2 Months of Baby Love

Sugar lips

Two month birthday

Is that a wink?

Sweetie girl was two months old yesterday; where did time go?  She is just as squeaky and snuggly as she was the day she was born.  I am so utterly and completely in love.

First Sunday at Church... She slept the whole way through shhh don't tell.

She weighed 9 pounds a month ago. How's that for updated information? I haven't taken her to a Dr as of yet.  We only know she was 9 lbs because she graced the ER with her presence as soon as Lollee arrived in South Africa.  She had cried and screamed all day and we decided while around decent healthcare we ought to get her checked out.  Ever since her umbilical cord fell off when she was less than 2 days old, her belly button hadn't looked right.  The day she spent wailing we noticed it was looking even worse.  Infection is sort of a nightmare for a mom so we headed back up to the hospital where she was born.  Anyways, turns out she has an umbilical hernia and we hope it will resolve itself before she's three so she doesn't require surgery.  I don't know if it has anything to do with her cord coming off so early - doubt  it.  Either way, the Dr said it shouldn't be causing her any pain and it didn't really seem to be as she wasn't any worse off when we messed with it.  Apparently she just had a terrible belly ache.  But. at least we know and were able to see what she weighed. :)

Afternoon snuggles watch Green Gables with Lollee and Lacy

Her rolls seem to multiply daily and I love it.  Kyle wasn't this round at this age so I find myself just squeezing her thighs to smile at how squishy she is.  She has the softest head of hair and so far is hasn't come out.  Here's to hoping it won't.  It is getting thicker and I even managed to get a bonified bow in it.  I love dressing her up and wish I could find more bows out here but alas I'll have to keep looking.  I have put away almost all of her newborn clothes and we're moving into 0-3 months.  She's rocking cloth diapers which make her bum ginormous so the poofier the pants, the better.

Boots to match Mama

She still eats all the time but we're down to one feeding in the night.  Usually she wakes up at between 2-3 to eat and then sleeps again until 6 and again until 7 or 730.  It is nice to have the feeding equipment attached because it means I only have to brave the cold house for a bathroom run before returning to the still warm bed.  I'm downing a minimum of 1.5 liters of water a day and Ellee is not going hungry.  By the time the sun comes up she's really feisty and so ready to prop up and watch the world.  So, I set her head on my shoulder and sometimes keep dozing until Big Brother waltzes in the room.  She is still sleeping with me and I don't mind it too much.  My shoulders sort of ache from how I have to position myself but oh well.  I sleep well knowing she is warm.  She does grunt an awful lot but I think I've gotten so used to it I don't notice it anymore.  Plus by that time I'm so tired I could almost fall asleep standing up.

Saying bye to Lollee and Lacy at the airport

Smiles and coos are increasing more and more and we have a blast interacting with her.  I love hearing her little gurgly voice.  Jonathan and I have decided that if she ends up chattering as much as Big Brother does, neither he nor I will never get a word in again.  Kyle insists on holding her often and smothers her head with kisses.  She tolerates that for a bit before voicing her disapproval of her hair being smeared with sticky boy face.  Such a girl.

Morning cuddles with Big Brother

I cherish her like the treasure she is.  Happy two months my sweetie girl.  You are a delight!

~Abby

Kart Wheels

In the past couple of months, Kyle has decided he thoroughly enjoys helping me in the kitchen whenever possible.  Admittedly, there are times when I try to sneak into the kitchen to accomplish something before he realizes I'm in there.... only to hear, "Mommy what are you doing in there?" as he rounds the corner into the dining room, grabs a chair to stand on, and comes trotting into the kitchen ready to help, chair in tow.  I am constantly reminding myself that these years fly by; I need to take advantage of my time with him even when I'd rather just get the job done.  So he helps me measure flour, stir batter, get milk from the fridge, eggs from the counter..... And I smile because he is just the little buddy I prayed for.

While in South Africa earlier this week for an AIM prayer day, we found Kyle an adorable little baking set for kids.  I couldn't pass it up, complete with an apron and tiny cooking utensils.  He has been giddy about cooking something with his new toys.  So yesterday we pulled out the Alpha-Bakery cookbook my Aunt gave us and flipped through the pages until we settled on something quick, easy and consisting of ingredients I had on hand.

Photo credit : Kyle

Then we started making Kart Wheels.  We complied the components and got to work.  First, measure the butter and get it softened in the micro because it's still rock solid on the kitchen counter.  Then, measure the flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and milk.  Mix all the ingredients together until a nice ball of pastry has formed.  We halved the recipe because I was only looking for a tiny treat.  Divide into equal pieces and shape into balls.  Situate them on a baking sheet like so, flattened slightly and mash a hole in the middle with your finger for the jam.   We did two apricot and one strawberry.  Fill with about a tablespoon of jam and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, until edges are slightly browned.

"See, Daddy, this is what we are making!"

