
We've really enjoyed getting new books from the library each week for the past few months. It's amazing how many good books there are out there - but I've been even more amazed at how many bad ones there are too! I just wonder how some of them get published. One Orin has enjoyed this week is called "Tub Toys". It's really cute but I think the reason we like it so much is that we can all relate to it!
it's not over. This weekend wasn't so bad. On Saturday and Sunday we did a lot of running around. We needed to shop, plus we just wanted to be out of the house. Our stomach's were a little sore, but we felt much better. Orin also seemed back to himself. Micaiah continued to have pretty bad diarrhea. We had a pretty bad blowout at the mall - yuck. I had to laugh as we're changing him in the back of the car - he's screaming bloody murder and people are looking at us strangely as they walk by. Then, Monday morning Damien work up sick again. No vomiting but water just going straight through him. I went out and did some more errands for much of the day to let him rest in peace. When we got home the kids napped. Orin woke up crying (which is very unusual) and we could tell he didn't feel well. He kept asking us to wipe his mouth. He gagged a couple of times and we knew what was coming. We lined the couch and tried to keep him on it. I game him a Pepto to try to settle him stomach but I think it just helped trigger the overflow. It was everywhere! We let him lay on the couch and watch Barney and a couple of hours later he wanted to eat, was jumping around and seemed to be feeling better. Why can't adults be like that? Why do these types of illnesses seem to be harder on us? This morning we woke up to Micaiah screaming. He had thrown up everywhere and along with the leaking diarrhea it wasn't a pretty site. I feel so bad throwing him into the bath as he's screaming at the top of his lungs. I'm glad Damien was still home to help. :-) I'm also thankful that I'm still nursing so I can comfort him when it's done. I'm staying home today to try to help the kids rest. So much for going to my normal class at the gym. We've disinfected the house multiple times and done more laundry this past week than in a normal month - I just hope it's over soon!
Read more...We can't believe it but we're at 70%! God is awesome. I'm speechless...
Read more...Well, at least I hope it is. It started on Tuesday morning. When we went to get Micaiah out of bed he had thrown up EVERYWHERE. It must have happened sometime during the night since much of it was already dry - a lot of it being in his hair. I washed his hair 3 times but it still smelled - yuck! After throwing up a few more time - on me of course - it seemed to be over. Actually, I'd rather him do it on me rather than the bed or couch or floor. I'm much easier to clean up. Plus, it was just milk. The only thing he wanted to do was nurse. The next couple of days he had a little diarrhea but by Thursday evening, I was starting to relax a little and believe that the rest of us had been spared. Boy was I wrong. Orin decided to throw up Thursday right before bed - this time it wasn't on me but in a pile of toys. I ran out to the grocery store for some crackers, bread, etc.... By 11pm Damien and I were starting to feel a little queasy ourselves. I decided to just eat some crackers for dinner and I'm glad I did. We went to sleep early only to be woken up a couple of hours later. We took turns running to the bathroom - luckily we never overlapped! Damien had it worse than me. I was glad that I had gone to the grocery so we had food to throw at the kids from our bed the next morning. By the time I was able to pull myself out of bed in the late afternoon, the place was a disaster. Food all over the floor. I guess that's what happens when kids have the run of the place! Once the kids went to bed Damien was finally able to sit up some. I went to bed at 11 (very early for me) and Damien slept on the couch - probably good since he hadn't made it to the shower. :-) We're very happy to have woken up this morning mostly back to ourselves. The kids let us sleep in until 9:30! We've disinfected the entire house (which is easy since it's only two rooms) but the laundry will take longer. We were disappointed because we missed the Christmas party for the children's ministry volunteers at church last night. Why does it always seem like we get sick when something special is planned? There is a holiday puppet show/story time at the library this afternoon that we're registered for so it looks like we'll make it to that. We're pretty sure we got the virus from the family we live with who had it last week. Amazingly, this was the first time we've shared an illness. We've been living here almost an year so it's a huge blessing that it hasn't happened until now. We're just praying they don't get it again and we just pass it back and forth. I can't wait to eat!!!
