Reflections of a Wife and Mommy

Quality Time vs. Quantity time

2011-09-24T21:10:00.000-05:00

I spend most of the day with my children. I mean, I am a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM), so even when I am doing "other things", my children are around. I get stuff done when they are sleeping and when Brandon is off work. I cook or pick up or sew or check e-mail or balance the checkbook or blog during afternoon naps (after we finish home-school) if the kids are home, and while BabyK takes his morning naps while the kids go to preschool (2 mornings a week). So I actually have plenty of time to do the things I want to do, just not a lot of time all at one time.

I hear a lot about spending quality time with your kids. Like if you only see them in the evenings, then that time needs to be quality time, but what does that really mean? Does that mean that you are only doing things with them? That you aren't cooking, or cleaning, or what?

Something that I have been working through is how I make sure that my kiddos know that they are in their proper place in my list of priorities. I mean, my kids are so much more important than checking e-mail, playing on pinterest, or writing this blog. They are really more important than balancing the checkbook or making a gourmet dinner for a guest. They are more important than my latest sewing project or Sunday school planning or ironing or putting away laundry. So the question is this: How do I demonstrate that? I still have to do all of those things. I can't get them ALL done while kids are napping! Starting in Jan, I will be home-schooling BoyD full time meaning that he won't go to any pre-school. BabyK will most likely abandon his morning nap in the not to distant future. And GirlM her afternoon one. So my "free" time is going to diminish. My to-do list won't.

So here is my solution for the moment. It is a work in progress. But the first thing that I want to always do is spend some time everyday with each of my children just playing. (not necessarily 1 at a time...I can play with all of them together). Not doing school work or a planned craft or even having them participate in one of the things I am doing, but just sitting and playing. Doing what they want to do. Apart from my to-do list. This is actually very hard for me. I find that I spend so much time with them but very little of that is just playing. And boy, do they want me to!

The other thing is that I don't EVER want to be too busy or too involved to look my children in the eye and give them an answer if they want to ask/tell me something. Let me specify. When I am reading an e-mail for example, and one of my children comes to my side and I hear the familiar "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy", I want to be able to stop, turn to them, look them in the eye, listen to what they want to tell/ask me, and then if I need to, explain that I have to read the e-mail and that I will be with them when I finish. And then get done asap to give my attention back to them. Not the distracted response of "one-sec" or "can't you see I'm busy" or "sigh...hold on!"

Although my kids are not the only thing in my life, they are one of the most important, and giving them that place in my heart means I have to give them that place in my schedule.

Do you have any ideas or things that you do to make sure your kids know how important they are to you? I would love to hear them!

Food on Friday

2011-09-16T09:08:00.001-05:00

For this week's menu, I am using some recipes that I found on Pinterest. If you don't know all about Pinterest, you MUST check it out! You can also click on the link above to "follow me" in my pinterest endeavors. I will be linking the recipes that I am using. (To actually see the recipes and not just my "pin", you have to be a member of the site...just request an invite)

Saturday:
L: Meatless spaghetti (made with chopped vegetables instead of meat)and salad w/ easy breadsticks
D: Left Overs
Sunday
L: Crockpot mushroom chicken with rice
D: Left overs (with sandwich cookie-rice crispy treats)
Monday
L: Veggie Frittata
D: PB and J sandwiches with apple slices
Tuesday
L: Chinese food with ramen noodles
D: Chicken pasta salad
Wednesday
L: leftovers
D: Black beans, rice, and coleslaw
Thursday
L: Soft tacos with spicy slaw
D: Apple pancake with sausage
Friday
L: Beans, eggs, potatoes, tortillas
D: Family Fun night (popcorn, apples and cheese)

Elasticized Jeans

2011-09-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have jeans that are a little too big in the waste but fit you everywhere else? Do you ever get that gap in the back of your jeans when you bend over a little bit? Does the waist of your jeans get stretched out during the day and start to droop?

I have a solution! This is thanks to my friend Chantelle who did this to her jeans and showed me how. The pair of pants in this tutorial is my third to elasticize and I love it so much!

Basically, all you do is sew a length of 1inch wide elastic into the back of the waist of the pants. And as long as they aren't WAY too big, you can't even tell they have elastic while you are wearing them.

You start by making vertical cuts in the inside layer only of the waist band. I do mine from one side-back belt loop to the other so that I know it stays even.

On this pair I my elastic was shorter (I'm too lazy to go buy more) so I cut mine closer to the center.

Here it is with the slit cut.

Measuring out an appropriate length of elastic, I thread it through the newly made tube from one opening to the other using a safety pin. It is better if you have extra elastic as it is easier to sew if the measurements aren't exact. Here, you'll see:

Don't forget to match your thread so that the stitches aren't noticeable on the back of your jeans. Sew one side with a zig-zag stitch one a very wide stitch being careful to stitch the elastic and both cut ends all together.

Pulling the elastic tight through the pants, pin then sew the other opening closed like this.

Your pants should look something like this:

Now check to make sure that you sewed all cut edges and then pulling the extra elastic tight, trim it off.
If you want those zig-zag lines to be invisible, you need to hide them under your belt loops. See, you can't even tell while I'm wearing them that they are elastic in the waist!

Arrows point to the zig-zag stitches that hold the elastic in place.

All done! Enjoy your gap-free, stay-put jeans!

Food on Friday

2011-09-02T18:50:00.000-05:00

Here's our budget friendly weekly menu for this next week. This week I spent $55 on food, a little bit of cosmetic stuff and some cleaning supplies. And I will spend another $6 or so on Monday at the market (fresh veggies)

Saturday:
L: beans, eggs, tortillas and potatoes
D: Thai food (chicken, peanuts, spinach, garlic, and rice noodles)
Sunday
L: Frittata and homemade bread
D: Left overs
Monday
L: Meatless spaghetti (made with chopped vegetables instead of meat)
D: Leftovers
Tuesday
L: Leftovers
D: Lemon pepper chicken and pasta with garlic green beans
Wednesday
L: leftovers
D: Black beans, rice, and coleslaw
Thursday
L: out of town
D: Cheesy hamburger macaroni and mixed veggies
Friday
L: Beans, eggs, potatoes, tortillas
D: Family Fun night (popcorn, apples and cheese)

One thing that we have started doing that is saving us some money, is baking bread in the breadmaker every night. Or, most nights. When we remember. That way we wake up to fresh baked bread and it costs us around $1.20 per 1 1/2 lb loaf. And we actually eat a lot of bread so that ends up saving us quite a bit.

And we also don't use fresh milk for anything except drinking. We keep powdered milk that we use for all cooking and for Brandon and I to drink.

Being Feminine in a Feminist World (part 2)

2011-08-30T10:00:00.001-05:00

To see my critique of the Feminist movement and Part 1 of the blog, go here.

I really want to talk about what Biblical femininity looks like. I think there are a lot of misconceptions about what the Bible teaches regarding what it means to be a woman and what our role is.

Let me say what it is NOT and then contrast that with what it IS.

What Biblical femininity is NOT: a woman must be in submission to a man...any man...whichever man is around.
What it IS: a woman must submit to her husband. (Eph. 5:22) That is the only man that I must submit to, so I chose wisely. And for the record, scripture tells us to submit to one another! (Eph 5:21) We shouldn't, as disciples of Christ, be looking out for our own interest, but the interest of others! (Phil 2:4)

is NOT: weak and helpless and needs a man to take care of her
IS: "She is clothed with strength and dignity" (prov. 31:25) Don't get me wrong, I love that I have a husband who takes care of me, considers me, works to bring home an income so that I can buy things. But that doesn't leave me weak, and certainly not helpless. A godly woman is a woman who has both inner and outer strength! Just look at the proverbs 31 woman...no where do you see that she is weak or dependent.

is NOT: belittled because of anything
IS: honored because of her pious and modest behavior. Is looked up to by other women as "having it all together." She is praised by her children and husband! And she is confident in her relationships because of her righteous dealings: honest and trustworthy.

is NOT: destined to live life wearing drab black dresses, covering her head, not wearing makeup or anything that makes her pleasing to the eye. (There is an important note I want to make here. If someone, because of their convictions, religious practices, or personal tastes, are described by the above comment, this is not a criticism of that, it is just a statement of my opinion that those things are not required of a godly woman by God. Please, please take no offense)
IS: praised because of her womanhood and her beauty. (prov. 31:22, Song of Solomon chapter 1) She is not simply beautiful because of her outward appearance, but more importantly because of her Christlike character.(1Pet. 3:3-4)

is NOT: suppressed: sexually, personally, emotionally, or professionally!
IS: free from the negative consequences of promiscuous behavior, free from shame, free to be who God made her to be using whatever gifts God has given her! And to have the help of the Creator of the Universe in using these gifts!

is NOT: controlled by her husband, by her lusts, by the culture, by a quest for beauty or youth, or by any human.
IS: controlled by the Holy Spirit and by herself (self-control) In other words, independent!

So do you have real femininity or have you bought into the Feminist movement's definition?

I wonder what you think of what I have written. Do you agree/disagree? There is so much more that I want to say regarding these topics, so there may be a part 3!

Household Notebook: an overview

2011-08-29T10:39:00.001-05:00

I have created (or rather re-created) my Household Notebook. Do you have a Household Notebook? Do you know what one is? It is basically a place to organize my job as household engineer! A place to keep important stuff. I decided I would share an overview of mine:

My sections in my notebook are as follows:
My Daily Docket : a one page summery that I complete for each day. Click here to download my version...I LOVE it! I adapted it from the one I found here.
Routines: These are actually stuck to the inside cover of my notebook and include my A.M. and P.M routines
Financials: budgets, debt load worksheets, financial goals worksheets, and spending worksheets
To-dos: The master list that I use when things need to get done. From this list I delegate, move to my weekly or daily to-do lists
Meal Time: My monthly menu plan, but you could also add a weekly menu planner and/or grocery lists. Many people put in pantry/freezer storage inventory, too. Oh, and some put favorite recipes in here, but I have a recipe notebook in my kitchen.
Laundry: A stain remover guide
Emergency: An emergency list with numbers and info, you guessed it, in case of an emergency
Holiday: Maybe one of my favorite sections: has birthday planning sheets, and holiday gift budget planner
Blog: Eventually this will have a place to organize blog ideas and projects.
Projects: So far this just has my master project to-do list, but I will eventually have project/craft organizer worksheets in here, too
Yellow Pages: place to store the family's important numbers. No more running to the phone book or internet to find that one number that I used last month but can't remember the exact business name.
Ministry: My ministry schedule and lessons that I am using/working on.

Really, a household notebook should have a place for cleaning checklists (I have a full time maid so I don't have this section), a household inventory for insurance purposes, a place to keep warranties and receipts, school/activity schedules, medical info, babysitting info...the list could go on and on! I am just getting started and may end up adding much more!

For more info, just google "household notebook" or some variation of that.
Here are links to the places I went to find the printables that I used:
Frugal Living
Buttoned Up
Martha Stewart
Organized Home

Being Feminine in a Feminist World (part 1)

2011-08-29T09:47:00.001-05:00

Well...I thought I was being so creative in my title of this blog. I have been mulling over writing something like this for a long time and this title fit so perfectly. Then I go and google it to see what all was out there about this topic and I came across a mountain of writings/blogs/books/articles all by this name or some variation of it. Oh, well. I'm not copying anyone, I'm just not that original!

I really struggle with writing blogs. I have a list of like 10 different things that I want to blog about; some creative, some spiritual, some logistical, etc. The problem is that I only get like 15min. at a time to write and it always seems like such a daunting task to write the whole thing at once. And then there are pictures to get off the camera, organize, edit, and post.

So...here goes...something. I am going to start this discussion and hope that someday I will be able to come back to finish everything that I want to say regarding the topic.

First, I want to mention my thoughts on Feminism as a whole...I want to hear back from you regarding these things. Feminism as a movement for equality of women in the political, economic, social arenas is an extremely loaded concept. Should women have equality in politics? Yes. Should women have equality in the job market? Yes. Should women equality economically? Yes. All of those things we have today (for the most part) because of the feminist movement that said the status quo of keeping women in there place by political and social "rules" was no longer acceptable. Women are intelligent, capable, strong, economically savvy and politically shrewd. There is no reason that they shouldn't be able to participate in the market place in the same capacity as men. They should have suffrage, equal pay for equal work, and should not suffer discrimination because they are women. They should have the opportunity to pursue economic gain and should lose the stigma of "old maid" if they aren't married by 25.

Let me tell you where Feminism has gone wrong: The idea that women's rights and women's roles are the same thing, that women are sexual beings (just as men are) and should have sexual liberties that have traditionally been afforded to men, and that in order to be strong, brave and independent, a woman must behave as a man does with the exception of flaunting and using our sexuality to our advantage.

The reality of the matter is that women and men are different. We are NOT equal in roles and we are NOT equal in authority in a marriage or in the church. The problem is how the feminist movement takes offense to this instead of celebrating it!! Let me say that I would not be a man for all the money/power/authority/rights in the world. I don't want that. I like being a girl. Being a woman. Being feminine. God, in the Bible, celebrates femininity! God made us feminine! We just need to know what that looks like!

Click Part 2: What does being feminine look like? to see the rest.

Food on Friday

2011-06-26T10:43:00.002-05:00

Um..food on Friday on Sunday. We've had a lot going on over the last few days so this is a couple of days late.

Our menu for the following week:

Saturday:
L: Veggie eggs (cut up sauted vegetables mixed in with scrambled eggs)
D: Taco Bell and S'mores.
Sunday
L: Roast and homemade bread (slow cooker and bread machine) and salad
D: Left overs
Monday
L: Cheesy hamburger macaroni and mixed veggies
D: Vegetable soup
Tuesday
L: Left overs
D: Beans, rice, and coleslaw
Wednesday
L: Spaghetti and vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli and carrots)
D: Black eyed peas and cornbread
Thursday
L: Tuna salad sandwiches
D: Leftovers
Friday
L: Beans, eggs, potatoes, tortillas
D: Family Fun night (popcorn, apples and cheese)

Food on Friday

2011-06-17T11:07:00.000-05:00

I think I am going to start something new. Brynne, our intern for the summer, gave me this idea and I have no idea if will help anyone or not, but we're gonna try it.

I am going to post our weekly menu every Friday here. Every Friday I sit down and make the menu for the next week. I try to take into account our schedule as best as I can and I try to use leftovers. I then use that menu to make my grocery list and I do my weekly shopping on Fridays as well. I never include breakfasts on my menus because I never know what my mornings are going to look like.

For breakfast we usually eat one of the following:

-Cereal (or granola) with yogurt

-peanut butter toast (make toast, spread w/ PB, and pour on a little bit of syrup.)

-Frog on a lilly pad (bread with the center punched out grilled with an egg in the middle...a mix between a fried egg and toast)

-Pancakes

-Waffles

-Eggs and beans and toast.

Ok..on to this week's menu.

Saturday

L: Chicken tomato basil mozzarella pasta.

D: Leftovers for kids, grownups eat out for birthday party

Sunday

L: crock pot: chicken with tomatoes and onions served over rice with broccoli salad. (everything is made in advance so we can just eat when we get back from church)

D: Leftovers

Monday

Lunch: grilled cheese and tomato soup with carrot sticks and celery in ranch

Dinner: meatloaf, mixed veggies, and salad

Tuesday

L: Black beans, rice, and coleslaw

D: leftovers

Wednesday

L: Homemade vegetable soup w/ homemade bread.

D: Leftovers

Thursday

L: Bean empanadas (Gladys will make them) with rice and tomato cucumber salad

D: Mussel soup and bread

Friday

L: re-fried black beans, scrambled eggs, handmade corn tortillas

D: Family Fun Night (popcorn, cheese, and fruit)

You might notice that we eat a lot of beans. They are cheap, healthy, and we can make 2 lbs once a week and it serves us many meals. We eat cheap. I usually spend around $50 a week at the store. We buy our meat in bulk like once every 2 months and that costs us around $100 for 30lbs of beef. We don't eat meat everyday. We try to use up all of our leftovers.

If you have any questions or want any recipes, just ask! Maybe this can give you some ideas or inspiration.

Last Minute Baby Shower

2011-06-12T07:20:00.000-05:00

My friend Tiffany left the country on Friday morning to return to the US and her 2^nd baby is due in September, so on Wednesday afternoon we threw her a baby shower and good bye party. She was out of town the entire week before and only had very limited time available for us to do this, so we didn’t even know we could until Sunday afternoon. So I had 2 ½ days to plan and implement the party on an EXTREMEMLY limited budget. It was so super fun! I wanted to share some of my ideas and how we pulled it off.

For the goodbye part of the shower I made a scrap book using cards that I had made from a kit. I bought the kit at Target one time when I was in the states at the 1 spot and it made 8 cards. A FANTASTIC deal. I then went to a scrapbook store and bought the paper that matched and some sticker embelishments as well as a scrapbook to put them all in. It was very inexpensive and I put one card per page as well as a space to journal and a photo. Each guest came in and secretly wrote in a card in the journal. I took pictures at the shower of everyone and I will send those to her so she can print them and just stick them in the scrapbook. She was very surprised and it was fun watching her look through each of the pages. Gonna show some pictures of the scrapbook when I get some. Forgot to take them! :(

For the baby gift, I had to get creative. I didn't have time to really shop around for her and I wanted to give her something special. I had some burp cloths (prefold diapers) that I had dyed red and yellow. I took those and found some coordinating flannels and accent fabric that I already had and embellished the burp cloths with some fun designs. I am going to make a couple of more of those and I will post a tutorial here. It took a couple of hours in all, but so worth it! They came out really cute.

For games I took several of GirlM's baby dolls and some newborn cloth diapers that I had and we played pin the diaper on the baby. It was hilarious! The women had to first work in teams and then individually to see who could pin the diaper on the baby the fastest w/o it falling off or actually pinning the diaper TO the baby. Then we played "what's in the diaper bag" where I filled the diaper bag in front of the ladies with all the things that a baby needs when you leave the house. We had around 15 items and then I gave each person a piece of paper for them to try to remember everything that I had put in the bag. It was fun. There were enough mommies there to fill me in on the things I forgot to include!

We don't know the sex of the baby so the cake and all the decorations had to be unisex. I looked and looked at the walmart for some toy or something that I could use as a cake topper and coudn't find a thing, so I settled on this green bow. I just cleaned off the bottom part really well and then just stuck it on the top.

We did the following for decorations:

A few flower arrangements, some confetti on the table, some color coordinating dishes.

I used a couple of GirlM's doll diapers (plastic) and stuffed them with some tissue paper and hydrangeas from my back yard.

I used some of the bouganvilia from my front yard to weave in and out of this plate from Southern Living at Home and wrote a little note on it. I didn't have any cute ribbon, so I made do.

I hung up some twine over our entry to our Living room like a clothes line and hung up some of GirlM's doll clothes with some little clothes pins that I had already. Instant baby decorations!

We also put up balloons with ribbon all over the place. Balloons are big here.

Just another shot of the table. Some of the food is missing from this picture, but you get the idea.

We used facebook for invites so we could put this together so fast so I made an invitation just for Tiffany as a keepsake.

For food we went simple. We made chicken vegetable tostadas, we had fruit salad with a yogurt/mayo dressing, we had some mixed nuts, and cake. And a Guatemalan punch called Rosa de Jamaica (hibiscus tea). Oh, and a bowl of chocolates.

For party favors I just bought some tiny gift bags and stuck some chocolate goodies inside.

Anyway, it was a ton of fun and a good memory for Tiffany. All in all I spent (on food, gifts, flowers, decorations, favors, scrapbook, everything) around $80. If you were hosting a shower like this with others, it could be even less expensive. Hope this gives you some ideas. It was really a fun time.

Recap of the week.

2011-06-11T16:43:00.000-05:00

This last week was crazy busy for us in terms of ministry and our personal lives. Please check out my other blog at talesfromthebranches.blogspot.com to hear more about some of my ministry events of last week.

On a personal note, we had a rough week. We had big kids sick with a diarrhea, but thankfully they got over it quickly. The baby had diarrhea which I first thought was from teething because he is cutting two molars (OUCH!) and that isn’t un-common, but after finally taking in a sample to a lab, we found out that he had a pretty yucky bacterial infection. Now…he is doing SO MUCH BETTER!

The other thing that was rough was that a dear friend of mine that lived here in Guatemala left the country Friday morning with no specific plans to return. Her name is Tiffany and she has been such a blessing in my life over the last 4 years. She has a little girl the same age as BoyD and were our first friends here in the country. Her Guatemalan husband was my language instructor for 2 weeks when we first moved here and we promptly met his wife and his little girl as they lived just a few short blocks away. We walked to each others’ houses, the kids shared baths, and she introduced me to cloth diapers.

This last Wednesday, we had a baby shower/goodbye party for her here at my house because her second baby is due in September. It was so fun and it was good just to enjoy some time with her. I am truly, truly sad to see her go. To see more about that shower, including how I put it together in about 2 ½ days, check back. I will post that next.

So here I am, my Saturday, my day of rest, and I am cleaning my house from the week of craziness, planning the Sunday school lesson for tomorrow, and planning this next week’s home school curriculum.

