This week- especially these past two days- have been full of packing. Yesterday Jeremiah woke up with a bad cough, so we kept him home; today was the end of a quarter, so there was no school. So, Jer's been with me all day for my super packing days.
Today was an extra stressful day. I was packing all morning and feeling weak and exhausted. I had a few loads of laundry to put away, as well as a few to do and hang. I'd tried to carry Timmy in the carrier, but my back was aching and it was difficult to do any packing/moving. As a result, he was in his baby seat most of the day.
The plan for the day was to meet Daniel at work for lunch with a load of boxes in the car, then drive up to the house, unload, do some unpacking, etc. However, due to my tiredness/dizziness/not-thinking, etc. I locked the keys in the car. So, when Daniel had lunch break he borrowed a dirt bike, unlocked the vehicle, and I drove the car while he biked back up. As a result, we didn't end up eating lunch until 1:30, but Jeremiah never complained and was such a wonderful boy all morning! Timmy only fussed in his baby seat when he was hungry; as soon as he was fed and/or changed, he was content again.
After lunch I drove the car up to the house. Jeremiah was excited and immediately went to "his room." I had brought sheets and a pillow (and a box of books), and I put them on his new bunk bed, gave him the books, and left him for his quiet time. He happily complied and after about 1/2 an hour had fallen asleep. Meanwhile, I decided to take a break and relax, at which point Timmy started fussing. so I walked around the house (the outside, there's not much walking room inside) while holding him, enjoying the break of packing/unpacking while snuggling my sweet baby.
All in all, in spite of an exhausting day, the boys were amazingly wonderful, for which I am so very thankful!
More packing and moving tomorrow; we'll spend all Sunday and Sunday night there, and then Monday is the "big moving day" when the majority of our stuff will go. It's coming along and I can't wait to be all moved in!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Timmy Smiles, Monkey boys, and other random pictures
Timmy Smiles!
Jeremiah showing off his smile
Timmy smiling up at his big brother
Matching Monkey PJs
Timmy's new Moses basket
Bath time!
Jeremiah giving Timmy his book
Riding in a wagon with puppies- every little boy's dream :)
Jeremiah's bed
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Urgent Prayer Request and Need: Please Read
Some friends of ours, Reuben and Amanda, have an urgent need. They live here in the Dominican Republic (she is American) and recently gave birth to a little boy (sometime in June or July) with what they believe is Holt-Oram syndrome (a syndrome that affects the hand/arms and often the heart). He has not been officially diagnosed because the doctors here "aren't too sure," but they have an appointment for him on December 9th in Erie, PN, to determine if he will qualify for a free surgery to fix his hands and arm. However, they have no money for the plane ticket or the costs of transportation in the States, fees for leaving/entering the country, etc.
So please pray:
-That the doctor's would be able to diagnose him and that he will qualify for the operation.
-That they will obtain his passport before they need to travel.
-That they will have sufficient funds to cover all the costs of travel, staying in the States, etc.
-That God would bring peace to Reuben and Amanda, as well as their 1 1/2 yr old daughter, especially as it is difficult to deal with medical issues in a developing county.
Please join us in praying for this sweet little boy! And if you have the desire and ability to help them out financially, please let me know and I'll send you their information. Thank you!
So please pray:
-That the doctor's would be able to diagnose him and that he will qualify for the operation.
-That they will obtain his passport before they need to travel.
-That they will have sufficient funds to cover all the costs of travel, staying in the States, etc.
-That God would bring peace to Reuben and Amanda, as well as their 1 1/2 yr old daughter, especially as it is difficult to deal with medical issues in a developing county.
Please join us in praying for this sweet little boy! And if you have the desire and ability to help them out financially, please let me know and I'll send you their information. Thank you!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Menu Plan
So it was recently brought to my attention that I have failed to update my menu plan since, oh.... last New Years (yikes!). I'd like to blame it on being pregnant and having a baby.
Anyway, do not worry- we have been eating since then, even though I have not put up the menu until now. The latest new dish we've tried was gundules con coco (pigeon peas with coconut milk) over rice. It was super yummy! Jeremiah had seconds... and maybe even thirds.
Our new freezer is also full, which will be helpful while we're moving (2 more weeks) so I won't need to worry about cooking (but it will mean transporting a very heavy freezer).
My binder or recipes that are easy and frugal is growing! I print out the recipes and put them in plastic sleeves so they won't get icky while I'm cooking/baking. If you love homemade, frugal-minded recipes, check out these websites I use often:
Hillbilly Housewives
$5 Dinners
And, on the food note, in case any one was wondering, this is the last thing I ate before going into labor...
