Quick Update

Well, probably not quick. I can't be brief about anything. I usually sit down and tell myself that I'm just going to write a quick update and it ends up being 6 paragraphs! A little about what is going on with us.

Damien working like crazy. In fact, he's at work now for a little while. The project he is working on is called FieldWorks. It's like most software projects in that every so often they have new releases with new features. The deadline was originally a week ago Friday. He's been working on a specific new feature for the past few months. It's something they've been wanting done for a long time, but no one has really had the knowledge to do it. As the deadline came, Damien got more worried that he wasn't going to make it. Starting three weeks ago he was working non-stop. He goes in at 9 (as usual) and was coming home at 9...and working some on the weekends (like today). It's been crazy. The deadline was last Friday - other people weren't going to make the deadline (neither was Damien) so they extended it until next Tuesday. Him working so late wasn't too bad the first two weeks. Nina was here the first week. This week was pretty hard though. Luckily he started coming home a little earlier. It's been a little confusing for the kids. The first few nights when he came home at 9, they just thought it was the normal time. They asked if he was going to go jogging - which is what he usually does when gets home at 6. Damien is such a great dad though. When he comes home for lunch he make sure to get some good playing time in. He's also asked me to keep them up until he gets home. So after 12 hours of work he'll run around with the kids for another 45 minutes and then read to them and put them to bed. I know he's been feeling guilty about not spending as much time with them as he usually does. He's definitely been exhausted. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. They extended the deadline until Tuesday. He really thinks he's going to make it! Thank goodness.

We think we finally found a church. We decided to expand our church hunt to farther away from home. This church is about 30 minutes away. We really wanted to try to stay closer to home, but we'd rather be at a good church than have the convenience of less driving time. The church isn't perfect (what church is?) but the things that are important to us - such as community ministries, preaching, the direction the leadership is taking things - seems to be there. There are many ministries and we're excited to decided what to get involved in. It will also be nice to finally get involved in a community group and meet more people.

Any time Orin sees the number '3' he likes to point it out to us and says, "Look, a 3, and I'm 3!" Yesterday, after saying that he said, "Mom, I'm a C." I wasn't sure what that meant so I asked him. He said, "I'm a C because A-B-C. C is the third letter. When I turn 4 I'll be a D." I thought that was pretty insightful!

A lot has been going on with the adoption since I last wrote in January. I'll write about it in another post because this thing is too long already.

Oh, and just in case anyone has been concerned, since I had that dream about Micaiah's teeth falling out a month ago I've been doing much better at brushing their teeth! I think I've only missed one or two days in the last few weeks and I think a couple of days I we even brushed twice!

Everyone we've met and gotten to know well since we've moved here has moved away. Ok, so it's only been two couples, but still. When we moved here we wanted to sort of "take a break." Things had been so crazy for us and especially the kids for the last two years that we didn't want to jump into too much (such as church groups, extra ministries, MOPS groups, etc...). It's been nice to sort of take a break. Now that we've found a church, things will start getting busy again. The two couples we've met live - well 'lived' - here on the center. Both had kids our kids ages. The first couple moved back to Papua New Guinea in December. Of the kids, Orin's best friend was Adon. Since we've moved here, almost every day Orin and Adon have played. Every afternoon after naps around 4pm we'd all meet outside for about an hour for them to play. Adon's mom and I would hang out and talk while the kids played. Adon is 5 so Orin loved following him around. This week Adon and his family went back to the country they serve in. They are working to translate the Bible for a group of people who don't have it in their language. Orin has been pretty sad about it. This is the first friend Orin has been separated from that he's really been upset about. Micaiah has been disappointed to, and still asks before his nap if he can play with Adon when he wakes up. The hardest part is that we know this is just the first of many. Missionaries are always moving, going on furlough, and changing assignments. I'm sure as the kids grow up, there will be many times that either we or the friends will move. We are just praying that we will have the wisdom to help the Orin and Micaiah figure out how to deal with it in their own way. Below are a few pictures that Adon's dad has taken over the past few months while the kids played. I didn't post any with Adon's face showing because I didn't have a chance to ask if it was ok. There are a bunch of pictures here but there were so many cute ones I'm lucky I got it down to only 8. We'll have a picture of Orin and Adon together in our next newsletter.