Sarah Palin

I love the fact that she has been selected to run for vice president. I love the fact that she is a woman, wife and mother of 5. I love that she is the mother of a soldier, a special needs baby that she is still nursing (although with campaigning that may not last long I don't know) and though I hate the circumstances, I love that she can set the example for the nation in her response to her teen in trouble. To those who say she can't parent 5 children while being VP I say nonsense! She will only be parenting 3 children as her son is now in Iraq and her daughter will soon be married. Now that's not to say that once your children are out of your home you no longer interact with them, but it is to say that only 3 will be under her roof. Her husband will be there to parent them also and there is no indication that he is incapable of this. To those who are saying that it is unBiblical for her to be vice president I refer you to the Bible itself. Romans 13:1&2 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling aginst what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." NIV

I submit then that God set her in her postiton of authority as the governor of Alaska and I believe that if elected it will be by God's ordination. I personally believe that God has put her in this postion at this critical time in our country. My prayer is may God bless Sarah Palin. May God put His angels around her to protect her and her family and may God give her wisdom and the words to say when the tough questions come that His name will not be maligned.

Wifezilla

Alaina, Alan and I all have colds. How fun is that? Alaina is whiney and snotty and not old enough to blow her nose so if I don't catch it in time she wipes it with her hand and then wipes her hand on whatever happens to take her fancy. How fun is that I ask you? I'm hoping Connie from Texas is alright as her home apparently was in Ike's way. How rude of Ike. I was doing laundry earlier (still am) and cleaning bathrooms and decided that there is nothing sexy about cleaning toilets. Not that this is a revelation to many of you however I felt it needed to be said. I mention this because the first week or two after Alaina came home was exhausting. One day I looked in the mirror and realized that my husband had just come home from a long day at work and here I was with my hair a mess, no make-up, no shower and in ratty (but comfortable) clothes. I saw myself as I prayed he didn't but feared he did. At that point I decided that I needed to take/make the time to keep after my appearance. Not so much for vanity's sake as for Alan's sake. How awful to come home from a long day at work to a screaming baby, and your wife looking like godzilla. Well, thankfully the baby no longer spends much time screaming. She is much more interested in playing with her toys or getting into things she ought not to. I have done a pretty good job I think of keeping myself up so I always look presentable. It was just today as I was swishing the toilets that I decided there was just no way to look good doing that and if my husband were to see me doing it the last thing he would be thinking is boy is she hot! lol oh well. I'm sure he appreciates it getting done as much as he appreciates not having to see it.

September 11th - Where Were You?

Again we sadly observe the 7th anniversary of the terrorism of September 11th. I am sad today not only because of what happened then but because we as a nation have forgotten the terror of that day. We are busy screaming no racial profiling! Today I'd like us to remember where we were on that day. I was in bed in my apartment in Springfield, MO. I worked the evening shift in the burn unit of a hospital. My phone rang and it was my friend Carrie. She said someone flew a plane into one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. I thought, "who could be so stupid as to not see that building and fly right into it?" Carrie said she thought I might want to see what was on tv. I was going to go back to sleep but something told me get up and see this. I turned on the TV and a few minutes later saw the second plane crash in. At that moment I realized and thought, "Oh my God! We are under attack!" At work later that day I was there when we recieved a call asking us how many survivors we could take. We didn't end up taking any. Our chief of trauma who is with FEMA and was called to work the site said they thought there would be more survivors than there were. I remember the shock and the pain and the pride I had in the men who foiled the plane headed for the White House. They gave their lives for their country. They are true heros.

My husband's story is quite different. We had not met yet. He was in officer candidate school in Georgia. His group was out in the field on a training mission. They had been given a senario they were supposed to do. They were accustomed to surprises being thrown it as part of the training. Someone came out to the field and told them about the attacks. He said that if any of them had family in New York or Washington DC they were to try and contact their family to see if they were ok. He had brought a phone. My husband was from New York but he was unable to reach his mother. The training group thought this was a training surprise and were talking among themselves about what they might do. It wasn't until they were taken to the main gate (which was an open gate that anyone could come in and out of) and given M-16 with live ammunition. They were told what to do and that if anyone did not follow their orders they were to shoot to kill. You see they don't give you live ammunition in training senarios. That is when they knew it was real. Most of them had never seen combat before (many of them were prior enlisted) and had never been in a situation like it. Military life changed that day. Now we get searched etc. when going on post. No more open gate. No more easy military life. Now it's frequent deployments and everyone has seen combat.

So share with us. What were you doing and how were you feeling 7 years ago today?

Coupons

I have had some questions about how I do my coupons and how with the coming of Alaina I have time for it etc. So I decided that I would do a post about it.

I use a baseball card organizer. You get 9 coupon slots per page and the pages are a lot sturdier than photo album pages are. I keep my coupon center at my desk which is in the living room and where I spend a great deal of time. I have a small basket on my desk. As coupons pages come in they go in a stack to be cut out. Loose coupons go in the basket. When I am on the computer doing things it often takes time to download or upload or for a page to change or whatever. I use that time to cut out the coupons and put them in the basket. Then as I have time and as I'm waiting for things to upload, download etc. I grab a handful of coupons and sort them. I have my baseball card organizer divided and tabbed acording to the isles in the commissary I visit most often. That way as I am shopping I have it open to the section that corresponds to the isle I'm on. Even if I visit another store and it isn't set up the same way I know where things are in my commissary so it's easy to find the coupon I want. So, as I sort the coupons, I sort them according to the isle the item is in. I only do a handful or so at a time. Once they are sorted I put the isle one stuff in the isle one section etc. I also have each section divided but not tabbed into smaller sections. For instance in isle 4 they have nutritional supplements like slimfast and ensure, dental stuff, feminine hygiene products, all the baby stuff, medications, haircare, and body care like bar soap, body wash, lotions and face care products. So, in my organizer in section 4 the first page is nutritional supplement coupons, the next is dental products, then haircare coupons etc. each section has as many pages as is necessary. I make it easier on myself by putting all my coupons for the same product in the same slot. As in all my coupons for Cascade dishwasher detergent go in the same slot even if it's $1 off 2 or 25 cents off one or liquid vs powder vs packs etc. One thing that cuts down on having expired coupons in my book is that if the coupon is going to expire this month and it's something I need it goes in the stack of things I must get this trip. Otherwise it doesn't go in unless it's an exceptional coupon.