Anyway, do not worry- we have been eating since then, even though I have not put up the menu until now. The latest new dish we've tried was gundules con coco (pigeon peas with coconut milk) over rice. It was super yummy! Jeremiah had seconds... and maybe even thirds.
Our new freezer is also full, which will be helpful while we're moving (2 more weeks) so I won't need to worry about cooking (but it will mean transporting a very heavy freezer).
My binder or recipes that are easy and frugal is growing! I print out the recipes and put them in plastic sleeves so they won't get icky while I'm cooking/baking. If you love homemade, frugal-minded recipes, check out these websites I use often:
Hillbilly Housewives
$5 Dinners
And, on the food note, in case any one was wondering, this is the last thing I ate before going into labor...
A waffle sundae made with chocolate waffles, bananas, vanilla ice-cream , chocolate chips, and home-made caramel sauce. No wonder Timmy didn't want to come out, he was enjoying the food inside!
Monday, October 05, 2009
Meet the Big Brother!
Jeremiah loves Timmy! He gives him kisses and "snuggles" before bed (and other times), tries to share things with him (stickers, juice- by attempting to pour it on him, and bread- mommy had to nix this one and the juice), and makes sure he has a blanket (we have to watch him so he doesn't put it on Timmy's head). Here are some pics of the big brother on duty. :)
Jeremiah brought his chair over by Timmy so he could look after his little brother
All smiles!
Taking care of Timmy
Other Random Pictures of the Boys:
Jeremiah is our "drink" boy; he has juice, milk, and water (he likes to put coasters out on the coffee table, line them up, and put his drinks on top. And of course everyone has to have a coaster for their drink and he insists on putting them all away before he goes to bed)
Dressed all in blue!
Here are some pics from Daniel's last day at JCS:
The staff had a surprise party for him. Here's the yummy cake:
The staff had a surprise party for him. Here's the yummy cake:
Jeremiah enjoyed an icing flower (he didn't eat the wire)
One last pic in Daddy's office
And guess who slept through the whole thing?
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
And another chapter ends...
In June, Daniel and I were thinking we'd be with JCS for at least another two years or longer. Now, four months later, Daniel just finished his last day at JCS and will be starting a new job on Tuesday. How'd we get from there to here? It happened gradually...
At the end of the school year, we both agreed that Daniel would need some help in administration if he was going to make it another year. Since we've been here, there have always been two education administrators, and usually a secretary. However, last year Daniel was the only one. He was doing the job of two admins, plus a secretary (he had none), plus trying to work on accreditation (ACSI suggests hiring someone full-time for that job alone). So, he was pretty overwhelmed. To our excitement, someone applied for a teaching job at JCS who was way over-qualified and had been a superintendent. As a result, the thought came up that this person could do the director role, and Daniel could take on the secondary-admin job (which is what he wanted to do in the first place). We were happy with this, as it meant less stress (which was super important with a newborn coming!).
However, things did not take that route. The person who would have come down to be the director discovered that he needed heart surgery and, as a result, could not come. After being excited about Daniel taking on less responsibility, it was difficult to think about him picking it back up with no assistant administrator to help him. On top of that, several questionable decisions were made with which Daniel did not agree. Finally, we realized that he could no longer continue in the director role. He announced his resignation in August but agreed to stay on for the beginning of the school year to help with the transition. Meanwhile, we began to pray about what God wanted us to do next.
In the midst of this, Timmy entered the scene. Though this added extra stress, it also gave us something more important to think about. It reminded us that no matter where God leads us, our family is our primary ministry to Him. He has led us far from where I thought we would go. Instead of becoming more involved in the Dominican community, he has led us to a different type of community. Instead of staying in our beautiful, big (comparatively) house, we will be moving to a house half the size (but with a gorgeous view!). Though at first these things made me anxious, I now have peace remembering that it doesn't matter where we are, or how big (or small) our house is, or what we own. What matters is that we are serving God, first through our family, and then through the place where God has led us.
We would appreciate your prayers during this time of transition for us and for JCS.
At the end of the school year, we both agreed that Daniel would need some help in administration if he was going to make it another year. Since we've been here, there have always been two education administrators, and usually a secretary. However, last year Daniel was the only one. He was doing the job of two admins, plus a secretary (he had none), plus trying to work on accreditation (ACSI suggests hiring someone full-time for that job alone). So, he was pretty overwhelmed. To our excitement, someone applied for a teaching job at JCS who was way over-qualified and had been a superintendent. As a result, the thought came up that this person could do the director role, and Daniel could take on the secondary-admin job (which is what he wanted to do in the first place). We were happy with this, as it meant less stress (which was super important with a newborn coming!).
