So much to catch up on!

It's been too long since I've written. We have been extremely busy. The biggest event that has happened in the past two weeks is that we finally moved into our house. Yay!! Of course, it's sort of laughable seeing that when we moved in, our house consisted of a dining room table, refrigerator, microwave, bed for us and two mattresses on the floor for the boys. Oh, and Sora in her pack-n-play. We're still trying desperately to get settled. Here are a few highlights:

1. Trying to find a couch here has been a nightmare. Since the average Thai man is 5'6" and the average woman 5'1" couches are not made to fit my 6'1" husband! They also like them very hard here. We finally found one that was somewhat "American" sized but although we were told we could order, "hard, medium, & soft" it seems like hard is really the only option. When they delivered the sofa it was like a rock. So, they have promised to have it remade and we'll see how soft it comes out this time. Thank goodness we have our dining room table or we'd be sitting on the floor.

2. We spent 2 weeks fixing all of the things around the house that the construction workers messed it. We had tile with grout all over it, we had scratches on the floors, trash everywhere, clumps of cement on the kitchen tile, leaking faucets, fans that were put up but not actually hooked up to the electricity, etc... Anyway, after a lot of cleaning on our part and hiring another handy man to fix all of these things, we're almost done with that. We just have one more bathroom with three things leaking (the sink, the toilet and the toilet sprayer). Damien is going to try to do that soon. I hope!

3. We're stilling trying to buy the things we need. Beds for the boys, wardrobes (I'm definitely sick of living out of our suitcases), book shelf, etc... But we've reached our max with our budget so we will probably wait on those things. I'm really thankful just be in here and I'm trying to feel comfortable even without all of the "little comforts" I might be used to.

4. I am LOVING that I get to walk Orin to school from our new house. We are able to walk through the Thai school that is between our house and CMIS and it only takes about 7 minutes to get there. I'm trying to take my time and let Orin walk at his own pace - my instinct is to walk as quick as possible but he likes to stroll. :-) I find that I get much less frustrated and we arrive at school much happier. So I'm really trying to make sure we leave on time so we don't have to rush.

5. Speaking of CMIS, I have been so happy with the Kindergarten so far. Wow, they do tons of great activities, there are 4 teachers for 26 kids, and I can tell the teachers know what they are doing. :-) They really cater to kids who are ahead and behind in certain areas - both of which Orin has really benefited from.

6. At the beginning of the semester the teachers did reading evaluations of each student. They used some fancy acronym for the test they used. Supposedly it's very accurate and really good for pinpointing where they kids are. Orin actually tested at a mid-year 3rd grade reading level! I knew that kid read well. The funny part is that his reading comprehension level was only at about the beginning of a 2nd grader. They assured me this was still very advanced for a Kindergartener but actually said that we should try to be giving him books on a 2nd grade level so he would actually comprehend what he reads. Makes sense.

7. It seems that as far advanced as Orin is at reading, his handwriting is that far behind! Ok, so I knew that most kids don't really learn to read in K. We only taught Orin because he kept begging us. But what they do focus on is handwriting. Who knew? Well, maybe I'm the only one who didn't know! Unfortunately they spent the first semester really focusing on it. Since Orin wasn't there (and I'm too bad of a mom to realize I needed to be working with him) his handwriting is NOT where it should be. So, they actually are having him to go to a special teacher 3x/week for him to work on it. So, like I said, he's benefiting from being in the highest reading group and benefiting from the specialized attention he's getting from being behind.

8. He's done pretty well going from never being away from home to being away all day! We did have some days of, "Do I really have to go?" and when Micaiah was sick recently Orin kept telling him to make him sick so he wouldn't have to go to school. I think the hardest part so far has been the other kids. He just doesn't understand that kids are mean. Every time we see a kid in his class he'll say, "She/He doesn't like me. We played one day but today he was mean to me." We're trying to tell him that kids do mean things but it doesn't mean they don't like him. I don't think he's getting it. His best friend seems to be a little girl "Molly" who is actually in 2nd grade but he sees during recess. All he keeps saying is, "What if Molly doesn't want to come to my birthday party!" (his birthday isn't until April!) We've also realized we can't do anything fun during the day. Orin is heartbroken if we do. One day we went to McDonald's and you would have thought we went to Disney World without him. We've tried going places once or twice, but my 4 year old can't seem to keep his mouth shut. So we've promised Orin we won't do anything "fun" without him.

9. I do have to admit that it's soooo hard to be paying for school. Since we always figured we'd be sending him to public school in the US, this isn't something that was on my radar. And although home-school could be possible in the future, it's really not an option right now while I'm trying to learn Thai. And although I would love extra time with Orin I know there is no way I could be giving him what he is getting right now at CMIS.

10. Our house definitely has more mosquitoes than the apartment. Micaiah has so many bites he looks like he has the chicken pox! I've actually be lathering him up with Mosquito repellent before he's gone to bed the last few nights and it seems to be helping.

11. We brought the kids to see their first movie here. Finally they had a animated movie in English! Most US live-action movies they show here are in English with Thai subtitles, but the animated ones are usually dubbed over (much more difficult to do that with live-action). We saw Megamind. There is really only one movie theater here. But it's newer and pretty nice. They have half-price on Wednesdays which is really nice. My favorite part is that when you buy your tickets you actually get a specific seat. So even if it's a really popular movie you can go early, buy your ticket, and then come back right when the movie starts and still have the seat you want! I have to say, next time we will NOT be going for the previews because they were completely inappropriate for a kids movie!

We saw "Megamind" which was the kids' first 3D movie. I think they enjoyed it, but I really don't get it. I'd take a regular old movie any day and not have to wear those glasses!
Sora was happy to stay quiet as long as I kept the snacks rolling in. This girl has a sweet-tooth! I don't think they were cleaning the glasses in between movies, so whoever got her glasses after her was in for a very sticky surprise! I didn't realize this until after we turned them in so next time I'll remember to bring wipes to at least attempt a cleaning. :-)

12. Chiang Mai just got it's first drive-thru! It's McDonald's so it's not that exciting. Especially since McDonald's is expensive here and we don't get it very often. Now, if it were Chick-Fil-A.... Actually, I think it's a little sad. As more and more Western culture comes in, I feel like they lose a little of their own culture.

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The flight...

The flight to Thailand was great. After our trip to Korea in February, we were really dreading it. Our flight to Korea from Dallas had been almost 15 hours long, and after about 12 we were really ready to be off of that plane. So, this time we wanted to split it up as much as possible and take the shortest flights available. We even thought about going through Hawaii. In the end, we flew from New Orleans, to Denver, and then to Seattle. That was a good 8 hour ordeal in and of itself (leaving at 6pm and getting in at 2am our time) and we were so glad we weren't jumping right on the plane to Chiang Mai. We stayed in Seattle for 36 hours to rest and get ready for the long trip.