BoyD has to have his passport renewed so we have an appointment in Guatemala City on Monday. We will be leaving beautiful Xela right after church and taking a ½ day mini-vacation on Sunday night and Monday morning at the Barcelo, our favorite hotel in Guatemala city. We will get to sleep in a bit, eat out, and swim. We need it, even if it is just for a day.

I'm expanding!

2011-06-10T18:18:00.000-05:00

I'm expanding! I can only link up one blog at a time to facebook and this is the one that won, but I have another blog that I am starting. This will be a blog about my ministry life. My life as a ministry. I should say "our" life, but I am not sure if Brandon will post to it or not. I hope he does.

Anyway, go on over to talesfromthebranches.blogspot.com to check it out. Leave a comment if you can so I know you made it! So to sum it up:

Reflections of a Wife and Mommy will be a blog about my life as a wife and mom, a homemaker, a crafter, a baker, and a home schooler.

Tales from the Branches will be a blog about ministry things we do, places we go, inspirations we have, etc.

Although there is some overlap, I am excited for a place to categorize my thoughts and experiences a little bit. Remember, you can visit either blog and subscribe to them via e-mail by entering your e-mail address in the little box on the left. I hope you enjoy it!

Saved by Grace through Faith Alone? Really?

2011-06-06T11:00:00.000-05:00

Yes. But...

Saved by faith,

Saved for works.

You CANNOT separate those two. Please stop trying. Stop preaching that all salvation is is faith in Christ. Please stop reducing the gospel to fire insurance, or even to an abundant life for the believer only.

"Our Christian habit is to bewail the world's deteriorating standards with an air of rather self-righteous dismay. We criticize its violence, dishonesty, immorality [homosexuality], disregard for human life [abortion], and materialistic greed. 'The world is going down the drain,' we say with a shrug. But whose fault is it? Who is to blame? Let me put it like this. If the house is dark when nightfall comes, there is no sense in blaming the house; that is what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is 'Where is the light?' Similarly, if the meat goes bad and becomes inedible, there is no sense in blaming the meat; that is what happens when bacteria are left alone to breed. The question to ask is 'Where is the salt?' Just so, if society deteriorates and its standards decline until it becomes like a dark night or a stinking fish, there is no sense in blaming society; that is what happens when fallen men and women are left to themselves, and human selfishness is unchecked. The question to ask is 'Where is the Church? Why are the salt and light of Jesus Christ not permeating and changing our society?' It is sheer hypocrisy on our part to raise our eyebrows, shrug our shoulders, or wring our hands. The Lord Jesus told us to be the world's salt and light. If therefore darkness and rottenness abound, it is largely our fault and we must accept the blame." [insertions, mine]

--John Stott

So we look down on the homosexuals as gross sinners and we shame the abortionists (or worse, those who have had abortions) as murderers and miss entirely the plank of apathy and self-righteous judgement that is in our own eye. What are we doing to be light and salt? Going to church? Inviting others to church? Hrm. How well is that working for us?

Challenge #4 - Write a note

2011-04-15T06:24:00.000-05:00

Don't forget that you can subscribe to my blogs and have them delivered to your e-mail by going here and typing in your e-mail in the "subscribe" box.

I've been out of the loop lately. My grandmother died and I had to go back to the states for the funeral and there was packing and travelling and unpacking all related to that that took an entire week out of my "30 days to a better me." And then we didn't have internet for a day and a half. I mean, I didn't stop doing my challenges, I just stopped giving them for a bit.

Let me sum up my progress: I have not been charting my time, but it is no longer necessary. I have become incredibly aware of how my time got wasted, and apart from that, the last week has been so busy that I literally haven't had time to even check my e-mail. So, I'm not wasting time. For now.

I have kept my hot spot (my desk) clutter free. Except last night when I went to bed w/ stuff on it. My excuse? I am working on these same things this morning and putting them all away and pulling it back out again would probably use up some valuable time. Lousy excuse, I know, but I was zombie tired when I came up with it. It doesn't hold near as much water in the light of day. :)

Overeating: Mas o menos. I mean...a couple of times I have eaten too much, but I have lost of total of 3 lbs since the beginning of the month so I'm not too worried. I sort of "gave up" yesterday and ate too much and ate too much chocolate, but I won't do that today. It is a new day and I am done overeating.

The Challenge:

Write a note

Not an e-mail, an evite, or an e-card. Not a message on facebook or a tweet. An actual note on paper. We live in an electronic age and we have lost much of the value of pen and paper. There is something so cool about getting a letter or card in the mail with a handwritten address and a real stamp! This is an easy challenge, so to make it more difficult, I am going to ask you, plead with you, beseech you to make this a weekly thing. Do you need some ideas or inspiration?

Write a sweet/romantic note to your spouse and leave it with cologne or perfume on their pillow.

Write a note to your kid(s) and put it in their lunch box/backpack that tells them in detail how proud you are of them and how much they mean to you.

Write a thank you note to a friend or neighbor just for being there for you.

Write a far-away-not-in-touch-with relative to ask how they are doing and tell them you are thinking of them.

Be creative. Be genuine!

The Bible tells us to "encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13

So how are you going to encourage someone today? Don't you want to be one of those people that makes other people feel important and cared for? Boy, I do! I am going to write some notes and mail them from here. Even cooler to have a postmark from Guatemala, right? haha!

Comment here and tell me how you are going to answer this challenge. We all need accountability.

(ps Look for another challenge coming very soon)

Challenge #3 - You are what you eat?

2011-04-05T18:28:00.000-05:00

We are on our way to better us-es.

We have been logging our time to see where we've been waisting. Ok...I have had been travelling etc so I haven't logged but one day, but I'm gonna start again tomorrow.

We committed to "put out" a hot spot and keep it out for the next month. I am doing REALLY great on that front. My desk is neat and orderly.

Now we are going to address the next battle front in the war for a better us: our digestive system. I say that so generally because this issue is going to vary wildly depending on your habits and circumstances, I don't want to limit this challenge to any specific problem

We all have areas of our digestive health that are not super healthy. Some examples: You eat too much. You eat a disproportionate amount of carbs yet you don't run marathons. You skip breakfast. You don't get your recommended amount of water every day (take your weight in lbs, divide that in 2, and that is how many ounces you should drink in a day. I weight 135lbs, so I should drink 68oz of water in a day) . You don't take vitamins. You don't eat any vegetables. You eat fried foods more days than not. You never just eat 1 cookie...you eat the whole batch. You drink soda on a regular basis. You don't get hardly any fiber in your diet. You eat an unnecessary late night snack every night before bed. I could go on, but you get my point.

The challenge:

Choose one unhealthy food related habit (or a healthy habit that is lacking) and change it. For the next month, don't do whatever it is that you do that puts junk and not goodness into your body. Commit to do this every day for one month.

I have already been addressing some of these things in my life, but one that I have let slip and have noticed a difference in is overeating. I tend to eat too much food when I really like it. I act as though this will be the last time that I am going to get to eat this amazing thing! The truth is that if I ate less, I would have some of whatever it is as left overs! I could eat it again and save money on groceries! Haha! So I commit to stop eating when I've had enough. Reducing my portion sizes to a reasonable amount, and only get a second (or third) helping if I am still hungry.

Well...we'll see how this goes! Are you doing this with me? Are you going to change something in your digestive life? I think we will see a difference! We can do this one step at a time.

Challenge #2 - Hot spots

2011-04-03T10:24:00.000-05:00

Are you keeping track of your time today? I had said that Brandon and I were going to keep track for a week, but I don't think that will be necessary. At least not for me. I am finding that as I try to keep track of what I am doing and how long it is taking me, I am more aware of waisted time! I am going to make sure I track a home school day and a non-home school day so that I can really see where my time goes. But geez...I am staying on task so much more just knowing that I am going to have to log. It is not to late to participate in this challenge. Go here to find the post. (if that link doesn't work, or there isn't a link that appears, then just go to my last blog entry to find it)

The new challenge:

Take Care of a Hot Spot

What is a hot spot? This comes from Flylady and I LOVE IT! You know when you have had a fire but the fire has died down? Even if you don't see any flames or any red, there can be hot spots in the coals. Areas where there is enough heat that if you put a small log onto it, it will catch fire again. We have places like that in our house. Places that collect clutter. You can clean and organize it, but as soon as the first piece of mail (or whatever) hits it, it catches fire with clutter. These places are battle grounds for order. One day goes by unattended, and these hot spots are blazing (and covered w/ crap!)

The only thing you can do about hot spots is keep them clear. Keep them clear of ANYTHING. Hot spots can be bathroom counters, junk drawers, entry tables, nightstands, desks, kitchen counters, treadmills, and even living room furniture! The challenge this week is to become a fire fighter for at least one hot spot in your home. Take how ever much time you need to get it completely cleared off, actually finding a home for whatever was on there, even if that home is the garbage. Then, commit to keep it free of fuel. Every day, several times a day, whenever you see that spot, clear it off. And keep it clear for the next month.

My hot spot is going to be...hmm...I have so many...my desk. That's the one. I commit to keep my desk free of clutter and things that don't belong there for the next month. I will put away my supplies when I finish a task. I will not get up from my work until my desk is orderly. I will struggle against the family machine that puts misc. toys/papers/trash/crap on my desk.

We will probably do this challenge again w/ a different hot spot, so don't overwhelm yourself with 10 places to de-clutter. Depending on how hot the spots are, 1 or 2 will be sufficient.

30 Days to a Better Me

2011-04-02T17:01:00.000-05:00

Actually it is going to be 28 days or so. It is from now until May 1st and since today is April 2nd, we won't have a full 30 days. 28 days of a better me doesn't sound as cool. I digress. Let me explain.

Over the next month I will be making a few changes, solidifying some changes I've already made, and sharing all of this with you. Nothing is going to happen too drastically or too quickly, but I know that if I'm honest here in sharing what I'm doing and going through, I am more likely to be honest with myself and more motivated to do what it is I want to do.

Also, I am going to ask you to be a part of what I'm doing. I want people to participate in these challenges with me. Won't that be fun? I commit to post here at least every other day (It would be fun to post every day but that might not be realistic) and give new challenges as well as keep track of any progress made or lost.

I know many of you read this blog on facebook, but if you want to you can subscribe to my blog by going to wife-and-mommy.blogspot.com and clicking "subscribe via e-mail" and my blog will be sent directly to your e-mail.

So on to the first challenge. This will actually start tomorrow (Sunday, April 3rd).

Keep a daily log.

I suggest in 15 min. increments. Brandon and I are going to do this for a week because our daily schedule varies a lot depending on the day, but if your days are pretty routine, you could just do it for a couple of days. Basically, you write down everything that you do for the entire day in 15 or 30 min. increments. From brushing your teeth, to taking a shower, to fixing your hair, to preparing and eating meals. And just to give credit where credit is due, this is actually a suggestion by Dr. Howard Hendricks, renowned professor of Bible Study Methods and Hermeneutics at Dallas Theological Seminary. I am going to print up a few excel spreadsheets to make it easier.

The purpose of this is as follows: So much of the time we waste time by keeping busy with things that we don't even realize we are doing. You are at work and you check facebook every hour or so but you are on for 15 min. You end up not working for almost 2 hours in your 8 hour day! You go in to take a shower and you spend a couple of minutes plucking your eyebrows and popping zits instead. You go into the kitchen to start on dinner and you find yourself looking through the pile of mail on the counter. 15 minutes later no bills are paid and you still haven't made dinner, but you have a really good idea which is your favorite rug in the new Pottery Barn catalog. You get on the computer to check e-mail at home, and you find a fun website that keeps you occupied for a half an hour. Maybe none of that sounds familiar to you, but there is probably time in your day when you are doing something that could wait until later, or you are doing something that takes longer than you planned. These little 15 min snippets rob our day of productive time and then we don't have the time that we need to do the things that we WANT to do. In my case it is practicing the guitar, playing the Wii w/ my kiddos, sewing, or making homemade bread.

If you want to do this challenge with us, and you want me to e-mail you a copy of the spreadsheet that I am making, just leave your e-mail address as a comment and I will send it to you. Just use the form "address at suchandsuch dot com" instead of typing in your actual address. After I do this for a couple of days, I will be able to post here some of my results.

Join us if you can. It will be fun to see what all we can accomplish in 30 (or so) days!

Routines and keeping chaos under control.

2011-03-14T09:08:00.000-05:00

Have you ever felt like life was too much to do in too little time? Are you living with a messy house and a constant rush to figure out what's for dinner? Do you go to bed every night with a to-do list on your mind from the day before. Are you usually late?

I have been sick for the past couple of weeks, not having the energy to get up early and workout, etc. My routines have been disrupted big time. I have been needing a nap every afternoon. And I have been going crazy! My desk got messy, every table in my house had stuff piled on it. I felt totally burdened under a never ending pile of crap. I felt like I was constantly behind on my chores: laundry, diapers, meals, etc.

For me (and probably for most), the key to a stress free home is routines. Reasonable routines.

Depending on whether or not you knew me as a child, this might surprise you: I am, left to myself, extremely unorganized. Messy, chaotic, big picture. Now, after much discipline and work and effort, I am in serious control of the little world that is my house. Let me explain.

My house is normally neat. I keep a tight schedule. I home school my children and plan their classes a week (sometimes 2) in advance. I have 2 calenders that are filled and synced. My day is planned out. My menu is planned a week in advance and my groceries are purchased. In my home, almost everything has a place. We still have almost all the pieces to the toys that we have. This only works when I have my routines in place.

Generally speaking I get up at 5:15-5:30am. Work out until 6-6:15am. Have some Bible study until 6:30. Get ready until 7am. Get the kids up and dressed, get my stuff ready for the day (errands to run, things to do, school to do, etc). Kids are either on their way to school by 8am or we are doing school upstairs by 8:30. School is organized around BabyK's nap times so that they aren't working with markers while he is crawling between them. In the evenings we all help clean up the kitchen, we pick up the upstairs, the kids have their bedtime routine and are in bed by 7:45-8pm. Brandon and I have an hour to watch TV, etc, and then we head to bed at 9pm. Fridays are grocery days, Friday nights are Family Fun Nights, Saturdays are calender sync days, and Sundays are get ready for the week days. Disclaimer: this is not set in stone and we are not perfect at it...Brandon does so much in the mornings and evenings so that I can get my stuff done.

When those routines are disrupted, I'm a wreck! And my whole family feels it. If you are what I described in the beginning, let me suggest some serious routine re-haul. Maybe you do OK w/o routines, but that isn't normal. Routine it and keep chaos under control. Did I mention that I have a maid that comes every day and keeps my house clean? That helps! haha! If I didn't have her, I couldn't play my guitar, sit and blog, work at the church as much as I do. Don't feel like you have to have it all together all the time. That is unrealistic. I just want to share what keeps me sane, organized, and what keeps our chaos under control. (Note that I didn't say that we don't have chaos. :)

Wool Diaper Cover Giveaway

2011-03-01T14:47:00.000-06:00

There is an awesome giveaway over at Mom's Milk Boutique blog! You can win (i'm trying to) a wool cover! I've always wanted to try one of those, but they are pricey, so this is the perfect chance. Check them out!

One Year Ago Today

2011-01-28T06:40:00.000-06:00

One year ago today, BabyK was born at 9:30pm in Lubbock Texas, weighing 7lbs 10oz.

Since that date, he has learned to lift his head, roll over, push up, clap, drag himself across the floor, sit up, crawl, stand up, walk along a table/wall. He has learned to say mama, dada, mimi, night night (ni-ni), ball, no, no-no (more emphatic), nose (while pointing to the appropriate part). He has learned to sign "more" (also "mas" in Spanish), "all done," and "milk" and to give hugs. He has learned to find his baby, his hair, and his shoes. He has learned about gravity, tickles, pain, books, love, kisses, and falls.

I have learned all over again how much God loves me.

I am in love with my beautiful baby boy, and I am so thankful to have had this last year getting to know him. He loves to pull hair while sucking his thumb or nursing, so we gave him a baby doll with hair to save mine. Now he is hooked! He is a light in our home. He is so sweet and snuggly and loves to laugh. He is the hardest teether I have ever seen and has never consistently slept through the night. I love him and my life, our home, our family is better because of him.

Discipline: A Very Good Thing.

2011-01-27T17:07:00.000-06:00

So BoyD got disciplined today. He does everyday to an extent, but today it was a little harder.

Today, after getting BabyK up from his afternoon nap, I asked BoyD to pick up his toys off of the floor so that I could put the baby down. He had out some magnetic stick/ball things and legos. Total choking hazard. I told him twice. I then proceeded to chit chat w/ my hubby while waiting for him to do what I had asked him. 10 minutes later, nothing was picked up and he had continued playing with them. Obviously, we had not enforced the rule that he obeys me 1st time when I ask him to pick up his things. When should I have enforced this? At the beginning. I have been very inconsistent w/ this, giving him 2,3 even 5 warnings before a consequence. I realize that this is not fair to him. How can he know if I mean it the 1st time or even the second if one time I enforce on the 4th or 5th?

That has changed. So after he hadn't picked them up, we took away the magnetic things (the first thing I had said to pick up). We then said that if he didn't have the legos picked up by the time that Brandon got back from putting the other toy away, that we would also take away the legos. He played some more, and got the legos taken away. So...the teaching has begun.

He then throws a fit and says "If you take these things away from me...you can just give them away! I don't want them!"

I have noticed lately that he has been saying things that he obviously doesn't mean when he's mad. And for the most part, we threaten to do what it is he says ("I will never play w/ that again!" kind of things) but as soon as the threat leaves our mouth, he changes his tune.

He keeps saying them b/c there are no real consequences for his actions. For his words. So Brandon talks to him about how his words matter, and we give the magnetic things to GirlM. They now belong to her. We weren't mad or yelling. We feel very bad for him and we told him so. We said how sad we were that he had said those things. After a lot of mad crying and stomping around and hiding in our closet from us, he creeps around the corner with puffy red eyes and comes over and climbs in my lap. He cries and cries. Consequences suck some times.

This is a good day. A good day for us...relearning to be consistent. A good day for BoyD. How many people have you known that say all kinds of things they don't mean when they are mad? No one ever taught them the consequences of that. BoyD has learned (probably not for the last time) that once words leave your mouth, you can't get them back in. The person you said them to can't un-hear them.

Discipline is a very good thing.

BabyK's 1st Birthday Invite

2011-01-24T10:04:00.000-06:00

Body AFter Baby: 30 day challenge update

2011-01-19T16:03:00.000-06:00

For all those mamas who are struggling with their weight/self image...for all of those mamas who desire beauty...listen to this:

(if you don't see a youtube video to click, please go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv2DUEsoKUA)

Ok...I have officially finished 2 weeks of my 30 day challenge. I am proud to say that I worked out every single day! Yeah, me! I was never short on my water intake! Yeah, me! And I was intensely controlled with my eating. I basically didn't eat any sugar (except for my chocolate and cake at a party) and I only overate once! That was huge for me. I cut out evening snacks and had a TON of energy! Even getting less than 7 hrs sleep every night, I managed to make it through each day w/o dragging. That has been the biggest thing that I have noticed. I feel great. I feel fitter and healthier.

My struggle: Ok...I know I'm only supposed to weigh once a week. I weighed last Friday (my update day) and I had gained a pound. I measured myself (with a different tape b/c I lost mine) and I had gotten bigger! I was so discouraged. I mean, I don't really want to put forth all this effort for nothing. Now...I know that weight can fluctuate from day to day. I get that. And I know that I switched tapes and I was consistently 1/4 inch bigger so it could really be my measuring or the tape. So...to feel better, I weighed myself again on Monday (after really not dieting at all on Sunday) and I was down 4 lbs from Friday. Makes no sense. So if I only weigh once a week, how do I really know if that weight is accurate or not????

This week my weight is the same. As far as measurements: I think I actually shrunk a couple of cm. (I am not using inches b/c I will loose cm faster b/c they are smaller! LOL!) Not exactly sure the details, but I feel good.

The final thing...I think my milk supply is on the decrease. I may have been cutting too many calories too quickly. I am going to go back to the way I was eating before (not trying to limit portions too much...eating slow and eating until full, etc) except I will keep out the sweets.

And I still love Workouts on Demand...it is not for the fitness guru. I mean, I haven't tried all of the videos, yet, but they aren't super hard, but they do get me moving and a couple of them have really made me sore the next day! Always a good sign. Check it out if you can.

Are my kids really a mirror?

2011-01-19T13:42:00.000-06:00

I've been watching my kiddos lately. I mean, I always watch them...but I've been watching them in the context of how they behave in relation to how I behave.

The other day BoyD and I were carrying his leggos into his bedroom while picking up the playroom. I was carrying a plane that he had been working very hard on. Well, I dropped the plane and it fell to the ground and broke apart into quite a few pieces. I said "Oh, BoyD, I am so sorry!" and he said, "Its no problem, mommy. Don't worry about it!" Wow. At that moment I thought that maybe Brandon and I maybe did something right. Maybe he learned that attitude from me!

