Brisbane, The Potty, and Our Weekend

Tomorrow, we are off to Brisbane to get Dave's US citizenship and passport. We are leaving here at 7am and meeting our friends, Josh and Tamra, along with Shane's parents on the highway. We are going with Josh and Tamra, and Noah will be going with Shane's parents for the day. Our appointment is at 1:45pm and Josh and Tamra's appointment is at 3:00pm. After that we will head straight home to Bundaberg and meet Shane's parents again to pick up Noah. Please pray for safe travel and short waits at the embassy. Pray we have time to get some Krisy Kreme donuts as well....hahaha.

I would just like to brag about Noah for a moment. So far today, we have had no potty accidents and he has gone to the potty 3 times already. His sticker chart is full!!! He is so happy and proud of himself. I'm pretty proud of him too! What a good little boy.

This past weekend was a pretty tough one for a few reasons. I wont tell you them all, but I will share at least one of them. On Saturday night, we had a Vietnamese night at church. It was just to share about our last term in Vietnam and to ask people to pray for us as we have some big decisions to make regarding our future. I am so thankful for the friends that did come. There are always those friends that support you no matter what and for that we are so thankful. It was disappointing, however, that we did not have many people show up. We are aware that people have their own lives and plans, but it sure would have been nice to have had the support from our home church--our sending base.

Someone at church on Sunday asked me what the big deal was about people not coming. Other than the fact that I worked hard to prepare a Vietnamese meal...We have shared with many people the hardships and tough times that we experienced when we were in Vietnam, and I guess it would have been nice to have had that support and to know that people were actually praying for us at least or that they cared just a little bit.

Please pray that I will not be bitter and upset. Pray that I would give it to the Lord. I know that those friends who did come are the ones that remember us regularly, and I am so blessed to have them as friends. Thank you so very much for those of you out there that take the time to pray and think about us. It means the world to us both.

Which sesame street character are you?

Your result for The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test ...

BIG BIRD

You scored 69% Organization, 77% abstract, and 59% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are very organized, more abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.
Here is why are you Big Bird.
You are both very organized. You almost always know where your belongings are and you prefer things neat. You may even enjoy cleaning and find it therapeutic. Big Bird is never sloppy and always under control... pretty good for a 6 year old bird living without a family.

You both are abstract thinkers. Big Bird is a dreamer who always wonders what the world is like. You definitely are not afraid to take chances in life. You only live once. You may notice others around you playing it safe, but you are more concerned with not compromising your desires, and getting everything you can out of life. This is a very romantic approach to life, but hopefully you are also grounded enough to get by.

You are both somewhat extroverted. Like Big Bird, you probably like to have some time to yourself, but you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations. Big Bird is always very comfortable around others, but he often prefers the quiet low-key presence that Snuffleupagus provides.

Which character are you?

I Know...I Know.

Yes, I know I have been a bit slack lately with not posting very much. Sometimes it is because I'm tired, sometimes I'm busy, and sometimes I'm lazy. At the moment I have 3 sick kids. All the boys have colds. Shane was off work on Tuesday with a cold, and the boys have had a cold as well.

What have we been up to?

Last weekend: We went to Hervey Bay. We stopped into Howard on our way and spent some time with a few awesome supporters of ours. It was great to see them and catch up with them. I am so amazed at how wonderful people are by praying for us and supporting us. Then, we caught up with a few people on Saturday, and spoke at Fraser Coast Baptist Church on Sunday. That was great as well. Although, I would have liked to have spent more time with Tamra, but we are catching up next week when we all go to the US consolute together!

Monday: We went to my young mum's Bible study (just me and the kids). I went to the toy library. Then Cooper came over for a visit in the afternoon, and we had a friend over after tea (dinner).

Tuesday: Shane was home all day. I took advantage of that and went grocery shopping. Then we had some more friends over for tea.

Wednesday: We had a nice day at home! We went out last night to a friend's house for tea.

Today: We are thankfully having another nice day at home! Today, I have a girl's night out with some friends to a nice Italian resturant in town. Hopefully, I will get to the gym before that.

That is what we have been up to.