You never know who is watching you lick the spoon.  Photo credit : Kyle 

(See the hairless spot in the back of Kyle's head?  That was the fight he got into with the gravel road in front of our house 6 months ago.  Quite the fright, with blood everywhere we anticipated an emergency trip out of the mountains.  But after some evaluation and careful cleaning by Dad, we decided to just baby it and try to avoid stitches...)

The proud baker!

A pretty delicious snack for not much work....

Kart Wheels (full recipe)

1 1/2 flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons milk

About 1 cup pie filling or jam (any flavor)

1.  Heat oven to 375*

1.  Mix flour, butter, powdered sugar, baking powder and just enough milk until dough forms.  (If dough seems dry, mix in more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.)

3. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts.  Shape each part into a ball.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet; flatten slightly.  Make an indentation in center of each flattened ball.  Fill each indentation with about 2 tablespoons pie filling or jam.  Bake until the edges begin to brown, 20-25 minutes.  Makes 6 Kart Wheels.

~Abby

Wednesday

The week after we left candidate training at Africa Inland Mission in February, we saw the breakdown of our needed outgoing expenses.  The $37,000 bottom line nearly made my jaw hit the floor.  I had guessed that $15,000 sounded like a plenty large enough number to have to raise, on top of thousands of dollars worth of monthly support.  We were thinking that monthly support, requiring churches and believers to commit to a constant withdraw from their bank accounts in order to supply our needs, would be the most difficult thing to raise.  Looking at a that five digit figure made us change our minds.  "Where exactly does $37,000 come from," I thought.  We certainly didn't have it to offer and didn't know where we would encounter that kind of money.

Of course, we didn't expect to find it from one source.  We've made many contacts and faithfully, the Lord has provided through an abundance of sacrificial gifts.  Also, because we don't receive any financial support from AIM until we leave for the field, our monthly supporters who have begun sending to AIM already have helped grow our outgoing account significantly.

A large miscommunication happened over the past months as we have been trying to track the amount of money being donated to our account.  Of course, we've received many gifts which we have passed along to AIM to be deposited into our outgoing fund.  But, when gifts are given online, or as monthly support is sent straight to AIM, we have a more difficult time tracking our financial status.  So, over the past months, as we have prepared to send out our update letters, we have asked our "go-to" person at AIM the balance of our outgoing expenses.  Each month we received a percentage.  And each month we have been blown away at the increase from the past month.  Well, it wasn't until last week that we realized that the percentage we had been given didn't include the car I mentioned in my last post.  We knew about the car, so we thought our percentage included that large fund also.  But, alas, we were being quoted the percentage without the car.  Two weeks ago, we thought we were at 96% on our outgoing expenses.  Then, once we uncovered the miscommunication, we went back to about 55%.

I was shocked.  Jonathan was shocked.  We didn't know exactly where the communication break down happened and it didn't really matter.  What mattered was that $17,000 was still left to be raised in less than two months and we were determined.  Although, I admit to saying, "so much for leaving in January" and crying hard for about five minutes.  Lacking $17,000 and knowing it has to come in within less than two months is an overwhelming feeling.  I like to stay on top of things and I don't like feeling completely helpless.

We made a large number of contacts that night.  We prayed that night.  We set what we thought was a very lofty goal of $10,000 for this month.  Maybe we have a lack of faith since we weren't praying for every penny this month.  We figured, $10,000 this month, $7,000 next month.  I felt crazy praying for that amount of money to come in over a few short weeks.

On Tuesday I received a call from an old friend of Jonathan's family.  I've heard his name over and over again and somewhere in the recesses of my mind I knew that he lived in North Augusta.  He had read in Jonathan's parents' newsletter that we were still in need of financial support in order to move to Africa.  He is on the leadership board of his small church in N. Augusta and was asking if Jonathan could come Wednesday to their leadership meeting.  With less than 24 hours notice, Jonathan's boss graciously let him off of work over the lunch hour to attend that meeting.  He shared with those four men about our heart and plans for ministry in Africa.  He shared our needs and our desire to leave in January.

Jonathan came home from that meeting Wednesday encouraged by the interest expressed by the men with whom he had spoken.  We were excited to see how the Lord would use this unexpected contact to answer our prayers.  That evening, we received a phone call asking where they could send a $5,000 check.

My jaw nearly hit the floor..... again.

Wednesday night, I overheard Jonathan tell Kyle as he put him to sleep, "Okay, buddy, we don't have to pray for $10,000 any more.  Now we only have to pray for about $3,000."  Kyle folded his hands and the two of them proceeded to pray for the remainder of our goal.

It is not even the middle of the month and our prayers are already being answered.  Not including that check, over the past two weeks ~$2,500 has been given in one time gifts.  Is it too greedy to now start praying for the whole remaining amount this month so we can rest peacefully next month? :) Lord willing, about $3,000 comes in for our monthly support.  So, we are past our goal of $10,000 for this month.  $5,000 + $2,500 + $3,000 (October monthly support) + $3,000 (November monthly support) = $13,500.  We might as well move on to praying for another $3,500, see from where God brings that, be done with the $17,000 all together and throw a party.