We flew on Korean Air and since there isn't a direct flight to Chiang Mai, we actually stopped in Seoul. It was strange being there only 7 months after we were there last. Almost surreal. We were dreading the 11 1/2 hour flight but it went so well. The kids did great. God certainly had his hand in the entire thing. It is so nice that Korean Air has individual entertainment systems. The boys watched movies and played games for much of the time. I brought lots of toys this time so they'd have some other options. Sora did really well too. We spent the money to get her a seat because I really didn't want to hold her the entire time...and I knew she'd want some room to stand on the ground and play. All of the flights were completely full so I'm so glad we did that. She slept quite a bit. When we got to Seoul it was about 5 am our time so we were pretty tired. The kids slept for about 4 hours on the plane and were totally wired when we got to Seoul. We had an hour and 1/2 layover. We met another women who I knew at the center in Dallas who was also moving to Chaing Mai. It's funny because she's in our training course and the kids have really just taken a liking to her. I think seeing a friendly face in Seoul gave them some sort of bond to her.

The flight from Seoul to Chiang Mai was a total blur. It was 5 hours long and for us the time was about 5:30am to 10:30am. Suffice it to say, we were dozing much of the trip...and when we weren't sleeping we were zombies. We were most dreading that flight but it really ended up being much better than we anticipated the kids slept much of it thank goodness.

When we got to the airport, 4 guys from Damien's office were there. It was so great, especially since it was about midnight local time. We made it through customs but the customs agent actually made us open all 16 of our bags! We were just happy they didn't want to take anything. The guys were able to pack all of our belonging in two cars and then drive us to where we were staying. Ironically, they picked us up in our car...the one we bought a few months ago.

On a side note, did I mention we had 16 bags! It was insane. It is REALLY expensive to ship things here so it's better just to pay the extra luggage charge. We actually thought we had 14 bags but when we got to the airport to leave we actually had 16...I'm still not sure how that happened!

This is from the first of the four legs of the trip. Flying from New Orleans to Denver on Southwest Air.

Our hotel in Seattle was literally across the street from the airport. Seriously, we walked there one day to find food and it took about 5 minutes!

Taken from our balcony..

Sora sleeping on the plane from Seattle to Seoul. She would start on the arm rest but change positions about a million times. This was was worlds apart from the trip with her back from Korea 7 months ago. I think I spent about 10 of the 12 hours coming back from Korea walking around with her. This time she was mostly all smiles. :-)

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Brief Recap...

So what’s happened over the past few months? Where do I begin. Without going into too much detail I’ll recap where we’ve been.

- July 20^{th -} we left Dallas for good! Over the next 14 days we drove over 60 hours (yes 60 hours in the car with 3 children) to North Carolina, to NOVA and back to North Caroline. We tried to see as many friends and supporters as we could but not as many as we wanted to.

- August 6 - we started a month long cultural training class at JAARS called ICC. We learned a lot about living in another culture and all that comes with that. It was a tough, busy 4 weeks.

- August 27^{th -} we sent the boys to New Orleans for a week to stay with grandparents. Eek! It was a little scary to be away from them for so long but they did great (and so did we) J

- Sept 4^{th -} Damien, Sora and I arrived in New Orleans and reunited with the boys. We spent a whirlwind 16 days putting the remainder of our belongings in a 5x12 storage unit and packing the rest of our bags for Thailand.

- September 16^{th -} we drove to Gulf Shores, AL for a mini vacation with the Daspits.

- September 21^{st -} we said a tearful, difficult goodbye to our family at the airport and got on a plane with 16 bags and flew to Seattle. We spent 36 hours there just resting before our final leg of our trip.

- September 23^{rd -} we left the US and began a 21 hour trip to Chiang Mai. We had a layover in Seoul and it was fun to be back in Sora’s country of birth…if only for a few hours.

- September 24^{th -} at 11:30pm we landed on Thai soil! The 5 hour flight from Seoul was grueling but we made it. Customs was an ordeal in and of itself – the officer made us open all 16 of our bags. But he let us through and we were met by 4 of Damien’s co workers who got took care of us.

- September 25^{th -} at 1am we arrived at the Juniper Tree to spend a week just resting and getting over jet lag. It was much better than I had expected and we all got over it faster than we had expected – and much faster than we did in Korea. But let me tell you, it’s hard to get over jet lag when you have three kids who wake up at 4am and think it’s time to start the day. The Juniper Tree was such a blessing and all we did was rest, read, swim and play with the kids. The accommodations were rustic (I felt like I was camping in a cabin) and we only had two rooms, but all of our meals were provided there (which was probably the best part of it all.) And after a week we were ready to go!

- October 3 - we moved to where we are stay for this month. It’s called D-town Inn. I think it’s sort of a hotel/apartment. I will write a little more about it later, but let me just say it’s not the nicest place we’ve ever lived. But after some DEEP cleaning I think it’s bearable and I’m thankful that we have more room. Lord willing it’s only for a month and then we will finally be “home!”

- October 5^{th -} CLI (Cultural Living Internship) began. It lasts for 4 weeks and we’ll learn how to live in Chiang Mai and also learn more about the work our group is doing in this part of the world. We’re looking forward to it.

The adventure begins (or continues)!

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Things are moving along...

So much has been going on the last few weeks. We've been really busy with trips out of town and trying to start packing up. I mentioned we went to New Orleans two weeks ago. This past weekend we went over to Tyler, TX for a night. My brother is a counselor at Pine Cove all summer and we went to pick up my dad's car. We have so much in storage that we need to move and it's so nice to have an SUV to help us. Otherwise, we'd have to take all of the car seats out of our car every time we wanted to move something.

We purchased a car in Chiang Mai! This is a huge blessing. It's very difficult to find a car there. Not only are they expensive, but anything bigger than a car (that seats more than 5) is very rare. It can often take months to buy one and we didn't want to be stuck in a city with no transportation. In March Damien's boss in Thailand told us about some classifieds to keep our eye on. There is pretty much only one kind of car we could buy that would work for us called a Toyota Avanza. They are only sold in SE Asia so I've never even seen one. It's a small (actually very small) van that seats 7. I noticed one for sale a few weeks ago. It was the first one that had come up since we've been looking in the past three months. I emailed Damien's boss right away who asked someone to go take a look at it. Thankfully they called the seller right away. Because by the time the person went down there (only a few hours after the add came out) the seller had gotten another 5 calls about it! It's so neat how it worked out because the people that went to look at it actually go to church with the sellers. They trust them which gives us a little peace that we're not buying a complete lemon. So now we own a car 10,000 miles away! I'm so thankful that as soon as we get there we'll have transportation. Let's just hope we can quickly learn how to drive on the opposite side of the road!

