Merry Christmas

In less than 24 hours I will be on a plane flying to Guatemala to spend my daughter's first Christmas with her. My husband is not able to go as he has work commitments. It will be our first Christmas apart since the 2002 the year we got engaged. This back pain reminds me of then...

see wavy lines as Rebecca remembers back...

2002 - It was coming up on Christmas with all the hustle and bustle we all know. I was working a minimum of 45 hours a week in the burn unit at our hospital. Alan was 80 miles away at Ft. Leonard Wood. My back was hurting me as it often did, but I made no mind of it this weekend. Alan was coming for the weekend and I had packages to mail and things to do. I was going to be making Christmas dinner this year at my mom's house and all the family in town was coming. Alan and I had only been dating since October and so this season was especially joyful with the thrill of a new and special relationship. It felt like anything could happen. It did. I tried to stretch my back out and it seized up on me. An ambulance had to come and get me. I couldn't move and I was in the worst pain imaginable. On a scale of 1-10 I was at a 10 (I really hate it when someone says on a scale of 1-10 they were a 15. You can't be a 15 on a scale of 1-10! The most you can be is a 10! but I digress...) By the time I was admitted to the hospital I had been given 25 mg of Demerol, 20 mg of Ativan (used to relax the muscle), more Demerol and morphine. Those amounts I don't remember, but I'd been given a lot of drugs and finally the pain was tolerable. Alan had come and stayed with me the whole time. He left around midnight. Some time in the night I awoke to noise all around me. I could hear the nurses say they were giving narcan and oxygen and I thought, "uh oh. Someone's in trouble" Then my bed was moving and I opened my eyes. I was on o2 and they were moving me to another room. I was the one in trouble. They had given me too many pain meds. I had stopped breathing and the nurse aide had found me with an 02 saturation of 35%. Not good. Fast forward to Christmas Eve. I am still unable to move much at all. I have IV fluids and oxygen. Alan was supposed to be coming to spend Christmas with my family, but I wouldn't be there. I couldn't leave the hospital. There was snow coming. We got 2 feet of snow in about 4 hours or so. I was worried because Alan had called to say he was coming before the snow got really bad. It was normally a 1.5 hour drive and 3 hours later he hadn't arrived. I watched the news and saw people off the road everywhere. It had taken my sister-in-law an hour to make it a mile. I was so worried about Alan. He should have stayed at home. Finally he came. Still in his uniform it had taken him 4 hours but he'd made it. My brother and sil left to make it home in daylight. Alan and I watched TV and talked little. (Isn't it nice to have someone you can just be quiet with?) The next thing I know he had climbed over the side rail and is laying in the hospital bed with me. I looked at him like what are you doing, the nurses will kill you. (I'm a nurse. I should know) He looked at me and said Rebecca will you marry me? and pulled out a box with a beautiful solitaire diamond ring. I was so excited and said yes. He put the ring on my finger and kissed me. A few minutes later he was getting out of the hospital bed (they weren't made for 2) and turned to me and said, "That wasn't the drugs talking was it?"

wavy lines as Rebecca comes back to the present

No it wasn't the drugs. lol I meant it then and I mean it now. :) That is my favorite Christmas memory so far.

This is my last post this year as I will be away until after the New Year. From our family to yours we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.

May there be peace on Earth,

Rebecca

Weekend

We had a long but wonderful weekend traveling around. We went to Metz in France and visited their Christmas market. Last year, we were wandering around France and when we decided to eat we were near the town of Metz. We found parking and a nice restaurant. After we ate we went walking around the shopping area and came across a wonderful Christmas market. So, this year we decided to go back. We walked around and bought some lovely ornaments, sampled the muled wine (it was freezing cold and the mulled wine was much better than what you get in Germany) bought some home made soaps that smell wonderful and enjoyed the atmosphere. We found a wonderful little Italian restaurant for dinner and then drove back to our hotel. We did some shopping in Kaiserslautern and met Dawn and her husband for lunch on Saturday. This was the first time we had met in person. They were interesting and intelligent and we had a good time. I currently (and all weekend) have had a pinched nerve in my back so that has been a trial. Please pray that it gets better before I go to Guatemala.

Christkindlmarkt

Yesterday we went to a wonderful restaurant commonly called steak on a rock. They bring out these large cuts of meat raw on a way hot square stone that cooks it. So everyone can have it cooked as much or as little as they please. On the side are various sauces to dip it in if you choose. The only one I like is the garlic butter. You can order several different meats. It could be that I have posted on this before, but if I have you can see how great it is by me mentioning it twice. You can order what they call a t-bone steak which I would call a huge porterhouse, bison, crocodile, kangaroo, ostrich, or rump steak. I don't recall there being any others. Anyway, it's just wonderful. Hubby always gets the t-bone, but last time I got the bison and this time I got the ostrich. Ostrich is a red meat and tastes quite a bit like beef, but then most red meats that I have tasted do taste similar.



Anyway, after that we went to the Chriskindlemarkt here in Bamberg. Last year we went to the one in Nurenburg and we may go again this year. Last night the stores in downtown Bamberg were open until midnight. They do this once a year and so we went to enjoy. We tried the gluhwein but didn't like it. lol we liked the non-alcoholic kinderpunch that the children drink. We had a good time anyway.

The Diet

Well, it's really not a diet. I should just say I'm trying to reduce. A lot. These are the things I have learned in the past 2 weeks or so.

My goal here is to only eat when I'm hungry and then to eat fewer carbs. The reason for the low carbs is that carbs convert to sugar in your body very quickly. They leave you feeling hungry faster because they are digested faster. My sister thinks I need to give up sugar all together. I have cut it way back, but I don't know if I can give it up all together. So, I have eaten hard boiled eggs and made homemade beef and vegetable soup etc. I did cut out drinking anything with sugar/calories in it. That hasn't been a big problem since we have that good bottled water and then too I drink a lot of iced tea and put splenda in it. I'm working on eating more vegetables and fruits trying to get more fiber. Yes, I'm still eating Spaghettio's. :)

My name is Rebecca and I'm a foodaholic.

They say that recognising and admitting you have a problem is the first step. So there it is. One night at the beginning of this I was just nervous. I was anxious and upset and restless. I paced around the living room and was positively nervous. I remember thinking, "this is how I felt when I quit smoking." Then it hit me. I was jonesin for a fix. I wanted to eat something, but I wasn't hungry. I really, really wanted to eat. It's a real addiction. The thing is that you can't just quit cold turkey like you could with alcohol or cigarettes etc.

So, as time goes by I will journal my challenges and victories. Feel fee to come along on the journey with me.

Friday

Whew! Another busy day here in Bamberg. Woke up this morning to find that Smokey the cat had played all night in the coupons I had so carefully sorted and stacked. Coupons everywhere. Could the Lord be preparing me for motherhood? 3 loads of laundry today, wrapping Christmas presents, making dinner and the bed of course. 4 pounds lost. Errands run.
Yesterday was bizarre. I woke up when I heard a loud noise just after my husband left for work. I thought, "Oh stink! I forgot to put my water bottles out for exchange! The delivery is today! So I get up, throw my robe on, look outside to see if I could see the truck. I didn't see it, but it was only 0915 (yes a late start I know). Anyway, I had a little water left in the current bottle and I wanted to exchange all the bottles so I hurriedly empty the water into some pitchers, and get the bottles out side. Can you just see me in my bathrobe with hair sticking out everywhere? Anyway, I went on about my day but I waited to take a shower because I didn't want to be in the shower when they came. After a couple of hours and no one came, I call the company. The call doesn't go through. I tried every number I could but it either wouldn't go through or no one was answering. Now I was getting upset. I went outside to see if they came early and left a note in the mail box like they are supposed to. No note. I called my husband and asked him to call thinking maybe he would have better luck. He got through, but there was no answer. I got more and more frustrated and upset. Then I discovered that it was Thursday and not Friday. The delivery day is Friday. OOOPS! lol The whole day I was thinking it was Friday when it was not. Confused my whole day.