Our remaining monthly support is down to $450/month.

Even when our faith is small and our prayers are weak, He is faithful to answer us.  "If we are faithless, he remains faithful." 2 Timothy 2:13

Keep praying, folks.  Our God is answering!

~Abby

Home Assignment

This is a post I’ve been wanting to write for months but just haven’t had the mental energy to put together.  Now that I am feeling mostly better, I am having to seriously begin thinking about our home assignment plans for 2016.  A number of people have asked about our home assignment and what it will entail exactly.  Since this will be our first ever home assignment, we can’t be sure of precisely how it will all unfold, but our general understanding is as follows:

We left for Africa in January of 2013 and embarked on our first three-year assignment with Africa Inland Mission.  With AIM, missionaries receive home assignment time which is based on the length of their overseas assignment.  So for us, three years in Africa means eight months on home assignment.  Home assignment, also known as furlough, will begin for us in January of 2016.  We will spend our 8 months visiting supporters, supporting churches, family and friends, attending conferences and occasionally being AIM representatives if there have been requests for AIM personnel in nearby churches.  During the spring of 2016, Jonathan plans to finish his Masters’ degree with Liberty Online and we will attend his graduation in Lynchburg, VA sometime in May.  We also plan to visit our dear friends in Mexico during our home assignment.  We have about 50 supporters and five supporting churches which spread across the whole country.  It is our goal to visit as many of our supporters as we possibly can, as we truly believe they are our partners in ministry.  With the addition of our new daughter, we will have some additional support to try to raise during our time home.  And lastly, for the first time since our honeymoon, Jono and I hope to take an anniversary trip alone sometime next summer.

For traveling around the US, visiting churches, supporters, etc, we have a home assignment fund that is being funneled into each month.  It pays for our tickets home, our travel, our tickets back to Africa.  We will still live on support for our normal life expenses during all our traveling.  Our plan is to base ourselves in Aiken, which is where we have the most family nearby and where the majority of our supporters live.  Also, three of our supporting churches are in the Southeast.  Because our sending church is in Illinois, we will travel and spend significant time there, probably around the time of their missions conference.  Another of our supporting churches is in Missouri where Jonathan’s parents are living, so we will spend time there as well.  Our goal is to maintain some level of normal life for our family, so we hope to use Aiken as a home base and do the majority of our travels leaving from and returning there.  Any of our supporters who would enjoy coming to us, we will gladly try to host in Aiken.

Currently our two major needs are a place to stay while in Aiken, as well as a vehicle.  In order to keep our house in Africa, AIM will continue to pay rent for us throughout our time in the States.  Thus, our available funds for trying to actually rent a home or apartment in Aiken are insufficient, besides the fact that we have no furniture.  We are certainly willing to pay what we can and we are praying something will present itself to us.  If you know of someone who has a place where we could stay or rent, please send me an email or a Facebook message.  Understanding that eight months is a long time and that five people are quite a lot, we are willing to move around some if we have a few options.  My parents have a van we can use which will hold all our carseats.  But that will leave my mom carless.  So, if you have or someone you know has a car my parents could borrow, then we will primarily use my parents' van.  We appreciate prayers in both of these areas.

The future plan, although not written in stone yet, is to come back to Africa in Aug of ’16 for a follow-up 2-year assignment.  We have approval from our local leadership, it only needs to be confirmed by our US AIM office. We’d like to come right back to Mokhotlong, spend two years trying to establish TEE in various outlying villages and establishing leadership for those groups.  Eager interest by pastors and church people in two nearby villages has recently necessitated Jonathan starting a new group. The interest and desire for TEE in this area is widespread. We will need to turn all groups over to local leadership before we can depart for good, or TEE won’t continue without us.  The main issue with the local leadership is transportation.  While many local pastors who will graduate from the first TEE class (should graduate before we leave in Dec) would be willing to lead a group in an outlying village, they don’t have cars.  So getting to and from is a serious issue.  That will be our main objective when returning- trying to establish a system so that those groups can perpetuate themselves.

It is sort of hard to believe that we’re halfway through our third year already.  It has been great and long and hard and fun.  I’m so excited, though, to be home for a while.  I believe we all need it.  I think Kyle will be able to actually remember America after those months, and I think he needs that for establishing his little identity.  I also think it will help him to bond with his grandparents and cousins and feel like a part of a bigger family.  The other day I asked him if he was an American boy.  Almost in defense, he replied, “No, I’m an African boy.”  And I’m glad that he feels confident here.  But he also needs to know that he is American and has those roots as well.