A lot of people have asked about the political situation in Thailand. I think that things have settled down some. I'm sure it will flare up again at some point before the elections in November. These events happen every once in a while so I don't think what was going on a couple of weeks ago is that unusual. I know in Chiang Mai schools were closed for one day but since then things are back to normal. It won't effect our moving there if things do flare up again.

Sora is completely off the bottle! I'm so happy. The boys never used bottles (which was very deliberate on my part) and I definitely made the right choice. They were such a pain. After a month or so I decided to just go down to two bottles instead of using a bunch during the day and I think it worked better. I'd rather wash a bottle every time she finished it than wait until the end of the day and wash 5! We had gone down from 3 to 2 bottles right before New Orleans. Things were so crazy busy while we were there we ended up missing lots of naps and going to bed so late that we would forgo the bottle. By the end of the week there we just decided not to give her one anymore and she didn't seem concerned about it. I'm so thankful because when she first came she was SOOOOO attached to it. I wondered if we would ever get her off of it. Now she has a Nalgene cup that is her favorite but I just let her use it all day and then we don't need anything before bed. Yay!


Sora got her molars. All of them! When we were driving to New Orleans were in the car and she was crying. I guess I don't look at her mouth open really wide very often and I noticed that she had three molars! She is such a good baby. I mean, I guess I can think back a few weeks to her not being as happy to go to bed (which just meant she fussed a few minutes rather than going right to sleep) but other than that I had no idea. I did notice she had her hands in her mouth often about 3 weeks ago but I kept checking her gums in front and there was nothing. I never thought to check the molars. I totally forgot babies get 1 year molars. She cut the last one a few days ago so I'm so glad to have them behind us. And now she can eat even more food!

A few weeks ago we went to take pictures at JC Penny. Oh, my it was so frustrating! First of all, the photographer was awful. We had her a year ago when we took pictures and I swore I'd never go back. I guess I forgot. I wanted pictures of the three kids together. So we get there and she sits them all down and says, "Ok, smile." Seriously? You tell a 3 and 1 year old to smile. Maybe other kids do that on cue, but mine don't. You got to do something silly. She also totally missed out on a few great pictures because she would wait 2 or 3 seconds after everyone smiled together and then it was over. I don't think we ever got a good one with all three looking. Then we took individual pictures which was just as bad. The boys did really good smiling (although they were fake since she didn't try to make them laugh or anything). But Sora was a disaster. The child won't sit for a second. We'd sit her down and she immediately gets up and runs around. The lady didn't handle that well. Of course, neither did I. I was so frustrated. She probably thought was a really mean mommy. Most of the frustration was at the photographer, but I know I took it out on the kids. I found my self counting to ten quite a few times. I think we'll skip the family pictures for a while.

I look around the house and there is so much to do. Donate stuff. Sell stuff. Bring stuff to Thailand. Store stuff. I've been working on it the past week and I'm making progress. But it still seems like there is so much to do. We're getting rid of a lot. But I still hope we're not keeping too much. I have SO many photo albums...3 big Rubbermaid bins of them. Plus, I have another 3 big bins of my keepsakes from growing up. Damien also has one. Is this crazy? Am I the only person who kept a lot from their childhood? I just can't seem to part with my little awards, report cards, favorite doll, etc...

Orin has been asking so many Theological questions. And some are so hard to answer. He was reading his Children's Bible to me the other day. In the story about Pharaoh and Moses it said that "God hurt Pharaoh and hurt his people. Then he was afraid and let his people go." So Orin asks, "I thought that Jesus never hurt anyone and tells us not to hurt people. And Jesus is God so how did God hurt Pharaoh." How do I answer these questions? Obviously the choice of words in the Bible wasn't the best. But still, these are questions adults struggle with. Orin asks questions like this often. He certainly keeps me on my toes.

The summer reading program at the library is in full swing. They've changed things this year. The boys only have to read (or be read to) 3 hours each weeks. That's nothing. We often do an hour a day. I'm excited to get free tickets to a rangers game the circus and some other fun things that we probably wouldn't do otherwise.

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BIG changes

As I'm sure the few of you who read my blog have already heard, our family will be moving to Thailand in September. When we first felt God calling us to work with SIL we knew moving overseas would eventually be a part of it. It was just a matter of when. In January we were invited to take an assignment in Chiang Mai.

We are really excited. We truly believe this is where God whats us to be. Where he wants our family to be. I am so looking forward to spending time volunteering at a orphanage there. Damien will be doing the work he has always dreamed of. There are so many positive aspects. But there are sacrifices as well. Moving so far from family being the biggest. We don't necessarily live close to them now, but Thailand is quite a bit farther. :-) Our plan is to serve two year terms and be back for six month furloughs. And hope that maybe we'll convince family to visit some in between.

Our plan is to move at the end of September to be there in time for a month-long orientation in October. But so much has to happen before then. In May we will travel to New Orleans for my sister's graduation and to speak in a few churches. In July we will travel to VA and NC to visit partners and churches there. During the month of August we will be in NC at another training course to prepare us for living overseas. We come back to Dallas at the beginning of September to hopefully secure our visas and Sora's passport and then move some things down to New Orleans. Then, we'll fly out around September 25th. After orientation in October we'll have 6 months of Thai language study. Phew, makes me tired just writing it.

One thing we've been so amazed at is how God's hand has been so apparent throughout this entire process. From Damien being able to get a visa sponsor to do the work he wants to do, to being invited to work specifically in Chiang Mai, to having friends who are very interested in buying our car when we leave. But our most recent "miracle" has been in regards to Sora's adoption. We have always known that we couldn't finalize her adoption in the US for 6 months after she got home. Her homecoming being so delayed really made things difficult. She came home on February 25th meaning we could finalize August 25. This would give us only 1 month to get her birth certificate and passport and visa. Her passport and visa could be gotten in one day, but expediting her birth certificate would take about a month. Talk about cutting it close! It's really hard to know what date to buy plane tickets for when you don't exactly when the BC would be coming. And if it didn't come in time, and we missed orientation in October, we could possibly have to wait a year to move to Thailand. If that happened, we knew that would be God's plan, but it still made it hard for us to make any type of plan. So, our social worker here in Texas told us we cold just finalize early. No problem. People do it all of the time. She called our adoption agency in New York in early March and they told her NO WAY. We couldn't do it even one day before August 25th. So we really didn't know what to do. Do we plan to go in September and then just pray that all of the timing works out? Do we just wait a year? When we contacted our lawyer (we have to have a lawyer to finalize because it is done in a court) she again talked about finalizing early. We told her it wasn't possible and our agency wouldn't budge. Well, she called them anyway. And last week she called and said the finalization was scheduled for July 12th? I was so confused. Part of the problem was that she talked to Damien when I wasn't home. I finally got back in touch with her and confirmed the amazing news! She talked to our agency and they had somehow changed their minds and agreed to that date...6 weeks early! That means we should get her birth certificate by mid-August which is plenty of time to get the other paperwork we need. Seriously, that could only have been God. These next few months will be stressful and we're so thankful we don't have to worry about this aspect of it.