The benefit for me in doing things this way is that when I am in the store, and I see something on sale that I want, I already have a decent idea of what coupons I have so I can just turn to the page corresponding with the isle I'm in and see if there is a coupon and then pull out the one that gets me the best savings. As I pull them out to get one I weed out the expired coupons. ( I always wear something with pockets to the store. One pocket is for coupons to be used and one is for coupons to be tossed.)

I share my many coupons in several ways. One is that coupons for things I don't use I pull out and put on the shelf there with the product. For instance I don't use Tide but lots of people do. So I put all the tide coupons right there where others can be blessed by them. I don't do this with every coupon but I do it with ones for products I don't use and with coupons that are due to expire. Another way I share my coupons is that I bring my book to the support group I help to facilitate and PWOC. The ladies can see quickly what they want or don't want. The baby item coupons are always a hit. I also sometimes offer one to someone in the store who is stressing over the price of an item. I might offer it to them or I might just put it on the shelf by the product where she can see it.

As If!

I was watching some of the commentary today about Gov. Palin's speech last night. Obviously, as a rule, the Dems were dishing her and the GOP was praising her. The one thing I laughed at was (and I do forget who they are) the people watching for the Hollywood stars. They were laughing and making fun of the fact that there were few stars there and the ones that were there were B-list stars and below. Aside from laugher, my reaction was SO WHAT! Hollywood is not known for being overloaded with great thinkers! I would actually consider it a good thing that there were few of them there. I get a big kick out of the Democrats parading around their high school drop out Hollywood supporters as if they know anything more than the average American and we should all follow them. I really think the Democrats are scared out of their wits (both of them) about Gov. Palin. If they weren't they wouldn't be making such a fuss.

Punish?

Senator Obama says that if one of his daughters came home pregnant he wouldn't "punish" her with the baby. I'm intrigued. He proposes that the baby be punished for his daughter's mistake. He would rather put his daughter through a dangerous proceedure and kill her baby than have his daughter go through an unwanted pregnancy. Whatever happened to teaching your children personal responsibility? What ever happened to people facing the natural consequences of their actions? That is what Gov. Palin has done. Her daughter is taking responsibility for her mistake. She has chosen to marry the father of her child and raise her child with him. Sen. Obama deems that punishment, and he seems to be implying that Gov. Palin has pronounced this punishment on her daughter. Nonsense! No one can force anyone else to do something they don't want to do. Aside from that, have we all forgotten about adoption? Why couldn't any young woman in this position choose to give her child life and let some loving couple who wants a child adopt? What is wrong with him?

First Birthday!

Sunday was Alaina's first birthday. I can't believe it has already been a year since this wonderful child came into our lives. At her party there was a lady with a newborn. Looking at this baby I could hardly believe Alain was that small the first time I saw her. Sigh. I love her so. Here are some pics from the party. She is walking quite a bit now and soon will give up the crawling I'm sure. We have introduced the cup to her and she is getting the idea, so the bottle will likely be gone in a few months. Sigh. She is growing up so quickly.

Equal Rights For Women?

I have had several things on my mind for blogging lately. The first is equal rights for women. Now, I'm not a feminist although I do believe in equal pay for equal work done. I also believe in voting rights for women and that women can and should hold public office. What I take issue with is this equal rights agenda that the feminists are putting out there. Last week I was watching the Mike & Juliette show. They had a segment on about "manamony". Manamony is alimony for men. It's when the wife was making a lot more than the husband or even he is staying home and she is working. In the case of divorce she has to pay him a monthly amount of money instead of him paying her. They had several people on to talk about it and the thing that astounded me is that the women complained about having to pay! I have never heard of a woman complaining that she got alimony. One wife who had been married 10 years to her husband prior to divorce said she thought he had married her for her money and he shouldn't get it. She made millions per year. I don't hear women complaining about other women who marry men for their money. And in the past century they have been getting alimony. Now obviously I am not referring to everyone. I was really annoyed. They want equal rights. They want to wear pants and have the same jobs and get all of the benefits of being equal without any of the sacrifices. True equality would mean all women registering for the draft. It would mean women forced into combat. It would mean women paying alimony if the situation is appropriate. You wanted equal rights baby and now you can't handle the responsibility that comes along with that. Personally, I do not want equal rights. I'm too old I think, but I do not want my daughter to have to register for the draft or be forced into combat. These women want to have their cake and eat it too. Nonsense!

