Lately

We didn't let the rain spoil our fun today. We went to "Ford's buddy Miller's" (as he is always referred to around our house) 2nd birthday party. The rain caused the party's location to be changed from the park to their house at the last minute but we had so much fun we didn't even notice. The incredibly nice firemen at the Vestavia Hills FD actually drove the fire truck to Miller's house and let the kids climb all over it and take pictures. What a fun party idea! We've been to the firehouse before but I had no idea they did house calls!

Claire is in preschool three days a week now and Ford is definitely missing her when she is gone. The other morning I took the boys to Chickfila so Ford could play in spite of all of this rain we have been having here. He was the only one in the playground while Gus and I drank some sweet tea and momma milk (respectively). Perfect, I thought, Ford can burn off some energy and I can relax for minute. He eagerly climbed up all the alternating platforms to the top. Then silence. This is the conversation that ensued.
Are you OK buddy?
Momma! Momma!
What's wrong, Ford?
I tuck.
You're stuck?
Momma! Momma! . . . I tuck.
You're not stuck sweetie just come on down the yellow slide.
Momma! Momma! . . . It geen.
No sweetie it's not green it's yellow. Come on down the yellow slide.
Momma! Momma! . . . It geen.
It's yellow buddy. Come on down.
Momma! Momma! . . . I tuck.
You're not stuck sweetheart. You can make it. Come on down, big boy.
Momma! Momma! . . . I want Claire.
(at this point my heart melts into a puddle on the floor)
Ford you are OK big boy. You are so strong. You can do it.
Momma! Momma! . . . I tuck. . . I want Claire.
(now I'm thinking maybe his clothes are snagged on something and he really is stuck. I'm still nursing the baby so I keep trying to encourage him really hoping that I won't have to climb up that tower).
You can do it, Ford. Come on down that yellow slide.
Momma! Momma! . . . It geen . . . I want Claire.

The store ends with me climbing up to the top and finding my precious little boy sitting at the top greeting me with a huge grin of relief. I proceeded to slide down the very yellow slide after giving him a little nudge to do the same. What sweet sweet boy who really does love his sister.

Home Sweet Home

Well. Here she is. One Kijabe Place. No, I'm just kidding about the street address. I think this is technically 501 Waring Duplex better known as HOME! Our outrageously nice new neighbors sent us these wonderful pictures of our new place! We are so excited to see our house and imagine our new life there that will start in just a few weeks. I showed Claire this first picture of our house I thought she was going to hyperventilate she was laughing so hard at the blue roof. She kept laughing and laughing and I kept asking her what was so funny and she finally squeeked out "It's blue" and started laughing even harder. It was quite a moment. At least she can always find her house!

This is the front porch entrance. There are lots of beautiful flowers in this part of Kenya but they are suffering from a SEVERE drought so things aren't as lush as they could be but it is nice to see some things blooming despite the lack of water.




This is our view. Again - this is our view. Wow. I mean seriously. I get to gaze at this sight every day. That is the Great Rift Valley and Mt. Logonot you see there. Claire was a little concerned when I mentioned that Mt. Logonot was a volcano. Apparently the Wonder Pets have recently been on a mission to rescue a baby crane from a volcano so she was a little scared but I assured her it was an old volcano and nothing to worry about.




This is the living room and our source of heat on what I keep being told are cold Kijabe nights. Since this is "short term" housing it is furnished for us and therefore kind of a hodge podge of funiture. I'm excited about getting in there and making it our own. I keep reminding myself that we are moving to Kenya bring the love and compassion of Christ to others NOT to decorate my house. But the nesting Momma in me at least wants our home to be warm and inviting and a welcoming place of ministry for our family so that is my goal.




This is my dining room. Our neighbor described it as a brick red but on my computer it looks more like a coral pink. I guess we will find out when we get there! I love my red dining room here in Alabama so it would be a nice slice of our old house if it is really red. I love that corner cabinet!



This is our bedroom . . .