Monday

You know, house work never ends. Now, I realize that this is not a huge revelation to well to anyone however some days it just seems endless. Today I truly felt I was climbing Mt. Washmore. Between sweeping and mopping the floors (we don't have carpeting) emptying the dishwasher 3 times and loading/running it twice, making the bed, 5 loads of laundry done completely (2 more to do tomorrow) rearranging the pantry, putting up Christmas decorations and some other organizing, I'm a bit tired. While I'm writing this I'm instant messaging with my brother in Missouri. He's watching some PBS show that we wont get to see and bragging about it oops I mean telling me about it. Oh wait, make that 3 loads to do tomorrow as I have baby wash to do to get ready to go to Guatemala. Not that I'm complaining. I'm not. I'm thankful to have the clothes to wash and a husband to cook for and a baby to wash for, but I think most of you know what I mean about some days it just seems endless. I hope you all had a wonderful day.

The Long Awaited Spaghettios Post

OK here it is. I love Spaghettios and I have discovered that it is not the junk food that some people purport it to be. Lets take a look at the label.

One serving = 1 cup That's 3 servings to a large can and 2 to a regular sized can.
One serving = 180 calories
1 gram of fat
No trans-fat
5 mg cholesterol ( that is extremely low)
850 mg Sodium (this is the one thing that is not so great about it that = 35%
of the recommended daily value)
3 grams of fiber (that's pretty good)
6 grams of protein (also pretty good)
Vitamin A = 10%
Calcium = 2%
Thiamin = 10%
Niacin = 15%
Iron = 10%
Riboflavin = 15%
Folic Acid = 25% (those of us still wanting to bear children really need this)

Note that the website information and the information on my can differed in regards to the sodium content. The website explains this.

So, if you eat a whole regular sized can (2 servings) you are getting a decent amount, it tastes good and you have only spent 360 calories. Plus you gave yourself 6 grams of fiber, 12 grams of protein, and of course double of all those vitamins and minerals listed above. That's pretty good! Now if you get the kind with added calcium you are increasing your calcium intake per serving to 30% and adding 25% of your Vitamin D.

How is that not healthy? OK now for those of you who are salt sensitive or have congestive heart failure or some problem where salt is an issue that is probably too much salt for you to be taking in at one time. However for the rest of us, Dig In!

OK, now I can hear my sister and see the appalled look on her face. lol I'm sure I'll hear about it later. Post all comments. I'm sure some of you will disagree with me and that's OK, let's just keep it nice.

DISCLAIMER
I am not recommending this as a health food and I am not saying that we should eat this every day. However, for the occasional lunch on the go, I believe it is fine and not unhealthy. I'm saying I personally don't believe it to be a junk food.

Things I Learned From My Site Meter

I got on my site meter today to see who has been around and where people come to my blog from. I always think it's fun to see what countries people who read my blog are in etc. I learned two interesting things today. The first is that there is an actual place called Land O Lakes, Florida and the second is that someone from Canada got to my blog by googling the words "training wife to obey." For anyone who knows me that is scary and down right weird. I went to Google to try to find it but there are over a million results from that search. I saw the first 21 pages and didn't find me, so how that person did I don't know. How do people get to your blog?

Bread

Well, the bread turned out so nicely that I'm baking another loaf today. I'd show you a picture but it got eaten rather quickly so there is nothing left to show. lol

I said good bye today to another friend from PWOC. She has a 2 week old baby and she and her husband are PCSing today (that's moving to you civilians).

It's Christmas shopping time again. I have most of mine done. Just a little more and I'm through for the year.

I am going to spend Christmas and New Year's day with Alaina. Everything paperwork wise is done now. We are only waiting for the outcome. If any of you are considering international adoption feel free to email me. I have lots of pointers and tips and I know quite a few who have adopted internationally. There are some agencies that are better than others and there are some social workers who are exceptionally good so feel free to ask anytime. I am so ready for her to be here. It's like a part of us is missing and we're not whole until she comes home.

Why?

Today I am asking the question "why". Yesterday I subbed for the school nurse and today I have been busy with getting yesterday's work done. I just got back from running an errand where I ran into an acquaintance. It's a lady I've known for a while and we are friendly though I wouldn't say we are "friends". She took me aside and basically said that another person whom we both know was talking bad about me to others. I was quite surprised at this because I had always thought I had a good rapport with the person who supposedly was now against me. I say against me because I was told "she has something against you" and that she was trying to make trouble for me. I was and am quite shocked. This person has gone out of her way to help us in our adoption process and I don't know why she would be so unkind behind my back when she has been so wonderful in front of me and in front of my husband. The thing that bothers me most of all is that I know the one who told me this has issues with the one she is accusing. I know for a fact that she filed a work place discrimination complaint against her. So, I see why she'd want to get people on her side but honestly. Even if what she said is true why would she tell me this. It hurts my feelings to think this person who has been so kind, whom I would do just about anything for has been so snarky (a word I got from Mrs. Wilt) behind my back. I would think it would hurt any one's feelings so why would you tell some one? The accused in this case cannot do anything to really hurt me (other than my feelings) so if she doesn't like me and thinks ill of me why should I be told about it? Obviously the accused has not seen fit to show me her disrespect why should someone else feel the need to point it out. I have to agree with Mrs. Wilt (though I may put it more bluntly) If you don't have anything nice to say...shut up! So I say again my question today is why. Why would anyone go out of their way to hurt someones' feelings with information they don't need to know?

In other news I am trying my hand at baking bread again. I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

Sunday

Thank you for all the prayers directed our way in past few weeks. We have needed them. Hopefully Tuesday will bring us very near the end of the road with this adoption.

Today after church we went to a lovely Greek restaurant. Alan had salad, lamb and okra and I had salad, and appetizers. We shared some garlic bread with zatziki. (i hope I spelled that right because spell check wants to change it to Suzuki) It was really good. The rest of the day has been spent quietly. An afternoon nap and a quiet evening. I hope you all had a wonderful, restful day as well.

Giving Thanks

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!My sin, not in part but the whole,Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:If Jordan above me shall roll,No pang shall be mine, for in death as in lifeThou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,The sky, not the grave, is our goal;Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

In the midst of the storm we've been in this past week (lots I haven't told you yet) The Lord has given us His peace. When you hold on to Jesus He will see you through. Things got so rough I couldn't write much or eat much (a rarity for me). I am reminded of a song our former pastor used to sing about a lighthouse in the storm and if it wasn't for the lighthouse...

Right now I don't know why the Lord has allowed us to go through all this but He does and I can trust Him with that. When He brings us safely to the other side, it will likely be so clear.

Happy Thanksgiving. This year I once again am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Praise The Lord!

Good news! We received an email from our attorney in Guatemala after midnight today that the funds have been found and he has received them! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear my voice! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice...And give Him the glory great things He has done! lol We really needed that and right when we got it too. OK, I'm off for more stuff to do. We are really working hard right now and I'll try to post what's up when I can.

Banking Problems

OK, we're back from a long weekend away. Here is an update on the money situation. We asked the bank to wire money to our attorney in Guatemala in September. Two weeks later when it had not been received, we asked the bank to trace it. They said they would. They said to give them two weeks to trace it because it takes time. More than two weeks after that we went in and asked why we had not been contacted. They had never traced the money. They said it turns out that their fax machine was not working when they sent the fax and apparently wasn't working for two weeks and so it never went through. When we asked why no one had checked in over two weeks on the progress they kept saying well the original fax didn't go through. I questioned the rarity of a busy bank only faxing one thing in two weeks time because if it wasn't working I would think that some one would have called and said hey you said you were sending a fax and I never got it. Interesting how that never happened and they never noticed it until we went in there and asked for answers. They are currently claiming it isn't their fault because they sent the money. We contend that if they money was not received they are still responsible. They are refusing to reimburse us. We finally got in contact with the bank that owns them which is Bank of America. The home office says that the bank here on post never did anything until the day I went down there and demanded an answer. They are currently trying to find it.

