Sunday, April 18, 2010

Reunited in Idaho!

Daniel got home from his 12 day trip yesterday! Well, I say he got "home," but he actually arrived at our new home for the next 2 1/2 months in MAF headquarters in Nampa, Idaho. We are really excited to be here for our 2 weeks of orientation and then the rest of the time for Daniel's flight/maintenance standardization (where they will pretty much teach Daniel the MAF way of flying)
We are in the same apartments that we were in last summer when we were here. It is fun seeing the group of people that we were with in our training last summer. We have all been doing the support raising thing for the last nine months, and we all have very different stories and experiences, so it's neat to see how God has been working in every one's lives.
The weather here had been amazing! Sunny and in the 70's in the afternoon and evenings. It's a little chilly for me in the mornings (but I'm a Houstonian, so I'm weird). We have pretty much been living outside watching the kids play and catching up with each other all weekend. We even had an impromptu pot-luck dinner tonight.
Reece enjoying some chocolate cake after dinner!

Joe eating his chocolate cake mixed in with a little pineapple and spinach leaves!

The whole gang eating dinner together.


Best-Buds, reunited! The kids will barely leave their Daddy alone. Joe wouldn't let Daniel put him down yesterday! So cute!
A lot of people have been asking us what we'll be doing during our 2 weeks of orientation, so here are some topics of discussion on our schedule:
Relationship Seminar (all day Monday and Tuesday)
Emotional health
Keeping yourself spiritually fit
Spiritual warfare
healthy living
30 days in another culture
problems of the world
embracing your adopted culture
cultural lunch
conflict resolution
"building your raft" (not sure what that one is about!)
safeguarding your children
"inside-out safety" this is a 2 day seminar also known as "emotionally based safety"
Looks like it will be a great 2 weeks. We are SOOOO glad to have Grandma Valerie here to take care of the kids while we're in class. The kids are having a blast with her.
Can't wait to update you all on what God is teaching us! Thank you all for your prayers and support. We would not be able to do this with out you!


Monday, April 12, 2010

Big Day for Joe-Man



Joe got tubes in his ears today.

He has had trouble with some ear infections, but really the main concern was the build up of fluid in his ears that just would never go away. This was affecting his hearing and speech, so we decided to go ahead and to the surgery now while we have access to all kinds of wonderful health care, doctors and hospitals.

I was against the surgery at first because I'm the kind of person who wants to wait and see if anything else will help with the drainage of Joe's ears (like a chiropractor or other alternatives). But, God really lead Daniel and I to go ahead with the procedure now, and I am grateful for His leading and provision for us to be able to help Joseph in this way.

I was so nervous about handing my little boy over for surgery, but he really didn't even cry when they took him. We were only apart for about 15 minutes total. 10 minutes after I left him, Joe's doctor came out and said everything went fine. He said Joe had "rubber cement" fluid in his ears that even clogged up the suction machine! He said the fluid would never have cleared on its own. That was nice for me to hear. It confirmed that we made the right decision!


Joe was pretty groggy after the surgery, but we only had to stay about 20 minutes and then we were on our way home. I thought he would pass out in bed with me, but all he wanted to do was jump and play on my bed! I ended up putting him in his crib and now he is on his 4th hour of sleep! What a nap!


It will be exciting to see how different life will be for Joe now that he can hear normally. Thanks to God who graciously helped Joe through this morning and has given him a new chance to hear the world!
Joe crawling through a tunnel at the children's museum.

Joe sleeping after a fun time at the childrens' museum.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Here are a couple things I just posted. I can never figure out how to re-arrange the order. Oh well.

Fun With Chalk

Rodeo

A Glimpse into the lives of a family on a journey to serve God through aviation in Indonesia!