Preparations

Alaina's first birthday is on Sunday. This week has been full of preparations. Packages have been coming in from family in the States. Extra house cleaning. We had purposed to just have a few close friends over as she isn't really old enough to get the idea of her birthday and all. Well, it has all gotten blown way out of proportion. People ask us normal questions like when is her birthday. Then they ask the normal question of are you going to do a party or anything. I answer yes we are just going to have a few people and before I get the whole thing out they state that they are coming. I don't feel that I can say well we just wanted to keep it small etc. and so I'm looking at this as a wonderful opportunity to show hospitality. So now I've got like 50 people coming on Sunday from 2-5. I have managed to let people know that its not going to be a regular party with games and all. Just some food and a cake. Now I just need to get more food and more cake. Perhaps I'll bake some cakes instead of buying. I had ordered her a princess cake from the cake people on post. I ordered half a sheet cake. It's golden cake so I could bake a chocolate one and then there should be enough. And I already have cake mix and frosting in the house so it wont cost any exta. Otherwise I'm having my 7 quart crock pot full of lil smokies (beef) in barbque sauce, a veggie tray, a fruit tray, 2 varieties of chips with zaziki for dip, Corn chips with that dip you make with Velveeta and Rotel tomatoes, coke, coke zero, tea, water and juice boxes for the kids. I thought the juice boxes would be a lot easier and less mess so though it may not be as frugal as possible it works for me. If anyone has any more suggestions please let me know. I'm now worried that there wont be enough. I just wanted the day to be special for my little girl. Tomorrow we go to have professional pictures taken. Some of her for her first birthday and some family photos. So, today I need to get our outfits chosen and ironed and all ready to go.

The picture above is of Alaina after opening her first birthday present from Tia Fran. (My sister)

So many have come in and there will be more at the party so we decided she needed to start opening one a day or she would be crazy and not having fun. She loves her new toy as you can see from the big smile on her face.

The Pictures Below

I see now that I neglected to describe the pics below. Alaina had gotten into the baking cabinet. This didn't bother me as she often does and likes to play with some of the things. There isn't anything in there that will hurt her. What I didn't count on was that the jar of red colored sugar sprinkles had been previously opened. She finally figured out how to open it and then proceeded to dump in on the floor. At that point it was her goal to get as much of it as possible into her mouth. So I snapped a few pictures before I cleaned her and it up.

What Is Your Personality Type?

You Are An ISTP

The Mechanic You are calm and collected, even in the most difficult of situations. A person of action and self-direction, you love being independent. You seem impulsive, surprising, and unpredictable to outsiders. You are good at understanding how all things work, except for people. In love, you tend to be very easy going and flexible. The only thing you can't stand for is someone trying to change you or your life. At work, you can stay completely calm under pressure. You handle stress well. You would make an excellent pilot, forensic pathologist, or athlete. How you see yourself: Logical, flexible, and unconventional When other people don't get you, they see you as: Indecisive, flippant, and disrespectful

What's" Your Personality Type?

The problem with this one is that I don't think I handle stress well and I don't think I'm calm and collected all the time.

Guess Who's Walking!

Alaina that's who! She took her first steps on Sunday. 3 of them to Momma.

Settling Down In Our New Home

We arrived home to Germany on Thursday evening July 31st. Alaina's 11 month birthday. The next day was a matter of unpacking our suitcases and putting things away and continuing the process of unpacking the house. Saturday we decided to take Alaina out to the PX in Graf. to get the things she needed that we could not have gotten ahead of time. We also went to the commissary as no grocery shopping had been done since June. Alaina did exceptionally well in both stores. We got enough baby food and diapers to last a while. We bought her a high chair with a tray as I have decided that is better that the kind that pulls up to the table where she can grab everything and throw it. We also had already discovered the need for a diaper pail with a lid. Those of you with children will understand and are probably nodding and smirking right now. It was a long day so we topped it off after we got everything we bought into the car by going to the food court and enjoying some good Taco Bell! We ran into some good friends there who had also adopted from Guatemala. It was really good to see them and talk with them. Alaina chose this time to pee through her outfit so I was thankful I had brought along an extra outfit in the diaper bag. It was while we were eating that we discovered she likes diced tomatoes. She in fact prefers them to Cheerios.Anyway, we have settled into a good routine. Alaina is generally a very happy baby and life is good. We thank God for bringing her into our lives. She is so precious.

Today

Yesterday was so relaxing. Church was really good and we all just took it easy. Today however is a different story. I woke up just before 7am. I would really liked to have gone right back to sleep, however I have discovered that if my day is to be successful at all, I must get up an hour before she does. This gives me time to shower and dress and do my hair and makeup. I also can usually get the bed made, my Bible read, and possibly fold whatever was in the drier overnight. Since I don't move too fast in the morning, all of this may take me longer than it does you. So, this morning, I got up at 7. Alaina generally gets up anywhere between 0730 and 0830. If she isn't up by 0830 I get her up or it will throw our whole day off, but I digress. OK, so, I got up at 0700. Showered, washed and conditioned my hair. (when you have long, coarse, dry hair like mine you only wash once or twice a week. If I wash more I end up looking like foo foo the clown) I even managed to shave my legs! Woo Hoo! Got it all done. Hair, make-up, Listerine, clothes. I put a load of whites in the washer, and stripped the bed. I then realized that I could not make up the bed because the other set of sheets is in a closet in Alaina's room. (Note to self: pull out sheets on Sunday night before she goes to bed) Then I changed the towels in the bathrooms and gathered anything that needed to go downstairs. 0830 Alaina is still asleep so I go in and wake her up. I wonder if she's thinking that she's landed in some sort of crazy people family where they try so hard to get you to sleep and then go and wake you up from it. lol I figure she can make it up at nap time. So Alaina up and changed and dressed. Hair done. We gather up our things for downstairs and head down. Breakfast for both of us. Clean up from that and unload, reload and run dishwasher while baby works on puffs in high chair. 0900 bottle time. 0915 She's had enough and is ready to greet the day, play with toys and pull things off shelves. 0915 - 1330 I read and answer emails and get things ready for lunch for her. We watch some olympics as the View was discussing vaginal rejuvination. I'd just die if those ended up being among her first words. lol I find myself absolutely amazed by the things people will discuss on these talk shows. So we watched the olympics as we went through our morning. Mommy washed bottles and got some set up for her etc. 1330 Lunch time. Introduced cottage cheese to her. She wasn't impressed. Sweet potatoes were much more palatable. 1400 bottle time. Baby doesn't want to sleep. It takes a good half hour or more to get her down. 1430 - 1630 Put clothes from washer into dryer and start load of towels. Clean up from lunch. Set up for supper. Make all preparations that I can ahead of time. Set table. Make brownies. I have been craving them lately. I believe this is a sign of PMS and every woman knows that it is an absolute sin to ignore the God given chocolate cravings of PMS. Therefore, the brownies. While they are baking I check email, update my to do list, check the blogs I read and blog myself. I also work on invitations for Alaina's birthday party. I watch olympic rowing of some sort while I do this. Germany is doing well in this one. The housemeister did not come as promised today. The puddle on my bathroom floor leaking from the toilet tank is growing better. They wonder if they can come Wednesday from 2-4. No they can't. They will need to find a better time but find one before the floor collapses beneath the toilet. My neighbor is having the same problem. Hmmmmm. My plans for the rest of the day in no particular order are to actually make supper. Clean up from it. Set up for breakfast, get Alaina up from nap, change at least 2 more diapers, set up for her bath and give it unless hubby gets home in time to give it. Feed her supper. Bottle and bed time for her. Book reading for her. Proverbs 18 for all of us. Fold clothes that are in dryer, put towels in dryer, fold those, set up iron and ironing board for tomorrow, get consignment store items ready to go for tomorrow, get Alaina's outfit ready for tomorrow and pack up diaper bag.