I have been thinking lately about death. Yeah thats right...death and how it is so final. Someone I know died over the weekend, and I just found out last night that a friend of ours has cancer. You never know when your life will change forever or if today is all you have. We should definately make the most of it, and look at our life and see if we are living it in a way that is glorifying God. Are we glorifying Him in the way we should? Serving Him the way He wants us to? Living for Him? Just something to think about.

Going to Brisbane

We finally heard from the US Consolute. Dave will become a US citizen on July 1. Here is the email:

Dear American Citizen,

We are pleased to advise that your appointment with a U.S. consular officer in Brisbane has been scheduled for the following time:

Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Time: 1.45pm
Venue: MacArthur Museum BrisbaneLevel Eight MacArthur Chambers 201 Edward StreetBrisbane Queensland 4001 AustraliaTelephone +61 73211 7052Facsimile +61 7 3211 7329

Applicants over 16: Please be sure to bring your driver’s license or passport to the interview so that we can verify your identity.

Parents of applicants under 16: Please be sure to bring your driver’s license or passport to the interview so that we can verify you as your child’s
parent.

Please note that if you have more than one applicant in your family, you have been scheduled one appointment for the entire family.

We look forward to meeting with you in Brisbane.

Sincerely,

Louise Sawyer
Consular Assistant

My Cutie

Here a our happy little Dave on his way to a birthday party last weekend. I love this shirt and hat! I have a great picture of Noah and I like this as well when he was about 4 months old-Noah was wearing the same outfit! I love my boys!

Water Play

I try to give Noah a lot of different avenues for play. It keeps him from getting bored and makes it easier for me as well. A few days ago the weather was really nice so I just filled up a few containers with soapy water. He had a blast playing!

Reward Time

Here are some photos of Noah's reward for doing a pooh on the potty! I am so proud of him. We made a chocolate-banana milkshake with my no-fat milk and weight watchers ice-cream!! Noah is doing good with the potty. He hasnt done anymore poohs on the potty, but he has peed a few more times. What a good boy!

The Potty

NOAH DID A POOH AND PEE ON THE POTTY YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How are we feeling?

We have been to the doctor so many times the past week, that I am starting to think that we need to pay rent. So here is our current status.

Dave-We just went back to the doctor for him today. Last week, the doctor said he had a bit of exema on his chest. He said that we didnt need to worry unless it got worse. Well, on the weekend...it got worse! I've been reading a lot about it. It seems that certain foods can bring it out more than others. Saturday night, after eating green beans, he had it all over his body and his face even started to swell. It went down, but is still giving him problems. So we went in today, and I now have a prescription to get medicine to put on it. Other than that, Dave is a huge, healthy, and thriving boy who wants to eat EVERYTHING! I think, though, green beans will have to wait!

Noah-We had to rush into the doctor last week. He had an area behind his ear turn red and swell up the size of a golf ball. I'm not joking-I was freaking out. He either bumped his head (we dont think so), got bitten by something (this is what I think), or had an infection (this was the doctor's answer), so he has been on antibiotics all week.

Shane-He still has a swollen ankle. He thinks he will play soccer soon, but I dont think so! He is still going to the doctor about it. He went for a physical and his blood pressure was good. He is doing blood work this week. He is very tired and doesnt want to get out of bed in the morning. Is this a medical thing???

Me-I havent been feeling so great. I went for my physical. My blood pressure is normal, and I am also going for blood work too. I may have a bit of a thyroid problem. We wont know till all the tests are done. Something is definately off. I'm so tired, but I just keep going! I also have a hard time getting out of bed these days!!

Playgroup, Music, and a Family Getaway!

This is a picture of what Noah made at playgroup. We go to playgroup every Friday. Actually, this is the first time I have been back since Dave has been born. It is wonderful and I'm so glad we are back in the swing of things. Noah loves it!

Noah is now offically enrolled in Kindermusic!! His first class is the 26th of July at 8:30am. I cant wait! Music was an important part of my life for a long time, and I am so happy that we get to do this together.

We have just booked a nice family getaway for the weekend of my birthday. We are so excited and it will be great to just get away together--just the 4 of us!

Well...I have 2 kids crying. Dont you just love it when the kids wake each other up???????? We are off to a birthday party...a nice afternoon with a million toddlers. Doesnt that sound like fun? At least it isnt at our house!!

The boys!