Then, later that same day, BoyD was frustrated with GirlM about something and I see him with clenched fists yell at her through clenched jaws, "GirlM...get over here now" It was like looking in the mirror when I get mad at him. Of course he isn't allowed to talk to her that way (or to us either), but then why am I allowed to be so disrespectful to him? So...he learned that one from me as well! Ha-ha!

So...when you look at your kids, do you like what you see? Do you like your kids? Do they have cheerful attitudes. Are they grouchy, kind, angry, peacemakers? Do you think that this is really a reflection on you as a parent or just a personality quirk, or a combination?

I think I'm a bad missionary

2011-01-17T19:06:00.000-06:00

Let me explain. This is not to beat on myself. I have been so blessed to be a part of a team of missionaries here in Guatemala. We are a discipleship team and we get together once a month and meet. We share our lives, our challenges, we pray for each other, and we eat together. It is my favorite time each month.

Well, one of the couples works primarily with Indigenous Mayans in a village context. (No shopping malls, no grocery stores, no pizza delivery, etc) They have been truly immersed in the Mayan culture and have been forced to be learners. They have been humbled, taught, corrected, abused, neglected, loved. The following came from a conversation that we had with them at our last team meeting.

Before coming to the field, Brandon and I had a total of 7 weeks of intensive training. We learned about entering into a new culture. We learned about how to seek out and be learners, how to NOT be that missionary that comes in and tells all these people what they need to know. It is a lot more complicated than that sounds, but it basically entails dying to your own culture and accepting the people for who they are. It means that you try as best you can to forget the American way of doing things and to keep an entirely open mind. It means not criticizing the bizarre things of the new culture just because your intellectual, enlightened western mind knows better. It is about judging right and wrong solely based on scripture, and not how you were taught before you arrived.

That is where I have failed. Essentially, I have done it all wrong. I have been so arrogant in "my" way of doing things. I have told people how silly it is that they think that you can get air out of your tummy by putting a lit candle on coin placed on your abdomen and then covering it with a glass. I have told them how you can't really get sick from the cold. I have told them that it is impossible for cold to seep up through your feet and enter your lungs and make you sick. I have told them that walking over a hose won't cause your baby's umbilical cord to strangle them. I have told them...informed them...educated them. Why, might you ask? Basically, because I know better. So, so foolish. Do I really? It just seemed so natural at the time.

I may have alienated people because of my arrogance. I hope not. I hope that God can use my contrite apologies to humble me in their eyes.

I repent. I repent of my "know it all because I'm an educated American" attitude. I want to be a better listener, a better learner. Why? So that I can reveal Christ. So that they can see in me something that they desire, not despise.

Pray for me as I live this out with the help and grace of Jesus Christ. It is not by my own efforts that God will bring people to himself, but, Lord willing, by my humility and the work of Christ in me.

Body After Baby: 30 day challenge

2011-01-12T21:30:00.000-06:00

Another Body After Baby Post: I don't have much to post regarding my progress because I haven't checked my weight or my measurements since last Friday morning. I will check again this Friday morning. I normally weigh myself every day (or thereabouts) but I am resisting the urge.

I can say that I have had 64+ oz. of water every day. I have worked out every day but Saturday. I am really liking the Workouts on Demand website. I have done 2 different salsa dance videos (not hard but a fun way to get active) and part of a kick boxing one. Tomorrow morning I will be doing a total body toning one with hand weights. I slept late (until 6am) this morning, so I only had like 20 minutes and I didn't get much done.

The other mornings I did some interval training up and down my street (sprinting, lunges, sprinting, calf raises, sprinting, stretches). I have been watching my portion sizes and have cut down drastically (except dinner last night and lunch today) I lost a little motivation today, so this blog could not have come at a better time.

I really just need to get more time in for exercise. Every day I have to be a mom, be a wife, get time in the Word (usually only happens b/c I have my Bible in the bathroom! TMI, right?), practice my guitar, manage my home, teach my kids, sew, and on occasion, bathe. LOL! That means 5:30am wake up times or it just doesn't all get done.

So tomorrow I am going to get up at 5:30 and be on my street by 6am. I really want to try to get in another 20min. or so of the strength training on Workouts on Demand. We'll see what time the kids get up.

I will post on Friday for anyone that might care regarding my specific progress.

Body After Baby Challenge Week 6 (I think)

2011-01-06T07:35:00.000-06:00

I have not moved one bit since my last post a few days ago. I have also not worked out once (well...I went to the park but I mostly just stood there) since my last post. I have eaten ok. I did drink a lot of water yesterday. So there is really nothing to post, except that Samantha over at Mama Notes is adding to her Body After Baby Challenge. She is making a 30 day challenge.

She is going to be using The Shred DVD by Jillian Michaels as her first 30 day challenge. Well, I don't have that DVD and can't get it, so I am going to commit to join her in this challenge, but a bit differently.

I will be using Workouts On Demand which is basically an on-line workout class. I paid $3.25 for a month (it is more after the first month b/c there is a 75% discount for the first month) and I have access to a bunch of streaming or downloadable workout videos, a fitness journal, and a food tracker. Also, I will be using a yoga video that I have, as well as a pilates video. I may even venture out to the garage to use the treadmill. I am going to ask Brandon to give me 30minutes (from 6am to 6:30am) 5 days a week to work out.

I am also going to cut out white sugar for the following 30 days w/ a couple of exceptions. I will still eat my 1oz. of chocolate a day (if I want it) and I will eat birthday cake on my kids birthdays. I will still put honey in my tea, natural fruit jelly on my toast, etc. I am also going to try my best to avoid while flours. I can't get all whole wheat things like in the states, but I can decrease my white flour intake somewhat.

Here is the thing...I weigh between 132.5 and 135 (depending on the day) and am 5'6". I am not fat. I am not even really overweight. Yes, I would like to get down to 125 or so so that I can start my later portion of life skinny. But if I lose some loose flab and replace it with muscle then I may not can get that low. All that to say, the number on the scale is less important that the following: toned arms and legs, flatter tummy, more energy, and keeping my body in peak condition (my mom has arthritis so bad that it is hard for her to get up and down from the floor, do any workouts other than walking and swimming, and her body just generally doesn't work that well). When I'm 60, I want to be almost as active as I am now.

I may take some measurements and track my progress in inches instead of lbs. Or maybe both. Not sure.

Ok, I could use your encouragement and your prayers. This is going to be hard with 3 kids 5 and under.

Body After Baby Challenge Week something

2011-01-03T19:30:00.000-06:00

Ok...so I'm way behind on my body after baby challenge from over at mama notes. It has been crazy and I definitely took time off for Christmas. So that being said, I had lost a total of 3lbs before Christmas, I gained it all back +1lb over the 2 weeks around Christmas (my mom was in town and I baked a lot) and have since lost 1.5lbs. So...I am over all down .5lbs from where I started. Oh well.

I will say that while my wonderful, precious, funny, sweet mom was here, I overdid it at every meal. I over ate, ate too many sweets, stayed up too late, and was generally unhealthy. But I was having fun. That counts for something, right? Well...I also noticed that I had a general feeling of unwell. I was full, bloated, tired, and had indigestion. So, when I said goodbye to my mom very early at the hotel in Guatemala City, I decided that I was so sad, and to not feel worse, I would try to feel good physically. Since then (Sat. early morning), I have eaten better (not over eating), drank more water, gone to bed earlier (but I still have a waking teething baby and a 5 yr old with leg cramps), and eaten a lot fewer sweets.

I am still eating my token piece of peppermint bark, but I'm not doing it at 10pm after a piece of pecan pie and a huge dinner. I am feeling a lot better, and back on track.

As far as exercise: I don't get any. I'm too tired to cut out any sleep, and I just can't figure out how to work it into my routine right now. Brandon's parents are in the country for the next two weeks, so maybe I can use them to take care of kids while I exercise. I did take the dog and the kids to the park today and ran around with them a bit.

So...new goals...keep up my water intake, try to find a chance to exercise, and no sweets late at night.

Oh, and since the last BAB post, my mom got a stomach bug, Brandon got strep throat, I got the stomach bug (or maybe it was just junk food and exhaustion b/c I got over it quickly), my kids had a school program, we had Christmas celebrations, and we traveled to and from Guatemala City. I've been a little busy!

Thanks for reading...for those other Body After Baby participants, I'm sorry I've been out of the loop, but I'm back in with a vengeance.

What I've been working on - don't look mom.

2010-12-14T06:54:00.001-06:00

Ok...I wanted to blog about what all I've been working on around here to use my creative energies.

Mom...(as in Debbie)...do not read this. Your Christmas present is included here.

First of all, my kids are having a joint birthday party at their school on Friday. We are sending princess invites to the girls and star wars invites to the boys. For the girls, I made princess dresses out of paper and I sewed a little bit of tulle to make the skirt. I did some glitter glue and stuff to decorate. The party details are printed and glued to the front.

The boys' invites are C3P-O masks that have the party info glued on the back. They are laminated for durability.

Next I made GirlM this skirt. It is called the Market Skirt and the tutorial to make it is found here at my favorite tutorial sight.

This weekend I finished making the Men's shirt dress for GirlM from the same website above. I still need to exchange the buttons for more feminine ones, but I will go out this week to buy them.

I made the shirt that GirlM is wearing in the following photo into a shirt from a onsie. It was a huge onsie and since she is potty trained, I needed to make it big girl friendly. I also made the pants that she is wearing yesterday morning before the kids got up. It was SUPER easy!

Finally, I made this apron for my mom for Christmas. This was a labor of love and took two days to make. Thanks Mistie for helping me learn to make this a quality item. I love it!

Oh...I'll go ahead and post here two videos of my kiddos singing. BoyD is singing "Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer" in Spanish and GirlM is singing "Jesus Loves Me". Both these kids are suffering from an infection and are on antibiotics. And it is early. That is why they look so puffy eyed and tired. Even so, they are pretty cute. If you are seeing this on facebook, you won't be able to view the videos and will have to go to my blog to see them. They are worth it!

Body After Baby Challenge Week 2

2010-12-09T10:28:00.000-06:00

Ok...I only have like 5 minutes here to blog because I just put the baby down for a morning nap and I have to finish making a sewing project. I may only get 45 minutes of time w/o him.

I have to report on my progress with Mama Notes Body After Baby Challenge. My goals were to work out (cardio) 3 times, do some strength stuff on the Wii, drink 2L of water every day, go to bed by 9:30, reduce my caffeine, and reduce portion sizes. And lose some weight.

I did work out 3 times...2 times doing some cardio with my Wii fit. I held the baby while doing step and this hula hoop thing for 32 min and then for 26 min. I was trying to make it harder and more of a strength thing. It worked! I was sweating and I was very sore the next day. I also took the dog to the park and instead of just throwing the ball, I would take off running and then try to beat the dog to the ball. I drank maybe 1L of water a couple of the days, and I did reduce portion sizes.

I really want to drink more water! It is hard because I am running all over the place and can't keep track of my cup! haha! And going to bed by 9:30? HA-HA! I was lucky to get to bed by 10:30 this week. And then I get up at 6am and I am just too drained to do any morning work outs. Plus, I have sick BabyK who is waking up to nurse every night. I really just don't have the physical energy to work out while this sleepy. This week I MUST get to bed earlier.

I did drop 2.5 lbs, though! That I am pumped about. It is much easier to keep motivated when the weight comes off.

So, to add to last weeks goals, this week the challenge is to write down everything I eat and to cut out one unhealthy habit. The second part is going to be a challenge. I really don't have very many unhealthy habits that I am not already addressing with the Body After Baby challenge! I mean, I need to drink more...check. I need to sleep more...check. I do drink a cup of coffee every morning but I have limited myself to just one and I am not willing to give it up. I do eat sugar, but I have been limiting myself to like one cookie a day. If I gave that up entirely I think I would rebel! I mean...one cookie (or sweet thing) a day is not an unhealthy habit! (at least not in my book...we are into everything in moderation, not elimination!)

If any body has any ideas of what I might could give up, please let me know. I am going to try to continue with my above stated goals and do better this week.

Keep praying for me if you get a chance. I am no busier than any other mom, but finding time to prioritize exercise as well as having had enough sleep to be able to do it is difficult. (Some of you maybe thinking that sleeping from 10:30-6am waking up once to feed the baby is plenty of sleep and I just need to suck it up. I am one of those people who really need 9hrs of uninterrupted sleep to feel full of energy. I know that is unrealistic with 3 kids 4 and under, but if I could even get 8, I think I would have enough energy to function well.)

Thanks for reading! I hope this wasn't too long, but it is good accountability for me.

Body After Baby Challenge Week 1

2010-12-01T09:12:00.000-06:00

So I'm participating in something called the Body After Baby Challenge from one of my favorite blogs Mama Notes. It is an 8 week challenge to get our bodies back. Back in the slimmest pants we own, back into run up and down the stairs w/o problems kind of shape, back to having the energy we had in our second trimester of pregnancy.

Today is the start and I am committing to participate and blog about it. This post is about goals, my plan, etc. I am not sure what all will be involved in the process, but I'm up for it. I think.

I took a before picture this morning, but I am positive that no one here wants to see it. I want to lose 10lbs total (over the next 2 months) but more than the pounds, I want to loose inches. I am not unhappy with my body, but I know that the older I get the more difficult it will be to stay trim, so I don't want to start the difficult years already 10lbs heavier than ideal. Also, I want to try to go down one pants size. The size I wear now is fine, but it is a little too big...just so that if I don't wear a belt, they are falling down by the end of the day. But the next size down is just too small.

My plan: I am going to try to work out 3 days a week. (treadmill or video) I can't afford the gym and going for walks is off limits for safety issues. I want to do the Wii fit 2 days a week (in addition to the cardio) and find someway to get some strength training. The Wii fit has some of that stuff. I am going to try to reduce my portion sizes during meals and I want to drink 2L of water (or refresco) a day. I want to cut my caffeine down to one cup of coffee a day and I want to be in bed by 9:30 every night.

My challenges: I am nursing...I need to be eating enough good stuff to get all my calories for my milk production. I am super busy with 3 kids. Finding time to work out w/o getting up at 5:30 every morning is going to be a challenge. I'll let you know how I work that one out. I live in Guatemala: I can't just go walking around the block with the kiddos in tow to get some cardio. I have to exercise a lot of caution when walking around. Maybe I could walk the mall or something. I love to bake: That is what I do and I do it well. I like to make apple pie and pecan pie and cake balls and homemade yeast rolls and cake cookies, and chocolate chip cookies and homemade chicken pot pie. I have skinny kids that need calorie dense food.

Ok...so feel free to join me in my adventure. Feel free to leave me encouraging comments. Feel free to pray for me that I can balance all of the priorities in my life (hubby, kids, home school, service, personal time with the Lord, exercise, taking care of the house, church responsibilities etc)

Living in Guatemala: priceless

2010-10-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

Rent for 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, office, and 2 living areas: $650
Pumpkin: $1.10 per pound
Turkey: $4 per pound
Used BabyGap sweater for GirlM: $0.50
Any new sweater for GirlM: $50
2 movie tickets: $6.00
small box of Leggos (like one vehicle): $15+
pint of Haggin-Das: $6
New Medela pump-in-style advanced breast pump ($299 on Amazon): $20
Peanut butter: $5 per pound
Homemade peanut butter:$2 per pound
Cheddar cheese: $5 per pound
Cars and electronics: %20-30 more expensive than US counterpart

Being able to afford a breast pump and BabyGap but not a pumpkin: Priceless.

A little follow up.

2010-10-20T20:48:00.000-05:00

Well, Mike asked about a little follow up. If you want to know the original story, please read the previous blog post. I wanted to write quickly about how Gladys and Carmen are doing following the last week and a half. Gladys started back to work (bringing Carmen with her) on the Thursday following the baby's death. While at work we cry, laugh, chit chat, and reminisce. They are working fewer hours and are spending lots of time with friends.

Interestingly enough, they have not really had any friends, yet right now they are visiting or being visited by all these people! It is like all of a sudden they know that they are not alone...not solitary. Carmen (remember that she is 16) was visited a few days after the death by a group of teenage girls from a Pentecostal church nearby. They came in and told Carmen that they want her to hang out with them. They said that they don't understand the loss that she has experienced, nor do they have the life experience that she does, but they want her to come and spend time with them so that they can share the love of Jesus with her. They want her to know how much Jesus loves and cares about her. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!? A group of 15-17 yr. old girls going to the house of a teenage mother and reaching out to her. Not judging her, but being very clear about their love for her and their love for the Savior!!!

So, Carmen will be going to a slumber party on Sunday night, 2 weeks after the death of her daughter. I am so...I don't know...thrilled. Like...God is still on the throne or something! Like He might use this horrible, horrible, horrible tragedy to bring this suffering family under His wing.

I am doing fine. I have to cry a lot. When I think about the loss I cry. I weep. I try not to put myself in Carmen's shoes, but it is difficult not to. I hug my babies and thank God that He has not allowed me to suffer in this way. I get to nurse my child and wake up in the morning to his fusses and "da-da, ga-ga, ma-mas" I get to get frustrated at my almost 5 year old for not staying in bed at night. I get to startle when I see my 2 1/2 yr old figure out how to climb in and out of her crib by flinging herself over the railing. For now, I get to have them with me.

At times it just doesn't seem like life should keep going as if nothing has happened. I remember feeling this way when my father died. Like all of a sudden the shopping mall is swallowed up in a huge sink hole and everyone just keeps on driving by, walking by as if nothing has changed. As if there isn't a giant hole in the ground. People should notice. It just seems like they should stop and at least say...man...something is missing from this world. Something was here that isn't, and it will never be the same again.

I realize that that is silly and illogical. People that didn't know Carlita won't miss her. Other people a country away won't feel the void that is left now that she is gone from this earth. I understand that. It just doesn't seem....right.

I will try to have a happier post next time. I hate this depressing crap. Let me say a couple of things...

God is good. He is working. He is changing me and transforming me, even if it is a very slow process. He is calling me to be more holy. To be more in love with Him. And I am answering His call. Glory to God!

The Death of Carlita

2010-10-13T12:07:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: if you are very sensitive, easily upset, or offended by frank observations, please be advised that the following post may be hard to read. It's long, but I am documenting the following events as a sort of therapy session and also to give a glimpse into this culture. This is very long, but, I believe, worth the read.

It started on Sunday morning at about 10:00 as I was about to brush my teeth to leave for church. We had a couple from the CAM board here with us from the US to see Guatemala, to see our ministry, and to have their board meeting. We were going to take them to church, take them out to eat, and then Brandon was going to drive them back to the city. All this got interrupted with a phone call.

Brandon walked into the bathroom with all color drained from his face. He said “first of all, our family is fine…Carmen’s baby died.”

Carmen is the 16 year old daughter of Gladys, our housekeeper and friend. Gladys is at our house from 8-3 or 4 Mon.-Fri. and 9-12 on Saturday. She cleans our house, helps me cook, helps me with the kids, and has been our practical Spanish tutor. Carmen got pregnant last summer and had a beautiful baby girl (Carlita) in May. She was 4 months younger than our babyK. Carmen had a very hard labor and birthed Carlita alone because Gladys wasn’t allowed in the hospital with her. She had a very difficult time nursing at the beginning and spent some time over here while I helped her learn to nurse.

After Brandon gave me the news, I called Gladys on her cell. She was hysterical, crying “my baby, my baby is gone, my baby is gone.” I asked her where she was and rushed to the public hospital emergency room to meet her. At this hospital, the emergency room waiting area is outside of the doors on the street. Everyone has to sort of move out of the way when an ambulance approaches so they can transport someone inside.

Gladys was sitting outside with friends. She was frantic. Crying uncontrollably. I sat with her for a moment and found out what had happened. That morning, around 8:20, Gladys woke up and went to make some coffee when she heard Carmen scream “THE BABY’S NOT BREATHING!” Gladys ran into the room, picked up the still warm Carlita and realized that she was unconscious…looking like she was sleeping but not breathing and not waking. She wasn’t blue or anything. The baby was already dead.

They (after putting on pants and shoes at lightning speed) ran a significant distance to the street with the baby where Gladys ran in front of a passing car to stop it. The driver took them the 5 minutes to the hospital emergency room. When they arrived, a doctor examined the body and pronounced her dead. No resuscitation efforts were attempted.

After sitting with Gladys for a moment, her questions started flowing: “Why Señito (what she calls me)?” “Why did God take my baby?” “She was healthy, why did she leave?” My answers through tears: “I don’t know, my friend.” “I don’t know.” “I am so sorry.”

I then headed inside to see Carmen. They had her in a corner next to a crib in a space that may have been 18inches wide not including the crib. There was a partition on her right, and the dead baby laying in the crib on her left. She was standing, and had been that way for 2 hours since she arrived at 8:30. This emergency room is just a series of cribs and examination tables circling the 20 x 20ft room. Her little area was the only one partitioned and that only on one side. Directly in front of her lay a newborn crying with fever. There were sounds of children and babies crying from fevers, injuries, injections. There was (from what I could see) 1 doctor, 3 nurses, and a couple of lab techs working among the 10+ sick children. Carmen and her baby had been forgotten.