This is the Ford and Claire's room upstairs. Claire has already claimed her bed and I am bringing a few things that will make this room really cute.



Apparently there was some left over red paint that they decided to use upstairs too in what will be our nursery and guest room (hint, hint!).




Here is another view of the front entrance.


It is so much fun to have these pictures of our new house! I've been reading lots of fun blogs of people who have just moved to Kijabe so I am learning about a lot of their experiences too. It seems like, overwhelmingly, people really enjoy living here and that it is a pretty special place. We are honored that we get to go and be a part of what God is doing here.

Please continue to pray for us - particularly that our house will sell soon. We have had SO many people coming to look at it. Which is wonderful but it is frankly wearing me out trying to keep everything is "showing condition" all of the time and having to leave the hosue for several hours at a time. I almost have a panic attack every time I think about everything that we are doing between now and Nov. 5th - all of the various doctor's appointments, Gus' Dedication, Ford's Birthday party, our Commissioning ceremony at Brook Hills, several of the kids' friends birthday parties, several consignment sales to get stuff ready for, lots of get togethers with friends to say good-bye, not to mention packing up everything we own in a storage unit and 14 suitcases worth of stuff to take with us on the plane. But somehow it will all get done. It is comforting to know that God is in the details of our life too and knows what we need on every level. He will get us there. He is faithful beyond measure.

Rhett is busy studying for his ID boards that he takes on the 6th of Nov. between moonlighting shifts. We are SO thankful that he will NOT be needed hernia surgery as we thought he would before we leave. God had mercy on us. I could not wrap my mind around doing all the moving and lifting and traveling we are going to be doing and having my husband not be able to lift anything over 20 lbs for 2 months after this surgery.

Claire is back in school and loving it. I'm getting to spend a lot of extra one on one time with Ford which is really, really nice (well, Gus is there but he just kind of hangs around so it still feels like one on one). We have gone to the park or just played in the yard together. He is an absolute riot. He sings and dances all day long. He has a wonderful sense of humor and laughs and jokes around all the time.

I have found myself lately not wanting to buy normal (gargantuan) quantities of things because I want to try to use everything up before we go. It feel strange to see things I buy with an expiration date when we will be in Kenya.

Did I mention here that the airlines had split us up and had Ford, Rhett and Gus on one flight and Claire and me on another one? It was very complicated story that I am sure has many chapters left before it is all said and done. After getting hysterical about the fact that my breastfed baby was expected to fly for 19 hours with his FATHER I was told by the Delta ticketing agent that I was being "aggressive". Ha! That conversation got worse before it got better but as it stands we are supposedly all on the same aircraft. Why does travel have to be so difficult - even when you aren't actually travelling?

I'm rambling but enjoying all of these random thoughts. More soon.

Just to pretend . . .

Ford's first day of MDO at First Baptist 2008

Ford's first day of Mother's Day In at Shirley Day School. (I decided not to start him in a program since we are leaving in several weeks). I can't believe how much he has changed in a year!!

First Days of School

1st Day of Mother's Day Out 2007 (Trinity UMC)

1st Day of 2 year old Preschool 2008 (Covenant Day School)

1st Day of 3 year old Preschool 2009 (Covenant Day School)

Finally

Sometime last spring we planned a long beach weekend with Rhett's brother and his family. We have been looking forward to it for so long and finally this past weekend it was time! We headed down to the beautiful gulf beaches for a fun filled weekend and made some great memories. Thankfully they are in the same stage of life as we are with small children so we just take things as they come (illnesses, tantrums, boo boos, naps, throw ups, 4 hour car rides that turn into 7 - you know typical things that you experience as parents of young children).


It was also a special occasion since this was Gus' first time to see the ocean! Actually he seemed quite unimpressed but we have the photos to document this "first". After settling in we hit the beach the next day . . .


Claire was dressed for anything that might come her way! There was a great lake area that was perfect for the big two to go swimming in and play with out getting nailed by a wave so they spent most of the morning there.