The Walker

Noah loves the walker. He loves pushing Dave around in the walker. In fact, He loves it so much that we found him riding around in it. Aunty Carla and Uncle Pete would died if they saw him doing it because the walker we are using is Coopers walker...hahaha. It was such a shock to see him using it! I just realized that I have no photos of Dave in the walker. I will take some this weekend and post them. He does really well in it and can play the music all by himself. Yesterday, he started pushing himself backward. We are so proud of him. He is such a joy and a happy baby! Soon, we will have to get Noah's walker out. It is a lot bigger and harder to push.

The Toy Library

Yesterday, we joined the toy library. We get to check out 4 toys at a time, and we can keep them for 4 weeks. I can switch as many times as I want...I can go weekly, monthly, etc. They have so many toys!!! Noah got an outside toy, a train set, a huge floor puzzle, and some velcro blocks. He played with the train set for 2 hours yesterday afternoon, and he can already put the 24 piece puzzle together by himself. I've attached some pictures of him playing.

So Awesome

The words of this song are so good! Just pause "My Blog Tunes" if you want to listen and watch the video. Enjoy!

Song lyrics | Mountain Of God lyrics

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good:

• I got an awesome package in the mail today from my friend Tamra with some cool thanksgiving scrapbooking pages, a cute bag, and some good old American candy! There wasnt a note with it, but I'm sure it is from Tamra. THANKS!
• We heard from the US consulate today. All of our paper work is complete and finished. Praise the Lord! We were unsure about the passport photo bacause Dave's head is really big in his photo (But that is just the size of his head!!!)...so we were unsure if we would have to redo them. There was so much paper work to complete...it is a miracle we didnt miss anything. We now are waiting on an appointment for the week of June 30th.
• I got some spring cleaning done today. I have been sick and I'm feeling really stressed so I decided to clean. It was good.
• The boys are having a good sleep day!!!
• Some of you may know that I have been exercising quite a bit and trying to eat better. As of last night, I have lost 3 kgs in the past 2 weeks!

The Bad

• We are joining the toy libary. I went this morning to pick up toys and discovered that on Thursday they are only opened from 1-5! I found this out after getting the kids and stroller out of the car! I hate when things like that happen!
• I keep finding these huge mossies everywhere. They are bigger than the ones in Vietnam!
• I woke up this morning and found mold on Dave's bath seat. Yuck! Let the scrubbing begin.
• I keep trying to call Carla, but I keep missing her. At least I got to talk a little bit to Brooke yesterday.

The Ugly

• I had a good old fashion breakdown this morning. It made Shane late to work.
• Noah woke at 5:30am and had a complete breakdown.
• Noah fell asleep this morning while I was on the phone to my Mom. When he woke up, he had another breakdown.
• I spilt Dave's green beans all over me and the floor.
• I ordered the books for my study. First, they didnt all arrive. Second, I seemed to have ordered the book and not the study.

There you go folks. What else can I say?

Some Pictures..

Here are some pictures that my friend took. The top one is Dave and I, and the bottom one is Noah and his friend, Levi.

A whole bunch of stuff...

Yesterday was the Queens Birthday holiday. We love holidays here because that means Shane doesnt have to work. I've got a great husband who let me have a nice hot bath and go back to bed for 2 1/2 hours yesterday morning. Then he insisted that we buy Chinese for dinner (we dont eat out much here...too expensive) so that I could continue relaxing and not have to cook all day. Believe it or not--my job is exhausting. Some of you might be thinking-What job? If that is you, stop reading this blog...I dont like you. The job I'm referring to is the one where I am a full time mom. It's wonderful...but so exhausting.

Today has been great. I'm so thankful for the friends I have here...especially the creative ones. My friend, Jeri, came over today. Levi (her little boy) and Noah played so great together. There was only a little pushing at the end (on behalf of NOAH!!). It was nice to sit and have a cup of tea and just let the boys play without stressing over them killing each other. Jeri is a nurse, but she is so creative with ideas for kid's learning...she would have made a great teacher.

Books...I've currently finished all the books I was reading. Now I have new ones that I am starting:

1. The New Dare to Discipline by James Dobson. Yes, I know I have already read this, but I have a toddler so give me a break! I'm also about to start a chore/behavior chart for Noah as well (My WONDERFUL parents are helping me with it). When I'm finished, I will post it and let you know how it's going.
2. The Beloved Disiple by Beth Moore
3. Let the Nations Be Glad. The Supremacy of God in Missions by John Piper

I have a few friends lined up for my Bible study. YEAH! I ordered the books this weekend!! Thank you God for Godly friends who want to study with me!