You wouldn't think one little baby could add so much work. I'm mystified.

Travel Day

We got up at 0330 Wednesday morning at the hotel in Guatemala City. Took our showers and got ready to go. Got Alaina up, changed and dressed and saw that everything was packed. We checked out of the hotel and took the shuttle to the airport. We waited in line for over an hour to check our bags in. Then we were told that the flight would be two hours late because they got in late the night before. I assume that has to do with the number of hours a flight crew is required to rest between flights or something. Eventually we got on the plane. It was not crowded so we were able to move over to a row of 3 seats and Alaina could move around some. We fed her on the plane and she did well. Then we touched down in Miami. Alaina was officially a citizen!!! We celebrated with her, but hurried to get off the plane and through imigration and customs etc. so we wouldn't miss our connecting flight to Frankfurt. Well we were delayed at immigaration. They were not as pleasant as they might have been. By the time we got to the counter to get our boarding passes we could have made the flight but they wouldn't escort us through the lines to get there on time and then of course Luftansa was also on strike so they were short handed. So, then we had to wait and try to get another flight. It was a mess, but we finally got on a flight to Dusseldorf. We only waited in the airport like 8 hours. I was so glad I had packed extra food and diapers than I thought we would need. Did I mention that Alaina got attacked at the Miami airport? Alan had run on ahead to hopefully get us on our plane and Alaina and I were waiting in line to get on the elevator. (she was in her stoller) There was a lady in front of us with an airport employee. I noticed that she seemed to have some sort of skin problem but the lighting was poor and I paid little attention untill...The lady backed up without looking and backed into Alaina's stoller. She turned around and hit her on the foot and leg, yelling at both of us. I moved to protect Alaina and let her know quite loudly that she backed into us and she doesn't need to hit my kid. She didn't hit her hard enough to leave a mark but with that wierd skin I didn't want any rash or anything to develop either. And for the love of mike who hits a baby? The airport lady said that she is crazy etc. She did seem to be escorting her somewhere but she should have kept better control over her if she is unstable. The lady is lucky Alan wasn't there. He would not have responded as well as I did. Anyway, the evevator came and I warned a new couple that had come up not to get on with her as she was loco. I hope I spelled that right Jungle Mom. So the transatlantic flight went well. Alaina caused very little disturbance and was kind enough to poop only in airports where her diaper could be disposed of better. We let her know that we appreciated it. We got off the plane in Dusseldorf and waited at the entrance to the plane for our stoller. They had taken it and put it with the checked luggage. This meant that we had to carry her through the whole airport. This was not good. She is heavy and we had carry ons. Then, we waited to get on a plane for Nurnberg. They gave us a hard time about what flight we could take because of all the mix up in Miami and we waited quite some time before we finally got the boarding passes. Oh I forgot to mention that for the big flight they were very kind to us and only charged us for a lap ticket but they gave us a 4 seat row all to ourselves. Ok so waiting for the trip to Nurnberg they told us that there would be no drink service on board and provided us with warm drinks to take on board with us. Well, when we got on board they did have drink service so that was interesting. But, they made a big deal over Alaina and she went to sleep after we took off and slept all the way there. When we landed in Nurnberg, Alan played a very unkind trick on me. It was already about 36 hours since we had started at the hotel and neither of us had had much sleep. He said, "Well, we're in Frankfurt. Now we just have to get to Nurnberg and then we can get in our car and head home." I didn't recieve that bit of false information well. So we get our bags and wait as Alain gets the car and we head out to it. Alan had not installed the car seat before he left for Guatemala. It was raining and we were tired and it took quite some time to figure it out. Turns out it wasn't right but we made it ok. We retured home to a house I had never seen and a town I had never been in. Alan had gotten quite a bit done as far as setting things up. Only the kitchen and decorating remained and a little rearranging, but not much. We got some take out pizza and fed us and Alaina and we all went to bed. Until Alaina decided that she was not happy about being put in a crib in a different room. We let her cry it out and within a few days she was fine with it.

So that is our story. I'm sure I've left a few things out but that covers most of it.

Back To The Guatemalan Adventure

These are pictures of Alaina here at home in Germany with her brother Smokey. The two of them have grown very close. It was quite hot that day and since there is no airconditioning in Germany I just had her in her oneszie.