Meanwhile, Ford commanded the baby pool on the beach and managed to fill it almost all the way full with sand before the end of the day. Gus napped in his bouncy seat under our tent while Graham napped in the house and we listened in for him via monitor (couldn't ask for a nicer beach set up than we had). Daddy came back and took Ford for a dip in the ocean too!


After everyone had a rest time the UGA game was coming on TV so Tish and I loaded up the kids and took them up the street to Seaside for a chance to run around and play before dinner. Have you met my precious nephews yet?



This is Mac. Officially he is 3 but he has the vocabulary of an 8 year old and the energy of a puppy. He loves bugs and lizards and all sorts of little creatures. He's not scared of them one bit. Just picks 'em up. This is one sweet boy.



Brother Graham was the baby in the family until Gus came along. He just turned one and is as sweet and cuddly as he looks. We were hoping he would take off on two feet while we were at the beach but he is going to make us wait a little longer. He climbs on anything and everything and I'm afraid my s-i-l is going to have to keep her eyes peeled for this little guy or else she is going to find him on top of her refrigerator one day. Graham and Ford are kindred spirits. They just sort of have this affinity for each other. Everytime I turned around Ford was loving on him (except when he pulled his hair :)

So we let the big kids run around and burn some energy . . .




Ford tried to keep up for a while then he decided to do what he like to do best: dance. They were setting up a band at the amphitheater and Ford just danced and sang and clapped his hands and loved it. Oh, yeah, the shoes . . . well, what can I say? He is comfortable enough in his manhood that he can kick off his blue Crocs and borrow his sister's pink ones!


We treated the kids to dinner and couldn't pass up this photo . . .


Then we stopped for ice cream. As we sat and ate our ice cream we saw an amazing rainbow in the sky!


The next day . . . back to the beach! Here are my little beach bums . . .






On our last night there we set out for the beach once again to do a quick photo shoot. 5 kids 3 and under makes most things a challenge but it makes taking pictures almost impossible. We did the best we could . . .









I love these sandy toes . . .









Probably the best part of the trip was when we handed over the kids to the Daddys and went to pick up take out from the Red Bar. By the time we got home the kids were all in bed and we had a wonderfully relaxing adult-only dinner followed by a game of scrabble while we watched comedian Brian Regan on You Tube. I laughed until I thought I was going to hurt myself. It was good for the soul.

We had such a great time with our wonderful family and made some great memories. It hurts my heart to think about being away from my nephews while we are in Africa. I pray that God will bless our relationship with them and keep us close in their hearts.

Thanks Bobby and Tish for a wonderful time. We love you and will miss you so much. I will work on my scrabble skills and be a force to be reckoned with one day!

A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family

A friend recently mentioned a book she had read called A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family. I thought I could probably stand to get some wisdom from a book with that title (although our family isn't very large by Duggar standards it is moving beyond the somewhat 2 kid norm in our country). I'm not done with the book yet but I've liked it so far. The author is a mom to 10 kids (4 bio and 6 adopted) whom she homeschools. It basically reads like a long chat over coffee where some one is just telling you the story of their family and how she makes it work. I've enjoyed reading about her family and getting some pearls of wisdom here and there.

She spends a lot of time discussing large families and in a way defending them (or maybe explaining is a better word to describe it). Either way she makes a case for large families in a culture where more than two kids is considered unusual. I will say that I experienced this a little when we had a our girl and boy and decided we'd like to have another child. People just assumed we were "done" since we had one of each. I was, frankly, a little surprised by this attitude but it seemed to come from the generation before us and not people our age. As I heard recently "3 is the new 2" and most of my friends' families reflect this. We know tons of people with 3 kids, several with 4 and even one with 8! All that to say I don't think that having 3 kids is really that large of a family but we hope to expand our brood eventually so maybe I'll qualify as big one day.