Bits And Pieces

How was your weekend? Mine was different. We just hung out all weekend together and played games and such. We had a pizza fiasco on Friday (the place couldn't get our order right for anything and then the second place couldn't either.) Alan ended up eating french fries and crust while I pulled off the toppings and ate that. Alain is allergic to pork you see and they kept putting it all over the pizza. The first was delivery that went wrong and the second was a local pizza place. Bizarre. Then we had Chinese take out the next night. It was wonderful as usual. Then of course I was sick the whole weekend. I had a fever all weekend and migraines and yes it started before the take out. Sunday we awoke 15 minutes before church and lol boy did we scramble! We made it just as they were starting. After that we went to eat at the mess hall since I still wasn't feeling well. Today I stayed in bed most of the day and then took a long bubble bath. I felt so good after wards that I was able to make dinner (Steak, beans and rice, and broccoli - I know it's a weird combination) clean up the kitchen and sort through my coupons in preparation for commissary and PX shopping tomorrow. Please pray for one thing for us. The banks seem to have lost a $15,000 payment that was wired from our bank to our lawyer's bank in Guatemala. Please pray that it can be located. Apparently the bank in Guatemala is saying that they are not governed by US laws and therefore they do not have to provide information regarding what happened to the money. We are looking into it. I'd think there would be some sort of international law regarding money transfers between banks. Still, DH is very upset and needs peace not to mention that this may hold up the proceedings. Even so, God is greater still. Even than international money snafu's.

A Whole Week!

Oh my goodness it's been a whole week since I posted last! I have been so busy. I substituted for the school nurse on Monday and Tuesday. Monday night we had a dinner party to go to. Tuesday night we had friends over who were to move back to the States early Thursday morning. Wednesday I spent the entire day baking for a bake sale the proceeds of which were to offset the cost of the Christmas Ball for the lower enlisted soldiers. This is something I very much believe in and since I had made that suggestion at the last coffee...well you see. I baked 4 dozen corn muffins, 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies and 3 pans of brownies. Thursday was the sale and then today was spent cleaning house and doing laundry since little of that got done all week. We have been enjoying our new Culligan water cooler and delivery service this past 2 weeks. I know, I know, not very frugal, but when you consider that the water out of the tap tastes bad and smells like fish, and consider the yuck that collects in the water filter, and the cost of buying water in small bottles and hauling it in, it's worth it. It doesn't cost all that much anyway and we love having fresh, good water to drink anytime we want it. I have laughed over how much more water we drink now that we don't have to go get it, carry it up the stairs from the car and then take the bottles to recycling. Anyway, I apologize for being gone so long. Just got caught up in life.

Frugal Friday

I have a new tip today for Frugal Friday hosted by Crystal Paine over at Biblical Womanhood. This is something I just discovered the other day. As you know, a few weeks ago I got a great deal on breakfast cereal. The other day, I was emptying the boxes into a very large Tupperware type container so I can measure the amount I eat out. (trying to slim a bit you see). As I was tearing off the boxtops for education things and flattening the boxes for recycling it hit me. The waxed paper bag that the cereal goes in has a second use. I was fixing to throw them away when it occurred to me that they would be perfect to use in the microwave as a cover for dishes that don't have a cover. ie. warming a plate of food etc. Normally, I would tear off a square of waxed paper or a paper towel to go over it to keep food from exploding all over the microwave. Well the waxed paper inserts do a wonderful job and often enough I can just put the dish inside the bag! When removed if it is messy just throw it away. At least now it has been used twice and I have not had to use a sheet of waxed paper from the roll. Recycling and saving money too. What could be better?

BREAKTHROUGH!

Well yesterday was a wonderful day for us. We have been trying to get a lady on the phone from the USA Consulate in Frankfurt. She is the lady who holds our paperwork to adopt Alaina and we haven't been able to find out anything about it. When we call the phone goes straight to voice mail where we are informed that she isn't accepting voice mail. Nothing was working. So, we found a way to make an appointment with an immigration officer at the consulate. We were hoping to at least find out something. The only thing we knew for sure was that they had managed to charge us the fee for processing because we saw it on our credit card. So up we got at 0430 and left by 0500. A long trip to Frankfurt and a long wait outside in the cold. Do you know that they wont even allow you to take a chapstick into the consulate? I never knew chapstick to be harmful. Then of course they argued with me about taking my epi-pen in. lol They tried to assure me that they would be there in seconds if anything should happen to me. Well anyway I won the argument and a good thing to because it would have taken them some time to find me where we went. Anyway, we finally got to see an immigration officer. We explained why we were there and he left. A few minutes later a lady showed up and asked if she could help us. We asked if she was Ms. _______ and she said, "No. Would you like to talk to her?" lol we both replied simultaneously, "Can we?!!" The waiting room erupted in laughter. lol guess we were too cute. Anyway she went and then there she was. Ms. _____. In the flesh. She was so pleasant and (I'm telling you God was working here) she adjudicated our case on the spot. Going so far as to fed ex our packet to the embassy in Guatemala City and give us the tracking number. She also sent a visa cable to let them know. How about that! We were jumping for joy. There is no telling how long our papers might have sat on her desk for her to get around to working on them. It was sooooooooooooooo worth the trip. So now they can start working on the Guatemalan side. Praise the Lord!

Chex Party Mix

Today I got up and went about my normal daily routine straightening up the house etc. One thing I did differently today is to make home made Chex party mix. We have a group of friends that gets together often to play games. Lately we have been meeting more often and including dinner and snacks. All of us love Chex party mix but the bagged variety at the store includes powdered peanuts. I am allergic to all nuts. The people at Quaker also make a kind of snack mix that is good but all those bags add up. So I finally went out and bought the cereal and made it myself. I only used the cereal as pretzels don't thrill me and of course nuts are out of the question. One batch I did the regular way and one I did using garlic salt instead of seasoned salt. Delish! Did I manage to bring any with me to party night? Nope, forgot all about it. Doesn't that figure. lol Oh well.

Not What I'd Planned

Well, today didn't turn out exactly as planned. I got up at 7 am after not sleeping so well or long enough (got to bed late) showered, and headed out to my class. Got there a few minutes late. No one was there. Checked at the clinic. No dice. Went back to the site and asked a very helpful man to call the Red Cross for me. It turns out that the class was cancelled because the instructer couldn't make it. They said they called me, but I was home all day and received no call. Then they told me that I wasn't home when they called (lol) so they left a message. Well now my answering machine could be a liar and is just hiding it from me and it could be that I left and went somewhere and I just don't remember but I don't think so! Never fear, I'm typing this light heartedly. lol I just get a kick out of it when someone tells me they called but I wasn't home when I was. Anyway. I went on home where Alan asked me to make him a pot of coffee (he was fixin to leave) so I walked over and flipped the switch for him. Rofl. He for some reason thought I had not set it up the night before. I do about 95% of the time, but he'd gotten the wrong notion and it's OK. I love him! I'm laughing as I write this because it was just all so funny this morning. That's what you get from me on little sleep.

So the long and the short of it is that I had the day to myself and took it off. I have done very little today but play on the computer and take a nap where I had a horrible dream about working an intensive care unit alone and Britney Spears was a patient. I ended up having 4 bizarre patients and only me and I wasn't doing anything right. Then the people from Top Chef came in and were dishing up pills to be served etc. It was all very weird. I figure Britney was in there because I had seen a headline about her on AOL. I don't know, but the part about Sam from Top Chef serving up pills in souffle cups disturbed me so bad I woke up with a terrible sense of dread and personal failure. Those of you who watch this show in the States will of course realize that our shows on AFN (armed forces network) are significantly behind those back home. It makes little matter as we don't watch that much anyway.