I loved on Carmen a moment and asked the friend that was there if there was a chair for Carmen. “No” I was told. “They’re all occupied.” So I went to the doctor and asked “Excuse me, I know you are busy, but the young girl over there who just lost her baby has been standing up with no rest. Is there a chair for her?” The doctor promptly took the chair from the nurses “station” (a small desk with some file folders on it) to give to Carmen. Carmen was not speaking. “Are you hot? Are you cold? Do you need a drink? Can I get you a chair? Do you want your mom in here?” That last one got a nod so I left to get Gladys.

Outside Gladys was still sobbing. I told her that her daughter needed her and that she needed to pull herself together a little bit to be there for Carmen. Carmen wasn’t grieving yet. She was in shock. She was in shock, standing next to her covered dead baby girl with crying children all around her. Gladys did as I asked her. When Gladys returned, we found out from the administration that in order to avoid an autopsy (everyone wanted to avoid that) they needed a doctor who would sign cause of death on the death certificate. One problem: the night before, Carmen and Gladys had given Carlita some cough medicine that a doctor from the hospital had given them the week before at the well-baby visit, “Just in case - It is coming on flu season, and if the baby starts getting stuffy, give the baby this medicine.” I don’t know what the prescription said. I don’t know if they even had one. I don’t know if they followed the doctor’s instructions or if they dosed her themselves. I don’t know any of that, but they gave a 4 month old 15lb baby girl 4ml of this medicine. To my very untrained eye, that is a lot. We give babyK, an 8 month old 18+lb baby boy, half that amount in cold medicine prescribed by the doctor. Only God knows what happened to that baby. We won’t know this side of eternity. It could have been SIDS, a hidden heart defect, a hidden metabolic disorder, too much medicine, too many blankets at night. The questions bother me, although I don’t know if any answers would make a difference. Maybe they would give me closure, but they wouldn’t bring Carlita back to Carmen’s arms or back to her breast.

No one in the hospital would sign cause of death because she arrived deceased. They had 15 minutes to get a doctor that would sign off, or they would have to call the police and ministerio publico to do an autopsy. I tried calling my kids pediatrician and my friend from church who is a doctor. Gladys ex-boyfriend was driving around trying to locate a particular doctor to come. As I was leaving to go home to nurse BabyK, they located a doctor who agreed to come and sign the death certificate.

An hour later, I took Gladys Q1000 ($125) to pay for the doctor who signed the cause of death and to pay for the casket and funeral director’s services. Although they weren’t going to have a funeral, they needed to pay for the director to help get the paperwork done and to bring the casket and transport the body and the family back to Gladys’s house and they didn’t have the money.

I left there and went to eat lunch with our house guests before Brandon had to leave to take them to Guatemala City. By 2:30 Brandon was gone and the neighbor was getting ready to come to my house to take care of the kids so that I could go to Glady’s house. Right before I left at 3:15, Gladys called to say that they were still at the hospital waiting for a signature from someone from the ministerio publico so that the body could be released. So I headed back up to the hospital.

Let me interject to tell you what I saw while sitting outside the hospital, and what I saw while inside. There were a couple of elderly people driven by loved ones who had to be led inside. There was the girl carried by her father with her foot wrapped in a blood soaked rag with gelatinous blood dripping a trail from the car to inside the hospital. There was the young man with an obvious broken leg being transported on a collapsed gurney rolling along the completely uneven ground screaming at every bump while the paramedic said “Calm down, calm down.” There was the drunken guy with gashes and wounds all over his face and torso that refused to enter the hospital for help and just walked around outside asking for coins to use the payphone. No one would help him. I only had one coin and gave it to him, but he was really too drunk to use the phone. Inside there was the newborn that was having blood drawn by a tech with no gloves on, who was also receiving an injection to lower her fever, which the doctor stated was the most important thing. This newborn was wearing 2-3 layers of clothing and was wrapped in a blanket. No one was suggesting that they remove some of her clothes. There was another little toddler fussing in her daddy’s arms, red cheeked and sweating from fever. She was also wearing her shirt, undershirt, and jacket.

Anyway, when I returned to the hospital later that afternoon, Carmen and Gladys were both sitting outside. Carmen’s grandmother was inside with the baby. You see, someone had to sit with the body because the hospital personnel kept trying to take the baby to the morgue and we were still awaiting the signature from the doctor to release Carlita home in place of an autopsy. The chair that Carmen had been using had been removed. After a while, Lupe (the grandmother) came out for a break, and it was my job to head back in and stand with the body. So I did. I stood…only for 20 minutes (they had been doing it all day) next to the tiny body of 4 month old Carlita. I know that it was just a shell. I knew that at the time. I know that Carlita wasn’t there under the receiving blanket. But every time I looked over at that tiny figure, I couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she was. How happy she was and how she was growing strong and gaining weight and how nursing was going so well (finally) for Carmen. I thought about Carmen waking up and finding her baby girl gone and a limp, lifeless body left. I thought about Carmen never seeing her first tooth. Never seeing her first roll over, crawl, or take her first steps. I thought about the empty arms of Carmen and how never again would they be filled with that wriggly precious gift. All that time, curious Guatemalans, seeing me cry, came over and frankly asked “Where are you from? What happened to your baby?” I had the luxury of answering that it wasn’t my baby. Poor Carmen didn’t.

I went back outside after a while to sit with Carmen and Gladys. Soon after we got word that all paperwork had been signed and that the funeral director was on his way. Everyone was fine until the casket arrived. This little tiny box covered in white gathered satin was carried into the hospital, and was soon carried out by Lupe, Carmen’s grandmother. I had to basically carry Carmen and Gladys to funeral director’s van. They were weeping and getting them to walk was a challenge. They went home and so did I.

This was now 5:30pm and I made it home to nurse the baby and heat up some leftovers for the 2 big kids. I had them in bed by 7:15 and I was looking forward to sitting on the couch, eating a cookie and milk, and watching some T.V. I called Gladys at this point to find out when the service was going to be the next morning. Gladys answered and let me know that the service was going on right then. So…I called the next door neighbor back over and headed out to Gladys house. I arrived at about the time that the service was ending, but I got to sit with Gladys and Carmen for a minute. The casket was sitting closed on a table in the middle of their kitchen/living room. Soon after, a group of young believers (young in age, not in faith) came and very kindly said that they were curious to know if it is the will of God that Carlita be raised from the dead. I would like to mention here that Carmen and Gladys had not been attending any church although they are professing Christians. These were members from a neighborhood church where a neighbor attends. After asking Carmen for permission, they opened the casket, laid hands on the corpse, and began praying for her resurrection. I could see that Carmen was beginning to panic. This was too much for her. She whispered to me that she did not want to be there, so I let her out of the room and into her bedroom where we sat on her bed and cried and prayed. I don’t think I have ever prayed so hard for anything in my life. I wanted so badly for God Who Is Able to bring life back to that tiny body. For Carmen’s sake. For Gladys’s sake. For God’s Glory. He didn’t do it. It wasn’t His will.

After everyone had left I stayed with them for a while crying with them and just listening. I just kept wondering how on earth they were going to live with out their baby girl. They were asking that same question. I had no answers. There are none that I know of.

I went home and slept fitfully. The next morning the neighbor came back over and helped the kids finish breakfast while I took beans, drink mix, water, and pitchers over to their house. I sat there with them for quite a while. At this point the casket was open and little Carlita was just laying there looking asleep except for the cotton pieces stuffed in her nose and ears. They don’t embalm here. People kept coming in and un-wrapping her and stroking her hands, repositioning her legs, and just examining her. For me, it was very unnerving. It was for Carmen also. She couldn’t stand to be in the room with the casket open. No one was really hugging, touching, or holding Carmen or Gladys. So I did. I don’t know if this was culturally relevant, but when I would hug them, they would both just collapse into me and cry. I had to leave again to go feed the baby.

Brandon had gotten home from Guatemala City while I was out. It was so good to have him home. I was so tired. That morning I had to put ice packs on my eyes because they were so swollen from crying and I couldn’t open them enough to see. Just to share the burden a little bit with him was amazing. We ordered a pizza for the family and my friend came over who has a daughter the same age as BoyD. The burial was scheduled for 2pm, so we took BabyK with us (I didn’t want to have to leave again to feed him) and left the big kids with my friend.

In true Guatemalan fashion, we had to wait for a couple of hours for a signature before we could bury the baby. It was after 3:30 when we got word that it was o.k. for us to precede. I have to say, although it is morbid and gross, that it was very hot in the living room. We had to keep moving the casket so the sun didn’t hit it directly from the window. They had to close the casket because the body was beginning to darken. The smell was overwhelming: similar to rotten meat that gets left out, or the smell if a rodent that has died in the wall. It had been about 30 hours since she had died. Poor Carmen. During this entire time, Brandon had BabyK in the sling and walked around the outside of the house with him where it was cooler.

Finally, the pastor arrived and we had a short prayer and Bible reading before heading out. Two of the men in the family carried the casket out to the back of the truck. Carmen wanted to walk (as opposed to ride in the truck) so all the little kids piled in the back of the truck with the body to hold the flowers upright. We began the 2 mile or so walk to the cemetery. The grave was dug earlier that morning by a neighbor. Thankfully Carmen’s dad supported her during the long walk and Gladys’s son did the same for her.

The grave site was almost unbearable. After a short word from the pastor and from Brandon, Brandon had to climb into the grave to receive the body and set her down inside. This was the hardest moment for everyone. She had been “asleep” on the living room table all day and now they were laying her in the ground. Brandon climbed out and two men began covering her with dirt. Shovel after shovel. The dirt was littered with trash and old floral arrangements. It didn’t matter. They just shoveled it all on top of her. Carmen watched in horror as her 4 month old baby was buried forever (we know that it really isn’t forever, but that perspective isn’t dominant at the moment) under 5 feet of earth. Right next to her was the ruined grave of another child. Caving in and rotting with old flowers. Carmen wailed and held on tightly to her father; finally giving herself over to the grief. We sat there crying until the flowers had been arranged by a couple of friends and placed on the grave mound. Then came the walk back to the truck. Carmen’s dad and brother were not available so I held her as we walked back, trying to support her weight. We all climbed in the back of the truck and drove the 2 miles back to the house. Brandon took BabyK and loaded him into our car while I helped carry in one of the other babies. I left Carmen laying on her bed looking as though she had been beat up and left for dead. It was more than sadness. More than grief. It was the grief of a mother who has lost her only child.

Carmen and Gladys and her mom and brother came over last night just to get out of the house. We sat and talked and cried and laughed. They are alive, grieving and carrying on. One day at a time.

Sick family

2010-05-13T17:12:00.000-05:00

Many of you know that we have had some sickness in our home. First Brandon got it with some tummy troubles. It lasted one night.

Then I got it. It lasted 5 days. Then Brandon got it again and GirlM got it. They got over it really quickly.

Then BoyD got a serious cold/cough. (103 degree fever under arm!) It went into an ear infection about the time that Brandon, BabyK, and I got it. The next day GirlM came down with it. BabyK and GirlM are still fighting the cough, but are mostly better. Brandon and I are feeling much better.

Here are a couple of photos to document our sicknesses:

Don't these kiddos look charming?

And now our booger-sucker broke. Kind of a problem, but the bulb syringe is working O.K. for now.

We are so glad that we are better! It feels good to be well.

Video of GirlM

2010-05-13T17:10:00.000-05:00

Here is a video of GirlM. I wanted to post it on the last blog, but it wouldn't load. days of trying.

Enjoy!

A (late) Mother's Day post.

2010-05-12T13:33:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fitting this Mother's Day to fill in everyone on why my job is the best job in the world. (I'm going to make up for lost time with a few extra photos of BabyK)

I have a 3 month old son BabyK. He is so precious! He is a very smiley,laughy baby. He really only fusses if he gets over tired. He was sleeping 9 hours a night, but didn't gain enough weight last month so I am having to wake him up in the night to feed him. Sometimes he stops nursing just to look up in my eyes and smile and giggle! And once I start to smile back (who could help it?), meal time is over and I have to try again in a couple of minutes.

He is officially a thumb sucker! He only uses his pacifier at night when he is falling asleep because his arms are tucked by his side in his swaddle blanket!

I also have a 2 year old GirlM. She is a drama queen! We are in the battle of the whine right now. She is also VERY attached to me. At meal times, she wants to be touching me while we eat. If I go upstairs, she wants to "go wit-u." In the kitchen, she will just come and stand between my legs. She is still tiny, but eats enough to keep her alive! :)

She loves to play with her princesses. (A little people castle set) And she has them talk to each other..."where daddy is?...I don know...I go to sleep...Don wake me up!," etc. It cracks me up. And she is learning from her brother. She says everything he says.

She is also very sensitive. She accidentally popped BoyD's balloon while he was napping, and when I said "oh, GirlM!" in just a surprised voice, she started with "i sorry, I sorry, I SORRY" and continued that way crying, grieving and apologizing. It took a good 3 minutes to get her to calm down so that I could tell her not to worry, that we have other balloons.

(There is supposed to be a video here of GirlM...I can't get it to load...so I will post it in a separate blog in a little bit.)

I have another boy, BoyD who is 4 years old. He talks non stop. All the time. And he uses very mature phrases like "This is just so frustrating!" and "Actually." He cracks me up. He makes up stories about every toy, and makes up songs. He even makes up songs in Spanish!

And, he is reading! Just short vowel words now, but he really wants to learn. He is taking piano lessons, and I think that the material is too easy for him so he gets bored. Not sure. He is a very funny and a very sweet kid. He told Brandon the other day that he wanted to go to a little devotional (we were visiting a friend on a mission trip here) because he wanted to learn how to love Jesus more. And every time we read the resurrection story, he gets so excited and says, "He conquered death!" "He rose again!" or "He didn't stay dead!" It just makes my heart happy!

All the Baby Mamas: why babywearing is so much fun!

2010-04-15T18:29:00.000-05:00

Easter Weekend in photos

2010-04-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

Here's a glimpse of Easter weekend at the Scott house:

Our nightly devotional became a retelling of the Easter week stories. Here is Brandon telling the story of the last supper on our magnet book. The kids are eating some bread and drinking some juice for an object lesson.

On Friday there are these processionals from all of the Catholic churches here. They last around 5 hours and they walk over these "carpets" made by hand out of colored sawdust. Here we are getting loaded up to go and look at the carpets and maybe catch a processional. (Not all of one.)

These carpets are even cooler in person. This guy and his friends had been working on this one since about midnight. The photos were taken around 8:30 in the morning and he was putting on the finishing touches.

This is the beginning of one of the processionals.

Random picture, but this is BoyD in his first night in his big boy bunk bed. That is a story for another post.

We dyed Easter eggs and had a lot of fun!

The Easter bunny brought some interesting things. They don't sell ANY kind of Easter candy here, so we only had like 9 plastic eggs left over from last year. The bunny was very sensible this year. This paragraph is underlined and I can't figure out how to change it!

We got all dressed up for some family photos. Are they cuties or what? Ok that's it.

Raves and Rants

2010-03-31T08:23:00.000-05:00

Yeah! Time to blog! Just for the record, I have all kinds of time to sit and blog. I just choose to do other things like sleep, bathe, etc. I have 24 hours in everyday just like the rest of you.

One thing about not blogging very much, and not having time to read all of the blogs that I love, is that I feel much more disconnected. I just have some things to talk about. I have some rants, and a couple of raves.

Rant: Doctors in Guatemala don't care at all about child development. They don't ask questions about it. They also prescribe medicine for the slightest ailment with what seems like little regard for what Mom and Dad think. Parents aren't really part of the process, but more like an appendage to the patient that needs to be "treated."

Rave: I live in a country that has very good medical care. If my kid gets sick, I don't have to travel to some filthy, open air clinic with circuit doctors. I don't have to have medicine (except for the occasional children's Claratin) brought in from the states. I don't have to be care-flighted to another country for emergencies. I can get ultrasounds, x-rays, antibiotics, doctor advice, and all kinds of care for my family with relative ease, just maybe some long wait times and long lines.

Rant: Errand running in Guatemala. To go get cash, pay the electric bill, pay rent, and visit a carpenter, I will most likely need 3+ hours. Maybe more if the lines are long.

Rave: I have a wonderful muchacha that works for us and keeps me sane. She cleans my house, irons my clothes, and has started doing most of the cooking. (you may be wondering why I'm ranting about anything if this is one of my raves)

Rant: The bed that I wanted for BoyD's room is the coolest boat-shaped bunk bed, but will cost $950 to make here, and we can't afford that...because that's almost a thousand dollars for a bed.

Rave: We found a very simple wooden bunk bed for half the price, mattresses included.

Rant: Foolish people. Proverbs 12:15: "The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice."

Rant: My own judgmental heart. Like for some reason, I am that person who knows what those foolish people need to do.

Rave: Prayers for healing. God our Father heals. How cool that we can petition Him when we are sick, and that He is faithful! Does he always say "yes?" No, but He does say "yes" a lot. A lot more when we ask Him more. He has healed BabyK's upset tummy, Brandon's ear ache, and He's working on GirlM's cold, and that is just this last week.

Rave: Godly people who love you. I have a woman who lives here in Xela (a missionary) and every time I talk to her, she blesses my spirit.

Rant: Not sleeping through the night. I know people who get a lot less sleep than I do, and they are doing great (well...they are managing), but I need a lot of sleep. I really need 9 hours a night to "feel" rested. Maybe I can get that when my kids are out of the house. For now, I am dealing with waking 1 or 2 times every night to feed my beautiful baby.

Rave: (Update: Last night he slept for almost 7 hours...and I did too!!!!)

Rave and Rant: Homeschooling. I love that I get to be the one to most influence my children, that I get to teach them what I feel is important, and that I am not going to miss out on important moments. I really don't like fighting BoyD to finish cutting out the number 3. I don't like that it takes him over an hour to color a tree trunk because he just doesn't want to do it and can't find the "right" color brown.

Rave: Disney World

Rave:

Back in the Saddle Again!

2010-03-07T11:06:00.000-06:00

I have really high hopes of eventually having time to regularly blog again. I think at this point that they might be a little...well, unrealistic. But for the moment, I am taking some time to put down some thoughts, events, photos, etc.

Just in case you have any desire to know what is going on in our lives! :)

BabyK is now 5 1/2 weeks old. He is starting to smile. He was (at one point) sleeping 6 hours straight at night, but is now back to waking every 3 hours at night to eat. Sigh. I'm tired, but I know it won't last forever.

Both BoyD and GirlM are adjusting well to the new baby. GirlM is very interested in the baby, but also wants to be in my arms a lot. She is a lot fussier. But, she is eating better and hopefully gaining a little weight.

(The kiddos in a "roller coaster" inside their "house")

The coolest thing I have noticed with the new baby coming and moving back to Guatemala is how well the other two are getting along. They play together all the time. BoyD looks out for his sister and sees her as a friend. They bicker and whine, but overall, they are good buds.

We are trying to unpack. It is really hard to do with 3 kids underfoot making messes as we area cleaning them up. Poco a poco. (Little by little)

BabyK gets way too few baths. He got is first in the tub bath this morning. He was getting a little rank and crusty.

After bath was time for his first cloth diaper! Yeah! Finally! We have been battling a diaper rash b/c the kid poops all the time. Now that the rash is better, I put him in cloth.

The above pictured diaper is one that I made for him. I made it out of Brandon's old t-shirts and it is super soft! I am pretty proud of it, although he is about to grow out of it because it took us 5 weeks to get rid of his diaper rash.

Ok...on to a little more personal note.
I'm very homesick. I miss my mom. I miss clean water and ATM machines and reasonably priced baby equipment. I miss English TV shows. I don't yet feel at home here even though it feels like home because we still aren't unpacked. I feel a little like a stranger again here. The states feel like home but we didn't really feel at home entirely there either because we never had our own space. (Although we were so blessed to have people to stay with that made us feel welcome and gave us as much space as their houses would allow!)

My life feels very out of sorts. I am not used to this as I am a little anal about organization and routine and structure.

I still can't wear my clothes (and we are going to Disney World in 1 week!). I have 15 more pounds to lose. (with my other kids, I was at pre-preggo weight by 6 weeks...I am getting older, I guess)
I don't have my closet or my kids' closets organized yet so I don't know wear my socks are or the 3 pair of sweat pants that I can wear.
My kids have not watched TV (thankfully), but have received no education in a long time.
I don't have any kind of routine as I am getting out of bed at around 9am every morning.
I haven't read my Bible in I don't know how long.

Ok..enough complaining. My life is so blessed by a wonderful husband who gets the older kids up, makes them breakfast so that I can sleep in, and watches the baby so that I can blog. I have 3 wonderful children who make all of the craziness worth it.

Back to work, I guess.

He arrived!

2010-01-28T15:13:00.000-06:00

Ok - It is now Monday...I actually wrote this last Thursday (when BabyK was 1 day old) but then things got a little crazy and I didn't have time to post it. Anyway...here you go for anyone who is interested.

Hey everyone! I haven't blogged in a LONG time, but this is too cool not to share.