However, things did not take that route. The person who would have come down to be the director discovered that he needed heart surgery and, as a result, could not come. After being excited about Daniel taking on less responsibility, it was difficult to think about him picking it back up with no assistant administrator to help him. On top of that, several questionable decisions were made with which Daniel did not agree. Finally, we realized that he could no longer continue in the director role. He announced his resignation in August but agreed to stay on for the beginning of the school year to help with the transition. Meanwhile, we began to pray about what God wanted us to do next.
In the midst of this, Timmy entered the scene. Though this added extra stress, it also gave us something more important to think about. It reminded us that no matter where God leads us, our family is our primary ministry to Him. He has led us far from where I thought we would go. Instead of becoming more involved in the Dominican community, he has led us to a different type of community. Instead of staying in our beautiful, big (comparatively) house, we will be moving to a house half the size (but with a gorgeous view!). Though at first these things made me anxious, I now have peace remembering that it doesn't matter where we are, or how big (or small) our house is, or what we own. What matters is that we are serving God, first through our family, and then through the place where God has led us.
We would appreciate your prayers during this time of transition for us and for JCS.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Happy 1 month, Timmy
Okay, so I'm almost a week late. I meant to post this earlier, but time just got away from me some how, probably because I was chasing a toddler, caring for a fussy baby, and trying to keep on top of dishes, meals, etc.
Anyway, last Thursday Timmy was one month old. It just so happened to be a day off from school, so we had a family day! We enjoyed a yummy brunch, took a walk down to the river (Jeremiah played in the river and found rocks for his collection), had an afternoon treat of ice cream, and relaxed in the evening (and ate smoked fish caught by a friend). Here are some pictures from the day:
Enjoying ice-cream
Jer "holding" the baby
Random pics of the boys:
Sleeping baby
Jer attacking the camera (wearing his Wisconsin outfit from his aunt)
Wearing his cool Illini clothes
For more pics of the boys, view my picasa albums:
Anyway, last Thursday Timmy was one month old. It just so happened to be a day off from school, so we had a family day! We enjoyed a yummy brunch, took a walk down to the river (Jeremiah played in the river and found rocks for his collection), had an afternoon treat of ice cream, and relaxed in the evening (and ate smoked fish caught by a friend). Here are some pictures from the day:
Ready for our walk!
Enjoying ice-cream
Jer "holding" the baby
Random pics of the boys:
What big eyes you have!
Sleeping baby
Jer attacking the camera (wearing his Wisconsin outfit from his aunt)
Wearing his cool Illini clothes
For more pics of the boys, view my picasa albums:
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| Timothy Birth |
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| september |
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Life right now...
Here's a glimpse at daily life right now:
-Nursing, nursing, and more nursing
-Burping a baby; cleaning up lots of spit-up (we think he has some acid reflux- we can't lay him down flat without fear of spit-up and lots of crying; he's sleeping reclined)
-Changing baby diapers
-Dealing with temper tantrums from a 2 year old (but they're really not too bad considering all the transitions going on)
-Napping
-Staring off in to space/playing spider solitaire on my computer/attempting to think but having a difficult time because I feel like I'm in a daze most of the time
-Thinking about getting things done around the house, but am too tired to do much of anything (I wasn't nearly this exhausted with Jer!)
-Trying to figure out if we have any water left in the cistern and where we can find more (hooking our hose to a neighbor's pump when they're willing)
-washing diapers
-trying to figure out Jer's next health issue (first pro-longed severe diaper rash; then cold and ear ache when baby came home that he shared with everyone in the house- the cold, not the ear-ache; now a wierd skin rash on most of his body that the doctor thinks is a skin-strep infection. the strange thing is that it doesn't even bother him
-wondering why my jaws feel tight and constantly ache (since Timmy was born; I must be too tense)
-Trying not to be anxious about the future and all the changes coming up
So, I haven't put any energy into blogging. I have pics I'll need to put up, but it takes so much energy to upload them with our snail-paced internet connection...
I can't think of anything else to say, so bye for now...
-Nursing, nursing, and more nursing
-Burping a baby; cleaning up lots of spit-up (we think he has some acid reflux- we can't lay him down flat without fear of spit-up and lots of crying; he's sleeping reclined)
-Changing baby diapers
-Dealing with temper tantrums from a 2 year old (but they're really not too bad considering all the transitions going on)
-Napping
-Staring off in to space/playing spider solitaire on my computer/attempting to think but having a difficult time because I feel like I'm in a daze most of the time
-Thinking about getting things done around the house, but am too tired to do much of anything (I wasn't nearly this exhausted with Jer!)