So many things have to fall in place before we move. One of the biggest aspects is having the funds we need to actually get there and set up a home. We covet your prayers over the next months as we prepare the kids, prepare ourselves, pack up or lives here and travel all over the US. We feel God's presence and know He will be upholding us through it all.

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The pros and cons

Well, as I mentioned before, we had to move in early January. We live here on the SIL center. There are very few apartments and only two 3-bedroom apartments. When we tried to renew our lease back in October, we were told that someone had already signed a lease on our apartment for February 2010. We were shocked. We couldn't believe that they would just let someone rent our apartment without asking if we wanted to renew. Well, come to find out, they had signed the lease back in October 2007. So, just to clarify, they signed a lease in 2007 to move into our exact apartment in February 2010. Talk about planning ahead! I guess they knew they'd be coming home on furlough. So, our choices were to move into a three bedroom off of the center, a two bedroom right next door, or a three bedroom mobile home on the center but was smaller in size than the two bedroom apartment. So, we chose the two bedroom next door. One reason was because it was an easier move. No need to pack boxes or rent a moving van. Another was that it is cheaper than the three bedroom off center. So as soon as we got back from Christmas we got the key and started the move. It took from Tuesday to Saturday and a whole lot of walking back and forth but we got it done. It's amazing how much you can move with just a laundry basket and a stroller. I sure did get a lot of exercise that week. We would have been done sooner but we lost an entire evening Friday night after Orin decided to vomit all over the living room of our new apartment. Fun! We spent all day Sunday cleaning the old place from top to bottom. Monday we had our walk through and turned in our key! If you have to move, that sure is the way to do it. It was nice to just unpack everything as we moved over. No boxes all over the places. Both apartments are furnished so we didn't really have much furniture to move. And the best part of that everything that was in 1200 sq. ft. 3 bedroom fit into our 850 sq. ft apartment. I couldn't believe it. So I made a list of pros and cons of our new place.

Pros:
1. Only one bathroom - less to clean!
2. Even though there is one less bedroom Orin and Micaiah's room is bigger than in the other apartment.
3. The kitchen is right by the den so I feel closer to everyone while I cook.
4. A bigger foyer which means we don't get so clogged up when we all walk in and take off our shoes.
5. I have the exact same old washer from the '80s but dryer is pretty new. It's so nice not having to run three 45 minute cycles to dry clothes. It also means that I'll be able to dry my cloth diapers once Sora comes! Yeah!
6. We have a cool, old green lazy boy chair in the den...never had one of those before!
7. We actually have more counter space in the kitchen which makes cooking easier.
8. I like the furniture in this place better than in the other apartment.
9. We have broken two of Orin's really bad habits. First, for the past year, every single night around 3am he would come into our bedroom. It stared with the whole Green Monster issue but he never stopped doing it. We just left his sleeping bag on our floor so he wouldn't disturb us. Well, we've been living here for about 4 weeks and he hasn't once come in our room! Secondly, the kids have both been going to sleep so well. We would often have Orin sleep in our room on school nights since Micaiah would often make lots of noise and play before finally settling down. It's so nice to have them in their beds every night.
10. I actually like being close to my family since it's a pretty small space. We're all together all of the time. No one can disappear into another area of the house for hours at a time. It feels so cozy.
11. More coat hooks on the wall!

Cons
1. Having only one bathroom can be problematic when you have two little boys who can't "hold it" and one little boy who takes 20 minutes minimum to use the bathroom.
2. Our room is pretty cramped with Sora's crib in there. We're also going to have to figure out what to do with her once she's old enough to be out of our room. Not sure there is room in Orin and Micaiah's room for a crib.
3. We had a nice extra room (den) in our old place that we used as a play room. We had to fit all of their toys into their room. But amazingly, it all fit! And it actually turned out well because we got rid of some stuff we didn't need.
4. The biggest con by far is that the dining room table is practically in the den and on CARPET! This is not good with two young boys. Even the chairs have fabric. We've reverted back to sippy cups for any drink besides water. I really don't want a big purple stain because someone spilled grape juice on the carpet. And I found two perfect chair covers at the boutique for their chairs It's worked perfectly so far.

One corner of the den looking to the kitchen. Notice the carpet - ugh.

The foyer looking into the den.

Not the best picture because their eyes are closed, but here is Micaiah and Daddy enjoying the recliner and Saints blanket.

If you look on the dining room table you'll see two bowls. We've gotten into the habit of setting the kids breakfast out the night before so that if they are hungry when they get up (especially if they get up early) they can just eat and we can stay in bed. :-) We always put out a "Mama Banola Bar" and maybe some cereal.

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Just a bit about what's been going on around here....

On September 19th, Micaiah's 3rd birthday he started preschool. I love the way the preschool here on the center works. Instead of every child starting in the new class at the beginning of the year, each child goes into the next class when they have their birthday. So, Orin moved from Mrs. Sherri's class (the 3 year old class) to Mrs. Lark's class (the 4 year old class) last April 3rd. And Micaiah was able to start Mrs. Sherri's class when he turned three last month. I think this works great because adding only one kid at a time keeps the class running smoothly instead of having all new kids at a time. Ever since Orin started school a year ago, Micaiah could not wait to go to Mrs. Sherri's class. He talked about it often and loved to talk to Mrs. Sherri whenever we would pick Orin up. So I knew that when he turned 3 we just had to let him go. And let me tell you, the kid LOVES it. He's only going two morning's per week but he looks forward to it all week. It's amazing how different he is from Orin when he first started at 3 1/2. Orin still lived in his own little world. I don't think he was really engaged with much that was going on in class. Because of that, school has been great for him. But Micaiah is pretty much completely opposite. He takes it VERY seriously. He is totally into every aspect of the day...from circle time, to the singing, to craft time, to the listening station, etc. There are only about 5 other kids in his class usually, so he really gets great teacher time. I'm so glad he is getting this opportunity.
So, now that this is Orin's last year of preschool before Kindergarten, we thought it would be fun for him to go to school three mornings per week. Unfortunately, with Micaiah going too, it's more expensive than we can afford right now. So I'm now working at the school on Friday's. I'm so thankful that they had an opening for a "helper" in one of the classes. Even better, I get to help in Orin's class. It's been really great. The best part is that he is SO thrilled that I'm there. The only problem I have is that he wants me to play with him the entire time. I'm still trying to get him to understand that I have to be the teacher for all of the kids...not just him.