I am sitting in the hospital holding my new baby boy: BabyK

At around 9am on Wed. morning, my water broke. I had a Dr. appointment already scheduled for 9:50am, so I went to the office instead of straight to the hospital. The doctor gave me the OK to go and walk around or do something until my contractions got super painful, very close, or 4pm. We got to the hospital at 4pm because my contractions were like 8-11 minutes apart and totally bearable. I was still only dilated to a 3 when I got there. So basically, I had not changed since my morning appointment.

By 7pm, I was dilated to a 6 and my contractions were very hard and all around 2.5-3 minutes apart. I was still handling the pain alright, but between contractions I was so tired that I felt as though I was drugged.

By 8:15pm my contractions were feeling like transition contractions (really, really painful), but they weren't getting any closer together. I was not quite dilated to a 7 yet, and was so exhausted that I just couldn't see straight. With my last two babies, by the time the pain got this bad, they were right on top of each other and I knew that I was almost done. I was very frustrated because it didn't seem like I was progressing even though my contractions were so very bad. They even started to spread apart a little bit!

So, out of exhaustion, I received a saddle block at 8:45pm (sort of like an epidural, but just a shot instead of constant medicine and it doesn't last very long). I felt like a weenie because I had already had 2 natural deliveries w/o even wanting pain medicine. But, because my contractions were still so far apart, no one knew how much longer that was going to go on. I was just in tears from being so tired.

Well...40 minutes later it was time to push! Augh! Crazy, right? I mean, had I known that I only had 45 minutes more, I could have handled the contractions!

So...for anyone who might be considering whether or not to take pain medication for childbirth, let me outline my experience and the pros and cons from my perspective.

Positives: 1. I got to rest a little before he came...not sleep, but the contractions were making me so tired. Although he was born so late at night and we were so tired anyway, I am not sure how big of a difference that made.
2. I could still feel to push, but not the "ring of fire" so that was good. His exit wasn't painful, so I was less concerned with my pain and so much more concerned with him coming out. That was cool.
3. The pain stopped. That was huge. Although is was only for 45 minutes, that is at least 15 contractions that I didn't have to endure.
4. Many of the reasons that I didn't want to have any pain medication (Slowing progress of labor, additional complications, medical risks, difficulty pushing, fetal distress, etc) didn't apply/happen because it was so late in the process.
5. It is possible (no one can say for sure) that I progresses so fast after the shot because I was pain free and able to relax. It could still have been hours had I chosen to go au-natural.

Negatives: 1. I couldn't feel my legs. I mean...it was like I was paralized because I felt like I could feel my legs, but there was a disconnect. I had the sensation that my toes were uncomfortable and I wanted to wiggle them and couldn't. I almost panicked then and had to tell myself to get a grip. I can't stress how awful of a feeling that was for me. Seeing my legs move w/o me feeling it was really freaky and actually a distraction from the birth.
2. The feeling to my abdomen returned pretty quickly (w/in an hour) so I felt the contractions that accompanied nursing, etc, but I couldn't feel my legs/feet for several hours. I couldn't stand or transfer from bed to chair or anything. The nurses had to roll me over and carry me out of the bed. That was sucky. I am pretty independent and I really hated that part.
3. Catheters suck.
4. I couldn't get comfy (again b/c I couldn't feel my legs) to nurse or really even sit up very much to hold my baby. I put pillows behind my back, but my rear was numb so if I tried to lean forward, I would fall.

I think if I have anymore children, I don't want the spinal, although I am very thankful that I had it for this birth. I guess I will leave that decision to the moment. It was stressful trying to decide if I wanted it or not, but now I have the memory of each to compare. The birth was better, the after effects were worse. It is a trade off.

Hope that wasn't too much info! :)

BabyK update

2010-01-01T12:00:00.000-06:00

Just to keep you informed, we are going to the hospital on Tuesday (not sure when, yet) to try a procedure called external cephalic version. Basically, I get hooked up to an IV, some monitors, and an ultrasound. They will then lube up my belly and try to actually move the baby into a head down position. It works about 50-60% of the time, although there is some small risk of tearing the placenta or distressing the baby. (Hence the IV...just in case an emergency c-section is necessary)

On Monday, I am going to try to see an acupuncturist. I read about a technique where they burn some herb to warm your little toes. That seems to work about the same percentage of the time. Its a little weird, but I'm willing to try just about anything! :)

That is less expensive than the hospital version. I am also spending time with my hips in the air, both on my back and my hands and knees. With light and music near my pelvic bone.

Most importantly, we are praying. Please continue to pray with us! This baby has been fashioned by His hands, and He is in control of where BabyK's head is!

Thanks for praying! I have 2.5 weeks before my due date. We're getting close! :)

Back in the blog world....for the moment.

2009-12-29T08:58:00.000-06:00

Well...my routines are totally gone. I am going to bed late and waking up late. I have not read e-mails or blogs. I have not spoken in Spanish.

I have been to the doctor a couple of times, had a kid with a cold, had brithday parties, had a sonogram, watched some recorded "so you think you can dance, and played the Wii that we got for Christmas.

But now it is time to get back to work! Brandon will be teaching through James for my mom's Sunday school class for this month. I will be assisting in that (when he isn't available) so we will be prepping the study together. That will be fun. One of our responsibilities with CAM is that we are "member care" for our team. I have totally neglected that, so I will be getting in touch with our team members this week and caring for them! :) We have to make several appointments with individuals and churches coming up. Plus, I will still be trying to take care of my kiddos. :)

Oh, and I have a HUGE prayer request:
BabyK was measuring a little small, so I went in for a sonogram to check position of the baby and to check measurements. Turns out that the reason that I was measuring small, was because he is breech and his rear end is sunk way down in my pelvis.

I will be calling my doctor here in a minute to talk to her about options. From talking to the specialist (the one who did the sonogram) and from reading on-line, most doctors will not attempt to deliver a breech baby. Although breech babies can be born vaginally, most doctors won't do it. They just don't have the experience doing it nowadays to have the skills necessary. It is a much more complicated birth.

Anyway, there are all kinds of methods to get the baby to turn over. One of those, one of the more successful, is a chiropractic method, but there are no chiros certified in this method in Lubbock. I am also trying to get in all kids of bizarre positions to try to coerce him to roll over. We will be trying light and sound to try to get him to move.

Finally, there is a method that OBs use. I would go to the hospital and they would monitor all kinds of things, and the doctor tries to manually make the baby somersault. Worst case scenario, something tears or the baby gets too distressed, and they have to do an emergency c-section.

Not sure yet what my doctor is willing and able to do.

We are beseeching the Lord to do this for us. Please pray with us. With our time line to get back to Guatemala, me having a c-section is really not the best option.

All that to say, we want to do what is safest for BabyK, and we know that God knows what is best. Please just pray with us. Please ask Him to turn that baby. I will be doing what I can to get him to move.

I'll keep you posted!

A Year in Review: the Kiddos 2009

2009-11-30T07:41:00.000-06:00

What a day!

2009-11-23T19:27:00.000-06:00

Ok! Another post about life in Guatemala.

Today we had an appointment in Guatemala City at 10am, and it is normally a 3 1/2 hour drive with no traffic. We were all loaded and in the car at 5am. By 5:10, we were driving away from the house. So far so good! We had planned on encountering some traffic entering the city during the morning rush hour. GirlM has the croup, but is hanging in so far.

About 50 minutes into the trip (the kids had not gone back to sleep) GirlM gets car sick and throws up. Luckily, she had not yet eaten breakfast, so it wasn't too nasty.

We have to stop so the pregnant lady can go to the bathroom. This particular potty consisted of a very small toilet with no seat and no way to flush. It cost the equivalent of 12 cents to use it. It was totally dark. The good thing was that the door locked, so at least I felt a measure of safety. And there was a rooster crowing right outside of the door to keep me company. The floor was wet with I don't want to know what, so I rolled my pant legs up over my knees before pulling my pants down so that they didn't drag on the ground.

I guess I paid the money so that someone could come after me and flush. Pretty gross, but is was better than trying to go on the side of the road. I just am very thankful that we had our own TP so that I could cover the seat before sitting down, and very, very thankful that we had hand sanitizer in the car.

On our way again we drive another 1 1/2 hours to find ourselves at a road block. Now, here in this beautiful country, there are VERY few alternate routes. There are basically two ways to get to the City from Xela: The coast road, and the mountain road. They both branch off at Xela, and the only road that connects them is filled with bandits and the US embassy has discouraged its use. The road block was because of a demonstration and had rocks in the road, a little violence, and burning tires. We waited there for over an hour, and then after some prayer and fasting (we didn't really fast) decided to try to find an alternate route through the mountains to a town farther down on the same highway. But not before giving GirlM some medicine for her climbing fever and apparently sore throat.

We had to backtrack for about 20 minutes and then ended up on a really, really curvy mountain road covered in pot holes. Ok...we drive for another 30 minutes before BoyD gets carsick and vomits. He had eaten breakfast. So I am turned around in the car "catching" the vomit in his blankie getting a little splattered in the process. No problem, except that I start feeling very motion sick from having to be turned around until Brandon found a safe place to pull over.

We get the boy cleaned up and give him a chance to empty his bladder on the side of the road. I get peed on as I am trying to help him. Sigh.

Back on the road, but pretty soon I have to start driving because I can't shake the nausea. We drive on road that consists of series after series of hairpin turns, bridges wide enough for one and a half cars, and pot holes, until we come to another road block. These demonstrators know what they are doing, and are effective at keeping honest folks from traveling in their country. We wait there long enough for Brandon to talk to some cops. We find out that the blockade is indefinite. There were no plans to open it up. By this time, it is around 11:30 in the morning, we have missed our appointment and the immigration lawyer is trying to find us another appointment.

So...we turn back around. We go back through the curvy road to get back on the highway. We finally eat lunch at about 12:30, and make it home by 3:30. GirlM slept a little in the car after she threw up, and BoyD had been awake the whole time.

We all took a nap when we got home. So we are going to try this again on Friday. Pray for us! :)

I'm going to bed.

A little note about giftedness:

2009-11-19T06:45:00.000-06:00

I really don't have time to blog right now. I am cramming as much in my day as I can and still be a wife and mother. But, I ran across this in my preparations for the Bible study that I am teaching and I really wanted to share it. So, I will take 15 minutes "off" and write this out. Not that anyone is reading this anymore since I only post every once in a while, but here it goes anyway.

This is a quote from Howard Hendricks from his book Living by the Book regarding application of Scripture, and more specifically, the Great Commission. (If you have never read this book, please go out and buy it and read it. It is amazing.

"So when it comes to "making disciples," some people will do that by teaching, because that's what they do best. Some will do it by modeling and mentoring, because that's what they do best. Some have a giftedness for influencing people, so they will focus on proclaiming the gospel in very straightforward, impactful ways, because that's how they are most effective. Some will come alongside unbelievers and build relationships and live out the gospel, so that over time they stimulate curiosity about what makes them different. Some will take the approach that Andrew took with his brother, Simon Peter (John 1:40-42): they will bring their friends to people who have the ability to explain the gospel much more effectively than they can. Some will participate in teams that go into the world and do specific projects aimed at drawing people to Jesus. Some who have a talent for telling a story will write books in which they relate their own journeys of faith in ways that are very compelling to an unsaved reader."

This is my question: What am I doing? How am I applying the Great Commission? How are you applying it? What are you doing? Not being an "evangelist" or a "pastor" or a "missionary" is no excuse. (For me, either)

Be encouraged that no matter what you are gifted in, the Lord Jesus created you to do specific good works, and we are commissioned to "go" and "make disciples." We are not called to be something that we are not, just to do something because of who we are.

The Great Experiment - (can you do it?)

2009-11-03T05:54:00.000-06:00

I have unintentionally been conducting an experiment. I mean, my life has been very different over the past couple weeks than it was previously. I want to explain, share, and invite you to try this with me.

Those of you who have been active at our Flower Mound, TX church will be very familiar with this analogy. It is not one that I came up with, but is one that I have found to be INCREDIBLY true to life.

We each have two creatures living in us. (Well...those of us who have the Spirit of God dwelling in us.)

These two creatures are constantly fighting for control of our thoughts, emotions, will, etc. One of these creatures, I will say, wants us to be "of the world." That is, worldly in our thoughts, actions, responses, etc. The other creature wants us to be holy in all that we do. The stronger creature will win in any given battle. The battle over how to react to a screaming toddler. The battle over how to react in really bad traffic. The battle over whether or not we take the time to pray when we see an immediate need. The battle over finding time to be in the Word of God. The battle over whether or not to share that little nugget of interesting "information" about our neighbor with someone. I could go on and on.

Now, what determines which creature is stronger? How come we just can't seem to keep our thoughts away from criticizing that other person at the grocery store?

The creature that is fed the most, will be the strongest.

I have experienced much frustration over wanting to think more holy, act more holy, be more like Christ, but just finding my mind during the day thinking of other things. Not necessarily "bad"things (although that can certainly be an issue as well), but just things that are not beneficial. I will have some wonderful time in the the morning in prayer with every intention and desire to have my thoughts on God all day. To be experiencing His presence. And then, at the end of the day, I look back, and I was as self absorbed and distracted as always. (What I mean by self absorbed is that I am concerned with my life primarily...my to-do list, my issues, my schedule, my kids schedules, etc)

Now, to the experiment. Over the past few weeks I have been insanely busy. I get up at 5am and go to bed around 9:30. I don't have time for TV (we lost they only channels that I watch anyway, so I'm not even tempted), reading fiction, surfing the internet, exercising, or really any extra curricular activities. I have been making gifts, making bread, cooking, keeping the house picked up, but mostly it has been the following.
1. I am preparing, translating, and teaching a class on "how to study the Bible" for women from our church.
2. I have been doing all of the homework that I assign them for the class (which is a lot of time in the Bible).
3. I have been spending a lot of time in prayer for this study and for the women in it.
4. Before going to bed at night, to settle down my mind, I read 1-2 pages in a book called Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

All of my "spare" time is doing numbers 1-3. I am even taking some time off from those things to write this blog because it has been on my mind to do it for quite a while and the desire + opportunity will go away if I put it off any longer.

Ever since all of this began, I have noticed that my mind is more focused on the Lord. I turn to God more rapidly when a question arises, when someone is hurt/sick/suffering. I pray more throughout my day. I am more aware of the presence of God! I realized that I have been feeding one creature (the Spirit) and starving the other (the flesh)! I mean, I have always believed that that was true, and hence the value in a devotional time, but I don't know that I had really experienced before the effects of really starving the flesh creature!

So...I am going to continue along these lines for a while. (I am forced to by all of the things I need to do, including preparing a lesson and a sermon for a church this coming weekend) I am even choosing to read more Bible stories to my children instead of just fiction.

Will you join with me? For a week, maybe two? Will you try my experiment? Will you stop watching TV (just for a week!) and stop listening to secular radio, and stop reading anything other than the scripture (or devotional books, or Christian non-fiction, etc)? Will you use that extra time (most likely you will have some) to read the Bible, pray, listen to Christian music?

I would love for you to do this with me, if you aren't already. Then we could compare notes.

Disclaimer: I am in no way opposed to any of the things that I mentioned that we sacrifice for a week! I am not saying that they are sinful, or inherently bad, or un-holy, or anything!!!! Please don't read it that way. It is just that those things don't feed the creature that we want to be the strongest. (Normally, they don't) We as believers should not be so removed from the world that we are ignorant of what is going on around us. We should not isolate ourselves from everything "worldly" and move out to a monastery (although there is nothing wrong with that!). This is just a short term experiment to watch how this truth plays out in our lives.

Will I stop watching all TV after this busy time is over? Most likely not. Will I stop reading fiction all together? Probably not, but I do believe that I will be making some changes after this time. What those permanent changes will be are still yet to be determined.

Let me know if you will participate with me.

Your Baby Can Read - A Review: 1st installment

2009-10-29T13:26:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. I've never done this before, but there has been some buzz about a certain product, and I wanted to chime in.

I am going to review (1st of a series) the video learning series Your Baby Can Read. This is a video series that claims that after watching (and using the supplemental materials), your baby will be able to read. Now, they don't make any specific claims (that I know of) that say that by a certain age, or after a specific amount of time, that your baby will be able to read.

The product comes with 5 volumes. Each volume comes with a 30 minute video, a flip book, the really cool flashcards with pictures that slide in and out, a slide book with words from each of the videos, and some other flash cards.

One of the claims that has not proven true AT ALL is that they say that the video can keep your kids attention for hours. Um...not in my house. I mean, both of my kids will stop watching attentively after like 10-15 minutes, depending on if they are tired or not. I usually pause the video if they stop watching, and turn it back on later if they are interested.

One of the "tips" that they give is that you should cut out all other TV from your kids lives. No cartoons, no baby einstien, no movies, etc.

Your kids watch each video 2 times a day for about a month or two (depending on the video).

They tell you on the videos that children take a long time to learn the first 20 words, but after they know about 50, they will start to actually be picking up the phonics and the letter patterns which enable them to actually read, and not just recognize words.

Ok, our experience: We have BoyD (3yrs 10 mo.) and GirlM (1yr 9 mo.)
We have been using the materials for like 6 weeks. We have gone through the first video and are watching the second. (they are actually watching it right now so that I can type this!) We don't watch TV during the week anyway, but we still let BoyD watch cartoons on Saturday morning, and we eat dinner on Sat. night in front of a movie. (this Saturday it will be Cinderella)
So, we have not followed that suggestion.

The videos have cute songs and poems that my kids love. My kids (especially GirlM) really participate in the videos. They watch them, follow along, say all the words that are printed and spoken, dance with the music, and do the directed actions. For example: the video will have written the word "nose," it says "nose," and then shows a little kid touching their nose. It will then tell the kids to "touch your nose". That part is great.

Now that we have moved on to the second video, we will occasionally watch the first video as a "review." It gives a little bit of a variety, which helps my sanity!

We also don't watch it twice a day every day. We probably do twice a day for BoyD maybe 4 days a week, and for GirlM like 2-3 days a week. Mostly they watch it while I am preparing lunch and dinner. GirlM watches less of it than BoyD, but when she watches it, she interacts with it more. Maybe that is a girl/boy thing, or maybe it is an age thing.

The other materials (that go along with the video) are FANTASTIC! I mean, I love them. The kids love to look at the flip books. The have the word printed on the page, and then you either flip it up or down (I wish that if flipped sideways) to show the image of the corresponding word. It also gives little things to do with the picture like "touch the dog's nose" or something. The sliding flash cards are fun as well. It gives the word, and then you slide out a tab and it shows the image. The kids think it is fun to play with those.

We probably look at 1-2 of those materials every day. I think that using those things really enhances what the videos show.

Our results (so far):
GirlM does not seem to recognize any of the words.
BoyD recognizes most of the words from the first video, and a couple of the words from the second. I am actually amazed! He really can look at these words, only printed, in any order, and tell me what it says. He recognizes the following words:
elephant, dog, cat, mouth, eyes, nose, gorilla, arms, arms up, hi, wave, and a few others that I can't remember. He also will put his hand over the "se" in "nose" and tell me it says "no." This was with out prompting from me. He does the same with eyes and the word yes. At this point he isn't reading per se, but he is recognizing the words w/o seeing any pictures. I think that is pretty cool!

I don't know how long it will take for him to get to that 50 word mark, but with very little effort, he is picking up words.

My current conclusion (this could change as we continue the process)
-This is a good program that seems to be working well, at least for our 3 yr old.
-Because the AAP recommends that children under the age of 2 should not watch any TV, and because BoyD is picking this up SO MUCH FASTER than GirlM, I don't think that the new baby due in Jan will be watching this until they are at least 2.
-It probably does "work" in that babies younger than my children could eventually do what BoyD is doing, but since it takes so long, and actually reading to your babies is probably better suited to them, I don't see recommending this product for 3 month old babies, like the info-mercial suggests.
-I will be using the cards/books and other materials that came with the program with the new baby, because I don't see how it can hurt!

Ok...I know that is a ton of info, but I hope it helps! GirlM will continue to watch the videos with her brother, and I will post another update in another month or two to note her progress.

Interesting day

2009-10-26T19:15:00.000-05:00

GirlM got stung by a bee this morning. It was floating in the dog's water bowl, and she just reached in and grabbed it.

She came running into the house crying forcefully. When I saw her, I saw that she had something on her hand, and I though that she had picked up a piece of dog poop. Nope. It was a bee stuck to her thumb. I flicked it off right away, but the stinger was still in her. Brandon came out of his office with his trusty pocket knife and scraped the stinger off.

After some meat tenderizer, tried and failed crushed papaya extract, and finally a compress of chewed up pipe tobacco (thanks Brandon...you are a great father), she was as good as new! In just a couple of hours, the swelling had gone down and she was using her hand like normal.

Then this evening, a couple of Guatemalan kids who shine our shoes and wash our cars on Sundays came by. They told us that they couldn't find a bus to their town (about 45 min. away) and asked if they could stay here. Um. No. No, they can't stay here.