Don't worry about me playing all day. Hubby's supper will be waiting for him when he gets home. How was your day?

Happenings

Tomorrow and Friday will be busy days indeed. I am going to some training to be eligible to teach the Healthy Pregnancy classes through the Red Cross here on post. I am a certified Red Cross nurse (RN) and all I need is to be familiar with their curriculum. The Red Cross has asked me to head this up for the post and I have agreed as it wont really take all that much time on a monthly basis and it's something more I can put on my resume. The training will be full days for 2 days. I just hope I can find the right building tomorrow.
We had one of our "coffee's" tonight. It's a get together for the spouses of the senior NCO's and the officers. We had it at the bowling alley as one of our male spouses was hosting it. Included we had 2 baby showers. One girl has just had twins and then a different male spouse' wife just had one. It's funny because Alaina is right in the middle of them. They are Twins then Alaina and then the other baby. They are each about a week to ten days apart from the next one. Baby girl sure will have friends to play with! I had my first experience today with European clothing sizes. lol WOW! I had to hold them up and judge for someone else's child by guessing how big it would have been on Alaina 3 weeks ago. Well, I think I did a good job if I do say so. I went down town to the Toys-R-Us. It's the first "American" store that I have been to here that is just like (or very similar to) those in the States. You see we went to Walmart a year or so ago and it was nothing like in the States. It had none of the things you'd find at home so it was just like all the other German department stores price and all. We couldn't see the point in going back.
Anyway, y'all have a good day and I'll cya tomorrow.

Wedding Dresses

OK girls, (any guys out there probably wont care) go to this web site for some gorgeous though non traditional wedding dresses.

A REAL AMERICAN HERO

Please go here to read the story of a real American hero. On my 36th birthday, Lt. Michael Murphy in an astounding act of bravery, gave his life to save his team. It is humbling and makes me cry to know that while I was celebrating, he was dying for my freedom. How much more humbling to know that Jesus went through so much more for my eternal freedom. Thank God for His salvation. I also thank God for brave men like Michael Murphy and for the men and women like my husband who risk it all to serve.

Momma's Little Angel

I miss her. More and more each day I long for the moment when I can take her home forever (or at least the next 18 years or so). It's not normal for a mother to walk away from her child. I try so hard to only think of her with my mind. If I use my heart I can't help but cry. Even now just writing about her the tears are rolling down my face. I knew this is how it would be. I knew the moment I saw her I would lose my heart. "Lord watch over her and protect her. Keep her safe in your loving arms and bring her home quickly." Please continue to pray for her and for this process to move quickly.

Super Savings Saturday

OK, this is my Super Savings Saturday entry for this week. I don't have the option of going to CVS, Walgreen's or Rite-Aid so this is all from the Commissary this week. Dawn Direct dish washing liquid was on sale for $2.29 and I had coupons for $2 off so they were 29 cents each. Jolly Time popcorn was on sale for $0.89 and I had a coupon for $1 off = free. Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste was on sale again for $1.50 and I had 2 coupons for $1.50 off = free. Martha White corn bread mix marked down to $0.19/box. I had 2 coupons for $1 off 4 boxes so I got 8 boxes more than free. Pop Secret pop corn sale + coupon = 30 cents each. GoGurt yogurt marked down to $0.80 each + coupon for $0.75 off of 2 = $0.42 each.

So everything in the picture would have been $27.70 and I got it for $2.02. Not too shabby.

Not pictured is the Rice-a-Roni that I got 2 for 45 cents each. 2 boxes of Honey bunches of oats strawberry cereal that I got for 79 cents each. 2 boxes of Pillsbury brownie mix for 50 cents each. One free can of Libby's French cut green beans after buying 4 for 40 cents each. 24 bottles of Propel sport drink for 33 cents each. 2 slices of Edwards key lime pie for 50 cents each. A 2 bar pack of Olay bar soap for 83 cents and 2 eye of round steaks one for 81 cents and one for 68 cents. These good deals would have been $33.60 but I got them for $16.32.

All in all $61.30 worth of groceries for $18.34. There were other deals but those were the best ones.

Words from California Congressman Pete Stark

See it for yourself.

Think Before You Speak - I Beg You

Congressman Peter Stark of California (that figures) seems to think that this war we are in is a joke. He seems to think that President George Bush sits back and laughs every time a soldier dies. I don't know how you feel about Geroge. Personally I like him. I think he and Laura would be great neighbors and would be fun to have over (without the secret service of course - something about an uzi in my dinning room...) I don't agree with all of the decisions he has made. Of course I have not been in on the decision making process and therefore don't know why they were made. That said, to think that anyone, outside of radical muslim extreemists, would or even could sit back and laugh at the tragic death of a person doing his duty is ridiculous.



Here are Congressman Stark’s comments made Thursday on the floor of the House of Representatives: “You don't have money to fund the war or children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement.”



I realize he was excited and upset about wanting this children's medical insurance bill to pass, but that just does not excuse his words.

If you wish to make your opinion known here is his information.


Pete Stark, Congressman Pete Stark
239 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
Primary Phone: 202-225-5065
Fax: 202-226-3805
E-Mail: Pete Stark, Pete Stark

Putting Down The Myths

Some of this content may not be suitable for younger or unmarried readers.

I have something to say. It is not a sin for a woman to work or volunteer out side of her home. I have been reading Christian blogs for over a year now. In that time I have seen a lot of mention of Titus 2 women and modesty and I have decided to speak out about it. That's right. Soap box time.

Let me start with Titus 2 Women. In Titus we find Paul writing to Titus who is a minister it seems in Crete. In chapter 2 he suggests to Titus that he teach older women (these are women who are older and who's children are grown) "To be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women (that's the rest of us) to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the Word of God." (NIV Bible) This is not a command that women must stay home and not work at a job outside of the home and not volunteer. Lydia, if you'll remember, was a seller of purple. No where does it say that she did this out of her home. Maybe she had a shop somewhere. Oh the thought! Though it may not have been the norm in Bible times for women to work outside of their home, it was also not uncommon. If it had been uncommon or considered wrong even by Paul, I would think that he would have mentioned it or said how wrong it was for Lydia to leave her home to work. I realize that the King James Version of the Bible says "to be keepers at home" instead of "to be busy at home". The fact of the matter is that if this verse meant that women are to stay at home and not go out to do anything then those women who followed Jesus from town to town when he was teaching were wrong to do so because they were not staying at home. Working outside the home is not a sin unless the Lord has laid it on your heart to be a stay at home wife or mother or unless your husband has told you he does not want you to have an outside job. It's one of those decision, like birth control, to be made inside the triangle of marriage (see the image at the top of the post) We are commanded several times in scripture that we are to respect and obey our husbands because he is the head of the home. This is not easy to swallow for a lot of us, however that command also does not mean we must obey them in everything. It is meant for a true Christian husband and wife. Unfortunately there are many mixed marriages out there where the husband is not truly born again. In these cases for a wife to obey her husband when he wants her to do something morally wrong would be sin. (lying, cheating, sexual immorality etc.) We are to obey in the Lord. God is first. Husband is second. Our priorities in life should be God first, Husband second, Children third and then vocation weather it be working or volunteering.

