Happy Birthday Susannah and Praising the Lord in Song

I just figured out how to add video to our blog, so I thought I'd share a clip :) Our church meets in homes for our services. This service was held in our home.

Also, our little Susannah turns 2 years old today! She's holding a present that Grandma sent in the mail a few weeks ago. We got it a few days ago and put it on top of our book shelf to save for her special day. She's walked by that bookshelf at least a dozen times a day this week pointing to her gift saying, "That's my birthday" :)

The children are going to make homemade decorations and hang up balloons this afternoon for her party. The girls will help me bake a cake this morning and Daddy will go into town with the boys to buy a couple treats for the birthday girl.

Two years ago today, I lay hemorraging on a gurney in the hall of the hospital all by myself. This morning I began by thanking the Lord for his gracious hand of protection over Susannah and myself that day and for the undescribable peace he gave me during that time. Our God is so good to give us the grace we need just when we need it. He is so good! Happy Birthday Susannah!

All Day Sickness (a.k.a. morning sickness) Routine

I first started feeling queasy about 4 weeks ago. It was mainly when I woke up in the morning or had an empty stomach. Within a week, it began to linger longer and any sort of strong smell (laundry detergent, food cooking, a diaper) would start me in the direction of the baño! By last week, it just never let up and I've been spending much of my time in bed. It usually only last me through my first 3-4 months, but seeing as how I am not able to function as well as normal, we made some adjustments in the family to help keep things running as smoothly as possible.

1. I told my children that it is a lot different being pregnant at 34 than it was when I was 23 :) Mommy's getting old! But now I have lots of strong, sweet children to help me. They have done so well not only being sure to do their regular chores, but to help out in the things that mommy usually does, but can't do now.

2. I am so thankful for the many meals I have made with my little helpers working beside me. Since cooking is one of the most difficult things to do when I'm feeling yucky (next to laundry), I appointed Chefs Timothy, Elijah, Rebekah, Benjamin and Abigail to take over. I just have to set out the ingredients, give instructions, help light the stove, and supervise from the couch. They are enjoying being the cooks and doing a fine job.

3. Homeschooling- This is now mostly done in Daddy and Mommy's bedroom. We have a table and chairs in here where they can work; they get to snuggle up next to mommy and read their lessons. We've spent extra time working on their flash cards, doing spelling bee's, and reading which can all be done easily from bed.

4. Daddy- the nutricionist! :) Daniel has been so good in getting me whatever sounds good at the time...7-up, Gatorade, a plain baked potato, or a cup of hot corn. He's also done most of the shopping for me the past week so I don't have to and even picked up extra things from my list to give us some easier meals (Sandwhich stuff, cereal, ect...)


Timothy told me today that he is praying that I'll feel better soon, but that he has liked having the extra chores and enjoyed taking care of me. Daddy is gone out of town for the day and the children are doing such a great job of taking care of everything. Rebekah and Abigail came in the room a few minutes ago fussing over a game they were playing. Timothy walked in and said, "Don't worry, I can help them figure it out. I've seen you do it a lot. And if they can't work it out, I'll just have them put the game away and do something else, right?" Wow, they are growing up fast!

The Lord is so good to give me the grace and strength I need each time I go through this. It is also a time of increasing my faith and trust in Him. When I'm feeling really bad, I thank Him for being right there with me, giving us another little baby, and for all He teaches us through the hard times; then I just look over at little Nehemiah smiling at me with his big brown eyes and I smile too knowing that it is all more than worth it.

Wanna hear our verse for the day?

Isaiah and Josiah (age 5 and 4)

More Hurricane Pictures...Read Previous Posts

Hurricane Henriette...See posts below also

Hurricane Henriette

Monday Morning we packed up a couple of suitcases, grapped our pillows and blankets, loaded up our ice chest and electric skillet and headed 5 hours south to the American Consulate in Los Cabos to pick up Nehemiah's American Passport and Born Abroad Certificate. The trip down was hot and only the front 2 van windows open fully. As we traveled further south, the skies began to darken and the children began to pray for some rain to cool things down. By the time we reached our destination, the sky looked quite gloomy and as we checked into our motel, we were informed that a hurricane was due to hit land in a matter of hours! How did we miss that? Normally the US Consulate sends us an email of any hurricanes in our area. Daniel had checked the news a day before we left, but only read about Hurricane Felix which was not in our area.

The Locals began boarding up and taping windows and we soon realized that the American Consulate would probably not be open until the storm was over anyways. The next morning the rain was pouring and the winds were howling. There were 2 stores open in town...everything else was shut down. We loaded the children into the van and drove to the Sorianna (like a K-mart/grocercy store). I think the whole town was there. The lines were over an hour long. Daniel looked at me and said, "Do we even want to bother?" I said, "Well,we need to eat something today and I can't think of anything better to do. :)" So we picked up some things to make stew in our skillet and some sandwhich things too in case we lost power. We found some bouncy balls, crayons, paper, and clay we bought to keep the children occupied as we would be in our hotel room for the duration of the storm.

When we got back and did what all the other locals did...watched and waited. By the next day, it was still raining, but much calmer. We were able to pick up Nehemiah's paperwork the next morning and began the journey home. The hurricane had gone north up the peninsula during the night and we were unsure what kind of road conditions to expect, but since we had no clean clothes, no more food, and couldn't just rent motel rooms indefinately, we decided to head home.

Thank the Lord for a big, strong, tall van and a very skilled driver (my hubby :) ) ...that and the Lord's gracious hand of protection over us....we were able to make the 5 hour trip in just 10 hours. We had to cross 13 rivers that were running over the highway and some interesting detours. The road had been completely torn up and washed away in numerous places. Houses and cars were destroyed, but as far as we were told, nobody was hurt. Please keep these people in your prayers as they begin to rebuild their homes, roads and towns. We thank the Lord for his merciful hand of protection.

Waiting for Daddy to come take us to hear a missionary

Yesterday evening, we drove over to the next town over and were able to hear a Mexican missionary to Africa speak. Two of the ladies from the church here went with us along with 4 of the young people. Hermano Valle and his family are from Mexico City. They have spent the past 3 years in Equitorial Guinea as missionaries. We found out that the official language in that country of Africa is Spanish. Hermano Valle showed slides of their work there and preached a message from God's Word. It was a blessing to us, our children and to those from the church here who were able to go hear him.