We called Gladys (the lady who works for us) and asked. Turns out the last bus was not for another hour and a half, so we gave them bus money and sent them on their way. We should have given them some food, but we didn't think about it until it was too late.

I made southern cornbread for lunch. With the bee sting episode, it wasn't ready until 1:45, so we ate it for supper. But in one cast iron skillet, there was 1/2 cup of butter. That is 90 grams of fat, just in the butter. That doesn't include the 1/8 cup of oil that greased the bottom of the skillet. Needless to say, it was really good cornbread.

So we had that for dinner with some black beans and some queso fresco (fresh cheese). Yum! And then, for dessert (for the kids only...so sad), I fried a piece of cornbread in a skillet with a pad of butter until it was crispy, and then we layered it with some cookie ice-cream. We are trying to fatten up GirlM, and BoyD could use the fat as well. I tasted it. It was to die for. A great way to use up left over cornbread.

Ok...that is about it for the day. Oh, and BoyD, after dinner, said his tummy was hurting. Maybe we over did it with the butter.

Last Saturday:

2009-10-24T10:04:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday:
This is how the day started: Normally, I am the one to go and get her up, so she was excited to see her daddy! (This video is really for the grandmothers)

(You can see the bumper that I made for the rail of her crib b/c there are bite marks all long the top. I need to add some straps and make another one for the other side, but it seems to be working)

Then, after a good bout of cartoons, we got all dressed and ready and headed out:

Poor GirlM doesn't have any Texas Tech gear, so she commandeered BoyD's hat.
We went to a place called "el vaul" which is a city park located on the top of a large hill (or small mountain). It has a view of the entire Xela valley, and these really large, really cool concrete slides built into the side of the mountain. They did have some smaller ones that the kids can use by themselves.

This picture was not posed. These are the amazing men in my life! Aren't the handsome?

Introducing...

2009-10-20T06:44:00.000-05:00

BabyK (check our newsletter for the full name...if you are not receiving our newsletter and want to, put your e-mail address in a comment here, and we'll send you on)

The little baby that is being knitted together in my tummy is a BOY!!!

BoyD and GirlM will have a baby brother on or around January 20th.

(Quick photo of me and the kids...you can't see BabyK very well, he's in there!)

BoyD is thrilled, Brandon is thrilled...we're all thrilled!

Now I must clean out BoyD's closet to make room for another kid, we must buy/build a bunk bed for BoyD's room, I need to make some boy bassinet bedding for our room. That is just to begin the list! And we are only in the states for another 7-8 weeks! Augh!

Praise God with us for this miracle. In the ultrasound, we got to see him open and close his mouth, we got to see him push up on his tippy toes, and we saw his little face so well. We also watched as his stomach and bladder filled and emptied! It was absolutely magical.

I had a hard time being on my back towards the end of it, as I am getting quite large, so I had to keep pausing the sonogram to sit up. We made it though, and it was worth it!

New Women's Study

2009-10-17T19:48:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to post this for quite a while, but I'm a little occupied right now. I am forsaking some study prep time to get this blog out.

Today will be the second meeting of the new study that I am teaching: How to study the Bible. It is based on the book "Living by the Book" by Dr. Howard Hendricks and on the Precepts inductive Bible study method. I am having to adjust the material somewhat to fit the culture.

Last week we had 12 women come! It was fantastic! We had 8 women from our new church, 2 missionary wives, and Gladys (the lady who works for us) and Gladys' daughter. I am really curious to see how many of those women come back this week. They had homework, and everything! It is interesting, because at our last church (it was huge), I had on several occasions invited women from our Sunday school class to the women's Bible study in our home. Not one of them ever came. At our new church, (very small) I put out one invitation, and 8 women came! It was unreal!

I really enjoyed teaching it. I mean, teaching in Spanish is a little difficult...well...it can be very difficult where there is something that I want to say, and I'm just not sure how to say it, but the two American women are a huge help on so many levels.

Please pray for us! Please pray that I can be a good steward of the resources as I translate and adapt the material for Guatemala. Please pray that I would be humble and teachable. Sadly, my unintentional tendancy is to have an attitude of superiority. Not necessarily that I am superior to them, but that my methods, my education, my techniques, are the best, and the poor Guatemalans need to be enlightened. That is so incredibly foolish, and if you would please pray that the Lord would keep me from such arrogance as I teach this study.

Finally, pray that this would multiply. A goal of ours is that after this study, one (or more) of these women would have a desire to then teach this material to other women! It would be wonderful if I could just be a help to the next "set" of women who are teaching this.

Check back later today...we have some news to share with you!

A Day in The Life Of...

2009-10-16T21:12:00.000-05:00

I get a lot of questions regarding what we do here. Specifically, what I do, as the wife of a missionary. I wanted to briefly post my schedule for today, just in case you were interested.

5:15am - BoyD wakes b/c his pull up leaked and his shirt and pants are wet.
5:17 alarm goes off
5:45 - I pull myself out of bed, head downstairs with a load of laundry.
- I put in the load of laundry. Thank the Lord for a washing machine.
- I make a cup of decaf coffee and head upstairs for a little alone time.
6:00am - BoyD is waiting at the top of the stairs for me, ready to wake up.
- I end up reading Mark 14 to him and Jeremiah chapter 3. (Not a very toddler friendly passage)
6:30 am - BabyM is "talking" in her crib. We go and get her up. The kids and I play with BoyD's dinosaurs, I get their clothes for the day picked out, and get my bag ready to go swim.
7:25am - Brandon is showered and ready and the fam heads downstairs for breakfast. Brandon makes oatmeal, I eat a quick bowl of cornflakes (sharing bites with the kids while the oatmeal cooks)
7:50 - I head out the door to go to the public sports complex. I swim for around 30 minutes and head back home.
8:50 - I get home, Brandon has dressed the kids, fed them breakfast, and cleaned up the kitchen. I have a super husband!
- I shower and get ready.
9:30 - The kids and I pick up the upstairs. We head downstairs and I hang the laundry on the line. I make the menu for next week and the grocery list.
10:30 - The kids and I go to the grocery store and to a big lots type place that is having a 40% off entire inventory sale. (I find crayola color wonder finger paints!!!! and Rite-aid pull ups!!!!)
12:20pm - we get home and I make lunch: corn tortillas, refried black beans, scrambles eggs.
1:30 - I put the kiddos down for their naps.
1:45 - I head back out to the Market (fresh fruits and veggies...open air market) to barter for our veggies, etc. I find BabyM a pair of knock-off hot pink converse for less $4
3:00 - I arrive at home, clean the kitchen of lunch dishes. (Too bad we don't have a dishwasher!) And begin the arduous process of washing the fruits and veggies. This consists of scrubbing each thing with a soapy brush, rinsing, placing in a large tub of bleach water, letting it sit for 25 minutes, and then rinsing with filtered water before laying it out to dry.
3:40 - The kiddos are up (I had to wake up BoyD, while BabyM had been laughing in her crib since 3:20!)
4:00 - The kiddos and I head downstairs, them to play in the sandbox, me to work more on the veggies.
4:30 - Brandon finishes with work a little early, helps me in the kitchen, and gets the kids ready to head back out. I pull in the clothes from the line.
5:00 - The whole family heads back to the big lots type store so that the kids can look at the toys (we didn't have time earlier, and I wanted Brandon to see what all they had) We purchased a plastic wisk - ours was broken - a bug collecting kit for BoyD, and 2 caramel KitKat bars - for movie night, all for less than $4.
6:00 - we get home and make a quick dinner of left overs. The kids eat great (even BabyM).
- we clean the kitchen while BoyD tries to find bugs in the house and BabyM pours her milk onto her cookie on the table.
6:45 - everybody heads upstairs to start bed time (little you tube video, take baths, pick up toys, read books, sing songs, say prayers, etc)
8:00 - I blog...sit down for the first time today, Brandon picks out a movie, makes popcorn.

Busy day! Good night everyone!

Just because she was being cute!

2009-10-11T22:01:00.000-05:00

Just because she was being cute!

Just in case...

2009-10-03T15:25:00.000-05:00

Just in case you like looking at my kids:

A little video of us getting ready to go to out. I pulled out the camera because they were just chatting away about what we were going to go do. Then, the camera comes out, and they get quiet! They are so funny.

Oh, and to explain, BoyD is calling me "dad" because he is pretending that I am the dad triceratops and he is Cera from The Land Before Time.

BabyM is wearing a shirt that my grandmother made for me when I was her age.

Yesterday was a pretty afternoon (meaning it wasn't raining which is a little rare) so I took the kiddos to the park that is inside the walls of our neighborhood. So, I took some pictures. 150 pictures actually! The following are a few of my favorites.

BabyM "smelling" the flowers.

BoyD just exploring and being BoyD.

My kids loving on each other. What isn't in the photo, is the hug that they were giving each other that ended on the grass like this. Look at BoyD's content face in that second photo. You also can't hear BabyM fussing while he is just so happy. It was really cute.

BabyM had a great time, and was sad when it was time to leave!

Being a mommy is cool.

2009-09-30T16:55:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I'll just get started. I went to a baby shower but didn't have the time or the money to buy a gift. So...I made one. I used fabric scraps that I had here at the house, and I made this little receiving blanket quilt. It is not my favorite thing I have ever made, in that all the fabrics don't "go" together all that well, but they were all feminine and babyish. And it took me 2 hours one evening, and then 2 hours the next day to complete it, from cutting, piecing, sewing, pinning, and quilting. It went very fast.

I actually thought the bag (and card) was cuter than the quilt! I "made" the bag, in that I bought the yellow bag on sale for 50 cents and decorated it with twine, the letters of the baby's name, little tiny clothes pins, and a homemade baby card. (The "tissue" paper in the top is more fabric scraps)

The kids were being creative together and being so cute to boot!

I have since cut BabyM's bangs. They are less in her eyes, now.

BabyM wanted to use the paint brush, and BoyD wanted to use his fingers. Go figure.

I wanted to share some really cute BoyD sayings.
He was making play dough letters at the table this morning while I was making snack in the kitchen. Snack was deviled eggs, but he wanted them to be dinosaur eggs so I was coloring them green. And he says "Dinosaurs are extinct" "yes" I say, "they are." And he replies "are they extinct because they smell bad?"

Then he told me that he told his English teacher at school that snakes live in the wild west. We said "well, what did she say?" And he said "She didn't understand what I said. My English teacher doesn't speak English very well."

And then today, with his "cool" sunglasses on, lounging in a lawn chair in the sun, he told me: "look, mom. I'm in the wild west."

This afternoon, while reviewing some letters, we came across the letter "D." He has a hard time remember that letter, so I said "it is the first letter of your name..." well, so we started spelling his name in a little rhythmic tone "d-e-a-c-o-n" and he added in the same meter and rhythm "that spells the name of an Englishman" (like as in in fe-fi-fo-fum)

Oh, my, gosh. I don't know if reading this comes across even half as funny as it did hearing it in real life, but I laugh out loud even typing it. Maybe it is just because it is my kiddo.

BabyM's vocab has exploded. She now says "Look a me" if I am not giving her my full attention. She will also say "I don wan to" if I am asking her to do something undesirable to her. She will say "SKOOS ME!" if I am talking on the phone or something and she wants to talk to me. She'll say "i full" after meals, and the cutest of all, is when I tell her that I love her, she says "love me too"

She'll tell me "kime" before she climbs on something, and then while climbing says "i won fa" (as in, I won't fall)

Oh, I really do love my job.

A little about the baby

2009-09-26T10:26:00.000-05:00

Well...I haven't talked much about the baby here. I am 23 1/2 weeks along and feeling pretty good. With both of my other kids, I felt incredible during the second trimester. Tons of energy, tons of mental energy, etc.

I guess that because I have a 3 1/2 year old and a 21 month old I just don't have that same energy level. I mean, I feel good, but I still feel pretty sleepy. Not sleeping well at night can cause that!

Also, I can feel that this is the third pregnancy in less than 5 years, and that I am 31 instead of 26. My hips get locked up if I do anything physical. I mean...I made a little lap quilt for a baby shower that I have today, and just the bending over for cutting, piecing, sewing, ironing, etc, made going to sleep that night very difficult. My hips would just get locked up in one position. Then, for a while the next morning, I had a hard time going down the stairs.

I also am not working out like I wanted. With the other two pregnancies, I exercised regularly. I just can't get the energy to get up early enough to work out. Excuses, excuses!

I am getting pretty large, although if feels good to have the belly growing at a faster rate than the rear end so that I actually look pregnant, and not just fat! :)

I feel the baby move ALL THE TIME like crazy! For a couple of weeks now, you can even see my tummy bulge and rock with the baby's kicks and turns. It is wild. I can't get over the wonder of it all.

We still don't know the sex. I am DYING to know! I have so much to do around the house to get ready, but I need to know if this baby will share a room with BoyD or with BabyM. That means putting together bedding, sorting through the appropriate newborn stash, organizing one of the kid's closets. (They aren't disorganized, there just isn't room in either closet for another kid's clothes.) Stuff like that. Since we leave in December to head back to the states, I need to get it all done soon. I still have to wait another month to find out the sex. That is a bummer.

Over all, life is great. I feel pretty good considering the state of my body, I love my kids and they bring me so much joy, and my husband is amazing.

We are also having to live ON THE CHEAP big time until we go back to the states. We are trying to save up enough money so that we can just pay the doctor bills and hospital bills after the baby comes. We also have to have enough cash up front (before we get paid in Dec) to pay all our bills here for the 3 months that we will be gone. So we are trying to save every penny. Not easy with vaccines and doctor bills, etc. Pray for us that unexpected expenses can be a minimum these next couple of months. (On that note...I only spent $50 on groceries for the next week...yeah!!!)

A morning word from Brother Lawrence

2009-09-23T09:25:00.001-05:00

Gonna share a long quote with you. What a way to start the day.

"I am filled with shame and confusion when I reflect, on the one hand, upon the great favors which God has done, and incessantly continues to do me; and on the other, upon the ill use I have made of them, and my small advancement in the way of perfection.

"Since by His mercy He gives us still a little time, let us begin in earnest, let us repair the lost time, let us return with a full assurance to that Father of mercies, who is always ready to receive us affectionately. Let us renounce, let us generously renounce, for the love of Him, all that is not Himself; He deserves infinitely more. Let us think of Him perpetually. Let us put all our trust in Him; I doubt not but we shall soon find the effects of it, in receiving the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without which we can do nothing but sin.

"We cannot escape the dangers which abound in life without the actual and continual help of God. Let us then pray to Him for it continually. How can we pray to Him without being with Him? How can we be with Him but in thinking of Him often? And how can we often think of Him but by a holy habit which we should form of it? You will tell me that I am always saying the same thing. It is true, for this is the best and easiest method I know; and as I use no other, I advise all the world to it. We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure. This is an argument which well deserves your consideration."

-Brother Lawrence from Practicing the Presence of God

Hope you enjoy that as much as I did. Have a great day!

Livin' on the cheap!

2009-09-21T15:14:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! Been too long, so I wanted to post a little about living expenses here in Guatemala.

Ok...first of all, if you want to purchase any item related to technology, it will cost you a lot more here. Cars cost around 4K more here than in the states. Imported products (Wishbone italian dressing, or heinz ketchup, for example) are also a lot more expensive. I mean, it costs like $3 to get a small bottle of real white vinegar. McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy's, all cost the same here.

But, we went out to eat after church on Sunday (normally we just do something in the crock pot, but church got out just before 1, and our kiddos normally eat at 12:30, and needless to say, they were both too tired and hungry to drive home, figure out lunch, and then expect them to eat). We went to a local restaurant.

Ok - We started with two enchiladas (chicken salad on tostado shells...it's an appetizer) I got a sandwich with an egg, ham, and cheese omlet, and black beans. Brandon got a bowl of soup, breaded steak, rice, cooked veggies, and 2 tortillas. The kids split a 1/4 lb cheese burger with chips. Plus we got three bottles of water (not free here). All of that, including a 15% tip, cost $10. Oh my gosh! We can afford that! :)

Then, I go to the store and buy groceries for the entire week for our family for around $60. That was $20 under budget! Yeah! Sometimes...well, most of the time...I really love this country.

Baby M and a few cards

2009-09-01T12:41:00.000-05:00

Homemade Pop Tarts

2009-08-31T18:37:00.001-05:00

Ok - I don't know that I have ever posted a food that I have cooked before. I am not a gourmet chef. I leave that up to my friend Alicia! (her creative blog is great for ideas!)

Anyway, I was craving pop tarts, and since we can't get them here (or I haven't seen them), I decided to make our own. It was SO easy, and oh, my goodness, they are good. They make regular pop tarts taste like...I can't believe I'm going to say it...garbage.

I make my own pie crust b/c we can't get the refrigerator kind, but the easier the better! (I just used the one crust pie recipe to try this out) I rolled it out pretty thin and then (tried to) cut rectangles. On one rectangle, I placed 1 tsp. of strawberry jelly, but any jelly would be good. You could even do a sweet cream cheese, or peanut butter, or nutella, or whatever!

Then, I put another rectangle on top (trimmed to make them the same size), and pinched the edges to seal. If you need to, you could add a little water with your finger in between the layers to create a better seal. A couple of mine leaked a little filling, but not enough to matter. I then crimped the edges with a fork to make it a little prettier.

I baked them at 425 for 10-15 minutes (takes longer here b/c of the altitude, so you want to watch it until it looks done...golden brown), moved them to a wire rack to cool.
I made 6 with the one pie crust.

I made a frosting out of powdered sugar, a little milk (just enough to get it not a powder anymore), and a little red food coloring. You could top with cream cheese icing, or whatever you had on hand!

Oiola! (Is that how you spell that?)

Anyway, this just took maybe 30 minutes to prepare, making my own crust, and it is so much better than a normal pop tart. It would be a great breakfast item for a Saturday morning instead of getting donuts.

2009-08-23T21:42:00.000-05:00

Ok...thank goodness, I over reacted! BabyM's diarrhea stopped very quickly, and she was able to get her vaccines! Yeah! She wasn't as excited as I was. She also gained 6 ounces in the last 2 weeks. That is progress...we think. We won't actually know until we visit the nutritionist in 2 weeks. Just keep praying about that, please.

We (the whole fam) drove to a town called Chichicastenango yesterday to meet up with Dee Farney, who was here on a mission trip to work in these medical clinics in the Chichi area. It was such a joy to get to see her and have her here in our country. We stayed at a really pretty hotel and shared a balcony with Dee. We put the kiddos down and had almost 3 hours to sit and chat with her. It was such a blessing.

We did lose her for a little bit this morning that made me pray like I haven't prayed in a long time, but it all worked out. That is a story for another time.

Ok...I may get a bit preachy b/c there has been something on my mind. It is faith and works.

Just to begin: I believe that we are saved by grace through faith. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts.

I do want to talk about works a bit. I believe (and this is just my opinion based on observation and experience) that the evangelical church (in America and here in Guatemala) has taught faith alone. I don't think that you can over preach saved by grace through faith, but there is a GIANT aspect missing when we don't teach works. I mean...we are told in scripture that works are the evidence of faith.

So much stress is put on the maturity of the believer. On being a good Bible student, on growing in faith. But what is growth in a life of a believer if there are no works? I mean...what is the point in faith if it is dead?

The end result of our salvation (the progressive aspect of it) isn't a more holy, less sinful, more studious, person. It is a life of good works.

Eph2:8-10 "⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

What are the things that we think of when we look for markers in the life of what we consider a mature believer? They pray a lot, they show the fruit of the Spirit, they study their Bible and have a good understanding of the Scripture?

Why do we study the Bible? Is it simply to know God better. That is very noble, and the Bible is the best way to know God better, but is that the end result? I mean, ask yourself that questions! Why do you study the Bible? Is it to become more holy? A better person? Because it feels good? To get answers to questions in your life? To find support for your beliefs, to find hope, inspiration, encouragement? Read the following with me carefully:

2 Tim 3:16-17: "¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

We see there all of the things that reading the Bible is good for. It is a wonderful list! But what is the end result of all of those things? Is it so that the man(person) of God may only be equipped? NO! It is equipped for works! We read the scriptures and we are transformed to do GOOD WORKS!

Are you doing good works? Are you feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty? Visiting those in prison, praying with/for the sick, caring for orphans and widows? (This list is NOT exhaustive)

Imagine the life of the man who gets up in the morning, goes to work, works hard, comes home, eats dinner w/ his family, enjoys his wife and kids, watches a little TV, goes to bed, gets up early, reads the Bible and prays for a little bit, and starts all over again.

Or the life of a woman who wakes, gets her children fed, dressed, takes care of the house, cleans, does laundry, cooks, takes the kids to the park, maybe to playgroup, runs some errands and buys some groceries, feeds the family, puts the kids to bed, gets a little devotional time, goes to bed, wakes in the morning and does it all over again.

These are most noble things. These are the things of life that are necessary and good. These are things that fill our time, our minds, our calendars. It is in doing these things with holiness that teaches our children about a life with God. But is that all? I mean...where are the works?

Let me interject here that I am not God, do not want to be, and therefore have no desire to sit in judgment on anyone. I am not looking at suburban men and women and criticizing them in my heart. This is a rant not directed at anyone. These are just my thoughts on the subject.