Mainly Music started up again. It's such a great program. Micaiah and I go on Mondays while Orin is at school. It's about 45 minutes of singing and dancing together and then time for the mom to talk while the kids have a snack and play. Even better it's a ministry of a nearby church so it only cost $1 each time we go. I pick up a friend and her son on the way and we all have a blast together. I'm looking forward to including Sora when she comes home...but I'm not sure how Micaiah is going to feel about it since he definitely enjoys his time alone with mommy.

We enrolled the kids in Awana this year. It's sort of fun because they are both in Cubbies and get to be together. It's at the same church I go to for Mainly Music. It's a huge Awana program (probably about 100 kids) with amazing volunteers. But the BEST part (and pretty much the main motivation for us putting them in Awana in the first place at this young age - but don't tell anyone) is that Damien and I get 2 whole hours of time alone each week. This is a serious treat. We don't live around family so in order to go out we either have to hire a baby sitter (which just makes date night that much more expensive) or trade off with friends. This works ok sometimes, but it's hard to do it on a regular basis. So every Sunday night we get a free date night while the kids learn Bible verses and just have a plain 'ole good time. You can't beat that! I do find it sort of strange though because the verses for the cubbies are so easy! For example, Romans 3:23 is "All have sinned." I guess they want to make the kids feel like they can succeed. It's just funny because we've been memorizing scripture for a while. We're not incredibly consistent, and we have only done about 7 verses, but I think Orin and Micaiah are sort of confused by the way these AWANA verses are.

So we found out a few weeks ago that we are getting kicked out of our apartment. Our lease is up January 1st, and we can't renew it. When we tried to renew the lease were told another family had already signed one to move into this apartment in February. It was very frustrating. We know that our lease states that they don't have to ask us if we want to renew before signing someone else, but we really felt that it's just something nice they could do. Plus, we were renewing like 6 months in advance. Well, I think she felt sorry for us (we mentioned that it's was going to be really difficult to move because Sora will be coming right around that time) and she actually emailed the family to ask if they would be willing to move to a different apartment close by. Well, they wrote back and said no. But come to find out, they signed the lease back in November of 2007! Can you believe that? They signed the lease in Nov. 2007 to move into this apartment in February 2010. We didn't even sign our first lease to move in until June 2008. I guess they knew they would be coming in on furlough and wanted this apartment. So, it actually made us feel better. This was already decided before we even moved in. But then we had to decide what to do. I LOVE where we live. Damien walks to work. We're right across the street from the preschool. It's perfect for me. But there are no other 3 bedroom apartments available. So, that left us with either a 2 bedroom, right next door, a 3 bedroom mobile home. The 3 bedroom mobile home is actually smaller (less sq ft.) than the 2 bedroom so we're going with the 2 bed. I think it's funny that we're adding an extra child but moving into a smaller apartment. Harder than going one less bedroom will be going form 1200 to 850 sq ft. It's ok though. We don't mind being "close"to each other and it's a good excuse to get rid of toys and other junk. Moving date is another confusion. We can move any time in the month of January. So, if Sora comes in December, we'll move the last week in January, but if she doesn't come until the second week of January or later, we'll move the first week of January before she gets here. I'm just thankful that the housing department is being flexible with us!

I've been having so much fun getting clothes for Sora at thrift stores. After getting a few things there as well as picking up quite a bit from the boutique, getting hand-me-downs from friends, and also getting some sweet gifts, I already have plenty of clothes for her when she first comes home. I have definitely been enjoying picking out all of the girl clothes. Even more than I thought I would. Now I just can't wait until she gets here to wear them!

For the first time in four years, I have one morning during the week to myself - with no kids. After a lot of debate (mostly with just myself), and prayer, I decided that I wanted to volunteer somewhere. It was such a difficult decision. There are so many great places that need help. But seeing that I only have a few hours, one morning a week, my options were somewhat limited. Our church partners with a great ministry in West Dallas called Brother Bill's Helping Hand. West Dallas is the 11 poorest neighborhood in the US (behind 9 neighborhoods in Chicago and 1 in LA). There are quite a few ministries in West Dallas that are doing amazing things. Brother Bill's is not only a food bank, they build relationships, have Bible studies for women in the neighborhood, teach English classes, give job training courses, etc... Each Wednesday & Thursday is the "grocery store" time where families come and can "shop" from the food in the warehouse. Over 150 families are served each week. I work during the grocery store time and either help in the warehouse while the shop or work as a greeter (which means that I meet with the person/family and talk about what is going on in their life and pray with them.) I'm really enjoying getting out and having a ministry of my own apart from my "first" ministry which right now being a mom. I probably won't be able to continue doing it once Sora comes, so I'm trying to make the most of my time now.

One of my mom's friends told me about this great curriculum called Five In A Row. Basically it's a list of about 25 books and with each book there are different lesson plans covering Social Studies, Language, Art, Applied Math, and Science. You read the book five times (once each day) and discuss different aspects of the book each time using the lesson plan. It's been really fun. I've been renting each book from the library and it only takes about 5 minutes to prepare. What kid doesn't like to read a book over and over... I actually got Before Five In A Row which is for 2-4 year olds because I thought it would be better for Micaiah. The poor kid is always having to read books over his head and past his age because of Orin.

I had my wisdom tooth removed on Friday. I have all of my wisdom teeth but figured I'd wait to have them taken out if they started causing me problems. Although it's unlikely for them to erupt after age 25, one of mine decided to do so in January. I was 30 at the time so I thought I was totally in the clear. It wasn't causing me too much trouble, and was only partially out, but things were a bit crowded back there and the dentist was concerned that I would be able to brush it and get it clean enough which would make it at risk for cavities as well as put all of my other teeth at risk. We're so blessed to have a dentist office here on the center. Multiple dentists volunteer during the week and we are able to have our teeth cleaned for a very small cost. One of the dentists that comes once a week can do teeth extractions. He also volunteers with an organization in Dallas that ministers to the homeless by extracting rotten teeth that are giving them pain. So, he has TONS of experience. Anyway, he gave me a couple of shots to numb me up and had the tooth out in less than a minute. It cost $37 for everything! What a blessing. I'm pretty surprised how easy that was and how little it's hurt or been sore. Now I'm just ready for it to heal so I can eat on both sides of my mouth again!

We've been sick forever. Orin started with a cough about two weeks ago. Then Micaiah got it, and then me. Sore throat, coughing, muscle aches, etc. But no fever. I don't feel horrible, but I don't really feel good. It's been two weeks we're ready to be done with it. We've kept the boys out of school once or twice, skipped an activity here are there, but it's hard to just stop everything. Plus, I'm sick of the looks I get from people when they hear my kids hacking up a storm at the grocery store. But, I'd feel the same way. :-)

Tomorrow is the last day of a week-long conference Damien has been going to. It's being held about 10 minutes away from our house at a retreat center. Almost everyone actually stayed at the center for the entire week. Damien asked if he could stay at home so that he would not have to be away from us for a week. I mean, how annoying would that be? Damien being 10 minutes away but not being able to see him for a week. :-) It's been a good conference for him. He gave two presentations which were both really well received. Now he's just glad it's over with. And I'm glad that I won't have to drop him off at 7:45am if I want to have a car for the day!