So there we are back at the Marriott. It took both of us about 10 days to get over our bout with Rotavirus. Poor Alaina went through a lot of outfits as the diapers were just not constructed to deal with that amount of poop. I have to say though. Even on the other side of it. If pooping were an olympic event, my daughter could bring home the gold. Or perhaps they would construct a special brown medal for that one. Anyway. Alan finally arrived. Boy was he a sight for sore eyes! He even looked taller! I had forgotten he was so handsome. I had been there 5 weeks and missed him very much. That first moment when he got to hold his daughter again was so precious. I loved the look of love and joy on his face. The week that followed until we were able to go home went by so much faster than they'd been going. My world was right now that Alan was with us. I'd forgotten how wonderful it was to have him to lean on. Thank you Jesus for my wonderful husband. He's not always perfect, but he's a perfect match for me. Well, the other interesting things that happened are that our interpreter got us kicked out of the embassy the day we went for our interview. We went back the next day without telling him but he showed up anyway. He almost got us kicked out again! I'll skip all that ensued with him, but the Lord was with us. It was imperative that we get our visa that day. You usually get it the next day, but since we had gotten kicked out the day before we had to get it that day because our plane was leaving the next morning. The first interview guy first liked us because our baby was quiet (the child before us was screaming at the top of its lungs) then it turned out that he is prior military and felt for our situation so he put our case at the top of the next guys list. The next guy turned out to also be prior military and moved our case along so we were able to get Alaina's visa that afternoon. Praise the Lord for His goodness! After that I took care of Alaina while Alan got us packed up and ready to leave the next morning. Then there was the travel day...

I've Gone Batty!

You might think that the title of this post refers to my new daughter. It doesn't although there are times... Our internet was down from Saturday evening until last night so I haven't been able to get on here and let you know what has been going on with us.

Bats. That's what.

Friday night we were all snug in our bed asleep. Alaina was in her own bed in her own room peacefully sleeping too. Praise the Lord for that! I heard our boy Smokey meow. I thought, "It must be about 0430 because Smokey always meows at 0430. I heard Alan get up and thought, "Good" and went right back to sleep. Suddenly I hear him yell out. Guilily I remembered the baby toys on the floor that I didn't pick up before I went to bed. "He must have tripped on one or hurt his foot." thought I. I asked him if he was alright. He said, "There's a bird in here." I looked at the clock and it was 0030. I thought, "Birds don't fly at night. There's no bird. He must have imagined it." Then I saw it fly across the room. I thought," This bird must be sick or something to have wandered in here at night." Then I saw it perched on our wall and thought, "Oh stink. That's a bat. Don't tell Alan it's a bat. He wont like that. Let him think it's a bird." Alan (my hero!) ran downstairs and got the broom handle. He hit it twice and it flew out into the hallway. Having no idea how to kill this thing, but thinking it was dead since it was lying on the floor, he sprayed it with a combination of Glade air freshener and some sort of German cleaner or something from the bathroom. It wasn't dead. It flew down the stairs. Alan went after it. He trapped it down there with the wicker basket we use for umbrellas. At this point I inform him that it is in fact a bat. He'd had his suspicions. We decide to leave it there until morning and deal with it before we get Alaina up. At this point (lol) he realizes that Alaina is not in bed with us. I'm not quite sure why he thought she was as we have never taken her to bed with us unless he thought it was earlier in the evening and I was lullling her to sleep with a bottle. At this point he said, "You were hiding under the blankets! All this time I thought you were protecting her, and you were hiding!" lol This was in response to the laughing comment I made about the manner in which he yelled when the bat surprised him.
So, the next morning we trepidiciously went down to the basket. The bat didn't seem to be there. We found its blood on the walls of the stairway but did not find the bat. I decided we needed to look closer at the basket. Alan held an old cookie sheet and I flipped up the basket while he covered it. The bat was in there and attached to the side of the basket. I took it all out side, put the basket down on its side, took my cookie sheet (yes it got washed and scalded) and watched to see if it came out while moving back toward the house. A few hours later I went out and looked at the basket. It was empty. Not a sign of it anywhere. We decided to throw the basket away.

The Howard Johnson's

So, after Antigua we went to the Howard Johnson's. Alan was able to get a special government rate that should have been a little less expensive than the Marriot. I have put a link to the website. The pictures look nice but it says that the internet is free (it's not) the staff was not multilingual at all etc. One really good thing is that my Spanish improved by leaps and bounds while I was there. Well, it was interesting. The place was a bit dirty and then the sewer backed up and the toilets overflowed. Then I got sick. I thought I had a case of Monezuma's revenge until Alaina started having diarrhea. When she had her fourth one and it (excuse me ladies) smelled just like mine and she also had a fever, I took her to the hospital. I knew as sick as I was that the diarrhea would dehydrate her to death. So in she went. It was the most modern hospital they have in Guatemala. As it turned out we both had rotavirus. How fun. Alaina was in for 3 days. They put her in a private room and in a regular hospital bed. No crib. Then they told me I would have to stay with her and watch her 24 hours a day because they were not going to do it. Well, a hospital bed with a mobile child doesn't work. She would fall out in 2 shakes. I was only given a straight chair to sit in and I knew it was impossible to spend several days there, with me sick, and not sleep at all. Plus I would be unable to take her and her IV into the bathroom and I was going a lot. (I lost 14 pounds in Guatemala) So I hired private duty nurses around the clock. Lucky for me they only cost 300 quetzles a day which is about 80 - 90 dollars a day. And they were real nurses not just some lady to watch the baby. So I felt better and was able to go home to the hotel at night and get some rest. The whole hospitalization cost us about $3,000. Can you imagine what it would have cost in the States? I can't tell you how upset I was to discover that had they given her the rotavirus vaccine she would not have had to suffer this. It costs $ 100 and the attorney didn't want to pay it. Had they asked us we would have paid it for her. The morning she was to be released, I moved us back to the Marriott. It is cleaner, nicer, not much more expensive (it turned out the other place gave us the rate without including the taxes which were a lot and made it cost almost as much as the marriott with out the benefits) and they had a baby lounge with swings and bouncers and toys etc. The camera broke down at the HOJO's so no hospital pics. Sorry. These however are more pics from our time in Antigua and the 2 from the HOJO's.