I’m looking forward to being nearby friends, my sisters and sisters in law- to feel like I’ve got girlfriends again.  I’m looking forward to being able to drive!!!  I’m looking forward to dressing Ellee up pretty and taking her out just the two of us.  I’m looking forward to celebrating the kids' birthdays with family!  I’m looking forward to church in my own language and nursery, getting to sing and listen and enjoy a service without my kids at my feet.  I’m looking forward to eating chicken salad from about ten different places.  I’m looking forward to making some crafty things!  I’m looking forward to hugging my brother, Ryan.  It will have been three years, which feels like a very long time.  I’m looking forward to visiting all my grandparents, whom I miss terribly.  I’m looking forward to seeing so many familiar faces and places which are so dear to my heart.  I’m looking forward to our whole family getting to meet Sadie while she is still a baby!

My kids are not going to believe we'll be 10 minutes rather than 4 hours from McDonalds!

~Abby

A Day in the Life

Sometimes in life you really have to laugh to keep from crying.  We have had our fair share of those experiences this year.  I figured I'd let ya'll in on a few of them from the last few weeks.

About a month ago, when Jonathan returned from the missions trip with Cristo Te Ama to Mazahua, the water heater wouldn't light.  Figuring that the gas was just out and having no way to fix it, he took cold showers.  When I arrived back from SC, I took cold showers. Well, I took 2.  Then the water went away completely.  After checking out the cistern in ground, J found that the water was below where the pump reaches.  We tried for 2 days to figure out how to get the city water to fill up our cistern by turning knobs and valves, but we had no luck.  In the meantime, Jonathan started bringing up 2 buckets of water (from the very bottom of the cistern) at a time.  We rationed the water, as we didn't know how long it'd be before the cistern filled back up. Plus we live on the third floor, and it gets really old climbing stairs with buckets of heavy water.  It is a good thing we used it sparingly, because the cistern didn't fill up for 6 days.  Bathing with buckets is an art.  If your head is shaved, like my husband's, well, it's not so difficult.  But, when you have a mop of hair like I do, it really is a tricky job.  We would dip the cup in the water to wash everything but my hair. Then, we had to tag team to finish.  I'd dunk my head in the bucket, upside down.  Then Jonathan would lather it all up.  I'd dunk my head back in while Jonathan tried to get all the shampoo out. Then I'd put in conditioner, since it was an upside-down tangled up mess, and dunk back into the water full of suds.  After we got the water dirty from bathing, we could flush the toilet.  I wonder how many people know that if you just poor water rapidly into a toilet, it flushes.  I didn't know that before we came here.  In fact, any time we used water - washing dishes, faces, hands, brushing teeth etc - we dumped it into the back of the toilet to create for ourselves "a flush."  We also took advantage of all the other toilets on the third floor.  Probably about day 2 Jonathan went around to all the bathrooms to count how many "flushes" we had left.  Each toilet still had one flush ready in the back of the toilet from before the water went out.  Needless to say, this went from funny to ridiculous pretty fast.  At least it didn't matter anymore that the hot water heater wouldn't turn on, cause we had no water to heat.

During the time the water was out, our overhead lights/fans went out.  This was undoubtedly the least of our worries.  We kept the bathroom and closet lights on and eventually pilfered a lamp from another room.

After a few days of living (and smelling) like cave men, I told my mom it could only get worse if our A/C broke.  The next day, the A/C unit (1) cut off.  When I cut it back on, it sounded like a jackhammer.  The noise was inescapable, especially since the unit is directly above our bed.  Jonathan assured me we would NOT move to another room just because the unit was making noise.  So, I put in my earplugs and fell asleep.  About 2.5 hours later I woke up because the noise had increased and my earplugs weren't cutting it any more, only to find J next to me lying on his back with his hands behind his head (that means he's mad).  Chuckling on the inside, I convinced him to move to another room.  He was delirious after laying there for hours trying to fall asleep with the jackhammer above his head.  None the less, we moved to another room, and found that that A/C unit (different type) was also making an obnoxious noise.  After waiting with (stubborn) Jonathan for about 20 minutes, I finally talked him into moving to yet another room.  At last, we found a room where the A/C worked and didn't sound like heavy machinery.  This is the room we are still in now.  The new problem is, we can hear all the music from the night club next door.  I simply cannot imagine how loud the music must be inside that place, if I can hear it loud and clear in my bed.  The bar is open every night except Sunday until any time between 3-6 AM.  I've lived long enough to know that almost nothing good happens at that time of night and you can only imagine the stories we've heard about what kind of things go on next door.  Absurdity.

A/C units are expensive down here and because our original unit was making that horrific noise, we were told to turn it off.  You can't imagine how hot it gets in that room with no A/C.  Our refrigerator barely works to begin with, but with it so incredibly hot and humid in the room, it had to work double time.  I threw so much food out those few days.  I tried to convince Jonathan to throw the meat out of the freezer which wasn't cold at all, but he cooked it instead.  It's really a miracle we never got sick off that meat.  Now that the A/C is kinda fixed in there, the fridge is working at its regular 1/2 speed.