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Eventful Year

This year has definitely been one of the busiest years since we were married. We've certainly never lived in so many states in one year. In my mind the year was split into 'thirds'.

The first third of the year we were still in Virginia continuing to live with some gracious friends in their basement. We spent much of our time final time there speaking at churches and groups trying to get to 100% support. In March, Damien gave notice at work letting them know he would be resigning.

In April we moved about half of our belongings to New Orleans to live with family. We spent our summer trying to raise the rest of our support and soaking up as much family time as possible. Damien and I left the kids overnight for the first time ever and celebrated our 10th anniversary (even though it wasn't until January 2) in Jamaica. In August, we headed back to Virginia to be commissioned from our church, pick up the rest of our belongings, and head to Texas.

In September, we made it to Dallas, Texas! After two years of prayer and planning, we were finally taking our first assignment as missionaries. We also started the process of adoption. We ended the year by spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in New Orleans with family.

We feel like our poor kids have been through so much change - at least more change than most kids go through in a year. By God's grace we made it through in one piece. And I think as a family we're closer because of it. Although 2009 probably won't be quite as eventful, we are looking forward to the plans God has for us. Will we finalize our adoption and bring a new child into our family? Will we have more of an idea of if, when, and where we might have an overseas assignment? We're looking forward to find out!

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We're Here!

Ok, yes, we've been here for almost 2 weeks, but now that we're settled I finally have a chance to write. The commissioning in VA was wonderful. Damien and I both got a little emotional. I guess it was just the culmination of two years of work, prayer and anticipation. We spent a week visiting with partners, packing and organizing. We were so blessed to have Damien's sister Christina fly up to help watch the kids. We packed everything up and left VA on August 31st. We drove about 6 hours south to Morehead City, North Carolin to visit my brother Aaron for a few days. We just hung around on Labor Day and had a cook-out. We spent two days at the beach. The first day we went out on his catamaran. We had a ton of fun until the end of the day when we were about to come back in. We were close to the intercoastal which lead out to the ocean. Suddenly we lost our wind and started getting sucked out into the ocean. The water was pretty rough and one side of the boat was taking on water. I was getting a little nervous as we were getting farther and farther out. We all had life vests on but still...with the current so strong there was no way we could have swam to shore. Thankfully there were still some boats out. We were able to flag one down and have them pull us into shore. They even let us get on their boat since half of ours was underwater from taking on so much water. From North Carolina we had two long days of driving. The first day we were on the road for about 12 hours. Birmingham was about half way so we stopped and stayed the night with some friends. We were up early the next morning to drive the additional 12 hours to Dallas. We stopped in Ruston, LA to meet up with my mom and Emily who joined our "caravan" and then in Shreveport, LA to meet up with Christina's husband Rob. We were hoping to be able to pick up our car from the shop while we were there but ironically, when the glass shop received the new window to install in our car, it was broken! We got to Dallas around 9pm on Friday. I was really excited and a little anxious to see our apartment. We hadn't been able to see it so we had no idea what it would be like. I was relieved and happy when we walked in. Even though it's an old apartment, there was new carpet and new vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms. So it totally feels clean (and that's the most important part for me). The kitchen opens to the living room (something I've always wanted) and there is a separate laundry room. Even better is that there is an extra room (a den) that I wasn't expecting. It looks like they added it onto the porch area because between the living room and den there are windows. It's pretty funny. I think I have more closet space here than anywhere I've ever lived which is surprising since the apartments are over 35 years old. We actually have a friend from VA who grew up as a Wycliffe MK whose parents lived in the apartment next door when she was born. After living with other people for almost two years, it's been almost strange to just have our family here. But it's been SO nice. Damien's happy to not have to wear shorts all of the time and I think the kids really are excited that it's OUR house. For the past two years we've lived at "Joshua's house", "Mimie's house", "Nina and Pop's house" or "Skye's house." Orin loves calling it "our" house. As well as saying "my room." The center (which is called the "International Linguistic Center") has tons of trees and plenty of place to walk around with the kids. There is a preschool on the center, right across the street from our apartment. It's only open in the morning until 12:45pm, so we can use the huge outside play area any time after that. Orin will be starting preschool in the 3 year old class. He's so excited although sometimes he says, "You're coming to school with me mom, right?" The preschool is licensed by the state and it looks like they do a lot of great activities. Today I took Orin for his check-up (which is required before starting). Micaiah was also due for his two year check-up. There is a clinic right on the center. We actually walked to it! They can write prescriptions, and do physicals. It's awesome. Orin wasn't excited go (he thought he would have to get shots even though I told him he wouldn't). He kept telling everyone there that he wasn't sick. He kept the Doctor on his toes by talking nonstop and asking him questions such as, "What is your favorite color," "Where is your house," "What is that?" I do have to take the kids somewhere else for vaccinations, but that's no big deal. Damien started working on Monday. It takes him about 3 minutes to walk to his building. He is really excited about some of the projects he might get to work on. The hardest part for him is going from being the "expert" which he was in his old job, to being the new person who doesn't know anything about what is going on. Other things we've done since driving here is drive to Monroe, LA to pick up or car, drive it back to Dallas and put it into a body shop, get all of our DMV stuff done, found a good ice cream shop, put our extra furniture in storage (our apartment is furnished), and unpack the house! I've so enjoyed having my own kitchen again. We made homemade ice cream last night, I've got bread cooking in the bread machine right now, and we're looking forward to making Micaiah's birthday cake tomorrow. It still hasn't settled in yet that we're actual missionaries. I have a feeling that it may not happen until we go overseas. Because we're a non-profit, grocery stores can donate their extra food to us and can write it off. So in the mornings they come and give out food (mostly bread, fruit, and vegetables). I just need to get on the ball and get out of bed to make it in time. I know there is more to write about, but this is probably already too long. Everyone may have stopped reading by now anyway I should end here. God has really blessed us and we're so happy to be here - finally!

