A hard headed, slow reading woman.

Both kids are sick with fevers now. Griffin was doing better this morning but has lapsed a little.
I have been working on reading through the Bible. Before I sound super spiritual, I want you to know I started when Griffin was 3. He is about to turn 7. I would read some and do a Bible study, then read some more. But really this past year I just got hung up in Job. I prayed Ps 129 that God would search my heart and find any anxious way in me and help me to repent and turn it back to Him. Well. Let me say I ran from that book a little. I have a hard time wrapping my head around how God allowed Job to suffer those huge things. Well at the hospital today to visit the OB for a regular checkup (usually takes about 3 hours) I pulled out my Bible to read it. Low and behold I realized I only had 3 chapters of Job left. Well those effected me greatly! It put in perspective how powerful God is. How he truly is in control of everything. When I combine those facts with the facts of the Old Testament showing how long suffering He is towards us, and the facts of the New Testament of what lengths He goes to to save us eternally (which I take for granted often) and daily through circumstances I can do nothing but glorify Him. Did I freak out some yesterday? Yes. But not as much as before. I was quicker to see that my non-trust and worrying is a sin.

I have also come to realize (through the help of 2 wise, godly women) that when I do fret and have worry that I am concentrating on myself and not others around me and not on God. God will handle all our circumstances. We are where God placed us and I really need to sometimes get a reality grip that this is our life. This is not just the two years He sent us here. I have been thinking with the mentality that when we return, life is going to go back to normal. And if I were home I know that things would not be perfect but I have a tendency to think that way just because it is in my comfort zone. It has been such a burden lifted to just say, 'okay God, here we are. This is how life is. And there are people here to help us out when we need it. They have made that overwhelmingly clear. All I have to do is put aside my pride and ask them." So this is where I am. Growing. Sometimes willingly, sometimes reluctantly. I am thankful though for a God that loves us and is patient with us.

I have also learned that I should not expect earth to be heaven. Things are not perfect here so when they do get out of whack and bad things happen, I have to trust in Him who is really in control in all circumstances, the good and the bad.

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.