Happy Birthday Seth

I figured that I had better hurry up and post something before January ended so it wouldn't seem as long since I last posted. Even though it has technically been 2 months. Ooops! I am not a good writer to begin with and when I get so busy it is hard to make myself sit down and write. I would rather go organize something!
Well, we are all healthy at the moment, which is so nice! I did finally go to the dentist and ended up having a root canal done. I go tomorrow to get my filling. I had to go to one dentist to be dagnosed, then to another for the root canal and back to the first dentist for the filling. I am not in pain anymore but will be glad when it is finished. I hope this doesn't become a yearly thing for me, since this has happened two years in a row now.
We had a wonderful Christmas. After all the church activities were done, we were able to have a couple of weeks to just take it easy. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have some family here.  We were happy to at least have the Wessons. We spent Christmas eve together and had a great time eating and playing games. On New Years Eve we had our church teens over for the night. I was fine with it until about 3 in the morning when I had been trying to go to sleep but couldn't because they were outside of my window yelling. :)
Seth turned 7 on the 17th. He is really growing up! He's not my buddha baby anymore. My mom sent him a box of presents, one for each day in January. He loves getting up each morning and opening his present. He had a lego birthday party and was so excited to find several new lego "guys" on his cake. Now Jesse is already planning his party. :) Seth has lost two more teeth, so that makes three. I gave him some money for his most recent one and he said, "so, you're the tooth fairy" I said, "no, she just gave me the money to give to you." :) He knows it's really me though.
We have been having a problem with thieves in our neighborhood lately. It always gets bad around Christmas but it hasn't calmed down yet.  One day, close to Christmas, I was in the living room and saw someone walk by the front gate. When I walked closer to look I saw that he was down on the curb half hiding under our car. I saw another guy walking around our circle and at first thought they were playing around. Then when I saw a police motorcycle pull onto our circle, I knew it was something else. I stood up on my wall and pointed down so they would know where he was. One of the police came over and grabbed him and told me thank you. I later found out that he had stabbed a woman and had run into our neighborhood to hide. Yesterday someone tried to break into the house behind us and then climbed up onto our wall to escape. He must have ran on the walls until he got to the street. Anyways through all of this we were talking to our neighbor (a professional baseball player) who has a friend who is a sargent in the national police. He called him to come over and he gave us his cell number and said to call him personally if we ever had any problems. It's actually good for me when this stuff happens because it reminds me that where I live and to be careful. I get too comfortable here sometimes.
Thanks for the prayers, We appreciate them! I know they help keep us safe!

Early Morning Parade!

Around 4:45 this morning we woke up to the sound of drums banging and yelling. We could hear it steadily progress around the streets of our neighborhood. It eventually came to our circle and very slowly (or so it seemed) went around and after waking everyone in the house up they finally left. Stu wanted to go out on the balcony with his paintball gun and start shooting. We found out it was a group from the school in out neighborhood celebrating that they were done taking their tests for the semester. Talk about frustrating!

I spent another week in bed. I am starting to feel very lazy! No, I wasn't taking it easy, I was very sick (AGAIN!). I finally went to the doctor and found out I had a VERY BAD sinus infection and also a stomach virus that was going around.  Did I mention that it was right before Thanksgiving, so I didn't get to enjoy my Thanksgiving dinner. The two together knocked me out. I am finally back on my feet and trying to stay that way. Except for severe tooth pain! It feels like a cracked tooth (I had one on the other side last year). I guess I clench my teeth at night but I can't wear a mouth guard because it makes me gag as soon as I put it in (I have a very strong gag reflex). I think I will have to give in and go to the dentist soon. I just keep hoping it will miraculously go away. I can't seem to stay well this year.

Stu has been having shoulder pain that has progressively gotten worse. He can't even lift his arm at times. He finally got an MRI and found out that it is a split biceps tendon. It has to be repaired by arthroscopic surgery but there is not a doctor here that can do it. He will either have to go to the States to have it done or wait for a doctor to come down here. We are praying that God will provide a way to have the surgery done because he is in so much pain.

