Baby's Room

It has been about 1 1/2 weeks since Ludie asked me to go pick out paint so he could get the baby's room ready. I have not done so for various reasons. Mainly, energy level. By the time I do what needs to be done to keep the house running, the kids fed and clothed and homeschool, the day is over. Ludie has also been working late the majority of nights since then. In a couple weeks that should slow down some. I finally picked out he paint and the theme. I am modelling it after Marjolein Bastin's drawings from Nature's Sketchbook. I have some cards from here from Hallmark that I am going to frame. It also just happens that the bed in the baby's room has a duvet on it that already matches the picture.

I also want to have Ludie make some grapevine wreathes and then I'll decorate them to go with the theme of the room with feathers, birds nests and eggs. However I don't know where to get that kind of stuff but I am sure it will turn up. I got this idea from Rebekah Gregg's blog and The Nester's blog (both on my blog roll). Here are some pics of what Rebekah did which were very inspiring. I love doing this because I think I can do this for a small dime and I have wanted to use these colors for decorating for years!

Don't let the blue fool you. We also have Ruthie's pink stroller the baby will use. We have no idea if the baby will be a boy or girl so go figure! We'll just have to wait 4 more weeks, Lord willing and see!

A Simple but Wonderful Day

Whew what a day! We had a great day but a busy day. It was Ludie's 39th birthday today.

It started out with getting the kids and myself ready to go to the store to buy some lemon extract for the pound cake I have never made before (or any cake for that matter from scratch and not a box), Last week there was lemon extract at the store. This week there was not. So then we finally left the store and got home to have 1 hour to mix up a cake that needed 1 hour of baking time and then leave to go meet Ludie for lunch. Impossible you say? I was only 15 minutes late. I had a brain bubble and had to call my sister to ask her how many cups of butter was one stick of butter when I should have asked how many oz? So then I just guestimated and put it in, but it was too cold so I used the blender to chop up the butter and then finally got the other ingredients added in. I cut the recipe in half because my pan is a lot smaller than my mom's and the cake would have overflowed. I knew that did not mean cut the cooking time in half but we also have a convection oven which cuts off baking time so go figure how long the cake should stay in. ....why do I try to do things like this under a time crunch or when we have other people over usually? Maybe I am just daring...or stupid. Don't say a thing!

So anyway the cake got baked! It did not fall. The outside was crusty but the inside was moist. We were only 15 minutes late for lunch at Ludie's work. We were just in time to serve dessert though. Griffin decorated the cake. I left the lemon glaze at home so Mary improvised and saved the day with custard she found in the fridge and lemon marmalade she mixed with custard and heated up in the microwave. I never would have thought of that. I am so thankful because the cake really needed that. BTW Catherine, I will replace your custard and marmalade this week.

Then we got home and Ludie's favorite dessert is pumpkin pie...cold pumpkin pie. Well I have yet to find a frozen pie crust in Ireland, or graham crackers. I made my own pie crust and realized I have no pie plates so I put them in cake pans and made the pie. Then cleaned up a little bit, played with the kids between all of this and then we had some friends over that cooked supper.

Ming Yu, MiAe, and Jen He are all from South Korea. They made "firemeat". It is steak sliced up and cooked with soysauce, garlic, pears and sugar. It is sweet and so good. I have never seen Griffin get seconds with an Asian dish but he did tonight!!! However I did not know we needed rice, I thought noodles would be okay. So I had to make a quick run to the store and get some rice. I have never driven so fast down the bog road as I did that night. However, I did find Doritos and had not had that since we came here 9 months ago so I snagged a bag of that (bonus!) Our Korean friends broke cultural tradition to leave the rest of the team and come celebrate Ludie's birthday and have dinner with us. I am so thankful they did that even though I know that was very uncomfortable for them. I am so grateful for them making such an effort. Ming Yu prayed the blessing in Korean and I don't know half of what he said but I have never heard or felt passion in prayer like that in a long time from all 3 of our friends. They are true prayer warriors. They are usually put in an English "world" and to hear them (my eyes were closed) praying to their Abba Father on our behalf as a family was amazing!