I am soooo happy to say that I was able to fit into my pre-Dave jeans on Sunday!!!!! I had to suck in a bit, but I did it!!! My exercise and eating is really starting to pay off along with time of getting over being pregnant.

I better get to cooking. We are having grilled Hamburgers for tea. Dave is having sweet potato, squash, and pears. Yum!

Big Brother

Isnt Noah a great Big Brother?

My Dave

What a cutie!

Bubbles

Noah loves playing with Bubbles. We do it almost everyday! Here are some great photos.

Mom and Dad!

Here are some pictures of Mom and Dad. The family one is with my Aunt Sally, Uncle Carl, Carla, and Mark. When they got married, they had no jobs, borrowed $500 to start out, no insurance, honeymoon given as a gift ($50), a borrowed wedding gown, a sold piano and typewriter (had to work to pay for) to pay for the wedding, and a no cost VW bug given to them by mom's stepdad. Oh yeah, I want to congratulate Mom...She has now lost 20lbs. If you think she was a hottie when she got married (and I think she was), you should see her now!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

This post is for Mom and Dad. Today, they have been married for 38 years. Your marriage is an example for us all. We hope we can love and care for our kids as much as you loved and cared for us. Congratulations on 38 great years. We love you!

Under the weather.

It seems that I am definately under the weather. I have been sick since Monday and cant seem to shake it. Hopefully, I will get better soon. It sure is hard having 2 kids and being sick. I am blessed with the best husband in the world! He came home this afternoon so that I could go to the doctor without the kids. Thank you God for husbands. I have some great pictures to post when I feel better. For now, I better go and rest while I can!

Another Monday

Today was another busy Monday. I had a great time at my Young Mum's Bible study! I am learning a lot from the book of Joshua. By the time we got home, it was time for lunch and a long nap. I got to rest a bit which was really nice. After the boys woke up, we played until Daddy came home. We just finished tea (supper) and are waiting for a friend to turn up.

I will be ordering my books for my Bible study that I am going to be doing soon. It is the one called, "No Other Gods". Beth Moore is going to be facilitating it on her blog. I think I wrote about the study a few posts ago. I have gotten a few girls that want to do it so that is great. I am really excited to spend time with a few friends and just be able to study God's work with them.

I am making a few meals this week. We have a friend who is sick and in the hospital so we are taking a meal over to his wife and kids. Then I also have another friend whose husband is away this week so I am going to surprise her with a meal this week as well (She doesnt know about it...SURPRISE). I love cooking and I am happy to help out whenever I can. I know that Shane and I sure did appreciate all those times when people brought meals over to our house.

We have finished Dave's passport information. Shane is mailing it to Sydney tomorrow. Then, hopefully, we will get an appointment soon to go to the Consulate on their Brisbane visit. There is so much paper work...it seemed to take forever to complete it.

Many of you may know that I have been going to aerobics class. It has been really hard to get to the classes...although I am still trying to go on Monday and Thursday. However, I had a personal trainer at the YMCA make me up a program that I can do as well especially when I cant make it to the classes (usually because of Dave's feeding schedule). I have started doing the program and I love it. It is weights mixed with Cardio. I do it for an hour. I alternate between the exercise machines (rowing, bike, treadmill, cross-trainer) and weights. I am soooooooo sore. Much sorer than when I do the classes! I cant even roll over in bed because my stomach hurts so much. I am so thankful for Shane and his support. He lets me go whenever I want. He is such an encouragement.

Well, I think our friend has arrived for the night. I better go and make a cup of tea and eat some of my homemade chocolate chips cookies that Noah and I made this afternoon.

Yummm...apples!

Yesterday, Dave had his first taste of solid food. I fed him apples and some rice cereal! He did pretty well! So now I'm busy baking and making baby food! Yummy!

Rain...Rain...Rain

Well, it is still raining! We had a really good saturday. Noah and I made a tent in our living room and Dave sat in the tent and slept most of the day! I got a really good nap in as well while Shane worked away on our finances and paperwork. Just a nice lazy Saturday.