In one section of the book she talks about toys. She makes a huge case against stuffed animals which made me laugh because it takes about 15 minutes to drown in stuffed animals after you have a child. Sure they are cute and cuddly but really quite boring and end up collecting dust somewhere. They are tough to get rid of too. I mean who can throw away that cute little brown puppy (that no one has ever played with except for the 45 seconds after it was received as a gift)? Some charities won't take them, consignment sales say no and no one will buy them in yard sales. Stuffed animals are forever. Maybe an animal shelter would appreicate them - hmmm. Anyway, she says she has realized that there are only a few good toys and I like her list:

Legos
Dollhouses
Play dishes and food
dress up clothes
"outdoor toys"
books,books, books
art supplies

I think I would only add toy cars/trucks, dolls and assume that Little People were included in the dollhouse heading (they are my kids' favorite toys - hands down). We don't have any legos and Claire is just getting to the age where independent dress up is an option but other than those things I think she is on to something. Anyone else have a bunch of loud plastic junk laying around your house?

We are still in the infant toy mode too but especially in that genre there are a few clear choices: a good shape sorter or two, a few wooden puzzles (although the pieces are high maintenance as far as clean up and keeping track of them) and a few (like 3) sensory toys to chew on and explore. I really like the fridge letters too (I would say skip the animal noise ones) although I had to put them on hiatus when Ford discovered that they were a lot more fun to just throw down the length of our kitchen.

The good news for me is that most of these essential toys will fit in our suitcases and therefore make the trip to Kenya with us! I think I have about 100 lbs of books already packed (not exaggerating). I love my kids' books. It is amazing how you can not have a single toy in your house and before you know it you are BURIED in toys. I remember looking around and thinking where did all this stuff come from?? It is smothering and it takes a lot of time to keep up with lots of toys and even more time to clean them all up. I think good toys are ones that grow with your kids that multiage kids and play with and ones that kids will just play differently with as they grow.

All in all I've enjoyed this quick read. I lean more toward her views of attachment parenting and I am more accepting of the whole idea of homeschooling which some people aren't so that may detract some people. Some things didn't go over for me either - she seems WAY laid back about housekeeping (aside from laundry) only telling her kids make their beds or clean their rooms when they have company and seems more able to tolerate a messy house than me. It also seems like with 10 kids (several teenagers) who are able to help out around the house there is no reason it shouldn't be really clean and tidy. She talks about their yearly trip to the beach as though it were the end all be all vacation. I personally would rather do family vacations that were a little more interesting than a trip to the same beach year after year. But then again I don't have ten kids and most likely won't! But like I said, if I was listening to a friend tell me about her family and the philosophy and choices they had made for raising their children I wouldn't agree with everything either. But the toy advice I will take!

Keeping it real

I realize that my kids will probably read all this stuff that I write about them one day and after that last post I feel like I should do some clarification so they don't get the wrong idea. Gus does cry sometimes. Ford has worked hard to earn the nickname "The Hornet" and Claire is sometimes so whiny that I want to dunk my head in a bucket of cold water to escape having to endure one more whiny sentence. So there, kids, you are sweet and smart and funny but you are also real kids and some days you wear me out. But I wouldn't trade it for the world and I love you.

My Sweet Kids

What a fun summer it has been with these three. It has flown by with all the excitement of welcoming Gus into our family and getting settled into our new way of life with three little ones. Sometimes I feel like an octopus trying to do 8 things at one time but I'm thankful for my experience as a waitress and a nurse that has made me somewhat of a master multi-tasker and that makes my life possible. Here's some updates on the kids for those interested . . .