The night wsa topped off by gifts we had bought for his birthday, including an Elvis coffee mug and Shawshank Redemption DVD (one of his favorite movies). We also got to talk to Aunt Lissie back home, Ludie's family that skyped and sang "Happy Birthday" and also to his crazy brother, Marty. Marty even recorded a video of his students celebrating Ludie's birthday and sent it to him.

That night when we were getting ready for bed, he told me it was his best birthday ever. I cannot imagine how something so simple could have that much of an effect but he seemed honest!

Wow! I am amazed at how full a day can get with such simple things as baking that can take all day. I was in so much pain by bedtime from going and going all day but it was worth it. Happy Birthday baby. I am glad it was a special day for you. You do such a great job the other 364 days making sure we have great days and taking care of us. We love you and look forwards to many more years.

Random pics

Just wanted to post these pics. I forgot to tell you that we had an OM ladies brunch at our house a couple of weeks ago. Ludie was out of town so I thought that was the perfect time for a ladies event. Here are some pics from that. Aster and Sarah just had their babies within this past week. I am the only one left. I am excited but still in denial. I am excited about having another baby and always wanted 5, but am amazed because for a long time we did not think we would have one.

Oh and this last picture is of Hunter, our new dog. I blogged about him earlier but got a better pic of him so I thought I would post it for you dog lovers.

Record entries in one day!

Just note that I added 3 posts today. I did them separately by subjects in case you did not have time to read one long one you could pick and chose what you want to read. Enjoy!

Learning to Knit in Ireland

I went to my first Ladie's Bible Study at our church fellowship. I was the only one there with kids this time. (I pray that we are not a disruption). This is my first time going because Ruthie's nap schedule has changed, allowing me more flexibility in the morning time. The group gets together at 10:30 am. Well the posted time is 10:30 am but because we are in Ireland and things are more flexible here, as I was getting ready to leave at 11 am from the church because no one was there, everyone walks in. Note to self: I will do errands first next time and then come at 11 am. Mary, who is the neatest and one of my most favorite people in Ireland makes the tea and brings in the cart with biscuits (she is in the second picture). We hang out a bit and chat. Then the ladies pull out the knitting supplies. While the ladies knit, Carol reads to us. Each week she is reading a chapter from Elizabeth George's A Woman After God's Own Heart. I am so excited because I love that book. Jeannine Kennedy lead our Sunday School class in that study over six years ago. It was a life changing book for me and I am sure will be so again as I will glean probably different parts that I missed before.

I love hearing Carol read. (the lady in the top picture) I told her I could just tape her and send home the tape and have people listening to it over and over again just to hear her accent. The ladies are teaching me how to knit. They tried today but I was so brain dead I could not wrap my head around it. We are doing baby hats and it was a pattern they were doing instead of a standard stitch (that is my excuse and I am sticking to it), so next week they are going to just teach me the standard stitch and then let me do a scarf. I am so excited about learning to knit in Ireland. How cool is that for bragging rights?

It is amazing to get to know these women and their lives and how God has worked in their lives. It reminds me of what Pastor Bobby from Lifesong Las Vegas said one time: When you grow up in the Bible Belt in America, everyone knows the standard answers but when you have Christ work in your life in a place like Las Vegas, where the answers are not standard, the power of a changed life through a personal relationship with Christ is undeniable. The stories I have learned and more I cannot wait to learn and someday tell you are amazing!!!!

