So Long Ordinary

Sometimes it just really wears me out being a Mom. Something happened today that scared the living daylights out of me. Everything is fine and everybody is fine...but only by the grace of God! Today, Brooklyn had me so scared I was sobbing for a couple of hours. These emotions are not new to me but they grow stronger as each day goes by. What's my consolation? That this is perfectly normal, it happens to every parent as they raise their kids - this isn't the last time I'm going to be scared out of my wits by something that happens to my children. Encouraging. If I allow myself to imagine what might have happened....well, the simple fact is that it didn't happen. I can't allow my mind to go there. God was very obviously looking out for my little girl. My prayers, my family's prayers, friend's prayers, and even stranger's prayers were heard by a loving God that, as I said before, loves Brooklyn more than I ever could. I didn't expect to be t...

It is another rainy day in Shell. That means it's quiet and peaceful. I love it!! Too bad I'm too busy to just sit down and read a book. I'm working on our prayer letter right now. As much as I enjoy putting them together, I always find it difficult to devote as much time to writing and formatting letters as I'd like to - with two young children vying for my attention, any time sitting at the computer is borrowed time. Seems like every time prayer letter time comes around something suffers - we don't eat, Brooklyn just watches TV all day, the laundry piles up, emails go unanswered... I'm determined not to let that happen this time but that means that its taking twice as long for me to get the thing done. The large amount of rain we've had has caused problems with the city water pressure...which means I can't do the laundry. Bummer! Brooklyn went to preschool for the second time yesterday. She was ready to go and had a great time. An added bonus t...

Here are a couple of pics of some of Madison's first bites... What are you putting in my mouth...and why are you making that ridiculous face? Daddy, what is she doing to me?

I just spent a good hour playing Barbie with Brooklyn. She's still playing with them, actually. I remember thinking at some point that I wouldn't let my daughter play with those things - where its all about beauty and fashion and outward appearances rather than inner beauty....but then my little girl fell in love with all things pink and princess-y. And then I remembered all the fun I had - literally, years of fun - playing with my Barbie dolls. I turned out okay. Well, maybe I do have a few quirks but I don't think Barbie is to blame for those.... I find myself just as excited about Barbie as my three-and-a-half-year-old. Don't laugh. Barbie has such cute clothes and compared to the other girls' dolls on the market these days, Barbie is very modest and not nearly so trendy. Her dimensions have been altered to be a little more realistic as well. Almost every little girl really loves dressing up a doll - before Barbie it was paper dolls and now the toy sto...

This morning Brooklyn began preschool. I have been an emotional wreck! After several days of prayer and research, Sean and I decided it would be good for Brooklyn if we put her in an Ecuadorian preschool a few days a week. We opted for a Christian preschool run by our church where two other MK's (missionary kids) already attend. There are two teachers - two young ladies that seem very kind and loving towards the children. It isn't a large operation - just two classrooms and a play area. It will be a great opportunity for Brooklyn to play with and get to know Ecuadorian children and it will also help her improve her Spanish skills. I have very little expectations in the area of academics but I feel this is a good thing for my social and active little girl. All that said, today was hard for this mommy. I would have had a hard time as it was - sending my little girl to school - but Brooklyn made it even harder for me by really pitching a fit about going. She had been there...

Perhaps I was a bit dramatic yesterday about the whole cookie thing..... Nah. But for those of you concerned, Maya is just fine - when I'm really angry I can't hit or kick worth a darn. I have forgiven her, even took her for a walk this morning...she needed some good exercise after all those cookies she ate. Besides, that has been about the most exciting thing to happen these past few days. I should be thanking Maya for giving me something to blog about!

Our dog, Maya, is not my favorite person right now. She's a good dog... for a puppy...I guess. But she's driving me crazy! Yesterday she did something that finally had me ready to kick her out on the street - or worse. Our laundry room is in a separate building out behind the house - in Spanish it's called a bodega , which is a term that can mean everything from shed to shop to storage unit to warehouse. I was working hard to get several loads of laundry done so that my family could once again be clothed. We were down to wearing our "fancy" clothes since everything else was dirty...I think we keep nice clothes around just to wear when everything else is dirty because we certainly never dress up down here! Anyway, I'm getting off the subject at hand. I was griping about our dog. I ran out to the bodega to switch loads of laundry. I always leave the back/kitchen door open so that I don't have to worry about opening it with a big basket in my arms. ...

This morning I had several errands to run. After I was finished doing a few things around town, I stopped by the little corner store to grab baby wipes (one should never run out of those, 'tis not prudent), bug spray (our red polka-dot legs are only due to stubbornness on our part), and laundry detergent (for some reason we needed that). I parked right along the side of the store near the side door so that I could keep an eye on the girls in the car as a got my stuff. Occasionally I would peek out the door to see Brooklyn's pathetic face in the car window, silently wailing. She was quite upset because I had left her in the car when she really wanted to come in so that she could sneak a new baby doll into my basket. Finally I motioned for her to come on inside while I finished paying. The little twerp marched right into that store and slapped a penny down on the counter. Then she promptly marched to the back of the store where she picked out a slightly orange, sun-fad...

It is so hard to get a decent picture of Madison. Brooklyn is just barely at the age when she really enjoys posing for a photo but Maddie is another story altogether. I took several pictures over the weekend to try to get a good shot of Maddie and Brooklyn together. When one was looking cute the other wasn't even looking at the camera. We were outside, so Maddie was more interested in watching the dog run around. (That is what she's looking at in the picture below) When I tried to make cute sounds for Maddie to look at the camera, Maya the dog would think I meant that I wanted a big lick in the face. It was impossible! Anyway, Brooklyn looks cute in this one. I got an okay shot of Maddie all by herself later on. The hats were Brooklyn's idea! ( My hat goes off to mothers with even more children to try to keep photographed. I recently read a very funny blog by my cousin's wife about trying to get professional pictures done of their four boys. Yeah, you can ...