Another thing about these Titus 2 wives. The older women, those with grown children, are the ones to be doing the teaching. Those of us who still have our husbands and younger children at home are classified as the younger women. This does not mean we cannot encourage each other in the Lord, but it does mean not to set your self up as a life teacher to others. The older women are to teach because they have lived their lives. They have raised their children, and they have a lot of life experience, perspective, and years of serving the Lord. I would put forth Connie from Texas as an older woman who's teaching I take to heart. She is not perfect. She does not have all the answers, but she has a lot of perspective and a real love for the Lord and a lot of Godly wisdom. An admonition from a woman like her I would not take lightly because she knows of what she speaks. When I see young women telling others how to run their marriages and families, I am annoyed. It is one thing to blog about your life and what works for you and your personal convictions. It is yet another to tell people that your convictions must be theirs or they are in sin. I imagine that we all interpret the Bible a little differently. There is no one human on this planet that has it all right. NOT ONE. The way our family chooses to live is not by one denominations view points but by the Bible. We seek to do what the Bible says, not what man says or what any particular church says. I would challenge everyone to go to the Word. What does it say? Ask the Lord to reveal to your heart the things He would have you do. Remember that parts of the Bible are literal, parts are conceptual, and parts had to do with the culture of the time. To literally be a "keeper at home" you could never leave even to go to church or the grocery store. This is not reasonable and it is not in keeping with the spirit of the Word. I believe the NIV puts it better that we are to be busy at home. Meaning not lazy or couch potatoes but keeping busy which helps to keep us from sin.

Now about modesty. I'm all for it. I don't wear skirts/dresses all the time and I don't wear pants all the time. I like to look feminine and pretty. I like to look like a woman. I personally believe the verse in the old testament that refers to men not wearing women's clothing and women not wearing men's clothing means just that. Don't be a cross-dresser. If you're a man look like one. If you're a woman look like one. And for pitty's sake girls, and guys, act like one. I see a lot of blogging related to woman's dress but I have yet to see anything regarding a man's. Men jogging in those spandex biking shorts and topless is not what I would consider modest, but no one wants to say anything about it. So I will. It would seem from the blogs that modesty is only for women. Is that so? I don't think so.

Lets stop with all the legalism. Jesus was against legalism and I am too but now I see it resurfacing. Let's let our lives be led with compassion and love like Christ's was and not have this judgemental attitude.

On a personal note. Since we have married I have only worked on a very part-time basis. We can afford for me to do so, my husband likes being the provider, and I like being a wife and now a mother. We prefer to take care of our children ourselves and not have them raised by day care providers. That is our family. That is what we have decided is right for us. I cannot judge others who don't follow our example. I believe that is between the husband, the wife and the Lord.

Now I realize not everyone will agree with what I've said. That's OK. I'm happy to hear from everyone. I only ask that you keep it clean and kind.

Guatemala Day 4

OK, so day 4 of our trip. I had been up most of the night and the realization that this would be our last 12 hours with her was hitting hard. I cried off and on all day. I woke DH up and insisted we all go to breakfast as a family. We did, then we spent some time in the baby lounge visiting with other parents. Interestingly enough, Alaina slept most of the day. We just spent time in our room and wandering around the hotel looking at the perfection that is our daughter. Loving her, holding her, taking pictures of her and family photos too. I wont go into giving her back. It's just too painful. No mother should ever have to walk away from her child. Suffice it to say that I bawled. Oh my, it's hard even to write this post, so I'll stop there. Please continue to pray that we get her soon and please continue to pray for the children of Guatemala. The government there is trying to shut down adoptions.

I Laughed So Hard

OK, this will take me a while to write as I'm still laughing. I woke up this morning still with a cold but it's getting better. That Zicam really works. Had me feeling better in no time. OK now on to the source of my laughter. I don't wake up easily. Not a morning person doesn't even begin to describe it. I was thinking of the last post Mrs. Wilt made on her blog about being a southerner and wondering what state they lived in, so I thought I'd log in and see if she makes that public. I logged in and checked my email. In doing so I saw a new comment on my blog. For those of you who do not have blogs, the comments are emailed directly to me as well as appearing on the blog. That way I can see when a new comment arrives as I have not chosen to view and approve all comments before they post. I read it. It was about an older post about General Peter Pace. I'll have you know I had received my first hate mail - or hate comment as it were. So, being the good detective that I am I noted the time of the comment and went straight to my web tracking device. I discovered where the person got to my blog from and what I found was a web site of apparently hate filled people who seem to be Democrats. Not that there aren't hate filled people who are Republicans but theses did seem to be Democrats.
Fascinating. I scrolled halfway down the page and lo and behold there was a link to my blog in one of the comments. The commenter was speechless and appeared to think I am some kind of nut. lol I laughed so hard! I can't tell you how pleased I am to be considered a nut by the radical left wing! Glory to God! It is by His grace I am! I'd rather be crazy for Jesus than a politically correct conformer to leftist ideas that claim to be mainstream. I also praise the Lord because everyone who goes there and reads that post will read that they need to be saved and how to be saved. Praise the Lord!

Guatemala Day Three

So, now it's Sunday morning is Guatemala and we have decided to stop tag teaming Alaina and let one of us sleep while the other one tends to her. The morning is somewhat of a blur for me. I do remember going down to breakfast. Then we napped in the afternoon while Alaina slept. We did go to visit the baby lobby where some of the other parents informed us where to find a pacifier. I had noticed Alaina chewing on her bottle nipples. When I'd squeeze a bit of water or formula into her mouth she'd spit it out. She just wanted to suck. At her age this is such a natural desire that we decided Sunday or not we'd try to get her one. They didn't have one at the gift shop in the lobby much to our dismay. We headed out to a pharmacy down the street. Closed. Then we kept walking around the block that our hotel was on. We came to 2 grocery stores and an open pharmacy but no go. It turns out that a pacifier is called a "pepe" in Spanish. The pharmacist told us to head to the mall where he was sure we'd find it. My Spanish finally came in handy on this trip. It was too far to go with the baby only in our arms as we would have to cross several very busy streets. So, I went back to the hotel with her and papa went out in search of a pepe. She loved it. She spit it out a lot but only because she hasn't learned how to keep it in. When I rigged it up to not fall out she fell right asleep. I slept for the evening as best I could while DH took care of her. I was quite amused as she was fussy and he'd tried everything but her diaper. I called out to check it. He did and I heard him say "oh you're wet" I made no motion that I was awake and sure enough he stepped up to the plate and changed it. I was so proud of him. Yesterday when I asked him if he wanted to change her he was afraid he'd hurt her. I told him that while she is little, she doesn't break so easily. What a good papa he is! OH! I forgot to tell you. During the day at some point, she was fussing and didn't want her bottle etc. Alan had her so I said check her diaper. Maybe she's wet. He checked it and when he opened the diaper he jumped back like a snake bit him and said, "Somebody gave her guacamole! She's got it in her diaper!" lol and then he promptly handed her over to me. I laughed. That will be a good one to tell. About 8 pm she had her bath. It took both of us to do it and we bathed her in the sink. Boy is she slippery! But we all got through it and into fresh clean jammies. So about 9pm ish I took over and Alan tried to sleep. He sleeps much better than I do. He was snoring in minutes. I gave her a bottle and changed her diaper and she went down for about 3 hours. That's not to say she didn't fuss some, but she was down for most of it. She is used to sleeping with adults in their bed so she needed a lot of comfort to sleep in her crib. I found that if I just stand there and pat her back for a while she'd nod off again. Well, we both missed supper so I ordered the late night room service that we'd had the night before. I was able to get a little rest off and on through the night.

Guatemala Day Two

I'm sitting here with a cup of hot tea and honey. You guessed it. I've got a nasty cold. I believe I picked it up on the airplane from Guatemala to Dallas. There was a woman on the plane who's child was sick and as they circulate the air, I'm sure that's how I caught it. I just hope that however it happened, Alaina didn't catch anything. OK. On to day 2.