Claire is 3 1/2 now and just a doll. She and her Daddy have a slobbering love affair going on :) that is fun for me to watch. She loves to just stroke his face and tell him how much she loves him and he calls her his "sweetie" and yearns to spend time with her. They are planning a date for sometime in the near future and she talks about it all the time. Claire is bright and thoughtful. She and Ford have really hit a stride in their relationship where (most days) they play together nicely and I get to hear giggles and laughter and silliness coming from her room where they like to play. She loves Gus and tells him so about 20 times a day. She is a huge help - getting me diapers, finding a lost paci in the back seat, pretty much whatever I ask her to do she does with a smile and a loving heart. She loved gymnastics and ballet this summer. I can tell she has gotten stronger and more flexible since she started both. She has also finally learned to pedal a bike. It took forever but she finally has it. Since we are starting homeschool in Kenya I thought I would start building in some time each day to have some school time. To my surprise she is really excited about me being her teacher because she "wants to be with me all the time . . . forever". I know she won't always feel that way so I'm relishing in it now. We spend some time each afternoon after the boys are down for their nap doing some "school papers" (workbook pages), starting her handwriting curriculum (Handwriting Without Tears - awesome) and reading. Her not me. Yep she can read. I know, she's 3. She just knew all the letters then she knew all the sounds then she just started sounding words out and asking me how to spell everything. Now she reads little books. So fun! She is excited about moving to Kenya and asks me a lot of really thoughtful questions about it all the time. I show her as many pictures as possible so she can have a mental picture of our new home. I also kind of promised her that we would get a dog and a bunny (Rhett doesn't know this yet - I guess he will now) I think I can sell him on it because I hear we need a dog as a security system and a bunny is a great pet for a 3 year old - it just hops around our yard and eats our scraps. We will deal with when a big bird of prey swoops down and takes Flopsy away when and if that happens. The other day I had to tell her that her grandparents wouldn't be at her birthday party in Kenya. This obviously made her very sad and she said she didn't want to go. She told me instead she wanted to go to "that place where they grow pineapple and there are no snakes". I asked her "Hawaii?" Her response "Yeah - Hawaii - that's where I want to go!".

Ford . . . oh sweet Ford. He hasn't changed much since the day he was born. SWEET. Just a pleasure to know and be around. He is very tough and playful and boyish but yet still tender and gentle. He is so loving (minus a few hairpulling episodes with his sister). He loves to play outside and cries and cries and cries when we make him come in. He loves to throw balls, or rocks, or sticks or whatever. He loves to jump off of just about anything too. His vocabulary is increasing everyday. He says cute things like "I wanna EAAAATT!". He doesn't know the words to his favorite songs (Twinkle, Twinkle; ABCD; God Our Father) but he knows the tune and makes up the words as close as he can as he goes along. His favorite book is Good Night Moon. He could find that mouse on every page the second time we read it. He keeps a few books in his bed and I will find him in there long after bedtime just browsing the pages enthralled. He welcomes Rhett or me home with a huge, running, arms wide open hug and a "Mooommmmyyy! or Hi Daddy!" in the cute way only he can say it. He says good bye to everyone with a big kiss square on the lips. He tells us when he has a poopy diaper (holding off on training until we make our move). He eats everything and loves cookies. He falls asleep at precisely 1pm every day and sleeps until 4pm. He goes to bed again at 7pm and wakes up at 730 am. You can set your clock by him. He has almost learned his colors but he calls pink "Claire" which I think is pretty cute. He also points out letters and calls them all "E". He has no idea we are moving to Africa - how much can a 22 month old understand about that? But I think he will be pretty psyched about it once he realizes all of the outdoor potential.

Gus is almost 4 months old. He is a carbon copy of my other two babies - really delightful and fun. He eats well, sleeps well and is really adaptable. I'm trying to let him settle into a routine but it's a challenge with these other two in tow and all that entails. There have been few naps in his cradle and many, many naps in the car seat and swing. Hopefully as school starts after Labor Day I can let him get at least two of his naps in his bed around the carpool schedule at school. We will see. Gus is full of smiles and makes lots of cute little noises. We are currently battling out whether or not he is going to suck his fingers (his preference) or a pacifier (my preference). He only cries when he gets too tired and other than that just kind of hangs out with us! He has rolled over a few times from front to back which I think is earlier than my other two. I don't know how much he weighs right now but he looks very healthy to me. Verdict is still out on his eyes. We thought blue in the beginning but now I'm not so sure. Rhett is hopeful he will pull through and have brown eyes like him. I'm hoping for a sweep with blue - we will see! He is dearly loved by all of us and has been the perfect addition to our family.