Finally - I think - we are all well again. Brooklyn and I both spent all day yesterday laying around, taking naps, and doing as little moving around as possible. Maddie still isn't sick, Praise the Lord, but the poor baby was pretty neglected yesterday. I was so weak and feverish that I could barely trust myself to carry her from her crib to the rocking chair just to feed her. I actually half passed out several times throughout the day. It was very weird. Anyway, Madison didn't get the usual attention she's used to, mostly because I felt so sick and was afraid I'd drop her when I had one of my super weak spells. (This morning she seemed somewhat perturbed with me for not playing with or holding her as much as she is used to. I spent a long time this morning just cuddling her and begging her forgiveness!) I was glad when Sean came home from work yesterday. The house was a disaster and I had no energy to pick up. My sweet husband cleaned the kitchen, cleaned th...

The whole lizard fiasco was just the beginning of a day that turned out to be pretty terrible. During the lizard chase Brooklyn was on the couch. I had noticed that she was very quiet when normally she would have been right in the thick of things. It wasn't until I got the lizard thing squared away that I realized Brooklyn had fallen asleep on the couch (it wasn't even noon yet). I felt her forehead and she was burning up. She slept for quite a while and even missed swimming lessons. I let her watch a new Barbie movie while she laid around on the couch all afternoon. Later, as I was holding her she threw up - all over me, the couch, the floor and herself. After that, though, she seemed to be on the mend. It was around 6:00 last night when I started to feel yucky. Through the night I was very sick. Brooklyn was better but still needy and feverish so I laid down with her to try to get some sleep. Needless to say, it was a rough night. Brooklyn did get better though....

Sean mentioned in his blog that I caught a lizard in the house. Yep. But I won't pretend that it didn't have my heart pumping. The process of catching the creature involved lots of screams and squealing and the occasional jump onto furniture. Yes, I know it was just a lizard - and a pretty small one at that - but it was so slithery with a big, long tail twice as long as its body. It was very fast and could really jump too. I found the little guy as I was walking into the living room. That was the first scream! The poor fella ran all over the house looking for a way of escape but I just followed him around with the broom. I didn't want him staying in the house to continue to scare me all day. He was under the couch, in the pantry, in the kitchen, under the table, behind a potted plant. I was hot on his long, creepy tail the whole time. I couldn't get him to run back under the door to go outside because Maya was there waiting for him so I knew I could either k...

Yesterday was a sad day for me...and also a momentous one for my youngest. All day Madison just acted hungry and unhappy. So I gave her a tiny bit of rice cereal....and she loved it! I couldn't believe it. I had planned on waiting another few weeks but she's obviously ready to move on to solid foods now. She did surprisingly well at eating and would have eaten more if I'd had it made up. *sigh* Maddie is also getting very good at sitting up on her own. She's not quite to the point of maintaining her sitting position for long periods of time but almost overnight she has started sitting up with very little support. I expect that by the end of the month she'll be able to sit up on her own on the floor and play with toys. *sigh* And she's getting so big. I had to pull out her 6 month size clothes yesterday. She's just over 5 months old now. The new clothes are still a bit baggy but not as much as I had hoped they would be! ( Mom, you'll be glad ...

Thank you all so much for the sweet comments. Keep them coming! This blog is a great way for you to keep up with all that is happening in my life and in the life of my family but it is also a terrific way for us to hear from you! I love to get comments...it's how I know people are reading and it's a real treat to see little notes from friends and family when I log on! Though it is such a small thing, a comment on my blog can be such a huge encouragement. One summer when I went away to camp as a little girl, my Mom surprised me by strategically placing little notes of encouragement and love throughout my suitcase. In the morning, as I'd lift out a t-shirt, I'd find a sweet note tucked away underneath it. The notes weren't long or profound but they made me feel closer to home. I didn't get homesick that year and I always knew that my Mommy was thinking of me and praying for me. Knowing that freed me up to have the best possible week I could - even when I w...

I finally got out of the house. Yesterday we had a very fun road trip! After finding out Sean didn't have to fly, we ended up taking a drive along several roads that aren't normally traveled. We were driving over streams and past waterfalls in the jungle and then we were high up in the Andes opposite an active volcano. It was great. The girls were very cooperative during the drive. We were able to have lunch at our favorite little place in Banos as well, which is always a treat. Maddie was whisked away by the staff who loved on her while we ate. While sometimes I don't like the Ecuadorian tendency for strangers to take your children out of your hands before you even know their names, it was nice to have the time to eat without trying to keep Maddie content (she was in good hands or I wouldn't have allowed it). She's getting quite active and loves to be up in the middle of things...but she can't quite sit up on her own yet. Another month and Brooklyn ...

"My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer." - Psalm 45:1 As I was searching for a title for my own blog, God led me to this Scripture. All of my life I have been a writer. As a child, one of my favorite pastimes was getting a brand new sheet of lined paper and writing away - I wrote everything from self-help articles to heartfelt personal confessions and prayers to wildly imaginative stories. In junior high I began my first journal...and have never stopped journaling since. Writing is honestly the only way I am truly able to express myself or my thoughts and feelings. If you want to know me, you have to read it because I am very unlikely to simply share it! (Well, unless you are my mother or my sister or my husband....then I talk your ear off!) Of course, my journals are far too personal to share but I would like to share in this way - through this blog - knowing that family and stra...