Stu has been busy this month preaching. He has preached at 3 different places. One weekend he preached at one place on Friday night and then another place Saturday night and all day Sunday! That same Sunday Josh was in the States, so me and Joy were on our own. Thankfully we have some good men in our church to lead the services. But on that Sunday night right before the service was to start, one of our teenage boys was hit by a car in front of the church. So the man that was supposed to teach the teen class took him to the hospital and we had to rearrange a few things. Thankfully it wasn't bad, he only fractured his knee.

We have been busy preparing for our busy month of December. We have Christmas Cantata this Sunday night and a Christmas dinner next Sunday night. I lead the kids choir and they will be singing a few songs at the dinner. They are excited about it. My boys are in the kid's choir and Jesse just can not stand still. When he is up there, he is looking around, wiggling, a typical Dennis the Menace! I have the hardest time leading the other kids because I am watching him and trying to get his attention to "give him the look". Of course, everyone else thinks it is funny!

The boys are eagerly counting down to Christmas. They started asking "how many days" the day after Thanksgiving. My mom sent us a big bag of chocolates that we can't get here and I separated them into baggies and put numbers on them and clipped them on a rope. That is how we are counting down. Every morning, as soon as they wake up, they get the bag for the day and ask for their chocolate. This is the only time I let them eat chocolate before breakfast!!!

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday was Friday, but it felt like I had a three day birthday. We celebrated all weekend! Friday, Juls made me breakfast and then we went to Chili's for lunch. The workers at Chili's all came out and sang to me, well it wasn't really singing, it was more like banging on the drum and yelling. It was a little embarrassing, but the kids really enjoyed it! The dessert was good!
Then we had ladies fellowship at church on Saturday evening. When it was time for food they surprised me by bringing out a cake and singing to me. They also threw water in my face. Apparently there are a couple of traditions here that they do to the birthday person. One is dumping a cup of water on their head (I got it in the face) and the other is breaking an egg over their head. I was threatened with that but thankfully they didn't do it.
And tonight in the teen class (that Stu teaches and I help in) when I came into class they surprised me with another cake and sang to me again. I felt very loved, especially when Stu told me that they planned it all by themselves, he didn't find out until today.
I've also been opening a present every day this month from my mom, which has been fun! Thanks also to all my friends who have called or sent birthday messages to me. I appreciate your thoughtfulness!

Ikea

The kids had dentist appointments yesterday afternoon. Stu and the girls got their braces adjusted (Delayna got her lower ones put on) and the boys had their teeth cleaned and checked. The boys had no cavities! Yay! The last time they went in Jesse had 9 and Seth had 6, so you can see why I am so excited.  Jesse has not had a good history at the dentist and it started out that way again. He screamed and fought so we had to hold him for part of it. After a bit he did sit on his own and let her clean. I am hoping he will outgrow his fear because he sure is hard to hold down.
When we left to go home the traffic was so bad that we decided to stop at Ikea until some of the traffic died down. I didn't tell the kids where we were going I just said we were going somewhere special. They wanted me to give them a hint so I said it starts with I. They couldn't guess so I said the building is blue and the words are yellow. Immediately Jesse yelled IKEA! We were all shocked that he guessed it so easy. He said, "I thinked, with my mind". Then we were walking in the store and the boys were singing, "Ikea was a wee little man..." We'll have to work on their Bible teaching. :)

Kids, they make me laugh!

Last night we had lots of rain and some thunder. At the first clap of thunder Jesse came running in with his ears covered to crawl into bed with us. After a few minutes and several very loud claps of thunder it started raining harder so I went into the boys room to check the windows. When I got in there Seth was laying in his bed with his ears covered. He told me he was very scared but he was staying in bed like I told him. Of course I let him come into our room too! I didn't get much sleep the rest of the night though. Neither one of them would take their hands off of their ears.
The other day Seth had pushed a girl and I gave him a "talk" about it.  I told him that he should never hurt a girl and if he ever saw anyone else being mean to a girl he should step in between then and tell the guy to back off! So last night after church he came home and told me there was a boy being mean to a girl so he got in between them and tried to tell the guy to back off. I asked how he said it and he told me he said "back off", but he said it with a Spanish accent. It was so funny.
Jesse was talking to Katlyn yesterday on the way home from church and Jesse said something about his Nanny. Katlyn said, "I have a Nanny too". Jesse said that his Nanny always sends him presents. Katlyn said that her Nanny didn't. Jesse looked at her with such shock on his face and said, "WHAT!", he couldn't believe that her Nanny didn't send presents. Katlyn quickly replied, "but I love her anyways!".