Antigua

The 4th day we went to Antigua. It was my intention to stay there at a place called the Chosen Children's Home until her paperwork was completed and we could take her home. It didn't quite work that way. The place had changed owners and no longer offered everything the website claimed. It was also a lot more expensive. When the only other family left and I was there alone at night (the staff left at 5pm) with Alaina I decided to go back to Guatemala City. By the way. The Antigua I am referring to is in Guatemala not the island of Antigua. The pictures below were taken at the place we stayed in Antigua which was quite lovely.

The First 3 Days

I arrived in Guatemala on June 23. The next day the foster mother brought Alaina to me. She told me that they spoiled her and they don't care if we are upset by it because she is their last foster child. What they didn't tell me but I did discover was that they had stolen all of her stuff. All of the clothes we had given her and even her toys. She was 9.5 months old and they had sold her formula and bought her powdered milk keeping the difference in money. I was really unhappy about all of this but didn't see any point in saying anything as nothing could change what had already happened. I did however get rid of the powdered milk and put her back on formula. It was 2 days before I was able to do that, but I noticed when I did that she drank the formula with gusto. She hadn't been too interested in the milk.

Alaina grieved their loss for about 3 days. Just cried and cried. At least she wasn't afraid of me. She just wanted to be held while she cried. Alaina has and outstanding pair of lungs. She is quite possibly the loudest baby I have ever heard. It turns out that there were 7 adults and no children in her foster home. Therefore she was held 24 hours a day. Literally. I do realize that it is the culture for the children to be in charge. They hold them all the time and whatever the child wants is done immediately. Alaina was used to grunting and having her wishes granted. The foster father even held her while she slept. We had asked them not to do this so as to make it easier for Alaina to adapt to us especially in light of the fact that she has so many things to adjust to that could not be helped. But no. The entire time we were in Guatemala we did what we had to to keep her quiet at night for the sake of the other guests. Now however she is having to adjust to sleeping in her bed and not being held while she does it. Please pray for her that she adjusts soon and for me that I make it through this. We do give her lots of love and holding during the day and we are there at night. We just don't pick her up. When she wakes up crying we tell her we love her and we are there for her etc.

In other news. When I got her then she was barely crawling. In the 6 weeks that followed, I gave her lots of floor time and some walker time and by the time we came home she was walking around furniture. Today she took her first 2 steps in her crib by herself. She stood alone in her crib and then a few weeks later she was able to stand alone in her crib so I think it wont be long until she is taking her first steps on the floor.

These are pictures of Alaina the first 3 days.

We're Back!

We are back from Guatemala and Alaina is home with us! Woohoo! In the next few days I'll be posting pictures and posts about our trip. We arrived home on Thursday night and we are so happy to be here. More information tomorrow.
Rebecca

Coffee and Company

I'm in the mood for some company today so I'm hosting a come as you are party. Everyone stop what you're doing and come over for some coffee, cake, and visiting!

Wacked Out Wednesday

I'm on my second cup of coffee right now. That's right with caffiene. I almost never take caffiene and so I'm on overdrive. I haven't slept well the past two nights and this morning I woke up at 0430. I can't take a nap during the day or I will not sleep at night and so I'm on caffiene. Today I start packing for my trip. I'm so thankful that I will have use of a washer and dryer so I don't have to try to pack a million clothes. I'm bringing all of Alaina's clothes even those I think are too small for her because I'm hoping to meet other adoptive moms over there and maybe someone could use them.

Tired Tuesday

I'm tired. I didn't do all that much today, but I didn't sleep well last night. Kept having night mares. Anyway, today I went to the PX to get Alaina some more clothes. She needed onezies, socks, and sleepers. I was really disgusted with the lack of clothing for size 12 months. There was almost nothing. I was hard put to find onezies and I could only find one sleeper and it was so ugly. Socks were no trouble but really. Are there that few babies wearing 12 month size? I say that because the racks are labled and there were hardly any lables for that size. She did get one outfit, but that was all. In other news I've been working on my coupon book for an hour or two every night. So many people are sending them that it takes some work, but it's worth it. I'm getting 4 packs of oral B dental floss for free tomorrow. Well, actually they are paying me 1 cent to take them away. There are some people I am slowly schooling in the art of coupons and sales, and it never fails that someone asks me about them while I'm in the store. Now some of them look at me like I'm nuts but when I explain how much I save and that it can be considered a vacation fund the light bulb goes on over their heads. lol It's kind of funny to see. I should clarify however that the time spent working on coupons is done while we are watching TV or the news or a video or something. So it's not like I just sit there and do nothing else. Anyway that was my day. We are taking a break from finalizing travel plans so I thought I'd blog a bit. Cya later!

A Must Read

For an interesting read about Obama go see Jungle Hut.