We got up at 0700. Took showers, got dressed and went to breakfast all to be ready for Alaina who was scheduled to arrive at 0900. We went down to the lobby and saw Jorge our interpreter. We spoke with him a few minutes and then I saw a lady with a baby and just knew it was mine. "Is that her?" I asked. It was. The pictures you see here are of our first meeting. You see Jorge, us, Alaina, and the foster mother. We all went up to our room, where the foster mother (through Jorge) began to tell us every detail of how to take care of her as if we'd never seen a baby before. At first this was cute, but then it got annoying as she demanded we turn off the air conditioner and the fan etc. She brought all new clothes and new diapers and bottles. Still in their original packaging. Since we had brought everything we would be needing (except for formula) we put it all away and sent it back exactly as it had been sent to us. I thought it was funny that the foster mother proceeded to show me how to change her diaper and used one of the ones she had brought. She had the wrong size. The size she brought was for 12 - 20 pound babies. Alaina wasn't quite 8 pounds. That diaper went all the way up to her armpits! Needless to say when I changed her diaper next I used the Pampers Swaddlers Newborn that we had brought. lol You should have seen her swimming in that big ole thing. Anyway, soon enough they left and we turned the AC back on and dug her out of all 3 of her blankets. Guatemala is a warm and humid place. I think it is their culture to wrap babies up like that, but she was too warm and had some heat rash, so I kept her cooler. Mostly the first day we just spent time taking pictures and holding her, feeding her, loving her. We did go to a late lunch around 2pm. I held her while DH ate and then he held her while I ate. lol She didn't come with a carrier. We did get to visit with our attorney later in the afternoon. They had been concerned that we would reject her because she has a birth mark on her bottom. I have heard that there are some superstitions surrounding birth marks but we don't have any and assured them that it makes no difference to us. The type she has will fade with age anyway. By the time she gets married it should hardly be noticeable if it is at all. Alaina didn't sleep well the first night. She had new surroundings and new things and new smells and people. Also she is a noisy baby. She grunts and squeals and makes sounds. That may be normal but for us as new parents it was stressful. We'd be trying to sleep and I of course would wake up at every sound. Then she'd be completely quite for a while and I'd be sure she'd died of SIDS. Needless to say there was very little sleeping the first night. We were both up with her the whole time and since we'd had no supper we ended up ordering room service of a hamburger and fries and split it. Alan ordered a pot of coffee as well. He needed it. Somewhere around 0800, she finally went to sleep better and we were able to get a little too.

Guatemala Day One

We arrived around 8pm ish. It took a while to get through customs and immigration and then our luggage and the coach to the hotel. We stayed at the Marriott as most adopting parents do. They have a baby lounge with a few toys, swings, bouncers, an exersaucer, changing room, bottle station, etc. Very nice. So we finally got to our room after traveling about 26 hours. We had gotten up at 3 am Friday (German time). A friend drove us to the train station at 0430. We caught the 5am train and it was about 3.5 hour train trip till we finally made it to the Frankfurt airport. Then a 10+ hour flight to Dallas, a relatively short layover (where we got to eat at TGIF!) and then a 3ish hour flight to Guatemala City. Anyway, we unpacked everything to be completely ready for Alaina. lol I even got out her diaper bag and packed it. Then we ordered room service. OK, Pam and Rita will laugh. Tacos really are different when made in Mexico/South America. they were in corn tortilla's like we use but it was meat rolled up in the tortilla and then possibly fat fried. Ladies correct me if I'm wrong I'm just guessing here. However there were none of the cheese, lettuce and tomato's that we are all used to. So the room service we ordered was an appetiser platter of tacos, empanadas, and some miniature tostada's some with beans and some with guacamole. My Spanish was beginning to get a work out. We went to bed early after placing a call to Jorge (our interpreter and liaison between the lawyer, the foster family and us) to confirm meeting our daughter at 0900 the next morning.

Guatemala

So we are back from Guatemala. We got to have Alaina for the whole weekend about 58ish hours. She is so beautiful. There is so much to tell and so many pictures to post. I'll get at them next week. Right now my mind is full and I'm exhausted.

His Banner Over Me Is Love

I woke up this morning singing this old song. As I became more awake I remembered the verse that says: "There's one way to peace through the power of the Cross His banner over me is love. There's one way to peace through the power of the Cross His banner over me is love. There's one way to peace through the power of the Cross His banner over me is love. His banner over me is love." I have not even thought of that song in who knows how many years. This morning the truth of those words struck me. I never understood them as a child. I always thought the word peace was piece and therefore it made no sense. In the light of today's world I wish I could sing it out for all to hear. There is only one way to peace. But it's an eternal peace that is being sung of not an earthly one unless you count the peace in your heart. There will be no peace on this earth until the Lord returns. But when He does...

Alaina Update And Other News

We have found out more about our new bundle of Joy! She weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces at birth and was 19 inches long. We can't wait to go see her!
In other news, there is none. There is nothing going on here. We are boring people. My plans for the day include a small amount of shopping at the PX, emptying the dishwasher, making the bed, setting up the coffee pot for tomorrow, fixing a supper of left overs and little else. Never fear, I'll find something to do with myself. Well, there is some ironing i should do and there is a package I need to take to the post office. Oh yeah I bought a bunch of cards I need to send (if I can find them). Things have been disappearing around here. Neither one of us can find stuff and our house is pretty clean. Hmmmmm

To Stock Pile Or Not To Stock Pile

Carrie J. posted an interesting piece about the amount of things we accumulate in our homes and in our lives. Read it here. I had read her post from last Friday about not stockpiling. I had been thinking about this "more more" mentality over the weekend and these are my thoughts.

I remember back to when I was a child. I didn't have as many clothes as I do now. My mother tells me that when she was a child growing up in the 30's and 40's she had like 2-3 dresses (girls didn't wear pants in those days) to wear to school. She might have a "best dress" to wear to church and she might have had a "slop dress" to wear for play or messy chores I don't know. I assume she had the requisite underwear to go with these dresses but I doubt she had as many as I do. I also know she had at least one pair of shoes and probably two. Go back another generation from that and they had about the same I'd say. Then I thought about my grandma Eva Fae. Grandma still has her old washer (and it still works) where you add the water with a hose and agitate the clothes by hand and then run them through the wringer to the rinse water and then back through the wringer and then put them on the line to dry. Now I said all that to say this: I think we have more clothes and we have more stuff because we have better technology. I mean before that washer of grandma's one would use a scrub board, wring by hand and hang on the line, and everything would have to be ironed using sad irons. A sad iron was heated by placing it on the stove for those of you who don't know. It took a lot of time and work to wash all the clothes for your family. Now they didn't wash each item every time it was used. It only got washed if it needed it. I assume they washed their underwear more frequently, but I might be wrong. Still, to wash each family members underwear and even one main article of clothing, not to mention the occasional towels, sheets and let's don't forget the baby clothes and diapers. What a mountain of work. One might wish for more clothes to be stylish but I imagine the thought of having to take care of them would stop you. That goes for all the fancy dishes we have. Water had to be toted, heated and soap grated up. No dishwasher's in those days. This is why my grandma can make hot cocoa using one pot and one spoon only. She can do other stuff that way as well. The houses were smaller because you had to build them yourself. Think back to Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. Pa Ingalls built their houses. Most people were doing the same. I've been to Desmet, South Dakota where their home was. There they have recreated the house on the claim according to Pa's measurements that he recorded when he "proved up" and the land was finally his. It's smaller than the 2 bedroom apartment I live in now. There were 6 of them. I mean he could have built on and added more and more rooms I suppose but it cost money to do, and then too cleaning all that much more house would be difficult. You had to heat the water and add soap to clean the floors. This was hands and knees scrubbing with a brush. Not my Swiffer Wet Jet. The more stuff you had the more you had to dust (the very reason I don't buy knick knacks) Basically doing everything back then was a lot harder. You had to walk a mile or more to the store. You could only bring back what you could carry unless your husband hitched up the horses and wagon (if you had them) and went. Supplies for the stores had to be brought in on the train which only ran once a week. Today Walmart Super Center has deliveries every day by truck. Anyway, you all get the point. We didn't have things back then because it wasn't really feasible to have them. I suspect we have them now because it's easier and because we are trying to "keep up with the Joneses." lol My sister-in-law Judy is the queen of decluttering. She always has had a nice place for them to live, but you'll never find any clutter there. She loves to throw things out. Kind of like the anti-pack rat. I on the other hand tend to hang on to things because "we might need it some day and I don't want to have to buy a new one." Being the globe trotting army wife that I am I've learned to get rid of a lot of things. On our 3 year anniversary we were packing for our fourth move. I don't stockpile anything liquid or perishable beyond what I can use in a year. It can't be moved by movers so it would end up donated or thrown out. A waste of money. Carrie J has a good point. Simple is better and to stockpile for the sake of stockpiling is silly especially if it is cluttering up your home. The money could be put to a better use. I do stockpile non liquid things that I can get for free or for pennies. I do however wait for the deeply discounted sales. I laugh when I see TP on "sale" for like 25 cents less than it usually is. Big fat hairy deal! Now if we were out I might buy one pack of it and use a coupon but I would not stockpile it. Today, for instance, I am going by the commissary because I just received some new coupons that will expire soon and TP is marked down so that with the coupons I can get a 4 pack double rolls for $1. I'll get as many as I have coupons for and if that cereal sale is still going on I'll get about 8 boxes of cereal for 50 cents each. Those things don't perish, I have a storage room to put them in, and we will definitely use it before we move. I would be interested in hearing other's thoughts about this subject.

