End of February Happenings

We are doing so much better around our house.  I wouldn't say we are 100% yet, but we are all on the mend and we are looking forward to all of us being healthy in March!

We celebrated Nathan's Half Birthday on February 25th.  He enjoyed eating cupcakes

for his 5 1/2 Birthday.

They were really gooey cupcakes

Nathan helped our House Keeper make the cupcakes earlier in the day.  Nathan loves to work in the kitchen.

Audrey (left) and Haley wanted seconds on their cupcakes and we told them they couldn't have seconds.  Needless to say, they were not real happy with our decision.

On another note, potty training has been going fairly well with these two.  Haley has it down now & Audrey could take it or leave it.  Andy found some marshmallows earlier this week at one of the grocery stores.  He bought them and we've been using them as a reward for the girls in their potty training.  Haley is so good at potty training that we've only been giving her treats when she poops.  Audrey was sick earlier in the week so she wore a diaper during that time, but at the end of the week we moved back to panties & we told her we would give her a reward any time she went potty.  I think Haley was getting a little jealous that Audrey was getting treats every time she went potty, so Haley figured out how to squeeze out the tiniest bit of poop every time she went potty so she could get a treat.  That's probably too much information, but thought I'd share it anyway.  See that tiny bit of poop?

Is it the Truth? What do you think?

Sometimes living in a culture outside of your own can be difficult.  There are lots of challenges, but the challenge I find the most difficult is deciphering if people are telling me the truth or not.  We live in a 3rd world Country & just because we are from America, everybody assumes we are rich . . . . and compared to most people here, we are.  We are not considered rich by American standards, but just the fact that we live in a house, we drive a car, our kids wear different outfits each day, our daughter goes to a private school, all these things classify us as rich here.  

This morning a lady came and knocked on our gate.  Our guard answered our door & he came and asked me if I knew a neighbor lady named Esther.  I don't know a neighbor named that, but I went on out to the gate anyway to see what she needed.  She then told me this story about how her child was really sick during the wee hours of the morning and he was throwing up so much that they took him to the hospital. The Doctor at the hospital told them that he had appendicitis and needed emergency surgery.  Now hospitals here work a little differently than hospitals in the States.  You have to pay in full before you receive any services.  You may die before your family can gather enough money together for an emergency surgery, but that's just the way it works around here.  This lady said that the surgery was going to cost $50.00 USD and that she had to hurry and get back so he could get the surgery.

So, what would you do?  I didn't know this lady.  My guard didn't know her & he knows most of our neighbors.  It's hard for me to make decisions like this.  Am I being scammed or is this the truth?  I surely don't want a child to loose his life because the family can't come up with $50. 

Andy and I talked about it for a minute and then we decided we would send our guard with her to the hospital.  If he found that she really had a child that was sick and needed emergency surgery he could pay the bill, but we felt like it gave us a layer of protection just in case it was a scam.

The lady thanked us profusely and as she and our Guard were walking down the street she got a phone call from her brother saying that another neighbor of ours, who is a doctor, came in and did the emergency surgery.  The lady started crying as she was talking on the phone and then she told our Guard that her son was going to be OK.  She came back to our gate and thanked us for helping, our guard gave us the money back and she went on her way.  

I never know what to think about these kind of situations & it seems like we have them quite often.  It's so hard to tell what's true & what's not.  I guess it's not really up to me to find out the truth as much as it is up to me to list to God's guidance and see what he wants me to do in each individual situation.

Bornholm Virus

Well, the Bornholm virus has gotten the best of us this week.

  I guarantee you it's not the week you want to come and visit us at our house . . . that is unless you want to be sick.  This is how most of us have felt this week:

It all started off with Abby getting the virus a week ago Thursday.  Then it moved onto the twins.  Then Nathan & then me.  It was, by far, the worst sickness I've had in a very, very long time.  It just hurt to breathe.  Grandma Snow's corn bags and Advil gave us a bit of relief, but man it is a rough virus.  Andy is AMAZING and has been taking really good care of all of us.  Abby and Haley seem to be fine now.  Audrey, Nathan and I are starting to be on the mend.  Hopefully we will all be back in good health soon!

What We've Been Up To

Well, we've been fighting a Virus around our house.  It started with Abby last Thursday & it's made its way through both of the twins.  Abby was well for almost 48 hours & then the virus hit her again.  Hopefully everybody will be on the mend soon!  

Andy's been busying getting our resident visas renewed this week and I've been working with the twins on potty training.  It seems like they are finally getting the hang of it.  We've been doing a lot of this around here:

(Haley in black and pink)

Andy had a little bit of time to hang up the kids swings this week.  They have had so much fun playing outside.  (Haley top picture & Audrey bottom picture)!

Post for Granddaddy and Grandmamma

Dear Grandmamma and Granddaddy,

Nathan got a letter in the mail from you this week & he decided to write a letter back to you.  I decided to post it on here so you could get it today instead of 3 weeks from today.

Dear Grandmamma and Granddaddy,

Molly and Alley were happy to see me.  Love, Nathan

Sorting & Getting Settled Back into Life

We have been unpacking & sorting through things all week long.  We just about have our house back in order, so that is nice! Here is what 3 years worth of clothes and shoes for 4 kids looks like once everything is all sorted:

Our kids are really excited about eating the local food again. They have been chowing down on it this week while Andy and I have been busy working on our house.  I'm glad they love it !

I walked into the girls room last night and this is how I found the girls. 

All snuggled up together in the twins bed.