Read more...Yesterday (actually, it was Wednesday, but I forgot to post this!) we got our first snow. When Orin looked out of the window he said "It's not snow, it's just white." But after he went outside he changed his mind. 
I don't really like snow - it cold and makes the traffic horrible - but it's fun to watch the kids discover something new. 
It took almost an hour to get to our MOPS "Birthday Party for Jesus" when it would normally take 25 minutes. When we got home the kids played in the snow for a while. Micaiah didn't seem so sure as he stuck his finger in it.
Since this is our last winter here (and possibly the last winter in a cold environment for a very long time) we're going to try to enjoy the fun part about the snow as much as possible. I'm not sure if Orin thought the lawn mower would help clear the sidewalks. :-)
Do I talk about my kids too much? I read other people's blogs and they actualy have other things to say. I guess I throw in the odd "thought" post now and then but it's usually about the kids. I'm ok with that. They are just so cute and interesting, there is usally nothing more interesting to write about. Yes, every once in a while they are smelly, cranky and even a little annoying, but mostly they are just fun. That being said, I have to brag on Micaiah. First, I'm amazed at how much he understands. I can say just about anything and he'll get it. I don't think Orin was at this point at the same age. In the last two weeks Micaiah has started to use sign language. I've never actually see a kid use sign language before they can talk. Yes, they can understand the signs their parents do, and maybe sign "more", but for the most part I think signing comes with the words. But Micaiah is going crazy with it. He signs "more", "please", "eat", "all gone", "thank-you" and a couple more. I need to look at the book again and teach him some more. It just melts your heard when he says "please." There is almost no way to say no (just ask Mimie who gave him anything he wanted when he did it.) Today it was time for lunch and the boys were getting fussy. Micaiah crawled up to me and started ponting to his mounth (the sign for "eat") over and over saying "e, e, e, e, e". So cute!!!!!!
Here is a video of some of my favorite signs.
So I'm obsessed with posting videos. Pictures are great but I think you can capture a lot more of the moment with the video. I meant to post this when I wrote about Micaiah's birthday.
Well, at 14 1/2 months Micaiah has finally decided to start standing - albeit briefly - on his own. He is very proud of himself when he does it and usually laughs so hard he can't keep from falling. Every once in a while he'll attempt to move a foot, but I still think walking is a little ways off.
Orin is such a sweetie. The child is so affectionate. He loves to just run up to us and give us kisses and hugs. And he LOVES to hold our hands. Almost every time we're in the car he says "Mommy (or daddy) hold my hand. It can get really uncomfortable with our arm stretching to the back seat. We've moved his car seat to the opposite side of the car to make it more comfortable. But even though our arm might be completely stiff by the end of each car trip, it's so worth it. I know this stage won't last forever so I'm trying to enjoy it (pain and all) while it lasts.
Here is a picture of Orin and Damien holding hands.
I held him in my lap during the cut and he did a great job. He seemed a little confused but was pretty cooperative. We also got Orin's hair trimmed. Every time we get his hair cut people ask if it's his first. It was actually his 6th!
Both Orin and Micaiah have their favorite places to be. One of Orin's is the pack-n-play. He LOVES to sleep in it. Every night he goes to sleep in his room with Micaiah but we move him to the pack-n-play in our room when we got to bed so he doesn't get woken up by Micaiah in the morning. Before bed Orin always says, "First my bed, then the pack-n-play." And he always has a big smile on his face when we move him. He also loves to takes naps in it although we usually put him in his bed and have Micaiah sleep in it.
One of Micaiah's favorite places is his booster seat. This child loves to eat. After the meal is done he'll often sit in his seat just for fun. He'll climb in and out, in and out. 
Orin loves the icing but won't eat the cake so Micaiah enjoys polishing it off. The rest of the kids enjoyed them as well. 
I'm also posting some pictures of Micaiah opening his presents from Mimie and Nina.
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