Monday

Have you ever had a day so busy (and enjoyed it) that at the end of the day even though you are tired, you want to stay up and keep doing stuff? This is a first for me. At least since childhood. In fact, I was thinking that about 2 hours ago when hubby went off to bed. I thought that this must be how children feel when they fight going to sleep. Bizarre isn't it? I mean it's not like I got married today or got the baby today or started college or something. I got up, took a shower, got dressed, and in the course of the day cleaned the kitchen, unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded the dishwasher, took the recycles out, set up the coffee maker for tomorrow, made dinner, cleaned up dinner, ran dishwasher again, did 4 loads of laundry completely (I'll get at the ironing tomorrow) stripped and remade the bed with fresh linens, swiffered the whole apt., dusted the whole place,(apparently knocking some pictures crooked which was the first thing hubby noticed when he came in the door from work. "was there a loud bang or something? the pictures are all crooked.") sorted all the coupons I recieved from Crystal and Jenna (thank you) into 3 piles from which further sorting will happen, and brought in all the (non-perishable) groceries that have been sitting in my trunk for the weekend and put them away. Of course I also read and answered email and did some computer stuff. I was sitting in such a wierd position doing the coupons that when I stood up I discovered that my legs from knee to hip had fallen asleep. That has never happened to me before. Usually it's the feet or lower legs that fall asleep not the thighs. It wasn't a good thing either because my knees were asleep and not in the mood to support me. No, I didn't fall, but it was really an odd sensation. So, I said all that to say this. I find it odd that I want to stay up and do stuff. The only other time I've felt this way was for about an hour after the narcotic pain killer kicked in when I had a root canal. So wierd.
Pam you've been on my mind all day. I'm saying a prayer for you. I hope everything is alright.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh wait. I had a Dr. Pepper today. Maybe this is a caffiene buzz. I've never had one before. It's kind of cool. (I have an arrythmia so I try to stay away from caffiene.) I only drank the Dr. Pepper to get rid of it. I had gotten it free and DH doesn't like it. HMMMM well, if that's the case, I should be crashing soon.
Hasta la vista baby!

Grammer Anyone?

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

I thought this was interesting particularly because I do, on occasion make grammatical errors. Hmmmmm.

Baby Things

I'm sorry that it's been so long. We've been busy catching up and getting ready to go see our daughter. I've been in bed most of the day as my back is very painful today. My friend Amy should be back from the States soon. She has been there the past month after picking up the children they adopted from Ethiopia. Yes, that's right, I said children. 5 in all. They are all siblings and Amy and her husband wouldn't break them up. Isn't that wonderful? Anyway, I'm excited to see them. We pray for them often especially as she is a single parent for the time being. I got all of the clothes and things we have collected for Alaina and washed them in Dreft. lol anyone ever heard of celebrating the laundry? You should have seen the two of us, "Oh look. It's our first box of baby soap. Oh our first pack of diapers" Yes, I realize that the thrill of soap and diapers will likely not last, however we are enjoying what we can for now. Have a good weekend.

What Color Are You?

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Jeffs Found Guilty!

The Polygamist leader of the Fundamental Latter Day Saints is going to prison folks. IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME!!!! I have been disgusted for years by his assertion that polygamy is God's way and his terrorizing of little girls who are forced to marry old men. I pray the Lord reach out to those people deceived by this cult. I pray the Lord will put real Christians in their path. People with hearts like Jungle Mom and so many others who will love them and not judge, but bring the truth of the Word of God to them. I praise the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come that this antichrist has been taken out of the world and placed in prison where he belongs. I pray the truth of the Lord reach him there as well. He needs Jesus too. It's humbling, but beautiful to know that Jesus loves him too. Humbling because I am no better than Jeffs. Sure, I have not done what he has done but I too am a sinner, and humbling because if Jeffs were to come to Him, He would say to the Father, him too Father. I died for him too.

Meals And Deals

We go soon is all I can say. In the mean time we are getting ready. Apparently we'll get to have her for most of the time we'll be there, so we are excited about that. Other than that, I subbed again today. I praise the Lord for all these opportunities as it helps to be able to bring a little money in when so much is going out, besides, once the baby is here I don't plan to leave her in day care to work. Tonight I'm going to make penne pasta with a meat sauce and some garlic bread. I got some special gourmet spice and I'm going to add some and see how it turns out. We don't eat much pasta so we'll see how hubby likes it. I got the best deal at the commissary the other day. I noticed that Yogurt Burst Cheerios were on sale for $1.00/box. Now that is quite a sale! It's normally about $3.50/box. Plus, I had coupons for $1 off of 2 boxes. So I got 10 boxes of that cereal for 50 cents each! I know that's a lot of cereal but it will last and I like cereal. Woo Hoo!

Alaina Update

I've changed the title Adoption Update to Alaina Update. Since now we know who she is. Well, things are moving right along. We got the "go ahead" last night to go and visit her. So DH made airline arrangements and we will be going soon. They said I can take presents, but it wouldn't be a good idea to give much because I won't get it back when we pick her up. Apparently the foster mother will just keep the stuff and put it on other foster children. So, I'll just bring her a thing or 2. If it's her size she should at least get to wear it. lol You should have seen Alan dancing around the apartment last night. So excited! He is going to have a hard time leaving her there at the end of the visit. I don't know how I'm going to be. I wish I could just move down there for a while and then I could be her mom until we can officially take her away. Wouldn't that be nice? I don't know if I'll be OK with leaving her because I know I'll be back soon to get her or if I'll not be so OK with it. We'll just have to see. Anyway, our current prayer is to find favor with all the government officials so our paperwork will speed through as fast as possible. Oh Lord, please help us!

HE HAS DONE GREAT THINGS!

Bless the Lord, Oh my Soul, and all that is within me bless His Holy Name! Pam is going to be ok! I just saw her blog and the biopsy results are NEGATIVE! WHOO HOOO!

A Biblical Home

Does anyone know what happened to Elizabeth's blog at A Biblical Home? Click on the link on my blog to see what I mean.

Saturday In The Park

Do you guys remember that song? I'm dating myself here but I think it's from the '70's, When I opened my blog today I thought, "What to write about? Oh hey it's Saturday" and then started singing the song. Saturday in the park, I think it was the fourth of July....If I knew how to put any music on my blog I would. Perhaps I'll run over to Carrie J's blog and see how she does it. Anyway, today I enjoy Saturday for all the reasons I used to enjoy it. It's a bright sunny day outside! I worked all week and this is the first day I'm not expected to be somewhere, I don't have to deal with a bunch of kids that don't want to be in school, etc. DH worked all night so He'll be sleeping most of the day. I plan to do some shopping at the PX. I don't go to the PX often, I just wait until I have nearly run out of things and then I go. If I didn't have so many things to get I'd walk. This is one of those days where you're just excited to be alive! Enjoy your weekend everybody!