I've composed no less than 5 mental blog posts in the past few weeks. I just can't get them down. My parents are here for a visit for the next several days so maybe I'll be able to catch up!

Babyland General

We took a quick road trip this weekend during a whirlwind two days in Athens and drove up to Cleveland, GA - home to Babyland General and the Cabbage Patch Kids. What a fun place! I have such fond memories of this place as a little girl when I adopted my Cabbage Patch Kid fresh from the patch. Claire had a great time too. Very little, if anything, has changed in all of these years since I was last there.

Meet Cate Elizabeth - the newest member of our family (and yet another thing to pack for Africa ;) She is just adorable and Claire is a wonderful little Mommy to her. She chose one with brown eyes since all of ours have blue and Daddy feels left out being the only one with brown eyes in our family (although I'm starting to think Gus might be switching over to the brown team - we will see). Claire feels bad that I don't have a brother or a sister so she said that Cate could be my sister. So sweet. We saw several "Cabbage Births" during our visit. I laughed out loud when the "doctor" said he was giving Mother Cabbage and "easy-otomy" during the birth. I guess you can find humor is such things after you have birthed three babies!

For those of you unfamiliar with the whole Babyland General concept this all might sound kind of strange. Picture a hospital with a nursery, NICU (yes, real isolettes), a bathing/weighing area behind a big glass window and various other arragements of Cabbage Patch Kids (as school, playground etc.) Every so often they announce over the intercom that Mother Cabbage is in labor and everyone runs to this big tree where a doctor comes and assists in the "birth" of a Cabbage Patch Kid. They do an ultrasound during the birth process and if the TV screen is pink- girl and blue, well you know. I remember after the kid was born being able to yell out names to name them but today the ones born were already claimed so the little girls got to watch their very own CPK being born then name it themselves. We chose to adopt one from the nursery with a hard head and a slightly lower pricetag. We still got a great birth certificate and Claire got to name her. She chose "Cate" - I asked if she wanted to spell it with a "K" or a "C" and she chose "C". I've always liked it spelled that way so I was glad. I think Elizabeth is in honor of "Emily Elizabeth" of Clifford fame.

Ford stayed behind with Pa Pa to play ball and swing outside. He wouldn't have appreciated it but Gus was a fun compainon for our day and can check it off of his places to visit. Overall a very fun day with lots of memories for Mommy too!

Orientee

We have spent the last 4 days here in Boone, NC at Samaritan's Purse HQ doing orientation for World Medical Mission. It has been a really fun time meeting other people in the post-residency program as well as some other international field staff. We have learned lots of new abbreviations and acronyms :) and have been introduced to the incredible ministry here at "SP". Seriously, this is an amazing operation. SP has several different branches of ministry including one of the best and most comprehensive disaster response programs in the world. If there is any sort of natural disaster Samaritan's Purse is there - usually first - to help. There is also Operation Christmas Child - you know the shoe boxes collected around the holidays. It may seem kind of silly but wow - these shoe boxes of gifts go all over the world and open many doors to ministry and discipleship. There are a number of other smaller ministries and projects going on all over the world and of course there is World Medical Mission which is the organization of which we are now a part. The main purpose of WMM is to send physicians short term (a few weeks to a few months) to mission hospitals all around the world to supplement or relive the staff there. In addition, the Post- Residency Program sends physicians to serve for two years directly out of training. We are SO thankful to be apart of this ministry. The people we have met this week- post residents, families and all levels of leadership at WMM and SP are just wonderful and so encouraging. I will link our blog wilth some of the post residents soon so you can stalk them and read about their journeys as well. The people and families we have met this week are going to Ecuador and three different hospitals in Kenya. There is another orientation group next month with more folks headed in different directions!
So one of the many expressions that has been added to my vocabulary this week is "on the field". Example: "If you need anything while you are on the [mission] field let us know and we will help you". What does this mean "on the field"? When I hear "field" I just automatically think of a sports field. Actually the mental picture I get is of the Clarke Central High School (my alma mater) soccer field at night with the lights on (I played a few games there while I was in high school). Anyway, I got this mental picture and starting day dreaming of us getting prepared to get "on the field" to play in this really important game . . .