Maternity care in Ireland

I cannot remember if I mentioned it in a previous post but am too tired to look, I can barely focus on the screen right now, BUT our new neighbors are Dax and Sarah Bryant, OM Ireland team members from Las Vegas. Well Sarah is the 2nd of the 4 of us pregnant OM'ers on the team to have a baby. She has had so many contractions that I am just glad for her sake the baby is finally here. I always joke that I think that God's way of not letting us not be scared about what we are about to go through is by allowing us to be so miserable by the 9th month we could care less if the baby came out of our nose! Well we finally got the call at 2:52 am Friday night. Sarah was in labor and so Ludie went to their house to watch the boys. Sarah and Dax left the house at 3 am to go to the hospital. The hospital is 40 minutes away, but they made it in 30! (Go Dax!). Then we got a text at 4;25 te baby had been born at 4:05 am! ....25 minutes after they got to the hospital. I am telling this only because I am so amazed. The husbands can be in the hospital during delivery but they cannot stay the night and have to come during visitor hours after the baby is born. At 6 am, Ludie came back in. I ran to the door asking who was watching the boys, he said that Dax was home. (The fastest hospital trip ever!!!!) I think that should go in some Guiness book of world records.

For the Americans reading this there are many similarities and differences in having a baby in Ireland. I am sure I can tell you more when I have our baby, Lord willing, only 5 more weeks of baking time to go. Let me start off by saying we are GRATEFUL for the health care in Ireland and because of the pro-activeness in the beginning of this pregnancy of the medical professionals, I was able to receive the diagnosis and hormones needed to sustain this pregnancy, all praise to God!

First of all, there is no "pelvic exams" until you are in labor unless there is something wrong that needs to be checked and even then they may not do a pelvic exam. Ultrasounds are at every hospital visit, but it is a quick check. (Here is the baby, here is the heartbeat.) You rotate every other check with your General Practitioner and the hospital. At the hospital the Ob's check you out but the nurse midwives are the ones that deliver the babies, and if there is complications, the pediatrician comes in. Afterwards, the baby is well checked on and you can get checked if you need to or suspect any problems.

For your first child you can stay in the hospital with a normal delivery up to 5 days, for additional children only up to 3 but can leave within 24 hours if you so choose and are okay, as well as the baby.

The nurses wipe the baby off when it is born but it is up to you to give it a bath and fully clean the baby. It is also highly recommended that alcohol swabs are not used on the umbilical cord area, nothing is to be used. You do get tea and biscuits (cookies) for a snack in the evening (yeah!).

I have started showing some signs that this pregnancy is getting closer to the due date. I cannot be up for too long periods of time because of my varicose veins. Ouch! I feel so sorry for the kids because I don't feel like they are getting all the attention I would love to shower them with, but they are doing well and are playing well together.

Ireland Immersion Team is Here

The Ireland Immersion team has arrived! This is what the FBCW people would call the GAP students, students that have come over here for a college school year term to be Immersed in to the Irish culture. Their time here starts off in classes taught by local pastors and lay people as well as OM staff. Some classes include hermeneutics (how to study the Bible), History of Ireland and the church, Review of the entire Bible, etc. I taught the history of the church from the time of the Apostles to the rule of Constantine (a Roman emperor that converted to Christianity. They are even taking classes on Time Management, and going through the "Way of the Master" evangelism training course. The classes are so exciting I want to sit in on them all. The students are also taking field trips. One that they took that I would like to go on is Clonmacnoise where they learned about the history of Christianity in Ireland. (I wish one day the single people on the team could babysit the kids and let the married couples go on these tours that the wives miss out on so that we can learn all this too-just an idea. It's hard going to places like that with kids and still get the info in.). :)

The history from the Apostles to Constantine talked about what the early church was like during the times of the beginnings of the church. Heresies that the church battled at that time and persecution during that time. Then how did the church change as a result of the Roman emperor converting to Christianity and persecution stopping. What was good and bad about this. My favorite part was the activity we did where the students listed out the heresies and what was believed and then looked up Scripture individually and together to discuss why that was a heresy and what the truth of the Bible was. Oh I learned so much and loved teaching that class. I don't know if the students liked it but I got a lot out of it.

I am so impressed with this group of students. They are deep thinkers and are not afraid to ask the hard questions and are excited to learn. There are 3 S. Koreans, a German, a Sweed and 5 Americans on the team.

You can keep up with the Immersion team via Facebook. Just type in Immersion Ireland. PS if you are wondering, this is what God put on our hearts to come over and do in Ireland. He has also expanded that too, but this is the original "plan" that we knew of.