School, Spanish, Sickness and PRESENTS!

We got back from vacation, unpacked and started school! We have been staying busy ever since.  We have had a men's work night, a youth activity, a ladies conference and several of the teens over to the house one Sunday. Delayna had a dentist appointment to have two teeth pulled. We and several of our missionary friends took all of our kids to a local store that has several jumping castles they set up. It is about $3 a kid to jump as long as they want. The kids had a blast and there were only a couple of minor injuries. Jesse and another little girl bumped heads and he gave her a bloody nose. Seth got tackled (he kept saying trampled) and sprained his thumb, it was swollen, bruised and very tender for several days. Afterwards we ate inside at the food court. It was a nice evening out. Also, Stu has started taking some online Spanish classes that I am trying to sit in on (when I can). It makes my mornings a little chaotic, trying to  juggle school, cooking and Spanish class, but I am managing. 
We have also dealt with a bit of sickness. I had another bout with Bronchitis, but am finally feeling better now. Jesse has had some ear problems, again!  Two weeks ago he started having blood drain out of his ear and then he got a cold and now has major mucous coming out of his ear (I know it is gross). I tried to get him an appointment with an ear doctor but that didn't work.  So I guess we will wait and see what happens. Then last Saturday night Stu came down with what we believe was Dengue Fever. He has had a pretty miserable week, but is feeling a bit better now. 
We use a mail service here called Agape Flights and they fly our mail in every week. They fly in on Thursdays and stay the night with one of the missionaries and then fly out the next morning.  This week was our turn to host them. We always enjoy having them, especially the kids. This week they brought me a very special package from my mom. My birthday is the 19th and since my mom knows how much I love getting presents, she sent me a box full of them! I have a present to open each day of the month. It is so much fun! She has done this for the grandkids before too and they love it almost as much as me! :)

Vacation!

Since we had been doing school all summer, we were really looking forward to our one week of vacation. We found a great deal online at an all inclusive resort on the north shore and I booked it (cause all inclusive means vacation for me too!).
We were planning on leaving Monday, Sept. 3rd at around 11 am. Sunday on the way home from church something happened to our van so first thing Monday morning it had to go to the shop. You can imagine how restless the kids were as we were waiting to leave. 11 came and went with no van, so we ordered pizza to try to start our vacation anyways. After about a million times of me answering the question, "are we leaving yet?" we got our van at around 4pm. We loaded as quick as possible and hit the road before 4:30. Our first stop was just a few minutes down the road to get propane. Since everyone has to get out, I took them all in to use the bathroom (cause we forgot in the rush of loading) and to get a drink. What a surprise, I found a cold can of Dr Pepper. I have been searching the city for the last month for Dr Peppers and there hasn't  been any! That started my vacation out right. :)
We finally arrived at the resort around 7:45 and went straight to the buffet to eat. Did I mention we could eat and drink 24 hours a day!?!
We had a great week. We enjoyed the beach, go carts, dune buggies, horse back riding and lots of eating.  Anytime we went to the beach, Jesse played in the sand the whole time and Juls and Seth jumped in the waves the whole time. Juls and Seth came home with a sunburn. Juls' was so bad on her nose that she has red, bloody raw spots.

Finally on the road!

Go carts!

Bumper cars

Jesse's sand cave

Our little piece of the beach

Loading up on sunscreen

The resort

Making sand angels

Look out! Delayna's driving!

Jesse's favorite place, the buffet!

So now we are home and back to school. The kids are already looking forward to Christmas break. :)