Anyway...my challenge is this. What works are you doing? What opportunities do you have for doing good works? Is your faith limited to the walls of your home? Or maybe your church sanctuary and Sunday school class? Maybe just to your wallet? (keep the wallets open, folks! He-he!) How could you do more? Not to be saved! Not to get into heaven! But to give evidence. To put your money where your mouth is, so to speak. That is what James means when he says we are justified, not just by faith, but by works!

James 2:14-24

"¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

¹⁹You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

²⁰You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. "

Lets all go do something.

The Big D all over again.

2009-08-21T14:58:00.000-05:00

Ok...BabyM has diarrhea again. What this means for us:

1. Extremely bad diaper rash.
2. Using disposable diapers (I love putting soft cloth on my baby's tiny tushie! I just don't have the energy to wash out 5-10 diarrhea diapers a day in the pila)
3. No appetite for our little one who needs to eat so desperately.
4. A loss of ounces, yet again.
5. Can't have her vaccinations that she is scheduled to get tomorrow. They are already late b/c every time she is due vaccinations, she gets sick and we have to put it off.
6. Not being able to tell if she is making any progress on her weight gain, and having to wait another 2wks to a month just to know if she is stable, worsening, or getting better.

It is really hard not to get discouraged.
Please just pray for her.

On a lighter note: BoyD and I were playing robots yesterday. I was Eve and he was who knows what, and a piece of paper in his hand was Walle. (All from the movie W.A.L.L.E.)
Anyway, he landed his rocket on the couch and told me that the rocket had an e-mail.

He's three and is pretending that his rocket received an e-mail. It was really funny. He even told me not to laugh, that it was very serious. :)

Thanks for your prayers.

Guatemalan sling

2009-08-17T13:07:00.000-05:00

You guys know those very expensive baby carriers and slings that you can get in the states? Well, here is the Guatemalan version. They are made from a really thick fabric and are very sturdy! I love using ours! We always get funny looks from the Guatemalans though, because they almost always carry their babies on their backs! I just don't have the skills for that. :)

Enjoy the little video.

Some Kid issues and More Diaper Giveaways

2009-08-15T22:59:00.000-05:00

BoyD had a little problem yesterday. (It is a little better today) His right ear is HUGE! It seems as though a little creature bit my child on his ear. We don't know if it was a spider, a mosquito, or what, but he ear doesn't like it.

We have given him Claritin and rubbed hydrocortizone cream on it multiple times, but it isn't really helping yet. Boy, this kid can react. But isn't he so handsome??? I mean, geez! He's a looker! :)

Well, not photos of this one, but BabyM is trying to poop on the potty. She sits down (she is so little she can even fall in the kid potty) and pushes out toots. She is so proud of herself! I think that if we could time it right, we could get her to poop in there. I mean, she's not ready to potty train totally b/c she doesn't shoe many of the other readyness signs, but boy she has desire! It is the cutest thing, b/c she will toot, look up and you and laugh! She wants to be just like BoyD.

We need to buy her a better potty chair. The one we have will tip over b/c she isn't big enough to stablize it.

More diaper contests! If I blog about these contests, I get entered to win, so if you do cloth (or want to try) then check these out!

There is a diaper called grobaby that is so cool! I don't know if you can read all the fine print, but you have these inner layers that you can switch out when the baby's wet, and just keep using the outer layer. When it's all snapped together, it goes on just like a disposable.

My favorite part? It is one size from newborn to toddler! It adjusts. That means that if I had this diaper (and I don't yet, but I'm trying to witn it) then I could use it on the new baby coming in Jan, and on BabyM! Talk about saving money on diapers, let alone saving the countryside here from poopy diapers.

Here is the Link to the website.

There is another very cool website where this mom reviews different products. One of the products that she reviewed is a Bambino Mio cloth diaper. If you want to read about a cloth diaper experience from the perspective of a disposable user, check out this site.

She is giving away two of those diaper sets, and oh, do I want one of those! They work like a disposable when you put them on, (no pinning), but you can reuse the cover over and over. They even sell these flushable liners that you can dump in the potty if baby poops! So cool.

Here is the link for the contest.

There is another really cool giveaway for a Gad cloth diaper. It is super cute and looks so soft! I want one of these also. I am trying to increase my stash for the new baby coming! :)

Now, this is the monster of cloth diaper giveaways from a blog Rocker Bye Baby! I mean, this stuff is for super cool moms with stylin kiddos! :) Even if you aren't interested in this stuff, you should check out how fun these diapers are. The coolest part, these are WAHM diapers, meaning that they were made by Work At Home Moms, so buying these dipes helps other mom's stay at home!

Go Here to see this stuff in detail (or to enter to win)

Looks like a fun store with contests!

2009-08-15T17:52:00.001-05:00

Boy, I love free stuff! And I love baby stuff. There is a new website that is launching called BabyHalfOff.com and they are having contests!

On this blog, you can access a contest for a gift certificate. Cool, huh?

Let me know if you visit them.

By the way, thanks for all of the prayers regarding BabyM. We are certainly adding calories to everything, so we will see in a couple of weeks if we are making headway. I am definitely less stresses, b/c as Robin pointed out, I am doing all I can, and the Lord is responsible for the rest.

You guys are all so great!

Just a little frustrated.

2009-08-13T17:02:00.000-05:00

Ok...time for another update/rant regarding BabyM.

First of all, BoyD was so cute in his little play. All the other kids had full fledged costumes, yet poor BoyD just had a dinky mask, but he didn't care in the slightest. He looked so cute. Sorry, grandmas, Brandon took the camera with him out of town for the day, so all the photos are stored in my memory and we don't yet have the technology to download those! Anyway, he didn't know the motions so he just copied what the other kids did a few seconds behind. It was hilarious, and he was so proud of himself. I, too, was proud.

On t0 BabyM. She is 19 months old and weighs 17lbs 12oz. She is growing at a slower and slower rate. Basically, she has been well since March, but hasn't gained an appropriate amount of weight. She isn't climbing the charts, or even levelling off. Her height and head circumfrence are doing fine, although she is still little.

Trying to get that kid to eat is so frustrating. I can't begin to decribe the stress I am under. It just makes me leave the table in tears. She is on a new vitamin that is supposed to increase her appetite, and is has some. She refuses anything that has any real nutritional value (except for avacados) She will eat bread, pasta, chips, crackers, cookies, all day long.

I saw a recipe some where for a breakfast cookie. I may try to make some of those. We visited a nutritionist, and she told us some things that just don't seem good. The problem is that I am arrogant and prideful, and think that I know what is best, when I probably don't.

For example...we're supposed to stick to white bread. It fills her up less as it has less flour. That makes sense, I guess, but knowing how bad white flour is for you, makes me cringe. She said to puree food for her to eat. I guess that is worth a try (anything is) but I already know that she is a texture kid, and I don't envision her liking pureed meat with veggies mixed in. But, like I said, whom am I? I mean...I am at the point of really trying anything. I thought that she had been doing ok since she had been well, for the most part. She is eating well today, though. Maybe we have turned a corner.

Just please keep praying for her.

BabyM and the Lion

2009-08-11T16:59:00.000-05:00

Ok...so not together! But I wanted to update on our little BabyM, post a couple of photos, and tell about the lion mask that I made for BoyD.

Well, BabyM received 2 vaccines (actually 4, but in two shots) today and is doing well. Woke up from her nap fussy, but other than that, is in very good spirits.

The dr. is sending us to a nutritionist (we go this evening) because although she has grown 3cm in height in 5 weeks, she still only weights 17lbs 12 oz at 19 months old. At this rate she will be well over 2 before she reaches 20 lbs, what most babies reach at a year. Now, the good news is that she is not sick, does not have diarrhea, and is developmentally normal. She just doesn't eat enough to gain the weight that she should be gaining. I'm happy, though, because she is otherwise healthy, and maybe with a nutritionist, we can fatten her up! :)

BoyD is in some sort of cultural program tomorrow that we found out about today, b/c he hasn't been to school in 6 weeks! He-He! Anyway, he needed a lion mask for tomorrow, so I got to
work!

I printed a little template on the computer so that I could get the right size, as BoyD wasn't here. I glued that template to some yellow foamy that I had, and cut out little ears from brown construction paper.

I had destuffed an overstuffed toy and had kept the left over inards, and glued that on for the mane. I tried various methods to paint the mane, and finally settled on some watercolor. It worked pretty well. Then I painted the face, glued on construction paper wiskers (curled a little at the ends) and attached elastic to hold it on him.

When he got home, I measured for the eyes and cut those out. I think it turned out pretty well, and he is at least happy with it. It is taking everything to keep him from wearing it until tomorrow! (I don't want it to get messed up before the program...he'll have plenty of time to wear it later!)

The photos below are 1st: the fourth of July celebration that we went to while we were in the states, Uncle Ian fixing BoyD's hair. So cute

2nd: BabyM playing at the park by Grammy's house. That was like 10:30am and it was so hot that she looks like she has been in a sauna. Sorry for all of you who live in Texas in the summer. The promise land betrayed us a little!

3rd: those are some of my girlfriends from highschool that I got together with while in Lubbock. It was so fun! Aren't they beautiful!

Ok, that's it.

Cotton Babies

2009-08-10T21:11:00.000-05:00

Ok. At the end of last year, we received a diaper grant from a company called Cotton Babies. They sell cloth diapers. For many reasons, we use cloth, but we just couldn't afford the initial start up to have enough diapers for 2 kids in Diapers.

I found this grant application on their website while drooling over diapers, and applied. We were granted the grant, and received 16 BumGenius diapers, a bunch of cloth wipes, bottom spray (for cleaning), and 2 dirty diaper drawstring bags. All free. This grant is for missionaries only. What a ministry! I don't know exactly how many diapers that they give away, but the list of missionaries that have received this grant over the years is amazing.

I just feel so blessed. I am plugging this website, this company, because they are putting their money (or diapers) where their mouth is. They are a company that is giving back. They are serving people who serve for a living.

Please visit them. There is even a place to donate towards the grant.

Mosquito Bite

2009-08-09T15:29:00.000-05:00

Just for fun...or because I'm morbid, I wanted to post another couple of photos of BoyD when he got a mosquito bite.

This was a different bite than the one shown below, but had similar dramatic affects. The circle is the bite, the little dot being the center of the bite. Poor baby was a little freaked out when he woke up that morning.

Keeping things neat.

2009-08-08T20:26:00.000-05:00

I was w/o internet or too busy to look for almost a month, so I am just now catching up on all kinds of blogs, but there is one thing that I have been reading that I just think is fantastic!

My friend Alicia has a blog outlining her new cleaning method. Before I had a 25 hour a week housekeeper for around $100 a month (I know, I know, everyone is jealous, just move to Guatemala and you too can have this luxury!) I did the flylady program and loved it! I seriously did hardly any work and my house was neat!

For me, with a preschooler, a toddler, and a newborn on the way, the trick to keeping things neat is having the kiddos be responsible for their own stuff. (w/in reason) For example, if I have to pick up my preschooler's toys, then I keep them in something called a "work-it-out box." Since I had to do his work, he has to do some of my work in order to "buy" back his toy. (Pick up the Baby's toys, or put folded laundry in the correct room, for example) BoyD makes his own bed, picks up his toys, can only get out 1 (sometimes 2) toy at a time, and must clean up one before getting out another, puts up his own dirty clothes, takes his plate to the kitchen after eating, wipes down the table (on occasion), feeds the dog, helps me put clothes in the dryer or picks up the clothes pins when they dry on the line, and generally helps me when I ask him to (pick up any trash, put things on the stairs, etc) BabyM picks up her toys (with help), and is learning to take her plate to the table after she eats. She also picks up trash and puts it in the trash can.

I do have a very organized play room and kids rooms, so that my kids know exaclty where everything goes. We also talk a lot about how good it feels when the house is straight. We talk about how nice it looks when we go to bed at night, and how nice it looks when we wake up in the morning.

The real problem is my bedroom. I (and Gladys) keep it relatively neat, but it seems that there is always clean laundry folded on a surface. Clean laundry is my bain. Also, I have a problem with stray glasses. I get a drink, take it upstairs, and leave it. Gladys, every day she is here, gathers up cups from the house to wash. I don't know what my problem is, but I just can't seem to keep up with a cup! :)

You will never, though, hear me complain about housework. I, for the most part, do very little. That being said, I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that they don't have to do chores, just b/c Gladys works for us. We make the kids clean up spills, sweep up stuff, etc.

I know, if and when we move back to the states and I am again responsible on a regular basis for cleaning my house, I will go back to the FlyLady stystem. It works and it kept our home neat.

Oh, a photo for Alicia:

This was taken the morning after taking steroids for a mosquito bite on his forehead. He was bitten on Day 1, Day 2 he woke up with his eye swelled shut and the bridge of his nose flattened out, we went to the doctor and got some steroids, and after taking benadryl that night and steroids for the swelling, he woke up like this. And we thought at the time that he looked SO much better. Poor guy! (I attached a picture of the boy looking normal for a reference, in case you don't remember what he normally looks like. )

Good Friends and Good News

2009-06-02T12:59:00.000-05:00

(this first part was written a long time ago. I have just been too busy (or lazy) to post in a long time.)
Well, today we got a care package. We have actually gotten a couple of them. The first few were from my mom. Then, Susan, from CBC, sent us this amazing package with clothes, playthings, first-aid stuff, I mean a ton of stuff. It was like Christmas opening it up.

Well, today we got a little box with 4 little Easter toys for the kids. Oh, my gosh, they are so cute! (I can't find what I did with the photos, so I will post them another day)

There are 2 chickens and two eggs, one of each for each of my beautiful kids. They love them. BoyD is taking a nap and wanted to sleep with his chicken. He has decided that one of them is a rooster (although it still has his egg) and the other is the hen. It's nice to have friends, isn't it?

We have had a few problems with the house. The paint is chipping all along bottom of most of the walls. BabyM's room has large chunks of the paint missing, and we have mold/mildew problems all in our kitchen cabinets. The owners came by today and checked it all out, and this Thursday, they will be starting the repairs. YEAH! Oh, and our pila leaks, but they are going to fix that, too. I'm so relieved.

Well...we're going to try this again. I'm pregnant! I am 7 weeks and feeling a little crappy. I mean, this is my third kid, so preggo sick is nothing new. I am actually so incredibly thankful that I don't feel as bad as I did with BabyM. I mean, I didn't get off the couch and I didn't get my face out of the bowl for over 3 weeks. I finally had to take a pill ($25 each) made for cancer patients so that I could eat a little protein. I lost 13 pounds in 2 weeks! Now, I am just generally nauseated all the time, and very tired. I get really winded easily, and I can't stand up very fast w/o feeling like I'm gonna pass out. I am eating like every 1-2 hours so that I don't get really nauseated, and overall, it is working. I can function for the most part. I am having a hard time dealing with left-overs. The kitchen is shaky ground for me. I have an incredible husband that cooks and takes care of me.

They have these new memory cards (or maybe it's the cameras) that can wirelesly download photos from your camera to whatever folder you want on your computer! You just have to have that blue tooth technology! If I ever do a techno upgrade, I want that. I mean, that is so cool. Just to let you in on how behind I am, my cell phone takes no photos nor does it have a color display. And it's not because the technology isn't available here. I am just turning into an old person.

Our neighbors lent us season one of Little House on the Prairie. Oh my gosh! Why can't we get back to that. I don't mean living like that, their lives were incredibly difficult. I mean, having that kind of thing on TV. There is NOTHING that wholesome on TV any more. You have to watch PBS Kids before 9am to see something that is not on some level offensive. Oh, I do long for those days. When Andy Griffith, Little House on the Prairie, and old school Star Trek were the prime time entertainments. I am grieving that a little. Even if there is a show that is OK to have on while my kids are in the room, the commercials are so horrible, they should be rated pg-13 at best.

We (Kelley, the kids, Brandon, and I) went to visit Jacaltenango. It is a little town about 5 hours from here, up towards the Mexican border. Kelley taught a little art workshop. The 25 people from the church who attended loved it and did great work.

This is the kids working on their project and us explaining some stuff. The next photo is Kelley, Brandon, and Pablo (one of the Lopez family kiddos). The view behind them is Mexico.

This is the Lopez family. They are from the Xela area, and moved out there to be missionaries to the community. BabyM made a friend with the cat, and BoyD was obsessed with the rooster. The very loud rooster that we heard all night long. It was funny, BoyD will pick up all manner of insects, but was afraid to pick up the kitten.

The first picture was where BoyD slept. Or napped on and off all night. The next picture is their kitchen. It is basically outside.

We went to see the Mayan ruins near Huehuetenango. they are super cool and considered small. The little people on the top of the one on the left are my family. That gives you an idea of the size.

Precious BabyM is now a climber.

Kelley is an artist and painted this super cool palm tree mural in BoyD's room. It looks so fantastic.

That's enough for today. I don't get much time to blog, so I have to vomit all the info at once!

So Much to Say

2009-05-26T17:21:00.000-05:00

So much to say, so little time.

Spoke at that women's meeting. It was so fun and I loved it. I would love to do that more often.

I cooked for the pastor's prayer meeting at our house. That was fun, but I hate spending that time in the kitchen when my kids want to play. Especially when we all had to be in the kitchen and be quiet while the pastors prayed. Next time I will make a casserole or something the night before.

After reading "Snuggle Puppy" by Sandra Boynton several times to my kids, I made chocolate chip cookies this afternoon for them. So fun to bless them like that.

It is so great to be out of school for the semester. I have nap times and night times and early mornings to do things that I want/need to do. Laundry, workout, pray, nap, pay bills, bake cookies...

My ladies Bible Study is back on after a couple of weeks off. I say off, but really, the people that said that they were coming wouldn't show up. That's Guatemala. It's hard not to take it personally. I mean, maybe I should, but they showed up today! :)

We finally found sand for the BoyD's sandbox. It cost $40 to fill it. Yikes! At leaste we are getting to play outside.

Rainy season has started. It rains every day. Well, almost everyday. It hasn't rained so far today, but it will rain tomorrow. Usually it starts pretty soon after lunch.

We bought a new vacuum. That was a really hard decision, because we don't just have a ton of money laying around, yet our other vacuum had to pass over an area 2 or 3 times to pick up the obvious dirt. With a dog, a cat, and 2 little kiddos, I demand clean rugs!

We bought it, and after the rugs had been vacuumed with the old vac, I used the new one. The folllowing pictures are the results. I vacuumed two rugs that are this size:
These are two photos of the dirt that this vacuum picked up.

This is AFTER they had already been vacuumed! So, all that to say, I am ok with our purchase.

This last saturday morning, we took the kids to our little park in our condominium to play baseball. It was so fun and so cute.

Here are some pics. BoyD had a really hard time remember to run to all the bases and then run home. He just wanted to run. It was great. Too bad there is no little league here! We'll just have to have our own.

Ok - going to go eat a snack and go to bed. Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later. I actually have a ton that I want to write about.

2009-05-07T22:24:00.000-05:00

Ok - I wanted to post some photos of BabyM's room. I realize that her name is on the wall, but it won't show up on any search engine or anything.

This first is a broad shot of the wall:On the left are two of BabyM's dresses from when she was really little. In the middle is her name spelled out in cloth letters hung on a length of twine with clothes pins. (I will be getting some smaller ones soon) Under that is a painting by my sister-in-law, Denise. She is an incredible artist. She also did the treasure map painting in BoyD's room. On the right is a picture of a paper doll set. Her crib bedding in doll dresses.

Another view of above:
This is a close up of Denise's painting:

Ok, below is a close up of the cloth letters. I bascially cut out letters that I printed from Word, glued them to a cereal box, cut those out, and hot glued the fabric to the cardboard. Then is a shot of the paper doll picture.

Both these dresses and the paper doll print above are hung on some wooden drawer pulls that I found in a hardware store and covered with fabric. The hangers are ugly pastic ones, so I covered them with ribbon until I could find some others. I actually found some metal ones today that Brandon is going to spraypaint either silver or white. I'll then tie a little bow around them.

The best part is that aside from the painting and the print (both were gifts), I spent like $6-$8 on the whole thing. When I get back from my trip, I will finish the other wall, and post some more pics.

Finally, here are my sweet babies! BabyM just woke up (look...she is looking fatter!) and sweet BoyD sleeping with Brandon's boyhood stuffed dog.

Well, I don't consider myself very good at decorating, but this was one of those rare occasions when it turns out even better than I had imagined it. Even BabyM likes to be in her room better now. Any ideas on what color we should paint that wall? I am thinking some shade of green. We'll see.

More later:

2009-05-06T22:04:00.000-05:00

Just an update.

I am almost finished decorating BabyM's room. The walls were totally bare until today. We've been here a year, and she hasn't had one picture on her wall! Oh, well. I will post tomorrow the photos of her room. I am so excited. There is still more to do, but it will have to wait a week or so.

I leave to go spend some time with my mom this Sunday. Me and the kids. Without Brandon. That will be weird! I mean, he has been gone from the house for a day or two, but I've never traveled for 5 days without him.