Manic Monday

Today I began my countdown towards heading for Guatemala. I did the regular Monday things such as changing the linens on the bed, putting fresh towels out and putting a load of laundry in to wash after putting the load I ran last night in to dry. So I made up the bed, folded the laundry from the dryer and put it away. Put the towels in the dryer and put the sheets in the washer. Put away the little outfits of Alaina's that were air drying. I took time to check my email and found that there was room for me in Guatemala. It turns out that many adoptive parents end up going and taking over the foster care of their child while waiting for the process to be completed. I found a place that is something like a bed and breakfast that caters to us adopting parents. At the place I will be staying there will be a large room for me and a crib for Alaina. I will have use of a common room, the kitchen, and the washer and dryer. They will provide linens, kitchen ware and dishes, and cell phones that will charge me 13 cents a min to call the States. That works for me because we have an internet phone with a State side number. I will bring the stroller we bought and all of her clothes. The place is within walking distance of shopping and grocery stores and I need not be lonely as there will be other adoptive parents sharing the house with me. So after I found out they had room, I emailed back to reserve a room, let my husband know, and started looking at plane tickets. Then I went down stairs and made a real macaroni and cheese using whole wheat penne pasta. I also made some blueberry bread and it is delicious if I do say so myself! Then I emptied the dishwasher, reloaded it, ran it, and hand washed everything else that needed washing. Wiped down the counters, cleaned the stove and headed for the commissary. I haven't done any real grocery shopping for some time. Since before my sister came really. I stopped by a few times and got a few things but not much. So today since I didn't have time to go through my coupons I went to buy the things I know I will not have coupons for. Namely meat, milk, etc. My goal was to buy enough to last until I get home from Guatemala. 6 lbs of hamburger 2 pkg of chicken, a steak, a brisket, eggs, cheese, yogurt, 2 large bags of cat food (with coupons from the store) onions, green peppers, lettuce, 4 TV dinners with coupons from the store (for Alan while I am gone) 4 quarts of long life milk (like Parmalat from the States) 3 rolls from the bakery (some of Alan's favorite) and turkey sausage. All for 80 bucks. Not too bad. We don't get sales on meat here so you always have to pay full price. That will turn into a huge kettle of chili, a 3 pound meat loaf, barbeque brisket, a homemade sausage pizza, oven fried chicken, hard boiled eggs, and enough milk for his cereal while I am away. I'll freeze the chili in meal portions so all he has to do is pull it out in the morning and it's ready to go in the evening. The chicken and steak will likely be eaten before I go. The hard boiled eggs keep well and will be snacks for him while I'm away. The pizza I will freeze and he can put in the oven when he wants it and the meat loaf I'll refrigerate and he can bake with in a day or 2 of my leaving. I'll make the brisket up before I go and that will likely only last him a day or so. Big meat eater. Otherwise he will have to make due with TV dinners and eating out or at the dinning factility. The DFAC is actually a decent place to eat and is really pretty cheap for what you get so I'll feel ok about that. Now I'm just waiting for him to come home and the macaroni to come out of the oven so we can eat. Then I'll fold the sheets from the dryer and organize my coupons for the rest of the shopping tomorrow. How was your day?

Adoption Update

OK, there is new information on Alaina. We have been told it may be another 8 weeks or so before we can take her home. They have to do this and they have to do that. Long story. So, we have decided to send me down there to Guatemala City to assume her care until we can take her home. I will be leaving in about a week and a half and then you wont see me around for at least 6 weeks as my internet access will be limited if I have any at all. So, I am getting all of her things washed and ready to go. I need to go and buy her some more underwear and socks and a really nice dress for her Embassy exit review. I also need to see that Alan has enough food etc to last until he joins us there. Good luck me!

Garmich and Amsterdam

The day after Rothenberg we went to Garmisch, Germany and stayed at the Edelweiss resort there. The weather was a bit rainy at times but we just relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. Then the last hurrah of my sister's vacation was a trip to Amsterdam. I love that city. I'm not really sure why. It may be the fact that it was the first city outside of Germany that we traveled to after moving here. It may be that when my husband and I went we went to the Anne Frank house and to the Corrie TenBoom home and it was so exciting. I consider Corrie to be a heroine of the faith, and it was very exciting and inspiring to be in the place where they put their faith into action. You could really feel the Spirit of the Lord there. My love for Amsterdam certainly has nothing to do with legalized prostitution, pot, hash, legalized gay marriage and polygamy, but it is a beautiful city and it's so exciting to see so many things from the past. Fran and I went to the Anne Frank house of course and then went to the Jewish history museum. We enjoyed a lot of really good Greek food while listening to the wandering musicians. We rode the Canal Bus and enjoyed the sights and shopping and coffee. I suspect my sleepiness this week is the lack of caffiene! It's somewhat rare in Europe to find decaf. We traveled on Swiss Air and it's a really nice plane. They give you some wonderful Swiss chocolate to enjoy instead of peanuts.

The month went by so fast, but we had a good time and she flew out last Saturday loaded down with souvenirs and chocolate.

My Sister's Trip Part 2

We had a great time in Prague. We stayed at the Cloisters Inn in the old part of the city. It is an old medieval monastery and is in walking distance of everything you'd want to do in Prague. We walked across the Charles bridge and had supper by the river where I got a big kick out of the waiter trying to flirt with me. lol We spent quite a bit of time in the old Jewish quarter. When you go into the old cemetery or one of the synagogs they give the men a paper yalmaka to wear. I was a bit put out with all the men who casually tossed theirs on the ground or just refused to wear them. I realize they are not Jewish, however I do think it is appropriate to respect the custom while in their house of worship. Anyway, my back held out alright though I did have to rest quite a bit. lol We had coffee or some variation all over the place. We did one walking tour through the old town which was supposed to be a ghost tour. They told the old legends of many years past and had a guy who jumped out and scared everyone and it was offered at twilight so that was fun. We went to the Prague castle and walked down through the golden avenue. When we got to the train station to leave, the original platform we were to meet our train on had been changed. Neither of us speak any Chech and we were desperately trying to find the right train. We found it and you should have seen us jumping train tracks to get on before it left. lol Wow!

Our next outings were a trip to Poland for polish pottery shopping. Poland is lovely but they seem to be quite poor there. I was interested to note how the roads changed as soon as we crossed the border. The 4 lane autobahn changed to a 2 lane road. I'm hoping the EU will help change some of that. We went shopping at some outlets in Neustadt near Weiden one day and then another day we went to the walled city of Rothenberg. We didn't get to spend much time there and we never found the Italian ice cream stand but we'll go back another time.