Thank God It's Friday

I haven't have a true TGIF in a long long time. Today how ever I am truly thankful that today is Friday. Yes Pam, this week has been tiring. These kids haven't been as bad as some I've had. Only had to send one kid to the principles' office so far. Today right after school is out we have to get the last of our paperwork notarized and sent off. Then it's only a matter of waiting. We've already been in contact with our attorney in Guatemala. I imagine within the next few weeks we'll be going to meet her for the very first time. I dream about her at night now. I just can't wait for her to get here. lol and I think I'm tired now! Oh my. You ladies who have been there will be in for a lot of good chuckles I'm sure as the "Rebecca takes on motherhood" chapters come out. I haven't even made any goofs yet and I'm already laughing at myself. It's so annoying. These adoption people keep asking questions on the forms like how we are going to parent the child and how we are going to discipline the child etc. We can only answer what we think are good ideas right now. I have lots of ideas about parenting, but I'm smart enough to know that they may go right out the window once we actually get the baby! Not every child is the same and not every discipline idea is going to work for every child. She is only an infant and we don't know her yet. We have no idea what will work for her. Oh well. At least they can't hold us to our pre-parent ideas. lol It'll be a roller coaster. I hope you'll hang on for the ride with me.

Work Day/Wash Day

So, all this week I'm subbing for the Chemistry/Physics teacher. Don't worry. This is actually a subject I know something about. Yesterday went fine. Today I sent two students to the principle. One of them wasn't even my student. He just kept coming into the class and disturbing the students. What is up with these kids! Anyway, now I'm home and I have 4 loads of laundry in the wash, I need to put fresh linen on the bed since I was too tired to do it yesterday and I have to find something to fix for supper. I don't know how women who work full time and are married/have families do it. I mean it's not so hard for one week, but to continue with that week after week coming home from work and then starting the day's chores? Toooooo much. Not for me. I'd turn into Mrs. Cranky Face. My hat however is off to those of you who do and especially to those who do because they have no choice.

We're Back!

We just got back from a wonderful weekend spent in Kaiserslautern. As it turned out, Ramstein AFB had their annual bazaar this weekend. Two airplane hangers and a HUGE tent that housed vendors from all over Europe trying to sell us their wares. I did get several birthday and Christmas presents from them and our boy Smokey got a new playhouse. We looked at the exchange furniture store for baby furniture. It all has to be white, so that cut down the selection quite a bit. I did find one white chest of drawers that I could buy a changer top for and use as a chest and a changing table. It's just the right height (I'm quite tall) and changing tables that were not built for short people are hard to come by. We didn't buy it yet. I'm going to check out another thing or two first and then we'll get it next time we go. Nothing much going on here right now. Smokey was glad to see us though he did have fun at our friend's house. And Pam, to answer your comment I've got all kinds of crazy thoughts running through my head right now. All the things we need for the baby and then questions about things I've never really thought about before like can you mix fluoridated water with baby formula? (my sister says you can) At what age do you stop burping the baby? (as a nurse you'd think I'd know however, I don't) Can you use the car seats that double as carriers for more than the first few months? When do you start oral hygiene? And more along those lines. I am researching those questions and more. Mainly they are just things I've never really had to think about before.

Happenings

Marge is doing alright. The doctor doesn't know why she was having problems but it seems to have stopped. She is going to be on bed rest the rest of this week and then we'll see how it goes.

If all goes well for us, we will be getting our baby in December or January. DH and I are going shopping for baby furniture this weekend. We have been looking at all that is available and now we are prepared to buy. I am planning to do her room in Hello Kitty. I just love frilly things, and of course pink is my favorite color. There is a sale at the PX on some basic baby things, so I'm going to get some. It's just onesies and sleepers but it's a good price and something we no doubt will use. I'll just get them in 6-9 month size. They may be too big at first but she'll grow into them.

I just heard on the news that Vladimir Putin has dissolved the government in Russia. Hmmmmm.

Babies and Computers

So, yesterday we got pictures of a little girl who was just born in Guatemala. We also got a picture of her birth mother. Both of them are just beautiful. I'm not willing to look at them much as I'm not prepared to give my heart away to her just yet. I'm the kind of person that once I've given my heart away, I can't get it back. So, I guess I'm protecting my heart until I know that we are going to get her. It's kind of weird because I can feel myself holding back. We spoke briefly to our case worker and she believes that if nothing out of our control goes wrong, we should be able to get her in 3-4 months. DH is very stressed right now. We aren't going to post pictures of her until we bring her home, for safety reasons.

On another note, my sister has called and my nephew is taking his wife to the hospital. She is 24 weeks pregnant and is having problems so please pray for her. They have already lost one baby.

Other than that, we got a new computer last week and DH put it all together and we installed all the software yesterday. It's really fast and has a TON of memory so we're excited about that.

Friday

It's nearly midnight and my cat is standing by the door meowing. He wants to go outside. The problem with cats is that you cannot explain to them WHY they can't go out when they want to. You see we live in an apartment building so I go out with him. (one never knows what someone else might do to my precious boy) Anyway, a cloudy day here. It sounds like we are close to identifying a baby. I'll let you all know when we do. Have a good weekend.

Autumn Is Here!

Autumn has really come here in Germany. The leaves are falling from the trees and we are lucky to even see 70 degrees Fahrenheit in a day. This morning was the Fall kick-off for PWOC. They had a bridal theme - we are the bride of Christ, and it was decorated as if for a wedding complete with a real wedding cake! It was so pretty! They are offering some good Bible studies this semester and I'm trying to decide. I had in mind to do one of them for some time, but now and for the last week or so I've really been feeling pulled another direction. One of the studies is about the effectiveness of a praying wife. I really feel pulled toward that one. I want to be a praying wife. Oh I pray for my husband, but I feel it could be so much more than it is!

In other news, we are looking at 6-7 months to get our daughter. I pray for her daily that the Lord would watch over her and protect her and her family. She hasn't even been born yet. I've never seen her face and yet I love her so much already! I can't wait to fix up the nursery and get everything ready!

So enjoy the rest of summer you folks back in the States!

Felix

My request today is that you pray for those in Central America. Specifically Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. Hurricane Felix is a category 5 storm heading that way. These are third world countries that don't have the kind of resources or structure that we in the USA have and look what happened here. (Katrina and Rita) I realize that my heart is especially touched by this as our daughter Alaina is down there. Please pray for her and for her family. We already love her so much.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation - Part 5

So Saturday was our first full day in New York. We stayed at the Pan American Hotel in Queens. It's not as glitzy as the web site makes it look. We rented a car and drove around some sight seeing. We went and looked at Fort Hamilton which is right under the Verrazano Narrows bridge in Brooklyn. That post is just about as small as ours. lol It's nice to know we're not the only ones. Other than that we just relaxed. We did, however, eat at the Georgia Peach Diner. It's one of our favorites and we really miss the New York Metro diners. Sunday we went to Praise Assembly of God in Garfield, NJ. Praise is the church I attended my last 2 years or so while I was out there in nursing school. John and Becky Czubkowski (the pastor and his wife) just took me in as one of their own. I was invited to Thanksgiving and Christmas etc. just like one of the family. I must also mention my good friend Tammy (the children's and youth pastor) who is truly a kindred soul. If you are looking for a good church where the Word of God is spoken fearlessly and people are real, look here. It was so good to see everyone again. So, after church we went to lunch with Tammy and some new friends at a diner in Saddle Brook, and then we went down to Bloomfield and went to an early supper with my friend Crystal. After that we went back to New York and spent some time with Alan's family. Monday, Alan did some laundry at a nearby Laundromat and we spent some time just relaxing. Tuesday we went to a Mets game and they won!! Wednesday afternoon we had our last hurrah at a NYC diner and then went to the airport to come back to Germany. So, we had a good time all in all and I sure do miss America. Still though, it's always good to come back to your own place.