-Trying to figure out if we have any water left in the cistern and where we can find more (hooking our hose to a neighbor's pump when they're willing)
-washing diapers
-trying to figure out Jer's next health issue (first pro-longed severe diaper rash; then cold and ear ache when baby came home that he shared with everyone in the house- the cold, not the ear-ache; now a wierd skin rash on most of his body that the doctor thinks is a skin-strep infection. the strange thing is that it doesn't even bother him
-wondering why my jaws feel tight and constantly ache (since Timmy was born; I must be too tense)
-Trying not to be anxious about the future and all the changes coming up
So, I haven't put any energy into blogging. I have pics I'll need to put up, but it takes so much energy to upload them with our snail-paced internet connection...
I can't think of anything else to say, so bye for now...
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Things I found myself telling Jer today...
"Suave con the baby!" as he forcefully rocked Timmy in the baby seat (okay, my Spanglish is pretty bad too)
"No, don't lick the baby!"
"Please don't blow your nose on the baby." (as he put his nose on the baby and blew)
"Don't put the blanket on the baby's face." (as he tries to use the burp cloth as a blanket )
"Don't cough on the baby!" (as he purposely leans over and coughs all over Timmy)
Jeremiah really does love his baby brother and wants to help take care of him, but he's still a little rough (which is to be expected).
But, on a positive note, Jeremiah did tuck the burp cloth nicely around Timmy in his baby seat, helped do the dishes, and wipe off the place mats and table for us. I do think he'll be a great big brother!
"No, don't lick the baby!"
"Please don't blow your nose on the baby." (as he put his nose on the baby and blew)
"Don't put the blanket on the baby's face." (as he tries to use the burp cloth as a blanket )
"Don't cough on the baby!" (as he purposely leans over and coughs all over Timmy)
Jeremiah really does love his baby brother and wants to help take care of him, but he's still a little rough (which is to be expected).
But, on a positive note, Jeremiah did tuck the burp cloth nicely around Timmy in his baby seat, helped do the dishes, and wipe off the place mats and table for us. I do think he'll be a great big brother!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
My Little Spanglish Boy
He can count to 10 in English... almost. When he gets to 8 he says 0cho instead of eight. Then he says nine and ten in English. I'm not sure how he figured out that ocho and eight are the same thing, since we always count to 10 in one language. He know the Spanish numbers to 10 too, but he skips 5. Not sure what he has against it. And we've noticed a new Spanish word he brought home from school- "Mio!" (Mine). He already knew mine, but now he says it in Spanish. Which I think is cuter (if saying "mine!" is ever cute).
As far as letters go, we're focusing on just English right now. It's so confusing between the vowels, etc. that we decided to stick to one language at first. Though he doesn't know the order of the letters, he can recognize and name each letter!
And thus concludes a brief "Jer update."
As far as letters go, we're focusing on just English right now. It's so confusing between the vowels, etc. that we decided to stick to one language at first. Though he doesn't know the order of the letters, he can recognize and name each letter!
And thus concludes a brief "Jer update."
Monday, September 07, 2009
Our Weekend Adventures
Starting with Friday:
Jeremiah helped Grammy Dee make lasagna for dinner (he's putting on zucchini)
Now for Saturday: We went down to Santiago for my check-up; while there we took a trip to PriceSmart (like Sams club), bought a pizza there after shopping, and went to the monument to eat it (the pizza, not the monument).
The monument; the parking lot was filled with pigeons. If you wanted, you could buy feed and have the pigeons swarm your car... not sure why you'd want to pay for that...
Sitting down for pizza
View from the monument
Making a potty stop for Jer on the side of the highway
Sunday we went to church; it was fun to introduce Timothy to our friends
Another family photo (at church)
After lunch and nap-time we went to a neighbor's birthday party (Anthony turned 3)
The birthday boy is standing in the middle; Jer's on the far left
And now for other random pictures:
Me and my boys
Jer and his new blocks
We had the firetruck follow us home to put water in our cistern (still trying to figure out the water problem, and why we don't have city water).
I snuck a picture through the window; there's the fireman filling the cistern
Jeremiah helped Grammy Dee make lasagna for dinner (he's putting on zucchini)
Now for Saturday: We went down to Santiago for my check-up; while there we took a trip to PriceSmart (like Sams club), bought a pizza there after shopping, and went to the monument to eat it (the pizza, not the monument).
Daniel carrying Timmy in PriceSmart
The monument; the parking lot was filled with pigeons. If you wanted, you could buy feed and have the pigeons swarm your car... not sure why you'd want to pay for that...
Sitting down for pizza
View from the monument
Our family :)
Making a potty stop for Jer on the side of the highway
Sunday we went to church; it was fun to introduce Timothy to our friends
After lunch and nap-time we went to a neighbor's birthday party (Anthony turned 3)
Timmy with Grammy Dee and Grandpa How
The birthday boy is standing in the middle; Jer's on the far left
And now for other random pictures:Snuggling with Jer
Me and my boys
Jer and his new blocks
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