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DMV - Texas Style

Isn't everything supposed to be bigger in Texas?...maybe they meant to say everything is more difficult. Well, at least when it comes to registering your car and getting a Driver's License. This is the 5th state I've lived in and this was definitely the most difficult and time-consuming. First of all, you have to go to two different places to get your driver's license and car registration - there is not such thing as the DMV. In order to get your DL, you first have to get your car registered. And you can't register your car until you get an inspection. Sounds easy enough. Since the Mazda is in Monroe, LA, were just going to register the Elantra so that we could get a DL and go back with the Mazda later. When we get to the Tax Office - which strangely enough is where you register your car - there is a form that clearly states that "if your car is in another state you can register it by saying that you've inspected the car and it is in good condition." Another form says the same thing. So after standing in line for about 20 minutes we decided to get out and run home (30 min round trip) to get the title of the Mazda so we can register it too. Well, finally it's our turn to register and the woman comes back and tells us that the supervisor told her it was just for students and military. We had filled out multiple forms and nothing stated that on them. Damien talks to the supervisor who refuses to really "talk" about it and in the end just says that the forms must be wrong. We still want to look up the code to read more about it. Anyway, so at least we got the Elantra registered so we could get our DL. We head to the Department of Public Safety (which is where you get your DL). We go through the line where they check to make sure you have the correct documents. The lady asks about our insurance coverage. (how much liability per accident, person or bodily injury). Well, we have no idea. All it said was that we had to have proof of insurance. In all the times we've had to have proof in insurance, we've never had to say "how much" before. So they won't let us through until we can prove we have enough. So we head back home - another 30 minute round trip drive. I find the explanation of coverage. Unfortunately, it's for the Sept 12-Mar. 12 months - I guess in the moving I never filed the one for Mar-Sept - so we're just praying they don't notice that it's not quite the right dates. Fifteen more minutes in line and the document checker woman lets us through. Twenty more minutes of waiting and we're both at the counters to get our DL. Yea. I go through the entire process and right at the end the woman says "I'll be right back." Great, this can't be good. Five minutes later she comes back with a police officer - who ends up just being her supervisor. He asks me about my Birth Certificate. It is a pretty bad copy but it has a raised seal and more importantly, it's the one I've used for EVERYTHING since I was born. In face, I had just used it about three months ago when I got a Louisiana DL without any proof of insurance or my car being registered in LA. Anyway, after talking for a couple of minutes he tells me they won't accept it and I'll have to order another one from LA and come back. AHHH. I came close to crying and somehow made it out without being rude. Obviously a Birth Certificate that has worked in 4 other states as well as for the federal government to get both a personal and diplomatic passport (as well as identification for a background investigation) isn't good enough for Texas. I go to the car to wait for Damien to finish - also so everyone won't see me tear up - for some reason I always get emotional in the situations. I'm looking at the form I'd filled out and I notice something about a passport. Duh, you can use a passport for identification too - why didn't anyone ask me about that? So I run back in, stand in line again, and ask if I can use a passport instead of a birth certificate. So I run home (another 30 minutes) drop Damien off and grab my passport, and make it back by 4:45pm (they close at 5pm). Show my passport (again to the document checker person), get a number and wait another 20 minutes. Finally to the front and ironically get the same woman I did the first time. The police man was still there and seemed happy that I was able to work it out - although he did suggest I still order a new birth certificate. I was tempted to tell them that I used that same birth certificate to get the passport I was showing them right now, but I'm not much of a trouble-maker. The woman said she didn't ask about the passport because people usually get offended as if she's questioning their citizenship. That seemed silly. Of course, I was the last person in there. But I had my DL (or at least the temporary one until they send mine in the mail). Then I was off to to the grocery store to finally do some real shopping - boy, talk about pricey when you have nothing in your pantry or fridge!

Yesterday I had another long day of driving. My mom took me to Monroe to pick up our car. We had hoped it would be ready last Friday as we were driving through, but ironically, when the glass store received the new window that they were going to put in, it was somehow already shattered. They wouldn't be able to get a new piece until Monday or Tuesday. It was ready Monday evenings so we drove the 4 hours to Monroe (plus an additional 45 minutes for lunch with Ryan) and got the car. The windows look good - at least like they did before. I drove another 4+ hours back (got stuck in traffic this time) and got home around 9pm. Today I'm going to take it to get inspected (so we can register it) and then to the body shop to repair the dent from the branch. We still have some other errands to do and changes to make, but I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Most of the boxes are unpacked. We're home - at least for now.

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Casualty of Gustav

The only thing worse than your car being damaged when you left it in New Orleans during a hurricane is evacuating it 5 hours away (technically 8 because of traffic) and it being damaged there - when it probably would have been fine in New Orleans. Even worse is not actually being there and wondering if you could have prevented it - and on top of that feeling bad that other people have to deal with the mess. As hurricane Gustav began to present a danger to New Orleans, we were flying to VA to pack up the rest of our belongs (about 1/3 of what we own we had moved to New Orleans when we lived there for 4 1/2 months). If you've ever evacuated from a hurricane, you know that the most important things to take are the sentimental things - those that can't be replaced. It's a stressful time as people have to determine what those items are, pack them up, board up their house, find a place to stay, and fight traffic to get there. So you can imagine how bad we felt that on top of that, they had to worry about taking a few of our belongings that we wouldn't want destroyed (mainly our computer, our filing cabinet with important papers, my baby books & calendars and baby boxes that have special memory items such hospital bracelets, foot prints, etc... as well as a few other small items). Uncle Rob and my dad were wonderful to pack up these things into our car. My parents took it with them up to Monroe, LA - the rest of our "stuff" left in New Orleans. If it was destroyed I was emotionally ready (I think) that it wouldn't be a big deal - God would provide more if we needed - it's just "stuff". The storm hit early Monday morning - thankfully weaker than expected and New Orleans was spared for the most part. Although you don't hear much about the people just west of New Orleans who did get hit and have a long recovery ahead of them. Anyway, all that to say, I was already feeling bad about the extra work our families had to do to evacuate our things. So when my dad called Tuesday morning, I was shocked when he said that some tree limbs had fallen on our car putting a large dent in the side above the window and completely shattering the back window. Since it was raining at the time water got in the back as well as broken glass all in the car. So for about 30 seconds I was feeling sorry for myself. I don't think it was much because of the car being messed up, but because of the extra work it would be during our move. But then I came to my senses and remembered God was in control and everything would work it. And from that point on, we've been amazed at how many people have worked to get it fixed. Our insurance agent at first said that it could be weeks before it could even get looked at, but about 6 hours later my dad called and said the B family who's house they were staying at when it happened had a friend who was a State Farm agent. They took it to the agent, who opened the claim and estimated the amount of price for the damage. They then took it to a glass shop down the street. They ordered the class on Tuesday, and amazingly it might be ready tomorrow (Friday). Even more amazing is that we drive right through Monroe on Friday on our way to Dallas. If everything works out we may be able to stop and pick up our car on our way. Otherwise, we'll have to drive back from Dallas next week sometime. Once we get to Dallas we'll find a shop to fix the body damage. For having the extent of damage that we did, we've been blessed at how people have helpped and worked to get it fixed.