Well, the water heaters still don't have it together yet.  We can't for the life of us keep the water heater on in the room where we are now sleeping.  So for showers, we go to the other room where the water heater works but the A/C sounds like a jackhammer.  Then last night, the water went out again.  It has been on and off since it got turned back "on", but it usually comes back on within a couple hours.  Well after Victoria, there's no waiting for a shower cause we never know if we've got ticks or who knows what else on us.  Even though there's "no" water, it really means there's no cold water coming from the roof, but there is still one hot water heater's worth of hot water.  Confused?  Oh well.  We tried to shower with the scorching water.  Ouch!  In an attempt to save what little water we had and not burn ourselves, we turned the water off.  So, Jonathan combined some cold, slightly dirty, old water from a bucket still in the shower and some hot water from the faucet, and poured it on my head to help me get the shampoo out of my hair.  Ridiculous.

Last but not least, the Tahoe we are borrowing doesn't have reverse.  "Doesn't have reverse?" you ask.  Nope, no reverse.  That creates a huge problem.  The reverse went out about 3 months ago.  Well, first the forward went out.  So we paid for a "new" gear box and unbeknownst to us, this one came equipped with no reverse.  So, every morning, J pushes and I steer out of the car lot place we keep the cars at night.  We've learned that if I hit the brakes as soon as the back wheels hit the curb, J can run and watch for a space in the traffic on our busy road and I am able to keep some momentum to continue out of the "drive way" (with an extra push or two from Jonathan or the nice guy who owns the business next door).  We have also learned that we must park where we can pull through or continue forwards.  Well, last night we found ourselves in a packed parking garage in a corner with no way out.  We usually have no trouble finding a place to pull through here, but last night was an exception.  So, Jonathan with a bum ankle has to push me out of this predicament and we end up making at least an 8 point turn around.  Although, I'd never have the strength to push that huge vehicle even if I wanted to, being pregnant means I have less to offer in the way of help.  I was laughing to keep from crying while Jonathan was telling me, "This is not funny!!"  Any pride we may have brought down here is gone now, because we get the most hilarious looks from people as I steer and Jonathan pushes me around in public places.  Finally, we got out of that sticky spot in the parking garage and decided to just pay the parking man to let us park in illegal spot.

Don't ever take for granted turning on your faucet and having warm water come out - or any water for that matter.  And please, never forget how important reverse is. Really, it makes life so much more enjoyable.  There are many, many things I will never think of the same way again, but these are some of the ones that make for hilarious stories.

~Abby

Home?

Over the past few months, we have been in a constant state of transit.  It feels so nice to have finally unpacked our suitcases, stocked “our” kitchen, and generally set up camp here in Maseru for a couple months.  If you are like many of the friends and family I’ve spoken with over the past months, you probably have had a difficult time keeping up with where in the world we are.  Trust me, I’ve had a hard time keeping up with it all and it’s my life.  So, let me recap….

Got a few of my quilts unpacked to make our room feel a bit more homey

We departed SC on January 7 for Peachtree City, GA to check out at AIM USA headquarters.  On January 10, we flew to Nairobi where we spent four nights trying to get over jet-lag.  On January 15, we left for ABO in Machakos, Kenya, where we stayed for nearly three weeks.  When we left ABO, we went back to Nairobi to fly to Lesotho.  February 5^th we arrived in Lesotho and immediately went to Bloemfontien, South Africa to get in with a doctor for Ellee’s birth.  Then three days later we left for our almost three week village stay in Quthing.  On February 28^th we were picked up and taken to Maphutseng, Lesotho where we spent the past two and a half weeks next door to our unit leaders learning the ins and outs of living here. While there, we also completed working through our language learning/theory video requirements.  Then we left Maphutseng last Monday to attend our Lesotho team retreat at Malealea Lodge in Lesotho.  On Thursday we were transported here to Maseru.

Are you tired yet?  I certainly am.  While I enjoy traveling and seeing new things, I find it difficult to live out of a suitcase for an extended period of time.  I also find it difficult to keep up with 9 suitcases, 6 carry-ons, 2 car seats, a pack & play and a stroller for this long.  Believe me when I say I am happy to have those things tucked away in the spare room and plan only to worry about them again once we start packing up to move to Mokhotlong later this year.

The place we are living in now belongs to AIM and is used for the various needs of our Lesotho team.  It is a town house in Maseru which was previously lived in by the Lesotho Unit Leader.  It is completely stocked with the necessities for life so it makes things fairly simple for us right now.  Since we don’t have much more than clothes in those suitcases, we have a lot of house ware to build up before we are set on our own.  Currently we own no furniture and my kitchenware consists of a spatula, muffin tin, blender, toaster and a few knives.  Oh, and a potato masher since I married a man who could basically subsist off of spuds.