My Sister's Arrival

My sister Fran came to visit for a month. She arrived on may the 10th. What a busy month it's been! The next day she had her first experience in a military chapel and then had her first time eating brunch at the mess hall (now called dining facility or DFAC). She is currently finishing her doctoral dissertation in medieval history and so in all our down moments she worked on that, well at least she did until I got her hooked on an internet puzzle game. :( bad me. Anyway, that first two weeks she attended a Hail and Farewell, a forum in which 3 soldiers were awarded medals, shopped with me in the commissary and PX, went to Bamberg on two day trips where we saw 3 castles, a medievel cathedral that is still in use, an old medieval church that is not, an open air market and lots of shopping and ethnic eating. Yum! In the first two weeks she also got to attend my husband's change of command ceremony where he officially took command of his unit, helped me pull off the reception (in the army you give your own receptions for change of commands and promotions) and we went to Prague on the train where we met an interesting young man who is working on his doctorate in biochemistry. Between him and my sister, I felt like a real slacker let me tell you. Here are some pictures from the first two weeks of her visit.

Pictures

We are having some trouble with our digital camera. As soon as we get the problem corrected I will post the pictures of our trips.

HELP!

OK How does one go about writing posts and then scheduling them to post at a certain date and time? Can anyone help me?

The Past Few Weeks

So in the coming days it is my intent to fill you in on what has been going on around here the past few weeks.

I'll start with April. A few weeks after we moved into this house (which happened on the same day I had back surgery) our landlord informed us that he had a buyer for the house. He said it had always been his intention to sell and these people wanted to look at it. So they came (with out him) to look at it. They asked us why we were moving if we had just moved in and we said we aren't moving, the rug is being pulled out from under us. When they discovered that the owner had been decietful with both of us (he told them that the house had been empty for 7 months) the husband told my husband and then came and said again to me that they would not even consider buying the place under those circumstances. I didn't really believe him as after he said that they continued to look around. I mean really, if you wouldn't even consider buying a place why stay? Just go. So anyway after they left we found 3 internet sites that have the house listed. He is asking a different price on each site but they are from 300 to 400 thousand euro. When he initially told my husband about the potential buyers he offered the house to us but for 440,000 euro. Essentially 100,000 euro over the price he is asking of others and 200,000 over the market value. Interesting. So a few weeks after these people wouldn't even consider it we get an email from them telling us that this house is on their short list to buy. In the mean time we had consulted a German lawyer who informed us of our rights. According to German law our current landlord does not have the right to kick us out for any reason. Therefore, if he should sell the place the new people would have to do it but they would also be bound to honor our contract. Also, there are specific rules that govern all of this and none of them have been followed. Enter May. The landlord has moved to intimidation tactics to try and force us to move going so far as to come to the house when he knew my husband wasn't home and bring someone with him to threaten me. What he didn't know was that my sister was there and a witness to anything. He said publicly that he had a key to our house (illegal) and that it is his house and he can come in any time and do any thing he wants to. Of course none of that is true, but he stuck his finger in my face and kept advancing on me as if to hit me. I felt in danger and yelled for help. He and his buddy quickly left. The MP's and police were called, reports were made, an every 30 min. drive by was started by the MP's, my husband was called home, and the LL was informed in no uncertain terms that to enter our home at anytime without our prior knowledge and consent will result in his immediate arrest. Our lawyer was informed and he wrote him a letter that he is not to contact us again in any maner. By writing, telephone, email, text message, he cannot come to the house, he cannot come by the house, etc. If he does he will be arrested for assault. They don't have harrassment laws here but they would count it as assault because he is making my blood pressure go up and that is damaging my body. An interesting point in German law is that had he called me an ___ ____ or any other dirty name he would have been arrested right then, that is illegal but it's just fine to threaten to come in the middle of the night and do anything he wants. I don't really get that. I should let you know the German police were amazed at all of this and had a hard time believing that a German would do such a thing. Until of course I informed him that he is not German but Irish and married to a German. lol Then they understood. Not that the Irish are bad but that a German would naturally know better. Anyway, so here we are and here we will remain. I'd be suprised if those people buy the house because they will not be able to move in when they want to. At this point they would have to spend several months in a hotel or temporary housing before they can move in. Anyway that is the latest with the house. We have gotten back on the post housing list but we are not on top and will have to wait until something opens up. Thankfully they will pay for the move for us as none of this is our fault and we had found him through the housing office in the first place. The matter has been taken up the chain of command to the garrison commander and I would not be a bit surprised if they canceled all of his leases with the government and made his bar off limits to all military personnel. He has delt with us wrongly and as we all know, you reap what you sew.

The next dramatic event tomorrow.

I'm Back

Well, I've been gone quite a while, but I'm back now. My sister left on Saturday. She had been here about a month, and we did quite a bit of traveling. We went to Prague, Bamberg, Amsterdam, Poland, Rothenberg, and a few other places. It was great to have her and we look forward to her return next year. In the mean time everything has been acomplished that Alaina can come and we are only waiting on our court date to go and get her. It should come any day. In the next few days ( unless I am on my way to get Alaina) I'll show you some pictures of our trips etc.
Carrie asked about my back. It is doing better. I think it gets a bit better every day although there have been times that I've overdone it and then had a slight set back. I try not to but when it doesn't hurt it's hard to know that I'm overdoing it. All the traveling I've done lately has been very tiring and right now I'm recovering from that. All in all though I think I'm doing well. Thank you for asking.

So spell check still doesn't work? What is up with that? They can fix it to where we can write posts ahead of time but they can't fix spell check? Am I the only one?