When I get back, I will have a week to prepare for the women's meeting. I will be teaching. I have like 45 minutes or so to share. These are pastor's wives, and there were 100 or so invited. So we will have anywhere from 25 to 100+. I am told I am supposed to teach on how to be a pastor's wife. WHAT?? I mean, what do I know about that??? I am a little overwhelmed. I am not a pastor's wife. I am not guatemalan. I don't have any idea what these women deal with. I have the impression that the pastors want me to teach their wives this.

Anyway, more on that later. Moore photos of my kids as well. I think that those photos might be the reason that many of you read this blog! Well...that's why the grandparents read it.

I went to the orphanage today. That is going really well, except that they are totally disorganized. I was supposed to work with 11-13 year olds, but when I got there, they were not there. And the other groups were working on their homework. I will go back tomorrow. I wish I could spend more time with those kids.

Ok...going to bed.

Big drinks and guns.

2009-05-03T17:43:00.000-05:00

Ok. It's time to post some pics. Really don't have any stories to tell today. Just that I finally finished a 17 page paper regarding the revelation of God in prophesy, dreams, and visions. Whew! So glad that is over. Now I can go back to being a house wife and get some stuff done. This is sweet BabyM (who is eating great, by the way!) drinking a monster tea from Burger King. I tried to give her a drink of carbonated orange drink, and she just makes this awful face. She loves iced tea, though.

Time to cut bangs. That cup is half her size!

The other day, the kids wanted to play in the rain, so we took off thier clothes, put on their rain coats, and let them play. It was a little too cold, so BabyM was suffering a little. She was torn, because when I was trying to bring her inside, she wanted to stay out, but she kept shivering and crying out. I finally did the parenting thing and brought the kids into a warm bath. BoyD was super disapointed. The cold didn't faze him and he wanted to keep playing.
This is babyM and Glady's grand-daughter hugging. Well, BabyM is trying to give her a kiss, but she wants none of it. That little girl is about a month older than BabyM and so much bigger.
BabyM got to eat...well...she got to disolve a guatemalan cookie which is basically hardened pink meringue thingy. What you can't see in the picture, is the little pink handprint on the couch beside me.

And this is my precious GQ son. I think he knows how handsome he is. This kid asks questions all the time. I mean, why is his favorite word. The cool thing is that he aks important questions. Like about God and faith and life and death.

I must tell one story. My son is a Scott boy. We were watcing the last part of Jurasic park 3 and there was one dinosaur attacking the group of people and BoyD asked "where is their gun?" I don't know if I am proud or a little sad that my son thought of guns when the dinosaurs attack.

Anyway, I will be travelling back to the states with the kids to spend some time with my mom on mother's day. After that, I will be speaking at a women's meeting of pastor's wives. I can't believe that I am going to be doing that. Please start praying for that now.

Sick of Diarrhea.

2009-04-26T15:27:00.001-05:00

BabyM has it again. 3 days of diarrhea and not eating. Remember the story of her pooping in the tub? Actually, I don't remember if I blogged about that one. She pooped in the tub, and although I was in the bathroom with her, it took me about 5 seconds to notice and she might have put bathwater in her mouth. I mean, I didn't see her do it, but she puts a lot of things in her mouth, so I wasn't sure.

It appears that she did...or she put someone's poop in her mouth, because she has another infection. Thankfully there is a lab just down the street, and we didn't even have to make a dr. appointment. It is a little routine by now so I just called the doc and we picked up the lab order, delivered the poop and the results of the tests, and called him back to find out what she needed to take.

I am really tired of this battle. I don't know if we are going to be battling this as long as we have kids, as long as we live in a 3rd world country, or what. And I am also sick of hearing how some babies are just small, and don't worry so much, and she'll eat when she wants to, and "my baby was the same way." Unless you have lived in a 3rd world country where your baby has had chronic diarrhea and therfore anemia and being (according to the doctor) grossly underweight, you don't understand the stress when your baby won't eat for 3 days. Or when you don't have to change a diaper more than 2 times a day b/c she won't drink anything either.

Don't get me wrong. She really is fine. She has been eating fairly well since we got back from the states (in Feb), yet she just can't seem to get ahead on her weight. I don't even want to know what she weighs now. It will just depress me and there is nothing I can do about it. Every couple of weeks she has something new (a cold, a sore throat, we are travelling, diarrhea, teething) and doesn't eat much. We can't even get an accurate reading on her weight, b/c she loses every time one of these things happen.

But she's beautiful and fun and charming.

She is also super fussy, which makes sense since she can't be feeling all that well.
She rubs food in her hair when she's finished eating.
You can point to her and in a very serious voice demand "Be cute!" and she smiles and acts very demure and sweet.
When we sit down in her chair in her room before naps and night time, she points to her nightstand and says "boo k" while sighning book with her hands.
When I take her clothes off (for whatever reason) she says "I wan batch" which means that she wants a bath.
"unch" means she wants a drink, "bah" with her tongue sticking out at the end means "ball." She even says "I wan datch" or "I wan ditch" which is "I want that" and "this" respectively.
She sings the ABC's along with her leapfrog toy (all the letters are variations of eh, ah, ot, oot, it, aht).
She also dances by sticking out her rear end and sort of bouncing.
Anytime anyone claps, she claps, and she throws a monster fit if she doesn't get what she wants. If she is tired, she will lay down on the tile floor, and she startles big time if you "catch" her doing something she knows that she shouldn't.
She loves to "talk" on the phone and she loves to play with BoyD's dinosaurs and race cars.
She just copies him and plays with them like he does.
She also "steels" things from people and then tries to hide them under her arm when confronted.
She's a sneeky little booger that likes to get scared (like I hide around a corner and say "boo" when she comes into view.)

Anyway, keep praying for her.

2009-04-21T22:26:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I just wanted to post a quick update on our weekend conference with CAM. First of all, it was so much cooler than I had anticipated. Not that I thought it would be bad, I just wasn't looking forward to traveling the 4.5 hours to and from the city, sleeping away from home, not getting to do my to-do list, and sleeping all of us in one room.

Here we all are in the courtyard. Except BabyM was not looking at the camera:

It was actually so much fun. We are on a team with 5 other couples. They are all so incredibly awesome! I mean, we have so much fun just being around all of them. There is one couple who have been on the field for over 50 years. One couple have been here for almost that long, and the husband's grandfather gave the gospel to the Mayan's in the area in which we live. Another couple got here around the time that we did and are retirees that run the CAM retreat center! Poor them! :) Another couple is living out in the boonies running a camp, and they have made some serious creature comfort sacrifices. Finally, there is a couple with 4 young kids that live in a village that has no grocery store! They shop completely at the market, and have to take a boat ride to get to a store. We are in the company of greatness! We laugh, play games, and just chit chat. It was so fun to get to spend time with all of them.

Aside from that wonderfulness, we had a few setbacks, as always happens on road trips with little ones. First of all, we left BoyD's tag (his blanket that he sleeps with and holds while he sucks his thumb) at home. BIG mistake. Friday night he didn't go to sleep until 11, and that was after waking BabyM up several times and Brandon pinning him down on the bed until he finally wore out.

Then, Saturday night, he went to bed fine, but started throwing up at 11:30 every half hour until 5:22 am. I mean, poor baby, he would just start throwing up while he was still asleep and I would have to pick him up and hold his little head over the bucket. He would say "no more! No more!" when he was only half way done and he would fall back asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

Sunday, he did great, didn't take much of a nap and didn't eat much, but was otherwise fine!

Then, Monday, on the drive back, BabyM got car sick and threw up all over herself and her seat. It ended up taking us about 6 hours to get home, including major traffic leaving Guatemala city.

We did get home and I drove for the first time in the city and on the way home from the city. Brandon was driving our "new" car and I followed in the minivan.

We now have a 4 wheel drive Honda Passport for Brandon to drive when he goes into the out into the boonies! We are totally pumped about it! Check out Brandon's blog to see more.

Ok...very soon I am going to post a challenge. Maybe in a couple of days, so check back.

Really crappy news.

2009-04-16T08:20:00.000-05:00

Just to get the word out, I had a miscarriage last night. That's the problem with sharing news early. We are doing fine, and are very disappointed. Thanks for your thoughts, and we are looking forward to sharing some good news soon.

BabyM: Up Close and Personal.

2009-04-13T08:42:00.001-05:00

I had to show her off a little bit. I can't believe that she is getting so big! Well..not really big per se, but she certainly is growing up.

Scott Family Easter - 2009

2009-04-12T16:16:00.000-05:00

It worked! Video is at the bottom.

Easter is such a glorious time. Oh, how I miss my family in the states and in Haiti. We tried to do the traditional Easter things here. We actually have it pretty good, because we have two sets of Easter tradition. The American version with dying eggs, the Easter bunny, getting new dresses/suits, etc, is really not a part of Easter here. Here they have special food and they give each other bread and hot chocolate (not Swiss mix) in pretty cloth napkins, and have processionals and carpets made of sawdust.

So I have two Easters to share with you. This first one is the American version. The video at the bottom is kind of long (8 1/2 minutes) so you may not want to watch the whole thing...unless you are Mi-Mi and Grammy and Grandpa, in which case you will probably want to watch it over and over. I mean...don't get me wrong, it is cute, but it is the entire easter egg hunt on tape.

This is when we dyed eggs with a kid from down the street. He had never done it, but saw it once on TV, so was excited to try it. His mom is a dear friend of mine. They go to our church, and she is always present at our women's Bible study that we have here at our house.

The eggs turned out so well. The whole process was much nicer than I expected, and we didn't even have a "kit". We dyed them the old fashion way...well...with food coloring! :)

BoyD was super proud of his first egg.

This is today (Easter morning). BoyD got a chick for Easter. I always wanted one, so I bought this one in the market for 50 cents. We are doing our best to keep it alive! If we end up with a rooster, we will give it away, otherwise, we might have fresh eggs in the future!

This is my beautiful little princess in her Easter dress. (Thanks, Mi-Mi) I had to pin it in the back, b/c it is 12-18 months and although she is 15 months, she is still in 12 month clothes, and so the arms kept falling off.

Very soon I will post some pictures from our Guatemalan Easter traditions.

He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Easter eggs and bunnies are fun, but nothing brings me more joy, or hope, or relief, or peace than knowing that my Savior, the God in Flesh, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead!

HE IS ALIVE!!

Trip to Playland Park

2009-04-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

To celebrate Holy Thursday (the Thursday of Holy Week) we went to a little carnival. Sort of like a fair but with 2 food stands, one game stand, and like 10 rides. It was fun and very economical. I made a quick little video to document our experience. This is a pretty quickly put together video, but you will get the point!

Summer in Guatemala

2009-04-07T08:41:00.000-05:00

Its a quiet house today. My voice is just about gone. I hope it comes back soon. Having two small kiddos and a large dog necessitates some volume at times. :)

We have been spending a lot of time outside lately so I wanted to post some pics (and a video).

This is me and the kids reading on the couch. (Not outside) BabyM is talking up a storm, although we only know what she is saying about 10% of the time. That doesn't seem to discourage her.

Our swimming pool. When it is 75 degrees outside you bake in the sun! This was naked pool time so the heart is giving some discretion. The kids love to sit in the hammock with me. It is really nice outside this time of year.

BoyD had his "gun" and was shooting the bad guys. And yes, that is dirt on BabyM's face. And shirt. And hands. Sigh.

I think that both of my kids need haircuts.

Summer Fashion Show

2009-04-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

BoyD had a fashion show at school on Thursday. It was the "Day of Summer" and the preschool, Kindergarden, and first grade kids dressed up in summer clothes instead of their uniform and had a fashion show. It was so funny! Surprisingly, I took a few photos:

BoyD getting ready for his big day.

They had a bubble machine and a lady taking pictures. He was waving at the crowd. Notice all the other little models! BoyD is the only boy in his grade! His class consists of him and 4 other girls.

This is his teacher Julia. She ins't twelve. Anyway, she holds him a lot, and he really likes her. It looks like she likes him, too!

After the fashion show they were selling chocolate fruit, which is frozen fruit (cantalope slices, papaya slices, watermelon slices, whole mangos, bananas) on a stick dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts. Really it is very good.

We are in "summer" right now here. They have two months of summer. April and May (until the rain starts) where the high gets between 70 and 80 and pools are for sale and you see sunscreen ads. It looks like Walmart in June with all the swimsuits, pools, sunscreen, etc. It is a very short season here.

The kids are going to play outside in the pool today, so I will post pics of that later.

My Time Alone

2009-04-01T18:58:00.000-05:00

Not really alone. I had Gladys (for a few hours...a life saver), BoyD, BabyM, Bella, and Samoa. It was interesting.

BabyM's diaper came unhooked inside her footie pj's just before a BM. Poop all down her leg inside her jammies.

BoyD got up at 6:15 every morning and banged his entire body against the door screaming and throwing his toys.

When I was putting him in timeout, I accidentally scraped his face with my fingernail making him bleed.

BabyM developed a severe cough with snot running out of her little nose.

At night, I put BoyD in bed at around 7:45 and battled him until 9:45 with him banging on his door with every concievable excuse to get out of bed.

BoyD had a bought of diarrhea and couldn't make it to the bathroom in time. Sigh.

BoyD decided not to nap until after a fight for 1.5 hours

BoyD washed his own hair while I was putting BabyM's pjs on with half of the bottle of shampoo.

I cleaned out a ranch bottle (1/2 hour job to get rid of the ranch smell) to use it to make pancakes with cool designs, and then BoyD was acting so crazy that he had to miss out on them. He ate cereal.

BabyM got a bloody nose during breakfast (I think she was sticking her finger up it too far).

BoyD dedided to stomp on the neighbor's pepper plant.

This all happened in 28 hours. I was really glad when Brandon got home. We did make it to the park and here are some photos. (And by the way, BoyD is not insane or a brat...well he was a brat, but I think he was just tired, starting a cold, and missing his dad.)

Aside from her cold, she was smiling the whole time.

This is BoyD looking at the pepper plant (He loves to watch the peppers grow.) And picking flowers in the park.

BabyM was fishing with her finger in an old hotel shampoo bottle that she found. YUCK!

The flowers then turned into baloons! They almost lifted him off the ground! Finally, this is some of the "artwork" that I created with pancake batter. It really is a cute idea! Thanks, Alicia and Rachel Ray!

In the yard?

2009-03-31T12:52:00.000-05:00

Well...a funny story. Yesterday, BoyD was still in his pjs and was walking around the house while I was finishing up feeding BabyM. All of a sudden I realize that he is no longer wandering, and had disappeared. I jump up thinking he has gone into the side yard (Bella's dog run) and go to check on him.

As I call his name, he appears around the corner of the laundry room (linked to the side yard) with his pants down yelling "I'm riiight heeere."

"What on earth are you doing?" I say, "did you need to go peepee?" Obviously this is not the first time that he has relieved himself outside.

To which he replied "No, I had to go poopoo!" Sure enough, he had pulled down his pants and pooped in the yard. "Just like Bella!"

Anyway, we then had a little talk about how only dog's poopoo in the yard, and people only poopoo in the potty. It was really funny. And for the record, it is Brandon's job to clean up the dog mess in the yard. We are just lumping that in too. :)

BabyM has a cruddy cough and I am on my own with the kiddos, as Brandon had to go to the capital to have our car maintained. Depending on how long it takes them to do the car, he might have to spend the night! (Not safe to drive in the dark and it is a 4+ hour drive) Yuck!

It sure seems that I post a lot of poop stories on here! Oh, the life of a mother of youngins.

Getting back to life

2009-03-29T14:56:00.000-05:00

It has been so long. I am incredibly busy right now, and just don't have blogging in my routine. Plus, I have some sort of illness or something. I couldn't sleep for two nights and then last night was up all night with nausea. I mean, I felt like if I could just go to sleep then I would feel so much better (like the nausea you get when you are exhausted) but feeling so sick kept me awake. I slept in until 9:30 or so and then napped from 10:45 to 12:45. I am feeling a little better now, just sort of weak.

Anyway, I wanted to post a couple of photos from our Disney World trip! We had so much fun. It really was everything I hoped it would be. Time with my mom and my brother's fam was so great.
BoyD had a blast and is still asking to go back to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, and the space ranger ride. He even got to meet Buz Lightyear!

There's me and BabyM. She had her paci all day every day b/c she had to sleep in the stroller. We had to break that habit when we got home! In Animal Kingdom there is an "It's a Bug's Life" 3-D show. WAY to scary for the kiddos. BoyD had a nightmare about it that night. Those were the "bug eyes" that you needed to see the 3D. Then you see BoyD driving the Jungle cruise! He was so excited.

BabyM slept like this a lot. Poor thing. We wore those kids out. Then of course we saw the Big Man (or Big Mouse) himself!

Our hotel had a beach and the kids loved playing in the sand. This photo was taken just after our luau. We could watch the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom every night from our hotel room or from the beach. Even BabyM got to play in the sand. Then, BoyD got to meet one of his heroes! It was a surprise and we didn't even have to wait in line for more than 5 minutes!

This is my mom and me in front of Cinderella's castle. Disney is really just as fun for the grown ups! Then, we could hang out with the Pooh characters in Downtown Disney. There were very cooperative for the photo! :) Also at Downtown Disney (and at Magic Kingdom as well) there are these areas where there are fountains that come up out of the ground, and we were prepared with swim suits.

On to other things:
We will know about BabyM's weight when I take her in for a flu booster shot on the 6th of April. She isn't eating hardly at all, but she doesn't have diarrhea anymore, so we are hoping that whatever calories she is consuming are sticking. I can tell from her clothes that she is at least taller!

I took this last week "off" in the sense that I didn't homeschool or workout, but I needed the time to rest up. Now I have to get back to work. Seminary is becoming very demanding right now.

A quick preview of possible ministry opportunities in the future: I was asked to "preach" at a women's meeting with the wives of the CAM pastors in the area. I really want to do that. I also have some ideas of a prayer ministry within the churches where are family (along with members of the churches) go to visit those members of the body that are sick and pray for them. Also, I have the idea of some kind of a food pantry ministry where the church members give and then church members in need can get a ration of some kind. Please pray for those opportunities with me as I seek the Lord's will. I obviously don't have time to do all of these things all by myself, so the Lord would have to raise people up for the work.

Tonight we will be watching American Idol (2 weeks behind you so please don't spoil anything!) and eating PB, banana, strawberry, and chocolate chip grilled sandwiches in front of the TV. Yeah!

I have missed being on blogger and I hope to get caught up a bit here pretty soon.

Sorry this has taken so long

2009-02-06T21:54:00.001-06:00

Well...most of you know from our e-mail updates, but I wanted to post here just to be sure that everyone knows.

BabyM is fine! I mean, after all of those tests, biopsies, blood work, stool samples, sweat tests, there is absolutely nothing wrong with our little baby. I mean, her anemia is even better! Her blood counts are still low, but she is not anemic anymore! I just can't believe it. Actually, her first sweat tests which checks for systic fibrosis came back "borderline." Normal values are under 30, over 60 is abnormal, and 30-59 is borderline and BabyM came back 55. We were really a little worried. The doctor ordered a repeat sweat test and some send out stool samples to check for metoblic disorders. Well, the second sweat test came back with a value of 17 and we are rejoicing! BabyM now weighs over 16 and a half pounds, up at least 11 ounces since we left Guatemala. She is eating and sleeping great, and her diarrhea has stopped.

Please praise God with us! I don't know why he doesn't always answer our pleadings with such a resounding YES, MY CHILD! That said, I am so happy that he did this time.

I have waited to post b/c there were so many tests and we have been waiting on results, but we feel pretty safe to say she is fine. I mean, there is one stool test that we are waiting on, but the chances of there being something wrong when she is improving so rapidly is extremely slim. The doctor just wants to be complete seeing as she did have a high number on her sweat test.

I will not be posting much over the next several days as we will be finishing up here in Lubbock and then travelling back to Guatemala next week. Thanks again for all of your prayers and your kind words.

Another update on BabyM

2009-01-23T17:00:00.000-06:00

Well...we will be heading back to the states on Tuesday. All 4 of us will be coming. BabyM has an appointment with a pediatric gastroentologist on Thursday. She definitely is anemic, and it is because of iron deficiency. She is also on a very powerful antibiotic for an intestinal infection. The doctor thinks that it is salmonella, but the cultures came back negative, and because she is so small, we can't risk salmonella going untreated.

My brother and his wife have a very dear friend who is a pediatric gastroentologist in Lubbock and thinks that we need to do a scope of her tummy and a colonoscopy just to rule out some serious conditions that have the symptoms that she has. The doctor here agrees, and was going to send us to a GI in Guatemala City, but said that if we have someone in the states, that is even better.

Just so you know...I just have a feeling in my gut (maybe it's intuition) that she is fine, and that the tests will all come back normal. Maybe I am just overly optimistic. I guess we'll see.

Please pray for her. I don't know how long we will be in the states. It will all depend on how the tests come back. I think that the procedures are scheduled for Friday morning (1 week from today.) Just pray that we can get some answers. To get more of the story, you can read past blog posts.