Retro kitchen

This weekend are going to drive up to Mokhotlong with our Unit Leaders.  The main reason we are going is to visit the house left behind by the family who recently had to leave Lesotho due to a death in the family.  They have quite a few furniture items they are looking to sell, so we are going to see all those things.  Also we want to see Mokhotlong itself before we move out there permanently in August.  Apparently there are a few leads on possible housing for us to rent and we may get the chance to see those places while we are there this weekend.  It promises to be a long 8 hours of extremely mountainous roads.  I expect Kyle to get very weary of all the twists and turns and I’m hoping he won’t get car sick.  I’m hoping I won’t get car sick either.  But, if we don’t go out there now, we won’t get the chance again to go as a family before we move permanently.

Speaking of a car, we thought we had one.  Then we found out the night before Jonathan was supposed to go pick it up in South Africa that the dealer decided to sell it to someone else before our money transfer came through the bank.  To say that we were frustrated would be a major understatement.  Nevertheless, we trust that God’s plans are better than ours and we are still waiting to find the right vehicle.  Until then, we are borrowing a truck from another AIM missionary here who recently purchased a new vehicle.  Jonathan is doing just fine driving on the other side of the road although I think he is thankful I can sit in the front seat and help him navigate traffic and round-abouts.  He probably wouldn’t admit it, but I feel pretty confident I’m helping a lot.  :o)  Once he gets good and comfortable in that vehicle, we will go out somewhere far, far way from other cars so he can teach me how to drive a manual transmission.  I’ve only done it once and that was six years ago.

Yesterday morning Jonathan met with the Theological Education by Extension guys he will be working with over the next few years.  I was busy doing things around the house but I gathered that he was very pleased with the set up and really looks forward to working with Ntate Joseph and the other men working with him.  It was a blessing to hear that they have been praying for us and excited about meeting us.  I really think this program will be a great fit for Jonathan as he loves studying and teaching so much.  He has joined the TEE committee now and will meet again with these guys next week to go about learning the program during our time here in Maseru.  Once we move out to Mokhotlong, Jonathan will be in close contact with Ntate Joseph who works with TEE here in the city.

Kyle's bedroom.  Notice all the little animals on the twin bed beside his, they are all on their backs asleep, too.  His idea.  I plan to work on getting him to sleep in a real bed sometime over the next two months so we can use the pack & play for Ellee.

While Jonathan was meeting with the TEE guys, I was discussing house keeping with the woman who typically cleans here at the town house.  I’ve never had anyone coming to help me clean before, but doing all our laundry by hand bent over a bathtub is becoming extremely difficult with the mass in my belly.  Carrying a vacuum up and down the stairs also isn’t something I fancy doing in a “normal” condition, much less while pregnant.  So, I’ve asked her to come one day a week to do the laundry and clean the floors.  She is a nice lady who washes clothes by hand 10X better than I do.  I’m paying her slightly more than is typical here and it is still less than going to the laundry mat back in the US.  I greatly appreciate her help and I know I will even more once I have an itty bitty one to worry about in a couple months.

My plans to walk to the post office this morning have been trumped by the constant pitter patter I hear on the tin roof.  I am expecting a couple packages from back home and I am giddy to see if they have arrived.  But, unless it quits raining, I’ll probably be sitting inside stitching baby girl onesies instead.  Not a bad trade.  Pictures to follow!

~Abby

Ellee Renée

I don't know what made us settle on arriving in Bloemfontein May 22nd, but it was the plan all along.  Trying to aim two weeks before Ellee's due date, we decided the least stressful thing would be to go ahead and come to allow us a little time to settle in before she made her appearance.  Even so, we opted to come sixteen days early, and I really have no idea why.  It's a good thing, though, because Ellee barely waited until two weeks before her due date.  

As we arrived in Bloem from Maseru on Wednesday around lunch time, there was a distinct increase in the pressure I was feeling in my pelvis.  Although the journey was only about two hours, I thought it must have been from sitting still in the car. So we proceeded to eat our lunch, and I didn't even mention it to Jonathan.  By Wednesday evening I was feeling some "pain", or discomfort rather, and began trying to discern what it was I was experiencing exactly.  Although it was the first "pain" I had felt in the pregnancy that even hinted towards labor, I didn't think it would continue because I was still sixteen days out from my due date.  Because Kyle came five days after his due date, I was pretty convinced all my babies would make late arrivals.  I was prepared to be in for the long haul with Ellee as well.  I mentioned the discomfort I was feeling to Jonathan,  telling him that although it felt like nothing compared to the labor I experienced with Kyle, it was the same sort of sensation, and I hoped it would either progress or just go away so I could sleep.