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Leaving VA

After 5 ½ years living in Northern Virginia (affectionately called NOVA by residents), it’s strange to be leaving. When we moved there we expected to be there for the rest of our lives. We’ve made so many wonderful friends and interestingly, the large majority of our supporters are from that area. Damien loved his job, we loved our church, and owned a home. There are amazing schools, museums and actives at our fingertips. And although it will be difficult to leave many of these things, knowing that we are following the plan God has for our lives is making it much easier. Of course, right now we’re home with family and I know it hasn’t hit me yet. I have a feeling as soon as we get to Dallas it will begin to sink in. I’ve been keep a list of things I’ll miss and things I won’t – both having to do with the area as well as our living situation of the past 15 months. This is certainly not exhaustive.

What I’ll Miss:

1. Great friends! God brought so many godly couples and friends into our lives. They have all made an impact in our lives.
2. Weekly lunch dates with Maggie, Skye and JB.
3. Our Bible Study of 3 years with the Baileys & Eniolas.
4. Reston Bible Church, our home shepherd group, and the ministries we were involved in.
5. I’ll miss having so little to clean as our home was only 2 rooms and 1 bathroom.
6. Late date nights with Damien. One of the perks of living with another family is that once the kids go to bed it’s easy to go out for a late night date without inconveniencing the other family. The couple we lived with enjoyed this perk as well!
7. VERY cheap rent! (at least for the past 16 months)
8. A nice, affordable gym close by with a great kids play area and really nice people to care for the kids while I worked out.
9. Milwaukee Frozen Custard (When I was pregnant with Micaiah we must have there (and often walked) at least 3 times a week.)
10. Japur Indian Restaurant. Maggie and I went there with the kids often for lunch. It was a nice place with an AWESOME buffet and they were so great to put up with us toting 4 kids.
11. Other restaurant we frequented – Guapos, Old Country Buffet, 5 Guys, etc...
    
12. Having other people in the house. Although Jill worked three days out of the house, it was nice to have someone around – even if just to have a short conversation.
13. Our Doctors – we loved our Doctors and the kids pediatrician.
    

What I Won’t Miss:

1. Living in a small, two room space.
2. Having our bed in our living area. (which also served as a playroom and eating area.)
3. Eating on TV trays. Although we could use the dining room upstairs the W’s kids were usually in bed by the time we ate dinner so it was difficult to not wake them up.
4. Living in such a wealthy area. NOVA (northern Virginia) was a beautiful area with great schools and lots of recreational programs. But because of that, money was definitely a huge priority for people. It drove much of life for those who live there. So, in that sense, not so great. Plus, EVERYTHING was just really really expensive!
5. Loosing sleep. We and the W family were on such different scheduled. Their kids went to bed at 7 and got up at 6am. Ours went to bed at 9:30 and got up at 9am. Being in the basement, we heard every footstep upstairs. The W’s were great at trying to keep their kids quite until we got up – but there is just so much you can do. It was also stressful to keep our kids quiet after theirs went to bed – as well as keep any middle-of-the-night crying to a minimum.
6. Driving forever just to get anywhere. Because it was such a huge area, church, work, friends, etc. were all in different directions, spread out across the city.
7. Winter! I don’t like the cold, but when you throw kids into the mix – taking an extra 15 minutes to get out the door because of the extra layers you have to put on – there is a whole extra dynamic that I don’t like about it.

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New Bed For The Boys

We must be crazy, but we decided that since we're moving and transitioning anyway, it was time to get Micaiah out of his crib. Might as well do everything at once, right? So we decided to just put both boys into a full-sized bed together. As we travel to visit supports and churches, we figure the kids may end up sleeping in the same bed often, so we might as well get them used to it now. Mimie happened to have a mattress, box spring and bed frame that she was given and will never use. Yeah! We bought a set of train sheets - not a surprise if you read about Orin's birthday - and they were really excited. The first few evenings were a little rough. Micaiah was restless; moving around a lot and just trying to get comfortable in the new sleeping arrangements. And Orin would just start crying because Micaiah was "moving" and "talking." As we left the room the first night we thought everything might be ok, but about 3 minutes later, we hear a door open and shut, hear little footsteps, see Micaiah come around the corner, and with a big grin he says, "HI!" After some crying Damien laid down with them for about 20 until they fell asleep. The next few nights went about the same, but two nights ago we left the room after the normal bedtime routine and didn't hear a peep. Last night went well too, so we're hoping we're getting into a routine.

Above is Micaiah taking his first nap in the bed. He's done amazingly since he's only ever slept in a crib or pack-n-play until now. Orin naps in another room to make things easy. Below is a short video from the first night right before bed.

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Fun With Aunt Emily

The week before we moved my parents went to Paris for 8 days so we had the privilege of having my sister Emily stay with us for about 10 days. Wow, what a HUGE blessing. I don't think I would have gotten everything done without those extra hands to take care of the kids. We had a lot of fun with her and Orin really seemed to get attached. But who wouldn't! Here are some fun pictures...

What a great book-reader!

Aunt Emily had great YouTube skills - she found lots of fun train, airplane, music videos along with many other pretty strange and interesting things to keep Orin entertained.
Keeping Micaiah happy while I packed more boxes.
One of the best parts about having an aunt is all of her fun clothes to play dress-up with!

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Settling In

Wow, I can't believe it's been ten days since I've posted. We've been quite busy. Actually, before Damien came things were pretty laid back. There wasn't much to do but lay around. It was pretty nice. I got a "vacation" pass at Jazzercise so I could work out a little. I finally found a gym here on the west bank that actually provides day-care. There aren't many around here that do. I think I'll try to get a three month pass starting next week. With all the wonderful (and fattening) food we've been eating I'll definitely need to exercise. I've found that I miss it too. Damien finally made it in last Sunday afternoon. I know he was very relieved to get here. His trip was pretty miserable. The seat in the U-haul would go back far enough so he spent sixteen hours sitting too close to the accelerator (with no cruise-control) which was pretty painful for his ankle. The CD player wasn't working either which rendered the book on CD that he had brought pretty useless. In Knoxville (almost half-way home) he stopped at Wal-mart and purchase a portable one. The kids were very excited to see him and Orin wouldn't let him leave his side for a few hours. We spent Sunday night unpacking the U-haul and then Monday and Tuesday organizing everything. Even after just one week I'm completely spoiled at having Damien home during the day - I know it will be even more spoiled after a few months and it's going to be hard going back to being a "single parent" during the day. Although things were crazy this week, we've enjoyed just spending time together. We've tried to start doing things around Mimie's (Damien's mom's) house that need to be done. Since she is at work during the day and at Bible study or some other sort of activity at night, we have the house mostly to ourselves. We went to Dinner at my parent's house on Wednesday and will be there tomorrow afternoon and likely will spend the night. It's nice to be able to relax and not have to try to squeeze as much time in with everyone during seven or so days that we normally have during visits. The kids have had a blast with their cousins and are already all best friends. I'm already dreading how hard it will be for Orin when we leave. It's going to be a fun summer!

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