Random

• Well, I can't believe that two weeks from tonight, we will be spending our last night in Shell. It is difficult to imagine...and, honestly, I'm avoiding even thinking about it. Good-byes are hard, and I see now how much Ecuador has "grown" on me. We've had a very good life here - as excited as we are for Mexico, it is just hard to see this chapter in our lives come to a close.
• Madison is teething! It sure does help explain a lot. She has been sleeping very odd hours and seems fussy quite a lot. Last night, I checked her mouth and whoa! there were several new teeth poking their way through. Poor baby. Here are a couple of pictures of Maddie playing with blocks amongst all the trunks and tubs and debris of moving!
• Well, the house just gets emptier every day. Seems like all we've done for the past week has been sort, organize, toss, sell, and move loads of stuff out of our lives forever. We still haven't really begun the packing, though it looks like we can finally begin that tomorrow.
  
• All the change is definitely having an effect on Brooklyn. She is not herself. Today, she locked me out of the house for almost thirty minutes. Sean was at church still, my keys were inside, it was pouring rain, and I my shoes were inside. There just wasn't much I could do, though I tried everything that came to mind short of breaking a window to unlock the door! Maddie was outside with me, in desperate need of a nap. And Brooklyn actually had the patience to sit inside - in silence - refusing to unlock the door for me. Yeah. She appears to have inherited my stubbornness. I don't think I've ever been so mad or felt so completely worthless as a parent. Thankfully, this is not normal behavior for Brooklyn and as I sat outside on the front porch crying (what were the neighbors thinking, do you suppose?) it occurred to me that her world is being turned upside down completely. I really don't blame her for acting out in some way. Once it all settled back down, we talked about all the changes and all that is going on. I think it helped her to know that I did understand what she was feeling....but she did still get some pretty unpleasant consequences for the way she behaved.
  
• In all the sorting and organizing last week, I lost my wedding ring. I've been just sick about it for a couple of days and I've been digging through trash cans and everything to try to find it. Guess what?! I finally found the ring, tucked in a bag with all my other jewelry. Whew!
• We're all taking amoeba medicine this weekend. This is something we try to do as a family every 6 months or so, although this is the first time I've actually been able to take the meds since I'm not nursing or pregnant. The thought of living somewhere where amoeba medicines aren't a part of my 6-month routine is truly unimaginable to me now :-) You know you are a missionary when....