I did sleep for about four hours before waking up to bothersome minor contractions that were coming between 7-10 minutes apart.  The intensity was still almost nothing compared to what I felt with Kyle; I was pretty determined they would cease before long.  After timing those and Skyping my mom and pregnant sister-in-law in the middle of the night, I decided I ought to try to sleep again just in case they did progress as Thursday continued.  I dozed on and off between annoying contractions and finally woke up for good that morning, tired and nervous that Ellee was really going to come before Aunt Lacy had a chance to make it here.  The contractions continued sporadically throughout the morning, but they were still pathetic on the labor pain scale.  We visited the hospital that morning to drop in on friends of ours who were there due to a car accident.  I decided to pop into my doctor's office there at the hospital to see what he had to say.  He checked and told me I wasn't dilated at all which came as no real surprise to me.  I knew the contractions weren't real, intense labor pains by any means, but because I never had any "pre-labor" with Kyle, I wasn't exactly sure what was going on.  My doctor sent me down to L&D to be monitored for about half an hour and see what they had to say.  The nurse said the contractions weren't very strong at all and said I could go home and would likely be back. 

What else would a Daddy and little brother do while Mommy is being monitored but draw Simba?

Mommy knowing the contractions weren't doing anything and wanting to go home and eat lunch.

As soon as we left the hospital at about 2:30 PM, the intensity of the pain began to increase and continued steadily throughout the afternoon.  I alerted the guest house owner, Marian, that it didn't appear Lacy was going to make it in time to care for Kyle while I delivered, and so she would have to be on 2-year-old duty whenever we needed to go back to the hospital.  By 5:30 PM we were convinced a return trip to the L&D floor was imminent, so I began attempting to get things together between contractions.  When Kyle woke up from his nap, I tried to feed him some dinner.  I would run out of the room every few minutes to have a contraction before returning to shovel in another bite.  I didn't want him to see me in pain, but I also didn't want to leave him with someone he didn't know when just awake from his nap and with an empty stomach.  By 6:30 PM, I called Marian back and told her we were going to head for the hospital as soon as I could get everything together.  She immediately came to retrieve Kyle and we left for the hospital at about 7 PM.  

It was so different this time, trying to do everything on our own and also having a son to worry about.  When we got to the hospital and they checked me, I was 2 cm (pathetic, right?), so I hunkered in for a long night.  Ouch.  We decided to send Jonathan back to relieve Marian until he would put Kyle to sleep.  Poor Kyle was pretty uneasy as we left him so quickly and it made me even more tense knowing he had no clue what had just happened.  Staying alone in the hospital wasn't exactly my ideal situation, either, but we didn't see that we had much choice.  I sent Jonathan off with clear directions to keep his phone close just in case.  By the time he got back, I was at 5 cm and much happier with a numbing drug in my back.  I'll spare you the rest of the labor and delivery details but let's just suffice it to say I didn't push for the 1.5 hours I had with Kyle.

Epidural face

Ellee Renée was born at 1:29 AM on May 24th, barely two weeks before her due date, weighing 6 lbs, 7 oz and measuring 19 inches long.  My doctor didn't make it in time for the delivery because he was at home asleep like any normal person would be at that time of the night; the nurses didn't call him until Ellee had practically birthed herself.  Nevertheless, she arrived beautiful and healthy and my relief from being unpregnant was great.

I dare say the months of sickness I experienced until I reached 19 weeks in my pregnancy was the roughest experience I've faced thus far in my life.  Really I can't imagine going through that misery again.  Even so, the reward is so much greater than the pain I experienced in those months.  She is an angel baby and while I didn't think it possible, I love her just as much as I love my Kyle and I love him no less than I did before.

Thus far Ellee seems to have a fairly mild temperament, although at this point she is just sleeping her days away.  She is awake some of the time, and unless she's fighting a dirty diaper, she just looks around at the world and makes lots of little baby grunts.  Nursing is still going great. She took to it with even more ease than Kyle did.  We tried giving her a bottle of milk I had pumped the other day just to see what she would do.  She took to that fine as well.  She is sleeping curled up next to me at this point so we are only up once or twice a night for feedings since she is so snuggly warm.  I don't really want to sleep with her every night, but since it is so cold at night and we don't have heat, I feel like I don't have much choice through the winter.  I am a light sleeper so I don't worry as much about her sleeping with me as I would worry she is too cold sleeping alone.  I won't be looking forward to to training her to sleep in her crib once it starts to warm back up, but for now, I'll try to enjoy having a little bundle snoozing beside me.  I now know how quickly these sleepless early weeks fly by.  I'm doing my best to just enjoy the middle of the night feedings and getting shot at during diaper changes.

Being a mom the second time around is a much different experience as well.  I feel so much more at ease with her all around, from breast feeding to diaper changing, I just feel more confident that I know what I'm doing.  Of course, there are still plenty of things I don't know or have forgotten about Kyle's first weeks, thus I'm really thankful for Skype so I can ask my mom questions even from across the pond.  But, for the most part, it has been a really smooth transition between one and two children.  Jonathan and I make a pretty good team.  We both know, however, we'll be doomed with number three since we won't be able to each just have one to care for.  Yes, I did just mention "number three" and I'm only nine days from delivering the second.  I may just be crazy.