Right now we are kind of on the sidelines getting warmed up - getting our equipment sorted out and fitted properly, reviewing the plays, stretching and assessing what is going on in the game. Our coach, Scott, and water girl, Mary Elizabeth (hee hee) are making sure we have what we need and doing some last minute preparation as we prepare to take the field. (Scott is the PRP director and ME is his assistant). We are asking some of the other players on the side lines about their game plans too.

But wait there are more than just the players and coaches at the game! There are lots of people that make it possible for us to play. The fans in the stands make it financially possible for us to play with their ticket sales and consession stand purchases and the game would seem odd without their applause and cheers. If we get knocked back on our heels during the game the crowd can spurn us on with shouts of encouragement or cheer when we make a goal! There are also the people we can't see that are making the game possible like the guy in charge of the lights and field maintenance. These people are like the support staff that do the invisible and often thankless jobs in missions like travel logistics, guest house hosting, hospitality, accounting or other important jobs like IT or biotechnology which are essential to the success of our mission - without them we wouldn't have a surface to play on and we couldn't see what we were doing.

So here we stand on the sidelines finally ready after a lot of practice and preparation - admittedly a little anxious but also really excited in a "butterflies in my stomach" kind of way. We are ready to get "on the field" with other missionaries who are doing this thing! We are waiting for the coach to send us in and as we take our first slow steps onto the field we are keeping our eyes on the Captain of the team who has already gone before us. We are looking to Him for direction. Not only is he the Captain of this team - He created this game and knows how to play better than anyone. So we look to Him to guide us and teach us as we play. He promises that He won't leave - He will be there guiding us every step.

OK, I know at this point my analogy is getting pretty silly and theologically weak but it was just a flash of a picture in my mind today! I don't really have any great pictures of anything this week but I'll try to snap a few tomorrow and share them with you. After our orientation wraps up tomorrow we will be headed back to the Shirleys mountain home for the weekend where we will be reunited with Claire and Ford before making a stop at Rhett's brother's home in Georgia for a few days then heading back to the 'ham. Time is FLYING by. We are anxious to get to Kenya but we also have so much going on here and so many things to look forward to before we leave. By the way, still no bites on our house so please continue to pray for us. We have lowered the price a bit and are hoping that will generate some interest soon.

Little travels with a little baby

Gus took his first flight last weekend for a trip to Washington, D.C. (See the little airplane on his outfit :) He is our youngest flyer so far at 2 1/2 months but was a piece of cake on the plane. He slept the whole way on both flights. I even brought a book on the plane . . . and read it. I don't remember the last time I did that!

We were in Washington for a meeting that Rhett's mom was chairing for families of POW/MIAs from Vietnam. We got to spend time with Rhett's family and since Rhett was feeling under the weather we spent some nice quiet time in our room with a nice quiet baby who looked like this most of the time . . .

We had so much fun hanging out with Gus alone for the first time since he was about 3 days old. We even took in a few sights. We had heard about the new Capitol Visitor Center which cost $$,$$$,$$$ so we thought we'd like to see where our tax dollars are going.

The visitor center was very nice. I'm not sure worth the pricetag but nice just the same. Gus was seemingly unimpressed with the whole deal . . .

But he was a lovely travel companion and we had a great trip. Oh I almost forgot! We saw the President! We went to see the military parade at the Marine Barracks and the President was the guest of honor. I was standing about 15 feet from him and Michelle (although there were several secret service and a few Marines between us) as he left the Barracks. It was interesting to see the whole Secret Service scene with snipers and the whole nine yards. Of course none of us had our cameras for the Presidential sighting. Oh well. I'm not a fan of him or his politics but it is still exciting to see the President!