Kyle has surpassed all my expectations on the little brother front.  He immediately took to Ellee and he continues to drown her with hugs and kisses.  He says her name so sweetly, "Ellee Nay", and he is convinced that she "likes you."  She's probably pretty oblivious to the fact that she has a big brother, but I'd bet if she knew, she would like him.  He is a great little helper and eagerly takes her soiled diapers to the trash for me.  That's about all he can help with at this point since she only eats, sleeps and poops.  But, he does it with such a happy heart; he makes me so proud.

Kyle meeting Ellee in the hospital room

We miss our family and friends greatly and wish everyone could be together to share these special days.  We're thankful to now have one extremely helpful family member here, at least, lending us a very welcome hand during these early weeks.  Kyle is loving having Aunt Eee here to play with him, and I think it has helped him take Ellee's arrival smoothly since someone else is here to pay him some attention.  We also enjoyed a visit this weekend from friends from Tennessee, fellow missionaries who now live in Pretoria.  They took these beautiful photos for us and we are so grateful!

My heart is full and my eyes sweat sometimes when I look at my precious little girl and my silly little boy and thank God for the blessings He has given me.  I am so undeserving of such a privilege and I don't take it lightly.  My treasures, I pray I will be a good mother to you always.

~Abby

DIY Africa

 Sometimes you just gotta roll your sleeves up and start in the kitchen from scratch.  If you live in Africa, that sometimes changes to almost-always.  Occasionally, I just have a hankering for something and it requires a number of preparation steps ahead of time to achieve the end goal.

Every afternoon, sometime around 4pm, I have a grumble in my belly that tells me it's tea time.  Sometimes I have coffee for tea time, sometimes decaf tea and often times a big glass of chilled water.  In my mind, the real reason for tea time is the tea time treats.  My treat of choice has varied widely over the past year; first it was a rusk, then a piece of pumpkin bread.  Right now I prefer to indulge in a sliver of zucchini bread and/or a small tea cup full of African Sunrise granola and a few dollops of greek yogurt.

After about a minute of Googling zucchini bread some months ago, I settled on this zucchini bread recipe that had like 4-point-something stars and 4,000-something reviews.  I trust recipes like that.  I read tons and tons of those 4,000 reviews and found some ways to help make aforementioned zucchini bread a little less like cake and a lot more friendly to the waistline.  Below I'll post the modifications to the zucchini bread recipe I made.  I won't post a review on the zucchini bread recipe based on the many modifications I made because I can't stand it when people do that....

I spent morning nap time yesterday grating zucchini.  But, our electricity was out nearly all day yesterday for some unknown reason, so I was unable to bake my bread.  Today I began my preparations by first making apple sauce.  Although, because I had a number of mealy peaches in the fridge that were no good on my morning cereal, it turned out to be more like peach sauce with a hint of apple.

While my peaches and apples cooked on the stove top, I was busy grating potatoes to make hash brown casserole for dinner.  The menu tonight was inspired by our time working at Cracker Barrel.  CB grilled chicken tenders and hash brown casserole with fluffy fruit salad on the side.  The secret to CB grilled chicken tenders?  Marinated and pan-grilled in Italian salad dressing.  That's it.  Anyway, back to the casserole, hash browns aren't exactly a South African thing.  Thus I was left to make them myself.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy that was (thanks again to Google).

So, my zucchini bread.  Once I completed the peach/apple sauce by pureeing it with my immersion blender, I whipped this batter up:

* 3 cups flour (1 cup white, 2 cups wheat)

* 1 tsp salt

* 1 tsp baking powder

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 3-4 tsp cinnamon

* 1 cup sugar

* 1/2 cup oil

* 1/2 cup apple sauce

* 3 eggs

* 3 tsp vanilla extract

* 4 cups grated zucchini

And I would've loved to add some nuts but alas, I didn't have any.  The recipe makes two loaves.  My modifications make it just sweet enough but not overly so.  And I tried to pack in as much zucchini as possible and it's absolutely delicious.

While my bread baked, I prepared the hash brown casserole to wait in the fridge until dinner.  After that, I worked on the fluffy fruit salad.  Then I started chopping veggies for my new favorite lunch of choice (based on this recipe):

I added chopped fresh garlic, some extra roasted cauliflower I made last night and a bit of salt and ground pepper.  Instead of vegetable oil, I used EVOO and then I used half white and half whole wheat pasta.  I am so glad I have leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch.

Thankfully Little Lady took a long morning nap so I was able to get almost all of this completed while she was asleep.  My back ached when I was done and I was sure ready to sit down, but it feels nice to get a lot accomplished in one day.  And I was very happy to sit and enjoy my tea time snack today....

Hope you'll DIY and give one of these recipes a try.

~Abby